Futerkon 2012



Futerkon 2012, held August 8-11, 2012, was the first edition of Futerkon, a furry convention in Poland. It was held in Training and Recreation Centre Dzierzazna in Dzierzazna town near Zgierz and Lodz cities. The theme was "The end is near..."

The charity was Bernardyn fundation.

Registration
Registration for the convention was opened on 6th of April 2012, in first 24h more than half available tickets were reserved. Registration was closed on 28th of May 2012. Pricing depended on the accomodation standard, varying from 110 PLN (27.50€/34.00$) to 170 PLN (42.50€/52.00$). As an addition options attendees were enabled to order convention tshirts and catering services. It was possible also to donate convention by selecting sponsors option (+50PLN/+12.50€/15.40$). Exchange rates as per 22nd of August 2012

Location
For the accommodation, organizes reserved seventeen cottage houses for up to 5 people each. Also, three B & B rooms were prepared.

Within rooms and cottages, convention received for its own use following infrastructure available at the venue: Attendees had received catering service as per accreditation option selected during registration.
 * workshop-lecture room (glass hall)
 * open-air stage
 * campfire place
 * sports field

Programme
Futerkon 2012 program was split into two main blocks: There were to programme breaks provided in the schedule on each day of the convention:
 * general program – included both on the convention website and in convention conbook
 * storyline – series of smaller events and tasks connected with cottages competition, putting strong emphasis on usage of theme
 * between 2pm and 4pm – dinner break
 * between 7pm and 9pm – general break

General program
General program was built from three convention days – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It started on Wednesday with welcome campfire and a treat for attendees. During the campfire, an open karaoke session was organized near the campfire place. Later on that day computer games competitions was held in glass hall. On Thursday, attendees were able to take part in shooting workshops (including archery, pneumatic guns, ASG and such). In the afternoon there were open drawing workshops organized for all attendees (led by Blajn). After the dinner break, everyone gathered in glass room to take part in charity auction. 2012 funds have been entrusted to Bernardyn foundation, which is involved in rescuing abandoned animals. Just after the auction, “Furry in pop culture” presentation was presented to attendees by Kot and Pasterz. In the Thursday evening once again all attendees were invited to take part in big programme attraction – dancing party. For Friday morning sporting activities were scheduled, however, due to lack of attendee’s interest in this attraction, organizers decided to cancel it. Around noon drawing competitions were held by Q-nik. Following programme attractions were organized the same day after dinner break: Evening „Furry art Experts” contest was replaced with documentary movie about zone in Chernobyl. In the Thursday evening there was farewell campfire organized for all attendees. Also, official organizers farewell and thanks were made during the campfire. Last official programme attraction was karaoke contest, which happened after the farewell. On Saturday morning last, this time unofficial farewell was made and the convention ended.
 * group photo
 * presentation about Futerkon organization linked to discussion about attendees expectations and needs
 * “How UK does it?” presentation prepared by guest of honor from UK



Storyline
As a part of main program and main theme, there were additional attractions created and happened parallel to general program. All attendees were split into two fractions and were given an opportunity to complete several quests, and by doing so, compete as well with others. Also, each attendee was assigned to specific role for the fraction (one of five – soldier, medic, engineer, spy, and leader). Attendees was able to compete total number of 20 quests designed especially for story line and published on one of two bounty boards at the convention place. For each attraction, cottage that was participating in received a score (in a form of scale the bullet). Same happened if a quest was completed or a person won a contest. Having sufficient amount of points cottage was able to unlock and enter the computer terminal containing localization of GECK (Garden of Eden Creation KIT). Once a cottage received lost GECK blueprint, it won the whole cottages competition. In 2012 winning cottage (as per plot, bunker) was cottage number 112. As a reward, all residents received mascots. Besides quests, attendees had prepared post-apocalyptic costumes and also stylized post-apocalyptic flags (one per cottage).



Materials provided to participants
Attendees, as a part of their participation, received following materials and gifts:
 * badge
 * advertising leash
 * conbook
 * convention t-shirt (paid extra as an option during registration)
 * Futerkon patche
 * small wooden pendant with Futerkon symbol and text (prepared as a gift for all attendees by Nemedur)
 * Purse for points (one per cottage / room)
 * points in the form of scales of missiles
 * tickets entitling to participate in the main storyline quests

Guests of Honor
The guests of honor:
 * CamashRed
 * Solaxe

Attendees
Convention was attended by total number of 82 furries from all different parts of Poland (including three organizers and one guest from abroad). As part of the convention, couple of guest arrived to the venue for a single day. Total number of attendees and guests reached approximately 85 furries.

Organizers
In 2012 Futerkon convention was organized by three people considered as an organizers-team:
 * Kyubi – main organizer
 * Kot – programme cooridnator
 * Gravedigger – logistics coordinator

For 2012 convention, following furries were helping as volunteers: Following furries were helping in programme realization, being responsible for smaller program attractions:
 * Gabriel Blake – technical side of convention website
 * Gusto – website layout and preparation of selected convention materials
 * Leniwiec – DTP
 * Pasterz – cooperation in programme
 * Solaxe – main convention artist
 * Witek
 * Soren
 * Ryan
 * Sephirioth
 * Dreamer
 * Blajn
 * Q-nik
 * CamashRed
 * Sharpy

Trivia

 * Primary convention venue that was reserved in late 2011, due to technical issues had to be canceled at late phase of organization, and replaced by emergency one
 * A promotional video was created especially for convention and is available on intro page on the convention website