RBW 2008

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RBW 2008 was a convention held over 27-30 November 2008 in London. It was hosted at the Royal National Hotel in Russel Square. Registration opened on March 8[1] with the theme The Masters of Alchemy.

2008 was RBW's first year as a self-contained convention. Despite attracting a record number of attendees (290[citation needed]), the convention ended up with a loss that had to be made up by private donations.[2]

Location[edit]

The Erasmus party boat.

The Royal National Hotel in Russell Square played host to the convention during the day as well as providing accommodation to con-goers.[3] There was no preset limit on attendance for daytime activities; however, the boat (The Erasmus) scheduled for the Saturday trip on the River Thames had a maximum capacity of 310 people.[3]

Reception[edit]

The convention as a whole reportedly had problems, many apparently due to poor communication among convention staff before and during the event. However, some events were well-received, particularly those involving fursuiting.

An event schedule was not printed in the conbook or provided until part-way through the con. Many events were canceled, leaving those without fursuits little to do but play computer games.[4] Others found themselves without presenters.[5] The boat party itself did go well, but getting to it proved a challenge as the pickup location was changed on the day of the event[6]. Charity auction items were not displayed until the last day, and many failed to sell, though ultimately around £1100 was raised for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Venue staff were variously reported to be "stoic"[7] and "surly"[6], while the hotel itself "looked like an eastern bloc soviet building (and inside looked like an old peoples home)"[4], with those setting up the event encountering several problems[6]. The security at the event also broke a con-goers ankle during the event.

Those watching from afar enjoyed live streaming of the RBW staged events, although the associated chat proved uncontrollable.

Guests of Honor[edit]

References[edit]

  1. RBW 2008 Registration Announcement - Foxberance,   rbwuk (8 March 2008)
  2. RBW 2009 - A concerned attendee writes... - SouthPaw,   londonfurs (30 July 2009; archived 14 September 2016)
  3. 3.0 3.1 RBW 2008 - Venue[dead link]
  4. 4.0 4.1 MY RBW POST. 2008 December 1 post by Samia to his LiveJournal. Retrieved 2010 July 23.[dead link]
  5. RBW 2008 (now with photos) - tapewolf, deviantART journal (24 June 2009)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 RBW Review Post of Doooom (long!) - SouthPaw (2 December 2008)[dead link]
  7. MY RBW POST. 2008 December 1 reply by Serfox to the post by Samia to his LiveJournal. Retrieved 2011 June 4.[dead link]
  8. 8.0 8.1 September RBW update. 2008 September 15 post by Foxberance to RBW LiveJournal community.

External links[edit]

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