Morphicon 2006 Convention Preview Newsletter

Morphicon 2006 Convention Preview Newsletter!

Morphicon 2006: "The Food Chain"
May 5-7 at the Radisson Columbus-Worthington

In this report:

Webpage Update!
Theme, Guests of Honor Announced
Changes for Morphicon 2006
Morphicon in the Columbus Pride Parade
What's Next?

*******************************Webpage Update!*

Morphicon's webpage has just received a major update, to help reflect our growing interest in community involvement. The main page will list our current events and have links to general information about Morphicon. From there you can also visit the website for the current year, and historical websites for all previous years.

*Theme, Guests of Honor Announced*

Anyone hungry? Our theme for 2006 is "The Food Chain", dealing with that delicate balance of nature that separates the herbivores from the carnivores (and rather appropriate, given Morphicon's popular free food events). As always, we try to pick a theme that highlights particular furry interests--in this case, the feeding nature of animals--as well as one which can be interpreted in a creative variety of ways by our artists. Out t-shirt contest for free Patron-level admission will be on this theme for 2006, so aspiring artists can get head start now if they choose.

Morphicon is pleased to announce our Guests of Honor for 2006: Candy "Trixi" DeWalt, Ryan "Tet" DeWalt, and Bill Holbrook. Candy is a furry artist, and the creator of the online webcomic Vinci and Arty. Ryan, Candy's mate, is a webhost for furry services, including the AnthroArchives and the YNA artists' community which Candy and Ryan manage together. Bill Holbrook is the author of three comic strips, including the celebrated Kevin and Kell, which also recently spun off a new roleplaying game.

We're excited to have each of them working with us for 2006, and we'll have more detailed bios available soon.

*Changes for Morphicon 2006*

Morphicon will be held May 5-7, 2006. Although it's only a day off from last year, in 2006 this will be a week BEFORE Mother's Day. So there should be worries about being able to take off time from the job or family obligations. (We are aware this puts us up against Califur, and we apologize for the inconvenience if anyone wished to attend both conventions. Our date selection was somewhat limited.)

We're in the same hotel (the Radisson Columbus-Worthington), and the rooms are at the same rate. The high-speed internet will be fixed next year. In 2006 the rooms should all be in the 2 South block (where the convention takes place) instead of being spread throughout the hotel like they were this year. However, reserving a room sooner is the best way to prevent being mislocated. Some guests found that the check-in time of 4pm was restrictive. The hotel has informed us that if someone shows up early, and a room is already available, they may check in early for no additional fee. However, this is contingent upon room availability. On a down note, we regret being unable to bring Tyger Cowboy on as our travel agent this year, but our hotel contract would not allow it for 2006--but perhaps in a future year.

The pre-registration rates will be the same, but we're slightly raising the at-the-door fees. This is to encourage people to register early. The donor levels will be:

Supporter: $15
Basic: $30*
Sponsor: $45*
Patron: $85*
Hypertrophe: $200 (only by pre-reg)
Dealer: $45 (only by pre-reg)
Single-Day: $25 (any day)

* This is the pre-reg donor level; it increases by $10 at the door.

Single-Day donor levels have been equalized and the Dealer level has been raised by only $5. Considering many of our dealers have mentioned they want to return in 2006, there will not be much time to register for a table this year. We'll make a public call for dealers within the next month.

We'll continue to give our Sponsors and Patrons the same treatment they received in 2005, but we have added one new option as well. The Hypertrophe donor level is a new level created for people dedicated enough to the convention to donate a whole $200 for 2006. They'll get a special (extra large!) badge, a unique and personalized gift from one (or more) of our GoH, special mention in the conbook and at events, a limited edition button, a possible discount on the next year's registration to offset the donation expense, and potential other goodies we have yet to fully implement. Those who were Patrons last year know how well we treat our donors, so we'll definitely make the reward for Hypertrophe worthwhile.

Also, Morphicon has decided to implement a new donor level for the inclusion of minors at the convention. Minors under 16 (who must be accompanied by a legal guardian attendee anyway) will receive basic registration benefits for a $10 donation through pre-registration, or $15 at the door. A one-day donor level for minors under 16 will be only $8.

Dealer registrations are not yet ready, but all other registration levels are now available, through donation online or by mail.

*Morphicon in the Columbus Pride Parade*

In keeping with our Mission, Morphicon has decided that we're more than a once-a-year event. Our organization wishes to fulfill its goals year-round by organizing events for local furries and increase our participation in projects in the Central Ohio community. To help reach this goal, we will be hosting a new furry event once every month! The first event (for June) will be our participation in the annual Columbus Pride Parade. We've already purchased space for a float and we'll be cutting out the decorations for it at an art party on the 18th of June.

The Columbus Pride Parade is an annual event put on by Stonewall Columbus, a human rights organization that focuses primarily on GBLT concerns in the local community. The event is all-inclusive and features the involvement of many community organizations and national corporations. Morphicon is proud to be a part of it this year. Come show your furry pride! We'll have a small float featuring logos for Morphicon, OhioFur, and general furry pride, fursuiters walking the parade route, and furry music blasting through the crowd. This is a big event (thousands turn out for it annually) and a great way for our organization to get involved in celebrating local community spirit.

The parade will be held on Saturday the 25th. Check out the official Pride Parade webpage for more information, or to get involved with Morphicon, please join the Morphicon mailing list and watch for updates.

*What's Next?*

We'll be announcing Morphicon's monthly meetings on our website and on the mailing list. Once our staff selection for 2006 is completed, there will be a dedicated staff member named for planning and implementing the local meetings. We'll try for a variety of dates and times so that everyone will be able to attend something. Some of the events may have small cover charges (such as furry bowling) while others will be free (the Pride Parade, and our famous Free Fall Picnic in late August)--but we'll try to keep most of them affordable.

We will also begin to archive the newsletters here, so members and visitors can see what's been going on over the past few months. By the next newsletter, we should have our staff selection completed so we can begin dealer registration for 2006.

See you at the Parade!

Trickster