January 2013 Newsletter

January 21, 2013

The march continues... less than seven weeks remain until Furnal Equinox 2013! Time to set up camp and take inventory of where we stand.

Remember, every fur must stand up and be counted — we need you!

Featured in the January 2013 issue of the Furnal Equinox newsletter:

Prereg Deadline
Preregistration for FE 2013 will close earlier this year: the last day to register online is February 18, 2013. After that you'll have to register at the door, so enlist today!

Submit to the Conbook
Submissions of art and writing are still welcome for the conbook! Get your submissions in on our website before February 8.

Events at the Con
We're still looking for panels on artwork, writing, fursuits, entertainment, and plain old social get-togethers at the con! Make sure to get in touch with us before mid-February.

Serve with Honour
We're looking for volunteers at the convention, especially who haven't served before! You're doing us a great service by providing even an hour or two — just get in contact with us.

FE on YouTube
Meet the Fuzz, our first promotional video profiling Furries in Uniform, has already received over 600 views and 50 likes on YouTube. More videos are coming!

Tags:

Volunteer With Valour At FE 2013

January 19, 2013

The volunteers and staff of Furnal Equinox really are our soldiers in the trenches: they're out on the front lines each and every day helping Furnal Equinox happen successfully.

Their assistance is critical — without our volunteers, our con simply could not be the success it has been. So consider joining them this year. There's plenty of ways for you to help!

For example, if you're flying in early Thursday or not leaving until late on Monday, consider helping us out with setup and teardown. If you're good at managing a steady stream of people, Registration might need you. If your eyes light up at computer and audio gear, you should consider joining our AV team. Just have a few minutes to move a few chairs around or grab some food? Be a gofer and do a run for us!

If you haven't volunteered for a convention before or if you're only able to commit for just an hour or two, we still welcome your help. Even a couple of hours of service helps us more than you can know. For those who put in several hours, you'll also receive increasing rewards, including a T-shirt and free memberships to next year's con! And if you're interested in being part of Furnal Equinox's team as a staff or concom member, volunteering is a great way to get our attention.

For more details, check our Volunteer page, and if you're interested in helping out, send us an e-mail at volunteer@furnalequinox.com. We'll talk with you about your preferences, as we get closer to the convention, we'll work to develop a schedule that works for you.

FE needs your help! Show your valour, and volunteer today.

Tags:

Support our Charity

January 16, 2013

We're pleased to announce that FE is once again supporting the Mississauga Humane Society (MHS) as its official charity in 2013.

Founded in 1999, the Mississauga Humane Society strives to find "Forever Homes" for cats and dogs regardless of their background, age, health or previous behavioural issues. They have no dedicated office or overhead: all animals are cared for by foster owners, and all of their donations go towards food, veterinary bills and other expenses.

FE was featured in the Humane Society's April 2012 Pet Chat newsletter (see page 9) -- they came to the con for a day last year and were blown away by your generosity!

Over the first three years of FE, we have raised over $12,000 for the MHS, including $8,000 last year alone! Can the troops beat it this year? We sure hope so!

We'll be running the Charity Auction throughout the convention, culminating in the voice auction on Sunday afternoon. So we'd appreciate donations items to auction! We're especially looking for artwork and costume commissions, but any other special items are welcome too. You can e-mail us at charity@furnalequinox.com.

More information about the MHS and how to support them are available on their website at www.mississaugahumanesociety.com.

Tags:

Contribute To The Conbook!

January 11, 2013

Hello artists and writers! Our training manual — also known as the Furnal Equinox 2013 conbook — needs artwork, as well as some short stories.

Why should you contribute? Well, our conbook goes to every attendee of the convention. So it provides easy exposure for your work — and it helps make our conbook more attractive and more entertaining, too!

Artwork and stories should be original, unpublished submissions that fit with our theme for this year.

When you hear "Furries in Uniform", you probably think of soldiers in the army. But your artwork or stories can be about any other uniformed personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, or EMTs. Alternatively, you might want to think outside the box, and focus on other professions that wear uniforms such as doctors and nurses, sports athletes, and fast food workers — actually, maybe not the last one...

The full artwork and story requirements can be found here, but to keep it brief:

  • We're looking for high quality JPG, PNG or TIF quality images as greyscale or line art.
  • Stories can be no longer than 1,800 words.

You can upload your submissions through the Conbook page. But do so quickly: the deadline is February 8, 2013.

So get drawing, and get writing!

Tags:

Entertain The Troops -- We Need Events!

January 8, 2013

With a bigger venue planned for Furnal Equinox 2013, and more people coming through the doors, we need people to entertain and train the troops. So if you want to run a panel, event, or game tournament at FE, we want you!

If you ran any programming at a previous FE, we've sent you an e-mail inviting you to return for 2013, and we definitely encourage you to get in touch with us with your ideas for this year.

For everyone else, FE is a great opportunity to share your knowledge, learn something new, have fun, be entertaining, or just meet up with furries who like the same things you do! The vast majority of panel hosts are our own attendees, and we couldn't offer it without your support.

We had plenty of programming last year covering a number of tracks, including:

  • Art: Animal Drawing, Digital Painting, Stupid Artist Tricks
  • Entertainment: Night at the Improv, Fursuit Charades, Karaoke
  • Fursuiting: Fursuit Photography, Performing in Suit, Animatronics
  • Gaming: Werewolf, Ironclaw, Munchkin
  • Now You Know: Furry Science, Online DJing & Podcasting
  • Social: Felines, Greymuzzles, Ponies of Equestria

So whether you're a board gaming fanatic, an artist wanting to share your skills, or a brony... your event can easily be a success!

We support and promote all of our programming. Your panel will get promoted on our website in advance of the convention; it'll also be published in the conbook and on our schedule, as well as featured on our FEN video screen throughout the convention.

We can also provide most other resources you may need, such as a laptop and projector, whiteboard, and more... just ask us!

Programming submissions can be done through the Events page -- just fill out the form. Submissions must be received by February 15, 2013!

Tags:
Syndicate content