Bravo Munchkin!! As one who attended ANW, I was pleasantly pleased with the amount of professionalism that went into the planning of this event. I went and and offered some assistance to the convention, as did some 60 some odd other folks, who all were working in unison all for a common goal -- the success of ANW as a family friendly Anthropomorphic event.
Were there some areas for improvement? Absolutely. No first year con is going to be without some challenges out of the gate. In light of the few things that I saw that could be improved upon, what I saw is people having fun, programming that was diverse and chock full of panels which touched on a wide variety of subjects and interests.
I have been a part of this Community for over 10 years, and ANW, really renewed my faith in this Community in many aspects, and showed me the underlying core of this Community -- Art, Education and Community.
It was an honour to attend this event, and I saw so many well known names that also showed their support for this event, which further strengthened my faith in this event. 809 attendees for a first year con, that is a record for a first year event. This event broke the proverbial mold of the traditional "furry" convention, and brought things back to the true roots of the Anthropomorphic Community, and parents and families attended, and told me themselves, that they had no issues bringing their children to this event.
The Convention's founder, had a vision, and also had the support from the "Big 3" - AC, MFF and BLFC. It took guts to do what he did, he did it, and because of his efforts and the efforts of all the volunteers, staff and attendees, Seattle's once tarnished reputation for "furry" conventions, has now been put into a positive light, and whats more, the hotel, The Renaissance - Seattle, wants ANW back for 2018!!
In closing, I, like many others, had some initial concerns with ANW. Rather than take the pessimistic view, and dwell on the media issue, I attended and gave this event a chance. Looking back, this was one of the best weekends I have had in quite sometime. The mission of ANW, is definitely something I could support, and will continue to do in 2018, and beyond.
Bravo Munchkin!! As one who attended ANW, I was pleasantly pleased with the amount of professionalism that went into the planning of this event. I went and and offered some assistance to the convention, as did some 60 some odd other folks, who all were working in unison all for a common goal -- the success of ANW as a family friendly Anthropomorphic event.
Were there some areas for improvement? Absolutely. No first year con is going to be without some challenges out of the gate. In light of the few things that I saw that could be improved upon, what I saw is people having fun, programming that was diverse and chock full of panels which touched on a wide variety of subjects and interests.
I have been a part of this Community for over 10 years, and ANW, really renewed my faith in this Community in many aspects, and showed me the underlying core of this Community -- Art, Education and Community.
It was an honour to attend this event, and I saw so many well known names that also showed their support for this event, which further strengthened my faith in this event. 809 attendees for a first year con, that is a record for a first year event. This event broke the proverbial mold of the traditional "furry" convention, and brought things back to the true roots of the Anthropomorphic Community, and parents and families attended, and told me themselves, that they had no issues bringing their children to this event.
The Convention's founder, had a vision, and also had the support from the "Big 3" - AC, MFF and BLFC. It took guts to do what he did, he did it, and because of his efforts and the efforts of all the volunteers, staff and attendees, Seattle's once tarnished reputation for "furry" conventions, has now been put into a positive light, and whats more, the hotel, The Renaissance - Seattle, wants ANW back for 2018!!
In closing, I, like many others, had some initial concerns with ANW. Rather than take the pessimistic view, and dwell on the media issue, I attended and gave this event a chance. Looking back, this was one of the best weekends I have had in quite sometime. The mission of ANW, is definitely something I could support, and will continue to do in 2018, and beyond.
Cheers,
-Rukario