guide-en

SURVIVAL GUIDE

HEY THERE!
ARE YOU A FIRST TIMER?

Is this the first time you’ve ever attended a furry convention? The vast venue and the events must be a bit overwhelming to a beginner. Relax! The furry convention is a precious chance for you to explore the world of furries outside the Internet and get acquainted with fellow furries! Now, before you throw yourself into a whole new experience, you might want to take some time to read the helpful tips and notes we’ve prepared for the first timer.

This guide will be divided into several parts, including: Mindset, Packing for the convention, Travel to Tamsui, Convention events and Convention Etiquette. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

MINDSET

We all start from the first timer, so we understand how you’d feel to stand in the furry convention with excitement and anxiety. Here are some suggestions we’d like to share to help you make it through the challenges.

Be open-minded

  • Sincerity: Most attendees in the furry convention would like to have friendly interactions with other furries. Be sincere and follow your heart to share what you love to others, you might find new friends during the process!
  • Acceptance: When you meet more friends in the convention, you will also find the vast diversity of interests and hobbies even in this distinctive fandom. There might be some different styles of fursuits, artworks or methods of self-expression, even some fandoms within the fandom. You don’t have to approve or be familiar with all of these hobbies in order to be identified as a furry, but please bring on your curiosity to explore the things that you have never seen before. The point is to find a balance between respect and the boundaries that you feel comfortable with!

 

Be at your best

  • Stay healthy: Sufficient sleep, staying hydrated and fed, and taking your vitamins and medicine (if applicable) are key to performing your best for your trip and furry convention!
  • Stay clean: Before you leave the hotel or your room, take note of your external appearance and remember to make yourself clean and tidy! Take a nice shower if needed, you and furries in the convention will both love it!
  • Stay flexible: Some unexpected situations might happen during your stay at the convention. For example, failing to meet someone, event or schedule conflicts, loss of belongings and idle time with no purpose…etc, so it’s vital to be flexible with those unforeseen occasions. Being prepared for the possible solution of unexpected events would help you in the very time of need.

 

Be fully aware of yourself

  • Why: Remind yourself again about the purpose of this trip; Is it the furcon events you’d like to attend? Is it to meet those friends you’ve been familiar with on the Internet? Is it to meet your favorite artists or fursuiters face to face? Or is it just to blend in the atmosphere all by yourself? This might help you out when you find yourself feeling lost or disoriented during or before the convention. Take a deep breath and keep those purposes in mind, you’ll feel better and be ready for anything in no time!
  • How: Once you are aware of the purpose, it’s best to make a plan schedule for the events you’d like to attend in the convention (and the backup plan!). With the schedule in hand, you’ll have a clearer mind without panicking!

PACKING FOR THE CON

Infurnity is a 2 day event over the weekend. If you are planning to stay overnight, packing up some extra supplies would be necessary. Making a checklist will make your preparation for a trip to Taiwan easier. Here are some tips for your checklist.

The Bare Essentials

  • Masks: Due to the epidemic prevention policy issued by the government, attendees are required to wear a mask properly at all times during the event. Make sure to bring enough masks for attendance. For more information please visit the Taiwan CDC website.
  • Cash: Sufficient cash is probably the most important thing you’d like to have during the trip. Consider how to pay for transportation, food, and souvenirs. While some vendors accept credit cards or mobile payment, cash is always the finest choice. Remember: Plan the budget for the trip first and exchange the money into New Taiwan Dollars while you’re traveling or beforehand! You can never have too much extra cash for emergency use!
  • Credit card: If you are not feeling like carrying a lot of cash and coins, it’s time for the credit card and mobile payment to shine. Some of the convenient stores and chain restaurants or cafes nearby the hotel are available to use these payment methods for food and supplies. But remember: the dealer’s den in the convention only accepts cash.
  • ID card or Passport: When reporting to our front desk staff to retrieve your con badge, you need to show your passport or other government issued ID with the info you submitted to register Infurnity to finish your registration process. Without them, we might not be able to confirm your identity as our attendees!
  • Medication: Make sure you take any necessary prescription drugs or basics (e.g. pain relievers, bandage strips) just in case.
  • Chargers: In a foreign convention, being able to keep in touch with friends or check your email is important. You’ll definitely want to make sure the chargers to your phone, laptop or camera are packed well.
  • Clothing: Bring an extra pair of clothing. Accidents and spills happen, not to mention bad weather and flight delays. To stay abroad for such an active event, having an extra pair of fresh undies or a spare shirt is always a good idea.

 

The Optionals / Nice to Haves

The items below are the optional choices for your packing that might help you in specific situations:

  • Gadgets: The mains electricity in Taiwan is 110V and 60Hz, and outlets have two vertical slots, similar to the North American system. Consider if you might need the corresponding plug adapters for your electronics. Extension cords (power strips), portable chargers, tools and gadgets for the camera such as spare batteries and memory cards, etc.
  • Fursuiter Tools: If you’re bringing the fursuit, these tools might come in handy for you or your fursuiter friends: portable fan for cooling, diluted alcohol or antibacterial spray, fur brushes and lint roller for suit maintenance, extra long straw for drinking water in suit. And don’t forget to bring extra base layer clothing just in case!
  • Character Badges: Character badges can help you find friends and meet new ones! Having badges with art featuring your character or online avatars can be extremely helpful (especially if most people know you best by the characters you play online). Lots of artists take commissions for badges prior to cons, just be sure to have a reference for what your character looks like!
  • Sketchbook(s): You’ll definitely want to bring a sketchbook to a furry convention to have sketches of artists and friends. They can be handy when you’re making plans for the con as well. Be sure to include your contact info in your sketchbook. It can help us get it back to you in case it gets lost.

 

Hotel Check-in / Check-Out

  • Special Offer for Hotel Room: You can see the details of the booking process in “Hotel”→“Room Reservation” on our website. Please be aware that the special room prices are only available through the reservation process on our website. Reservation through phone or any third party method cannot apply for the discount.
  • Check-Out and Luggage storage: The check-out time of the hotel is 11 AM. Due to the fact that we are not responsible for the personal luggage storage of the attendees, please consider beforehand how you’ll store belongings after check-out. We suggest that attendees could reserve the room from Friday night to Monday morning for 3 nights in total. This would solve the issue of needing to store your luggage while the con is still ongoing.

 

Travel to Tamsui

  • Travel to Hotel: Please see “Hotel”→“Hotel Introduction” on our website.
  • Not Staying in the Con Hotel: If you are not staying in the Fullon Hotel Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf, please remember to take the travel time from the place you stay to the con hotel in your consideration. Don’t miss the major events and remember: safety is always the top priority!

 

Travel Check-list

  • Room Checking: Take a look at your reservation info again; Was the date of your stay at the hotel correct? If you’re sharing a room with friends, did they book the room with the correct date? Were all the info above met with your trip plan?
  • Travel Checking: Now let’s check on the travel plans; Have you bought the flight ticket? If so, have you checked how to travel from the airport to the hotel? The detailed travel methods can be found at “Hotel”→“Hotel Introduction” on our website.
  • Schedule Checking: Last but not least, have you checked our “Event Schedule”? Check again for those events that you wouldn’t like to miss, and see if there’s some events that your friends would like to attend. Remember that your time and energy are limited, make sure that you can participate in them without exhausting yourself!

BEFORE YOU ARRIVE

Important Notice about COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, furries around the globe have not been able to visit Taiwan freely since 2020. Even domestic furries had to abide by epidemic prevention policies to attend events. These factors hugely affect the planning and executing of Infurnity. We deeply appreciate your patience and understanding during these 2 years, and we, just like everyone else, hope that the epidemic situation will be ended as soon as possible.

  • Immigration Policy:
    • Summary of quarantine requirements below for your convenience, refer to latest related CDC press release. (Publish Time: 2022/09/29)
    • From 2022/10/13 and onward, the quarantine policy changes to 0+7: 0-day quarantine, with 7-day self-epidemic prevention. (Last Edit: 2022/10/13)
  • Mask Mandate and Other Epidemic Prevention Measures:
    • Summary of epidemic prevention measures below for your convenience, refer to latest related CDC press release. (Publish Time: 2022/07/19)
    • Wearing a mask is required in public areas or outdoors in general.
    • Exceptions please refer to the website above. (Last Edit: 2022/09/24)

 

Important Notice about African Swine Fever

Taiwan is now in the containment period of African swine fever. Attendees from the affected areas should not bring any product that contains pork or made by pork. Foreign travelers will be fined NT$200,000 for carrying illegal quarantine items and will be prohibited from entry to Taiwan until the fine is fully paid.

  • Which of the pork products are forbidden?
    • Not forbidden: Food that contains lard, pork bone broth (pastry or hotpot base) or dried-meat powder.
    • Not recommended: Canned food, instant noodles with sliced or cubed pork.
    • Forbidden: Pork floss, pork chops and any ingredients made of pork, including but not limited to sausage, bacon, salted pork, meatballs, pork buns and egg rolls. Travelers who bring those items above should take the initiative to declare to the customs in case of being fined.
  • List of the affected areas

 

Foreign Attendee Notices

  • Luggage: Please refer to the Customs Declarations of TaoYuan International Airport. Each airline would have different regulations regarding the luggage, please refer to the airline website of your flight for more information.
  • Epidemic Prevention Measures: Please refer to the above mentioned “Important Notice about COVID-19” and “Important Notice about African Swine Fever”.

 

Public Transportation

  • Electronic Ticket: You can use Easy Card, iPass, iCash for the transportations below:
    • Taipei and New Taipei City bus, Taipei and TaoYuan MRT, Taiwan Railways.
  • Transportation Guide: For the easiest way to the hotel, we suggest you head to Taipei Main Station first, then take the MRT red line to Tamsui station. From there, you can take the R26 bus to Fisherman’s Wharf station and the hotel is within your eyesight. For the alternative route, you can take the MRT red line to Hongshulin station instead and transfer to Danhai Light Rail Transit. Take to Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf station and the hotel is near. For a more detailed guide, please refer to “Hotel”→“Hotel Introduction”.
  • Pay Transportation: The hotel also provides pay shuttle bus transportation for hotel guests (free of charge for staying guests). Please refer to “Hotel”→“Hotel Introduction”.

 

Parking

  • Parking at Hotel: The hotel underground parking area with 108 lots is available to use. Room guests could have the privilege of free parking during the stay.
  • Other Parking Area: There are several pay parking areas for the occasion when the hotel parking area is full. We suggest drivers drop the friends and luggage in the car to the hotel entrance then head to the parking.

AT THE CON

Begin the Process

  • Check-in: If you have reserved a hotel room, you could go check-in and have your luggage placed in the room when you arrive. Then bring your ID/passport with you to continue with the next step, or say hello to your friends in the lobby!
  • Getting the Con Badge: Now you’re in the lobby with your ID/passport at hand, you could go to the front desk of Infurnity to finish the registration and get your con badge! The con badge is VERY important as it is required for entry to all events and panels, including the opening and closing ceremonies. We will check the con badge at every entrance of the venue.
  • Enjoy the Con: Remember, you can’t be in two places at once. So it’s vital to stick to your plan and enjoy the con!

 

Food and Drinks

  • In the Hotel: If you’d like to have meals in the hotel, there are options as follows: Buffet at Arcadia Cafe (2F), Dimsum restaurant (1F) and some dessert at Lobby Cafe (1F).
  • Near the Hotel: You will also find multiple choices for meals that fit with your appetite: Starbucks is a short walking distance. Several restaurants and street food are alongside both the Fishermans’ Wharf and The Lover’s bridge. If you’re willing to take a longer walk (10-15 minutes) or have a car available, you could follow the riverbank and find the famous Tamsui Old Street and their famous food!

 

Stay Healthy

  • To have a better convention experience, please keep in mind:
    • The first aid kit is at the hotel front desk. Please feel free to ask for the aid from the hotel staff should an emergency arise.
    • Please follow the instructions of the security staff and volunteers for us to run the event smoothly.
    • Having enough sleep, food, and water is vital for a wonderful convention experience!
  • Notices for Fursuiters:
    • The Headless Area is open for every fursuiter to rest and drink water. Super Sponsors are available to use the Super Sponsor Changing Room.
    • Remember to rest a while and replenish water from time to time to prevent you from heat exhaustion or heat stroke!
    • With the narrowed sight inside the fursuit, please take careful steps when moving around. Bringing a handler along would be helpful when in need!

 

Hotel Facility

  • Respect Other Guests: There will be other guests in the hotel during the con. Be sure to keep your voice down in the room and don’t disturb them. Bring on your positive image and they will have an unforgettable experience as we do!
  • Room Privacy: Attendees without room reservation, please do not enter the hotel room area without an invitation.
  • Public Hotel Facilities: Please follow the regulations when using the public facilities in the hotel, such as swimming pool, sauna, gym, as they are not part of the convention venue.
  • Keep the Hotel Clean: Please don’t litter or vomit in the public space.

 

Most Common Violations

As everyone enjoys our convention, there are still some regulations that require all attendees to follow. For more details, please refer to “Event”→“Code of Conduct”. Here are some common violations listed below that might affect your right of participation of the Infurnity:

  • Con Badge: The official con badge is your pass to the event. Please place it at a clearly visible place for the staff to examine.
  • Smoking: No smoking in the rooms and convention venue.
  • Alcohol Drinks: are only allowed in the room. Not in the convention venue.
  • Litter: Please put the litter in the trash can.
  • Power Outlet: The power outlets in the venue are for staff use only.
  • Photo Shooting:
    • Any personal photos, videos, or media recording footage from the event is prohibited for profit making or for commercial use. Please contact us with infurnity@gmail.com for the requirement above or any further use.
    • IRL live streaming with a smartphone or any other device is prohibited inside the convention venue. IRL live streaming could only be conducted at the outdoor areas.
    • In order to preserve the rights of our attendees, audio and video recording in all panels and events without the consent of the host or our staff are prohibited.
    • IRL live streaming is also forbidden during the talent show and band performance. Attendees can only record videos and upload them afterwards.
    • No photo shooting or video taking in the headless lounge and changing room.
    • If you found any attendees’ faces shown in your event video or photography, please respect and protect their privacy by blurring the faces out before sharing them after the convention.
  • Props and Clothing:
    • For security reasons, you may not carry any weapons anywhere on the indoor premises of the hotel at any time. In this context, any object which is, according to its nature, suitable for inflicting injuries to persons or animals or to do damage to property will be considered a weapon, such as airsoft/imitation firearm or potentially harmful items which is sharp, metallic or over extended in length (over 1 meter long).
    • Do not point your weapon at people, or shoot, load with your props or airsoft/imitation firearm.
  • Attire Guidelines:
    • We want to create a comfortable atmosphere for attendees to participate, hence we would like to suggest attendees to dress in a G-rating style.
    • The attendees, during the event, should avoid dressing with exposed genitals or suggestive outfits, as well as controversial clothings.
    • We reserve the right of final interpretation of the attire guideline.
  • Headless Longue and Changing Room:
    • One additional handler is allowed to assist the fursuiter in the fursuit lounge.
    • No photo shooting or video taking in the headless lounge and changing room.

CONVENTION ETIQUETTE

Elevator Etiquette

  • Suiters Get Priority: A suiter may be overheating and need to retreat to their room, please make room for them! Also, be aware that fursuiters usually have extremely limited vision. Try to keep a clear path for them.
  • Let People Out First: Stand back when the doors open to let people off first. Nobody likes it when people are trying to rush into the elevator before others can get off. Don’t rush yourself into the elevator like a crowded train.

 

Interaction Etiquette

  • Respect the Boundaries: Some people are huggers. Some aren’t. It’s always a good idea to ask before hugging or touching people or fursuiters.
  • Give People Space: Recognize someone you know? Don’t be afraid to say hi! Conventions are a great way to meet people you’re familiar with and also make new friends. At the same time, try not to hover if the person is busy as it can often be distracting. You could start by asking the person if they’re available to chat, then start a conversation with them!
  • Always Bring On Your Smile: You cannot use too many sunny faces in the convention, no matter if it’s meeting the favorite artist, fursuiter or just chatting with others! And smiling is also the best way to show your good manners when you ask for help or turn down the invitation politely!
  • Be Nice to Fursuiters: Despite their adorable appearance and wacky moves, fursuiters have their own boundaries just like everyone. Please use common sense when interacting with any fursuiters, no physical contact on private parts of anyone (i.e: chest, bottom etc). The best way to interact with them is to politely ask them or their handler for their consent before you hug or take a photo shoot!
  • Be On Your Best Behavior: Be nice. Be polite. Don’t do anything illegal. And treat others with kindness and respect, including the non-convention-goer guests. Occupying the public space is also NG!

 

Treat the Staff Well

  • Infurnity Staff: Infurnity is an all-volunteer effort. No staff member, from the convention chair down, earns any income from the convention and in fact many spend their own money to be there working during the weekend all for you. Be nice to them, and they will return the favor by giving you the best convention experience!
  • Hotel Staff: Treat the hotel and restaurant staff well. Try also to keep your room and the public space reasonably clean – the hotel housekeeping staff will appreciate your kindness, and the hotel would be happy to have us back next year!

EPILOGUE

Wowie! Congratulations you made it to the last! We sincerely hope this guide would be helpful for making your convention experience better. See you at the Infurnity and wish you a blast in our convention!

REFERENCE RESOURCE

Can I share this article?

Welcome to share this article! As long as you follow the CC creation authorization (CC-BY-SA 4.0, you can share and modify freely, but you must name it, share it with the same authorization, and not add additional restrictions), we are happy to let the above information be used by more people!

Authors & Translators