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The follow up this morning from the director of @furryweekend.com was about as bad of a non-apology as anyone could ask for. They stated that there were 15 staff on the con and despite having a full time dedicated office and being a for-profit con 🧵

Julie Ann of Rohan@ocaptmycapt.com

Capping this off to say, it’s a real eye opener when events fail. Vendors are in many ways your staff. They’re collaborating to make your event better and are a selling point to your event. People come to an event for good vendors. As an event - failing your vendors is a HUGE deal @furryweekend.com

The director blamed a number of issues on the lack of staff but failed to address the fact that staffing of the con is the direct fault of the director. No one chooses the amount of staff, staffing allocations, or who is doing what other than the director.

Further, the director also blamed many of the issues on having 300 vendors. Again, other vendors pointed out that having that many vendors was a choice by the director and not staffing to support that number of vendors is again a choice BY the director.

Let’s keep going! The director also blamed the expensive new venue for the issues arising in vendor set up and expectations but the director, dealer director, and their communications liaison failed to review policies and layout of the new venue and relay these to their vendors.

That’s all on the staff and director. Also, choice of venue was on the director - no one but the director and dealer head chose this new venue which by and large most of the vendors did not want. Trying to chalk up that there was a need for more vendors to cover the cost of the venue means

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there wasn’t an inherent need for the new venue, the new venue was a consequence of poor planning. The director has effectively not done an audience evaluation and is not building a convention that meets audience need.

There has been repeated feedback to the director about the dealer head, their inappropriate behaviour, poor decision making, and attitude towards vendors that is outright hostile. If I were in charge of an event this size and my weakest link was doing this much reputational damage

alongside mismanagement of the event itself they would be gone. But I generally don’t hire incompetent people - what can I say I run a strict program #eventmanagement #furryweekendatlanta

Oh, and trying to once again silence vendors from complaining out to the community so that the community is aware of the problems is a huge red flag and as a director not immediately owning those criticisms and trying to fix them is a MASSIVE problem that is even more unfixable. #fwa2026