Anthrocon 2020

Anthrocon 2020 was scheduled to be the 24th annual Anthrocon furry convention. It was to be held on the weekend of July 2-5, 2020, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

The convention's theme was to be Aesop’s Fables, but later dubbed "Virtual Anthrocon".

Cancellation
On April 27, 2020, it was announced that Anthrocon 2020 was canceled in response to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic.

Virtual Anthrocon
In late June, members from the Anthrocon AV team decided to host an impromptu online version of the convention dubbed "Virtual Anthrocon". They hosted key events such as opening and closing ceremonies, Uncle Kage's Story Hour, and annual fursuit dance competition through their YouTube and Vimeo, accessible from anthrocon.tv, from July 3-5. VRChat world creator Firr had built a virtual version of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center's 'Spirit of Pittsburgh' ballroom and other convention spaces prior to the livestream. Anthrocon agreed to make the VRChat world as an official gathering space for attendees over the weekend. There was no registration fee for the livestream or interacting with the virtual ballroom world.

The production of the live stream was handled by one of Anthrocon's video equipment vendors, Astrocasters. Production control was operated out of Astrocasters' Virginia warehouse, and was produced by FreezeFrame (who also served as the Emcee), Protocollie, and Veyote. Many other members of Anthrocon's production staff supported the live broadcasts, both on-site and remotely. TimeSuppression served as Technical Director, Nieto as Audio Engineer, Paradox Wolf was the on-site CG Operator while Simon Fox was the Graphic Artist, working remotely from his home in California.

According to stats released by Firr after the virtual convention ended, 6,136 unique visitors entered the Virtual Anthrocon VRChat world, which would have made it the third highest-attended convention, behind Anthrocon 2019 and ahead of Biggest Little Fur Con 2019. Two members of the production staff fursuited through the production control room and took a photo outdoors, claiming it was the "fastest Fursuit Parade and fursuit photo ever," followed by the shortest closing ceremonies in Anthrocon history.