RBW 2008
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| RBW 2008 |
| RBW 2009 |
| RBW 2010 |
| RBW staff |
| RBW guests of honour |
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 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]
- ↑ RBW 2008 Registration Announcement - Foxberance, rbwuk (8 March 2008)
- ↑ RBW 2009 - A concerned attendee writes... - SouthPaw, londonfurs (30 July 2009; archived 14 September 2016)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 RBW 2008 - Venue[dead link]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 MY RBW POST. 2008 December 1 post by Samia to his LiveJournal. Retrieved 2010 July 23.[dead link]
- ↑ RBW 2008 (now with photos) - tapewolf, deviantART journal (24 June 2009)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 RBW Review Post of Doooom (long!) - SouthPaw (2 December 2008)[dead link]
- ↑ MY RBW POST. 2008 December 1 reply by Serfox to the post by Samia to his LiveJournal. Retrieved 2011 June 4.[dead link]
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 September RBW update. 2008 September 15 post by Foxberance to RBW LiveJournal community.
External links[edit]
- RBW[dead link] - official website
- RBW community at LiveJournal
- Photos, videos, reports: RBW 2008 resources
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