FC2009 April Newsletter

In this issue:

1. Hotel News
2. Costume Con Party
3. Pre Registration
4. Get Involved!
5. FC09 Video Room wants you!
6. Next staff meeting

1. Hotel News:

a) Doubletree Hotel completely Sold Out.

APOLOGIES: Yes, we did something that has never occurred at the Doubletree for
any event, ever. We sold out the entire hotel in less than one week. In fact,
the hotel expanded our block on some of our bridge nights to pretty much
capacity without requiring us to sign another contract. We already were at
capacity on our primary nights.

The Suite and Exec Level Waiting lists are full. Last year, we made it to the
July fourth weekend before completely selling out. Our apologies for its
suddenness this year. We truly did not expect the situation to unfold as
rapidly as it did. Be assured that the matter has been escalated to the Board
of AAE, Inc. to take into account as they pursue contracts for FC2010 and
beyond.

CANCELLATIONS: While we do expect some cancellations, they tend to occur late
in the year. If we have enough cancellations to matter, we'll reopen the block
there. Our cancellation rates in the past are usually less than 10% but we
will be watching closely in case we can reopen that block. We urge any one with
a Room who discovers they will not be able to join us next January to please
make that decision and to cancel their reservation as soon as they can.

SHARING WITH FRIENDS: We realize that many of you regularly share a room with
specific friends at the convention. If this is the case, please contact them
and see if you have more rooms booked between you than you will be using, and
contact the hotel to cancel any extras. This will help us enormously as we try
to get as many people into the DoubleTree as possible.

Additionally, we urge anyone who has spare space or is looking for space to
use our Ride/Room Forum at the following url:

<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/forums/>

RUMOR CONTROL: One bit of rumor control, it was rumored that individuals were
booking entire large blocks of rooms. We have reviewed the booking report and
compared any multiple bookings to past year's patterns. Nothing unusual is
apparent in that review.

SPECIAL REQUESTS: We expect to have emails out for all Special Requests by
April 21. Please be patient with us until then. You can imagine how many emails
our Hotel Staff has to write after confirming that the requests are in order.

We do have a few Fursuit Floor transfers still available if you already have a
regular room at the Doubletree Hotel. You can continue to request those via
the normal procedure in our Hotel FAQ.

b) Overflow Hotel

After some quick work, we have obtained an overflow hotel just as we did last
year at the Holiday Inn San Jose. That room block will open on May 1, 2008.
All rooms there are Double Queen and will be available at the rate of $95 per
night. Parking is free for guests at the Holiday Inn. We also have a small
block of Suites there for $199 per night and will be offering those to folks
on the Suite Waiting List we already have compiled. If we have any left after
we do that, we will open that waiting list up to additional submissions.

SHUTTLE SERVICE: As we did last year, we will have a Shuttle Service that runs
between the two Hotel's to help assist those in the overflow hotel and those
in the Doubletree visiting friends at the Holiday Inn.

For information on the overflow Hotel and how to book there when the block
opens on May 1, 2008, please review the following web page:

<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/fc2009/hotel>

One piece of good news is that we have already discussed expanding the block
at the Holiday Inn and should be able to do so if we sell out the initial
overflow block. We can't promise, but we wanted folks to know we were planning
ahead as best we can. We have to be judicious in our block size there since if
we do not fill that block to 80% capacity come convention time. After last
minute cancellations, the con would have to buy any unsold rooms.

2. Costume Con Party

Further Confusion is having a room party at Costume Con on Saturday, April
26th starting at 7pm. Sorry, that we do not know the room number at this
point, but look for flyers at Costume Con for more info.

3. Pre Registration

<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/fc2009/registration>

It's still $40 to pre-register for Further Confusion. Don't delay, do it now !

4. Get Involved!

While it is only April, it's never too early to get involved with Further
Confusion. We have a number of open positions across the entire scope of staff.
Being a staff member can be both challenging and rewarding. If there is a
specific field you are interested in helping out with, please email
hr@furtherconfusion.org and mention what you would like to help out
with, and it will be directed to the appropriate department.

5. FC09 Video Room wants you!

Have you ever wanted to work for FC, but didn't know how your
knowledge of Furry films, videos, and collection could help? Well,
FC09 is working to rework our video room. This position would include
putting together a playlist, managing staff to run it from the hours
of 6-7pm until about 8 - 9 am, and to make sure our video content is
great for our convention goers. For more information or to share your
ideas for the FC09 Video Room, please contact
events@furtherconfusion.org. If you would be interested in taking on
this position, please email HR@furtherconfusion.org and tell them you
want to run or work in the FC09 Video Room.

6. Next staff meeting

Our next staff meeting will be on May 10th, starting at 1pm in the San Jose
DoubleTree hotel. Parking is free - we will be providing stickers at the
meeting which will allow the parking staff to know you were with Further
Confusion, and let you out without needing to pay.

--
Further Confusion
info@furtherconfusion.org
http://www.furtherconfusion.org/