Making Up For Lost Time

The area I live in has only one geek-oriented convention within the 80-mile radius, and it just happened this past weekend. Sadly, I had already spent all my time off from my trucking job, and could only attend Sunday, which was the last day of the event. That morning I got a respectable five hours of sleep, got into my go-to cosplay outfit and hurried down to the country club where this convention takes place.

I approached the registration table and said, “who do I talk to to volunteer?”

The registration people, an older man and two middle-aged women, snapped to attention. The man did a double take and immediately took me to the back of the dealer’s hall to look for the manager. I got the impression that walk-on volunteers were not a common thing.

That impression ended up being right. When I spoke to the dealer den manager that day, she said “we can give you free entrance to the event next year and pictures with our celebrities, but if you’re looking for free merchandise we can’t do that.”

“Actually, I’m just looking to help.”

She seemed surprised, and later told me that of the twenty people who inquired to volunteer staff for this year, only two showed up because there wasn’t enough free stuff being offered.

I noticed right then just how easy it was to stand out, and how easy it was to make an impression. Few people want to give their time, but if you have nothing else, volunteering your time and sweat will get you a long way to making friends and connections. I wish I had learned that lesson many years ago. I would surely be much better off today if I had.

That evening I helped stack up chairs, fold tables and peel tape markers off the convention center floor. All that bending and carrying reminded me how much five years of truck driving has taken its toll on my body, but whatever. I only had one day to make an impression. As  hurried as my effort was, I hope they remember me, because this is my “home con” and there is no place better for me to contribute to than here.

“Who, not what”

The key to making friends in geek culture, or any networking endeavor you may feel called to, is in bringing value to other peoples’ lives and doing so as much as you can. I wish I could say I made that up myself. In fact, I realized this from listening for many hours to inspirational, psychological, and self-help podcasts while driving a semi truck. Still, that will be the guiding philosophy for my time in the furry fandom and any other geek culture.

Why do I say this? Well, not long ago, the former director of FreeFurAll wrote a long public letter explaining why he was ‘stepping down’ from organizing events, and endorsed me and my Discord server as a successor of sorts to Digitalis and Camp Uncancellable.

This was news to me when I heard it, and I have been struggling with how to respond or address anyone who might have some expectation out of me.

I can’t be Foxglove. I’m not gonna even try. I live six hours from Tulsa and it would not be practical for me to be renting out Marriotts and conference centers up there. (That would be just crazy!) The convention staffing experience I have is limited to the story I told at the top of this article. I don’t really know what we’re going to do. I wish I could give you a date for some next event, but I can’t.

What I can say is that I’m committed to something. I am a long-time furry, and I see what so many others here do: There is a great demand for furry events that are decent, not sexually charged, and not twisted with leftist zealotry. Furries want a place where they don’t have to constantly be looking over their shoulders, and I am committed to setting a real-life platform which delivers that.

Making up for lost time

It was truly breathtaking how quickly and profoundly FreeFurAll collapsed. Most of the people in our ‘con crew’ feel like they had the rug pulled out from under them.

A lot sure has happened since that lovely event. Roughly half of all furry conventions have scrapped their vax mandates. Convention attendance is surging as a result. Much of the insanity, intimidation, death threats and the like have receded, as have the credibilities of the polemicists who had lead them. And, from what I can see, a small handful of new conventions, and perhaps many smaller furmeets, are delivering something analogous to FreeFurAll while applying some of the lessons to be learned of its failure.

As for me? I am making up for lost time in more ways than you, dear reader, could know. But I ask that you do give me some time, and maybe even some of your support by joining either my Discord server (Furry Wholesome Hangout) or Foxglove’s (Digitalis, and yes, he is still going to be around). We have a good handful of talented people with now a year or more experience working on furry events.

Furry Wholesome Hangout invite:

https://discord.gg/8VPwJbtD