Am I in a position to give furcon advice? I dunno, probably not (creds: I’ve wallflowered at Anthrohio 24 and 25 and am about to head off to FWA with a buddy.)
I don’t know anything about fursuiting.
Preregister. There’s no reason not to and you save time for everyone. Sometimes cons even give you a discount for early preregistration. After you complete the registration line (with your preregistration info and a photo id), you’ll get something to mark you as part of the con; maybe a wristband, maybe a badge.
Most people wear at least one other decorative badge with their fursona on it, maybe about 5 inches big, with their name in large print. I made mine out of a cut-up manila folder, my friend got its laminated at Staples.
Wear an N95, oh my god. It’s not hard. I got so sick after AO ’25 and definitely regret not wearing a mask like an idiot.
People jokingly mention the “6 2 1 rule” (six hours of sleep, two meals, one shower a day at minimum) because the only way to get furries to take care of their basic needs is to make it into a ironic sex joke. Also bring a stick of deodorant, duh.
Drink water!
There are fewer fursuiters than you might expect from the photos. There are lots of fursuiters, yes, but lots of regular people too, as well as people in funny shirts, people with cat ears and hats, people with unusual accessories… I love people-watching. Any con worth its salt has an “ask for photos” policy, though, and it’s just harder to ask non-fursuiters for pictures, so you often don’t get to see em online :)
I like taking and editing photos but I’m usually too shy to ask the fursuiters as well, so I end up with a lot of architecture pictures etc.
Apart from that: It is a unique feeling to exist in a space where literally everyone is LGBT friendly and additionally some kind of weirdo. Good feeling in the stomach. I don’t really know how to describe it.
All the fursuiters wander into a big room, a bunch of group photos are taken, then they all walk out in a single-file line. If the con is somewhere downtown and the weather’s nice, the walk is often done outside in public so not only can you watch furries, you can watch all the passerbys with weird looks on their faces. Highly recommended.
It’s fun to photograph the walk since hundreds of fursuiters go by one after another and everyone loves posing. You’ll have to be quick. Give a nod or thumbs-up after you take someone’s picture.
Things you can expect to find: tshirts, buttons/pins, stickers, little fursuit tails that mount on a belt, the belts in question, artist alley people taking at-con commissions of various types, prints and originals, books, assorted trinkets, and yes: embarrassing dakimakura pillowcases.
Scientists are still researching whether there is a tangible difference between the “dealer’s den” and the “artist’s alley”. I think the DD is more for “small business” types and the AA is for sole proprietors, but there is a mix of both.
All of the “basic” tails will be picked over by the second day. They will only have unsually-colored tails and rodent tails in stock. No shade to the rodent furs.
Tip.
Range from kinda dorky to kinda fun. If you think it’ll be popular, arrive early, especially if you think you’ll need a chair.
At least from my experiences at AO:
If you’re anything like me you’ll need to bring earplugs.
It’s rare for cons to provide food; it’s expensive to feed that many people, and hotels forbid it since it cuts into hotel-operated restaurant profits. Anthrohio was able to provide some snacks though (through herculean effort).
If you’re a local, eat at home. If you’re not, don’t just do restaurant food all weekend, grab some fresh food from the store. Or maybe this is just advice for my stupid sensitive stomach.
Furries love Telegram; just the way it is. You might find Telegram group invites on business cards scattered around various tables.
Bluesky continues to pick up steam. Just search up the name of the con and sort by latest. (I don’t know what happens on The Everything App anymore.)
Yes of course it’s cringe, duh. Aim squarely between its eyes and shoot your cringe stone-dead, then you won’t have any problems with cringe. This is actually a really good rule for everyday life too
I’m local and arrive by bus, so my bus advice:
The hotel is in a somewhat unassuming building on the west side of High St. If you go to the east side of the road, into the conspicuous hotel with the big sign, you will instead wander into the convention center. It’s doubly annoying because this other building is the business address of the hotel. Yes, I did this, even after already knowing it’s not in the convention center. All of the buildings are connected. It’s confusing.
The skybridge is pretty cute.
Anthrohio does have snacks which is somewhat unusual for cons. There was coffee in the snacks room (provided by the hotel), but it goes quick and it’s only provided in the morning. The fresh fruit in that room also went quick. Plenty of chips and carbohydrates all day, though.
They are chill with puphoods.
Now I haven’t attended yet. But I can already be confident about a few things: