Furnal Equinox

The leaves are falling and the temperature is falling: autumn is here, and FE 2012 is a little bit less than five months away.

So we come off a busy summer, Furnal Equinox has released its October 2011 newsletter! To read it, click here!

In this issue:

Welcome to Furnal Equinox 2012!
A brief overview of where we've been over the summer, and a reminder to preregister for the con so (prereg ends November 30!)

"Infurnally Yours" Video Competition
Our first ever video contest is still looking for entries: upload a video to YouTube and you could be on your way to the con!

Halloween Party
FE will be sponsoring a Halloween party in Toronto on October 29. You'll be able to preregister and show off your costumes!

Dealer Registration
Time is running out to get a table in the Dealers Den, as tables are over 80% sold. So make sure to apply quickly!

Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers for FE 2012 in a number of roles: setup and teardown, event coordinators, transportation, logistics and gofers. Anyone can help; just let us know!

Fellow furries,

As we announced at Closing Ceremonies last year, Furnal Equinox will be returning to the Doubletree from March 16 to 18, 2012 to celebrate the theme of "Infurnally Yours"! The powers of heaven and hell, good and evil, dark and light, shall intertwine in ways that nobody thought possible. And of course, there's no better demonstration of dark and light coming together than the contribution of our fantastic Guests of Honour, Dark Natasha and Marci McAdam!

Even after closing ceremonies we were working hard to get things in order for 2012... hence why we've been rather quiet the last couple of months. But we can now announce... wait for it...

The new Furnal Equinox site is online at www.furnalequinox.com !

You'll notice a lot of new things about this site, including that dreaded login box. There's a good reason to get an account now (or if you're already on the forums, we'll automatically create one for you); when preregistration opens, we'll send you a reminder e-mail. But over the next several months it'll make it a lot easier for you to immerse yourself into the convention experience by offering to be a volunteer or panelist, sharing a room, registering for the convention, and more!

As we move into the summer, you can expect to see Furnal Equinox staff in a number of different places! Keep an eye out on us here over the next couple of weekends:

Anime North: Tomorrow we'll be at the convention handing out buttons and flyers -- the Doubletree is familiar stomping ground for us, after all! We've also put together a promotional video that'll be on display to showcase some of the best parts of "being furry for a weekend" at FE... and if you can't attend the convention, don't worry, it'll show up on YouTube soon too!

What The Fur: Le week-end prochain, we'll be making the road trip to Montreal! Our critically acclaimed ice cream social is currently planned to return and our chairs will be present to answer any questions that you might have. Stay tuned for more details including room, time and more!

As always all the latest details about Furnal Equinox can be found on our website, furnalequinox.com -- and you can always give us some love on Facebook and Twitter, too. Don't forget... there's only ten months to go!

-- Scani (Business / Publicity)
on behalf of the FE Concom

What a magical weekend in Toronto! Furnal Equinox had great expectations for its second year, and you did not disappoint -- in fact, you blew us away again and gave us an experience that we won't soon forget!

This year Furnal Equinox had more attendees than any other Canadian furry event in history. Over 450 people attended the convention, and that includes 110 fursuiters who participated in the parade on Saturday!

Not only that, but the generosity of our attendees was absolutely outstanding. The Charity Auction raised $4,000 for the Mississauga Humane Society, including a commission from ZEN that fetched $450! Our charity director Shane and everyone else involved are very grateful to everyone who donated items to the auction, as well as those who bid on them.

An event like this could not happen without a legion of volunteers and staff who assisted with registration, dealers, the Wolf's Den, games room, and many more responsibilities. We would also be remiss if we didn't mention our Security team. It could not be done without your assistance and we are truly grateful that you stepped up to make our event a success. If you want to be part of our team next year in a role such as staff, it's not too early to contact us!

We invite everyone who attended to share their experience. Here's how!
- Fill out our Member Survey and tell us what you liked and what you'd improve (http://register.furnalequinox.com/survform.php)
- Upload your pictures to our Gallery (http://www.furnalequinox.com/Gallery)
- Tell people about your experience on our forums! (http://forums.furnalequinox.com)

You can also look forward to next year's Furnal Equinox! We'll be returning on March 16-18, 2012 to celebrate the theme of "Infurnally Yours" featuring furry art powerhouse Dark Natasha and conbadge queen Marci McAdam! Mark your calendars and stay tuned to furnalequinox.com for more details.

Thank you for another successful year -- we couldn't do it without your support, enthusiasm and energy!

This is it! In just a few days, you'll be crowding into the Doubletree for chocolate chip cookies, and three days of furry spring fun. FE has some last-minute suggestions to make your travels smooth and your con experience memorable!

For the enhanced version of our March 2011 newsletter in PDF format, visit:
http://www.furnalequinox.com/downloads/FENewsletter_2011Mar.pdf

A summary of what's covered in this issue:

Con Survival Tips
FE shares its tips on how to enjoy a safe and healthy convention. Stay packed, dress warm, the 6-2-1 rule, and more!

Spring Forward
FE is the same weekend as the beginning of Daylight Savings Time -- so don't forget to set your clocks forward!

Restaurant Deals
We have arranged a number of discounts with restaurants around the hotel. Find out more about them!

Thursday Night Reception
For those staying at the Doubletree Thursday night, we'll be hosting a reception in the Wolf's Den starting at 7 pm.

Ears, Tails and Airbrushing
Arriving early on Friday? Take in our Ears and Tails workshop, or try out your skills in airbrushing!

FE Accepting Credit Cards
We will be accepting Visa and MasterCard for registration payments, as well as charity auction bids.

Keeping in Touch: FEN and Twitter
Don't forget to follow @furnalequinox for the latest event updates, as well as keep an eye on the FEN monitor for upcoming schedules, announcements, and pictures!

See you at Opening Ceremonies on Friday as we summon the Wild Magic!

Whether you're a fursuiter or a dance freak (or even both!), the party is definitely on at FE this year!

Preregistration may have come and gone already, but you can still be a part of the party! We will be selling memberships at the door for the whole convention, as well as for single days.

Fursuiters

Fursuiters definitely won't want to miss the programming on offer at FE. We have a number of panels for performers and builders, our full service fursuit lounge, and so much more!

Competitions such as Dodgeball, Musical Chairs, and the Three Pawed Race are guaranteed to offer up plenty of thrills and spills among the fuzzy competitors in the Furry Games. It'll all be worth it in the end, though, as our winners will take home some nifty medals. So don't forget to sign up as a competitor, or come and watch with your camera!

No convention would be complete without the Fursuit Parade, of course, so make sure that you're around on Saturday afternoon as our contingent of suiters show off for you! Our Guest of Honour FirestormSix has also offered to run fursuit photography throughout the convention, so don't forget to stop by the Dealers Den to strike a pose and buy some prints!

The Dances

Each night we'll open up the dance floor for heart-pounding music and beats that you won't soon forget! The fun starts on the opening night of convention, continues at our rave dance (until 4 am!) on Saturday, and of course the Dead Dog Dance to wrap things up on Sunday night!

Our team of DJs -- Khaki Wolf, Dakk, Potoroo, Kandikittie, Sol, Dusk, Miami and Branwyn -- will be laying down a variety of music styles to suit every taste. Whether you're into 80s, rock, house or hardcore, we can definitely get your feet moving!

Not only that, but we'll be handing out free glowsticks and bracelets each night... so don't be afraid to light it up!

Party on, furries! See you in a few days!

Now that our schedule has been announced, you probably have some idea of what events you want to attend, and when. So if you have some available time... consider becoming part of our Furnal Equinox volunteer team and help make your con a success!

No experience is required –- anyone can easily give us a helping hand! We have a number of volunteer jobs available, in roles such as setup and teardown, transportation, registration, the hospitality suite, video gaming, and more!

All of our volunteers get a bandana that's not only yours to keep but tells us that you're available to assist us. Also, if you volunteer for 6 hours over the course of the convention, you'll get a free T-shirt, and for 12 hours or more you'll get free admission to FE 2012!

So head over to our website (http://www.furnalequinox.com/Volunteer) for more details; we have plenty of roles and one of them might be just perfect for you. Fill out the volunteer form and tell us a little bit about yourself, and we'll get in touch with you to work around your schedule and assign you a role. And if you decide that you'd like to help out at the convention, just come visit us in Con Ops. We won't have any difficulty finding a place for you!

Believe it or not, it really is the last day to preregister for FE. So if you haven't yet, head over to http://www.furnalequinox.com/Register to get in on Canada's largest furry event!

For any artists planning on attending the con, we have plenty of fun for you, so... put down your pencil/marker/tablet for a moment and give us just a moment of attention as we summon the oracles...

Artists Alley

Thanks to our move to our new wing, Furnal Equinox is pleased to be offering an Artists Alley this year! Artists Alley will be in the hallway just outside the Dealers Den, and we'll have eight spaces available each day.

For any artists that are interested in participating, all you have to do is come to Con Ops and sign up for the given session. We'll draw names from all the signups, and the first eight each get a slot. Everyone else goes on the "waiting list" to be called once a table gets vacated. It really is as simple as that!

For further details, head to http://www.furnalequinox.com/Dealers

Kent's art panels

Also: Kent Burles, a faculty member at Max the Mutt Animation School here in Toronto, joined us as a panelist for Furnal Equinox last year. He loved us so much that he's going to be coming back, this time with an additional panel!

Kent's panels on "Animal Drawing" and "Creating Comics" from last year will be returning, so if you happened to miss them last year, he'll be running them again on the Sunday. Not only that, but he's presenting an additional panel on Backgrounds! Not only will you learn more about drawing characters, but you can about the world they live in!

That's just a hint of the magic you can expect as an artist at FE. So make sure you're a part of it!

We've received a number of preregistrations over the last couple of days, so to give everyone just a hint more time we've made the decision to extend the prereg deadline until Wednesday night (March 2)!

So head over to http://www.furnalequinox.com/Register and register now!

More announcements and previews of the con this year are forthcoming over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

The time has come!

The Furnal Equinox schedule has been posted! You can download it here and see when all of your favourite panels and events will be happening:
http://www.furnalequinox.com/downloads/FESchedule2011.pdf

Some of the highlights:
- Feel free to arrive early... registration opens at 10 am on Friday with plenty of programming through the afternoon! We formally get under way with Opening Ceremonies at 6 pm.
- For those who want to be entertained -- or even to entertain others -- you won't want to miss the Drum Circle, A Night At The Improv and the Art Jam on Saturday, and our Open Mike on Sunday!
- Visit our Dealers' Den and Artists' Alley on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. The Charity Auction for the Mississauga Humane Society will also be accepting silent bids until 1 pm Sunday, followed by a live auction!
- Our fursuiters will show off in the Fursuit Parade at 4 pm on Saturday!
- Make sure you stick around for the dances each and every night!

And don't forget that time's running out to be part of the FE experience! There's only three days left to preregister (visit us at http://www.furnalequinox.com/Register to do so).

It's time to start planning your Wild Magic... it begins in only two weeks!

The time of the Wild Magic has almost arrived. There's only [b]six days[/b] left to preregister for Furnal Equinox 2011!

Registering for FE online is easy! You won't want to miss our events featuring Guests of Honour FirestormSix and ZEN, including Meet the GoHs, the Art Jam, panels on Fursuit Care, and more! Fursuiters will love all of our planned events for them, such as the Furry Games, Fursuit Parade, and photography provided by Stormfire Studios! (Check the Events page on our website for more!)

Upgrading to Sponsor level also gets you a Furnal Equinox 2011 T-shirt, as well as access to our Wolf's Den hospitality lounge during the day.

Three-day con memberships start at only $35, but they'll go up to $40 at the con -- so take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts!

Head over to our website (http://www.furnalequinox.com/Register) to get your membership and join us from March 11 to 13!