Earlier this year I attended my first furry convention. Once it finished I promised one of the organizers that I can help by preparing a talk about SFF conventions for the next edition. I was curious how I would find this fandom on my second visit. Here you can read my impressions from Krakowo Budowo.
Positive Vibrations
Furry fandom is for sure quite positive at their events. At least this is how it looks for me. People are happy to see each other and enjoy their hobby in a safe space. They seem to be very enthusiastic about both the furry and the fandom. Members were quite willing to participate in the convention theme which is always a plus.
Speaking about the theme. Word ‘Budowo’ comes from ‘budowa’ which means ‘construction works’. Many people wore high-vis vests. Some also brought other items associated with the topic – a level, a huge open-ended spanner, safety helmets, workers boots, and more. One of the dealers made 3D printed plaques like the ones used in Poland on construction sites (but way smaller). He filled them in with the data related to the convention.
Lovely badge and lanyard of Krakowo Budowo.
Also organizers made sure that the theme topic will be everywhere. It started with the lanyards that looked like the black and yellow safety tape. There were lights like on road construction, and also toy concrete mixers. The opening ceremony was a kind of performance on the theme topic. On top of that some of the programme items were related to the main theme of the con.
Not Enough Programme
I mentioned it in winter and need to repeat myself – there was not enough programme at the con. I mean not enough from my perspective. The amount, I believe, was appropriate for the furry fandom needs. At first I thought that this time there will be more programme as there were a main stage and three programme rooms. Yet when I looked at the schedule it occurred to me that most of the time was reserved for some loose attractions. Those included retro gaming and open space for drawing and chilling.
Yet there were some programme items that I watched with big interest. After the opening ceremony I attended a talk about furry events. It was not as educational as the one on Krakowo Zimowo but still quite interesting. Afterwards there was an interview/meeting with a comic artist Joanna ‘Ave’ Sępek. I haven’t read her comic but the meeting was interesting and enjoyable.
Feniks and Ave posing for a picture.
Then I had the time for lunch and for walking around the con (I will write more about it later). I finished the day with a presentation by Żabrołak. The item’s title was a nice wordplay. In Polish the term for Health&Safety is ‘Bezpieczeństwo i Higiena Pracy’ (literally ‘safety and work’s hygiene’). The talk was called ‘Bezpieczeństwo Hamuje Pracę’ (Safety Restrains Work). It was quite fascinating as Żabrołak presented a lot of interesting anecdotes related to H&S. He is a physicists who works in IT and has experience from CERN (among other places) so the stories were sometimes surprising. He is also a very good speaker and I would love to listen to him at other events.
On Sunday I started the day late and saw part from the Construction Works Tournament. Later I listened to a talk about chemical warfare which was followed by a talk about storm chasing. As you can see the programme although small was quite broad. It was visible at Krakowo Budowo and in online social channel that many members are deeply invested in some topics and like to talk about them. Jakubauke, who gave the speech about storm chasing, also talked about storms and weather outside of programme. As there was a storm in Kraków he was observing the clouds and commenting live what is happening. He assured that we will be safe from rain as the storm would hit 2 km further to the east. It was quite amazing to listen to him talking about it and showing what we should look for on the sky.
Opening ceremony was quite interesting.
Although Krakowo Budowo lasted till 7PM on Sunday, I decided to leave early. Once I finished my talk (meaning around 4 PM) I took last walk around the con and headed home. As for my programme item it didn’t start well. At first there was a delay related to previous talk running long. Then there were some technical issues. And when I was ready to talk the room was empty. As the con was streamed online I only hoped that someone may be listening online. Yet suddenly a few people came and I had the audience to talk to. Moreover they seemed to be genuinely interested and had some good questions. I am not sure whether they enjoyed my presentation but I hope so.
Great Ideas
I enjoyed creativity of the conrunners. The theme of Krakowo Budowo was a concept I would rather not consider but it went quite well. Moreover they had some interesting ideas for funny and engaging attractions. E.g. on Saturday there was a group ‘train’ activity. People who wanted to participate were all connected with strings to form a train. The goal was to move around the convention and collect ‘goods’. Those were supposed to be used in the later part of this competition. A group of a dozen or more people (many in partial or full fursuits) walking around and collecting boxes was quite a view.
‘Train’ on its route around the conplace.
Other thing that caught my attention was Lego speedbuilding. I saw it in the programme item but decided it is not for me. Only later I realized that it was a team competition where one person had the instruction and others had the bricks. The catch was that they were not in the same room and had to use radio to communicate.
I also loved the group picture that was taken close to the convention end. I know it is nothing new but not all conventions do that and it is such a great idea. In fact with so many people wearing fursuits (or parts of that) it made a nice impression.
Not a Place For Me
Unfortunately it is not a place for me. That is not because Krakowo Budowo was bad. I liked how the con was ran. Probably I would change some things but in general it was a nice con. I am sure that members enjoyed it. The issue is that I couldn’t appreciate it fully as I am not a furry myself.
Should I be more extroverted it would be better. Yet I am often shy and as I didn’t have the standard ‘we love the same things’ opening for discussions I was a bit lost when not attending programme items. In between them I wandered around a bit aimlessly. I observed fandom and its dynamics and I checked the dealers and was amazed by graphics made by one of them. There was Tea Room but somehow it was less welcoming than at Krakowo Zimowo. I believe the reason for that was that it was in a corridor and not in separate room.
Lego speedbulding.
Even though some people apart from Feniks recognized me I still felt like a stranger. Let me repeat myself – it was not because of the con or the members. Simply not knowing people and not being ready to start conversations was a problem.
A Good Con
As per my understanding Krakowo Budowo had the aim to reach out to younger generations of furry fans and to show them more of fandom. To my eyes they succeeded. There were young people and I have seen many enthusiastic comments including those coming from first timers. The social channel on Telegram (which is the communicator of choice for furry fandom in Poland) was very lively during the con. In fact it exists for many months and I have seen people there talking all the time.
Happy members posing for a group picture on Sunday afternoon.
I may not attend other furry conventions (but who knows) yet I appreciate the aspect of the furry fandom I saw. I liked their joyful approach to the con and the strong sense of community. Staying ‘outside’ was more of my decision. It impacted negatively how I felt at the con and didn’t allow me to enjoy it to the full extent but others didn’t have this issue (at least I hope so!)
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post will appear within two weeks.