ZA Furries

This poll is to find out how much you'd think a Con would cost in SA.

This includes accommodation food and venues. (Take into account how much you'd be willing to pay as well.) Explain your reasons as to why you think it may cost the amount you chose.

Too many factors to just guess like that. For example, duration. I think a con here would have to be more than a weekend, to justify travel costs. And also, what venue and all that...

I myself can't afford much more than R2000. And that's pushing it. Student budget...

It totally depends on what's offered and what sort of duration the Con is, as well as the location (Have to factor in a transport cost).

Well considering I can most likely afford it I'd spend roughly R2500-R3000 on a three day (Drive there friday, sleep Friday night, Saturday parteh, Sunday drive back when all's done and dusted).

drinks over the two nights (depending on my alcoholic ness) would come to hopefully only like R500... food and stuff would come to just a bit more. accommodation is a bit more expensive so dependent on the hotel we'd be staying (or guest house, motel or caravan) I'd budget about R500 a night. that leave me with between R500 and a thousand for Petrol to and from the event (which is a full tank at the moment so is more than sufficient it think seeing as one and a quarter tank gets me to Durban) and spending money.

sounds about right right?

R5000+ easily. There are people (living in the US, UK, etc) that save all year round just to attend 1 local convention, and it's usually totally worth the wait. Saving R100/week towards it (if it's something you really really want to do) should not be impossible.

The real question is, what sort of experience do you get in return for that money? I'd look to local events like rAge as a basis. Your entry fee buys you a few days in a slightly-alternate reality, where everything you love about your particular fandom (in rAge's case, gaming - in furry's case, a bit more than that) is on display, and you get to lose yourself in it for a while.

So there are two sides to the cost question that I can see - what the organizers spend, and what the participants spend. Participant costs would break down like so:

• Transport to/from (though you could save by carpooling/chartering)
• Accommodation
• Food, drink, alcohol
• Spending money for merchandise
• Entry into the event

That last item should cover the organizer costs:

• Venue rental + deposits
• Reliable internet access (fast and free wifi preferable for participants)
• Decor - banners, artwork, etc
• Equipment rentals (PA, desks/chairs for artist alley, braai equipment, etc)
• Supplying a cash bar/tuck shop (depending on what's available at the venue)
• Content licensing costs, if any
• For imported guests of honor - travel, accommodation, etc

Assuming that the participant costs can vary (people will spend what they can on themselves), it might make more sense to focus on the organizer costs. As the organizers, you want to put on a show worthy of everyone's time, money and effort to attend - and you'll want to fund that almost entirely via ticket prices, and selling table space to merch dealers.

Let's look at some actual numbers. In 2014, Anthrocon (largest furry con worldwide) attracted 5861 attendees from 26 countries. I'm not even going to estimate the airline travel costs for that, at the participant level.

Tickets were sold starting at $55/person. So the least amount of money Anthrocon had available to organize everything in 2014, for the second bullet point list, was $320k+ (R3.7 million-ish). They had a lot more than that though, as there were higher tiers with more rewards.

Eurofurence, the most popular european con, is even costlier, with entry-level tickets at 80 EUR a piece. They had 2015 attendees in 2014 (auspicious number), meaning the organizers had at least 161'200 EUR to work with (R2.1 million-ish).

I'm not sure what an equivalent event would cost to organize in South Africa, though, but just going off those two, it wouldn't be cheap, especially if you're looking at attendance in the low-hundreds range.

I might actually be able to provide a bit more insight here - as luck would have it I know a person or two in the events industry - but I can almost guarantee you that you won't want to hear it

Ravensong wrote:Well considering I can most likely afford it I'd spend roughly R2500-R3000 on a three day (Drive there friday, sleep Friday night, Saturday parteh, Sunday drive back when all's done and dusted).

drinks over the two nights (depending on my alcoholic ness) would come to hopefully only like R500... food and stuff would come to just a bit more. accommodation is a bit more expensive so dependent on the hotel we'd be staying (or guest house, motel or caravan) I'd budget about R500 a night. that leave me with between R500 and a thousand for Petrol to and from the event (which is a full tank at the moment so is more than sufficient it think seeing as one and a quarter tank gets me to Durban) and spending money.

sounds about right right?

Why is it that I'd rather sleep in my car and buy a R1500 bottle of whisky?
It just sounds like more fun than a motel.

I would only really be able to do it if it were to happen in CT. Spending several days and multiple thousands on this is simply not an option.

More than R3000 seems realistic to me.

Even if we had the numbers (which we're not even close to having), this right here is why a convention in South Africa is doomed to fail.

Unless... Unless you can get a few hundred furries from elsewhere in the world to come down here.

Gowuffie wrote:Even if we had the numbers (which we're not even close to having), this right here is why a convention in South Africa is doomed to fail.

+1

Well in my case R2000 seems to be a alright amount for it.... and i took the factor in that we are definitely going to be less then 1000 furs there so keeping it a small Con seems to be best for the first time

I would be able to pay 4000 to attend the con.

I have been to a great many festivals and bands and whatnot in my life, and I've never had to pay over R1000 for any huge event... I probably wouldn't go if it was costing more than that, I have other things to do with my money. :c

Thing is man, the cost for a metal fest is spread around. There aren't going to be 10000 people to carry the burden of costs that it takes for a music fest, so they're trying to realistically work out cost vs attendance.
A really difficult thing to do considering the fandom is so split over various forums or chat groups.

Helios_phi wrote:Thing is man, the cost for a metal fest is spread around. There aren't going to be 10000 people to carry the burden of costs that it takes for a music fest, so they're trying to realistically work out cost vs attendance.
A really difficult thing to do considering the fandom is so split over various forums or chat groups.

Thanks Helios. That's pretty much the long and short of it. But I do have a few ideas to attempt to bring down some costing here and there at least for the first run. Also, please look at comparable examples Tigris. Metal Concerts = tents. This requires housing. Places to stay aren't cheap and if you're looking at a guest house I can assure you that R2400 for just the housing and venues from furs really wouldn't cut the cake. We are trying to make this as workable as possible. Please also note that if I look at that massive Easter Weekend gig, you were looking at around R1000 for the entire weekend, minus food as well.

Also! Please check out for an update on the other General Notes Con page!

If anyone ever gets 10000 furries in a single place, remind me to stay as far away as possible. Imagine all the hugging and squeaky toys and stuff.

I think I could change your mind with 10000 of these:

10 000 of her =heaven after that I wont need to live any longer then I've lived for a million years.

Helios_phi wrote:I think I could change your mind with 10000 of these:

Super cute face; don't like the ears.

Alexander wrote:don't like the ears.

Blasphemimi!!

Make separate levels at, say, R995, R1495, R1995, R2995, maybe more. Some might include accommodation, if you can get a good deal on it; but beware, you may have to guarantee to sell a particular number of rooms, which can bite you.

Make it clear that the people who pay more are cool; give them privileges that don't really cost you anything but which are a benefit for them, e.g. the ability to sit at the front of events, to choose a mascot, to be featured in promotions or announcements, to have cool badge stickers, etc.

If you include commercial items, offer these for sale at the con, but warn that you cannot guarantee availability beyond those who have prepaid for them (you probably won't make or sell one t-shirt for everyone).

Edit: Looks like this poll is now redundant, but my general suggestions above stand.

GreenReaper wrote:Make separate levels at, say, R995, R1495, R1995, R2995, maybe more. Some might include accommodation, if you can get a good deal on it; but beware, you may have to guarantee to sell a particular number of rooms, which can bite you.

Make it clear that the people who pay more are cool; give them privileges that don't really cost you anything but which are a benefit for them, e.g. the ability to sit at the front of events, to choose a mascot, to be featured in promotions or announcements, to have cool badge stickers, etc.

If you include commercial items, offer these for sale at the con, but warn that you cannot guarantee availability beyond those who have prepaid for them (you probably won't make or sell one t-shirt for everyone).

Edit: Looks like this poll is now redundant, but my general suggestions above stand.

Documentation is being done in respect to this.