"2019"

Three more days

So, it’s finally happening. There’s only a few more days to go until Southern Paws 2019!

There’s a few more things we need to go over before the event.

Weather

The current weather forecast for Saturday is patches of rain. This isn’t ideal for our outdoor events, but we’ll try to do as many as we can despite the rain. If the rain is too bad to go ahead, we’ll try to postpone, and in the worst case scenario, we may have to cancel some outdoor events. We highly recommend you bring good outdoor gear - a rain jacket, waterproof shoes, and something warm.

Sign in

On the day of the event, we’ll have a trail of balloons you can follow from the car parking area to con registration. So just remember, follow the balloons!

Fursuit Repairs

If you have any problems with your fursuit or cosplay, our artist Kittyraa will be bringing basic supplies to help fix minor damage and tears.

Music

We will be having a dance on Saturday! We’re still putting together the playlist, so if you have any suggestions please do post them in our Telegram channel and we’ll try and fit them in the mix.

How to Survive Southern Paws

With Southern Paws less than two weeks away, I’m sure a lot of you are getting pretty excited for the event. But before it can happen, we need to take a step back. How does this all work? This post will cover everything you need to know about the event, including opening times, emergency details, and what to bring.

First of all, some basic details.

Basic Details

The site, and times

The event will be held at the Waipara Adventure Centre. The event will be running from Friday to Sunday. The site opens for attendees at 1:30 PM on Friday, and closes at noon on Sunday.

Be tidy! We ask everyone attending to help us out by keeping the site, and their rooms clean and presentable. We aim to leave the site cleaner than it was when we arrived.

Signing in and out

When you first arrive at the site, you’ll need to sign in. As part of this procedure, Southern Paws staff will need to see your photo identification. Once we confirm your identity, we will issue you with your convention badge. This must be worn at all times.

On the day of the event, we’ll have a trail of balloons you can follow from the car parking area to con registration. So just remember, follow the balloons!

If you wish to leave the site at any point, you must return to registration and sign out.

The forms of identification we can accept are listed below:

• 18+ Card
• Kiwi Access Card
• Passport
• Driver’s Licence

If you don’t have at least one of these forms of identification, contact our staff immediately.

Accomodation

Rooms in our cabins have already been allocated based on the information submitted with your registration. If your preferred roommates were not able to fill an entire room, you will need to share with others. For those who didn’t specify preferences, or those who picked the bunkroom option, you will be allocated beds randomly. When you sign in to the event, convention staff will tell you your assigned room number and roommates.

Rooms are allocated in advance, and we cannot allow attendees to move without prior notification. If your cabin preferences have changed, please notify us immediately.

Food and dietary requirements

Meals will be provided, including all meals on Saturday as well as breakfast on Sunday. You can bring your own snacks if you’d like more, though.

If you have any allergies or special dietary requirements, you must tell us about these as soon as possible. The food this year is being catered by our venue and we will be unable to make last-minute changes to the meal plans.

Smoking

We do allow smoking, but in designated areas only. This includes the use of vapes and electronic cigarettes. If you need help finding this area, find a convention staff member and they can point you in the right direction.

Alcohol

We are allowing alcohol, however we are placing restrictions on what is allowed. These can be found listed below:

• No more than 10 standard drinks for the entire event.
• Must be in its original container.
• All alcohol above the limit will be confiscated.
• Any mild to severe intoxication will not be tolerated and if you are intoxicated you will be put in a safe place until you are sober.

Weather

The current weather forecast for Saturday is patches of rain. This isn’t ideal for our outdoor events, but we’ll try to do as many as we can despite the rain. If the rain is too bad to go ahead, we’ll try to postpone, and in the worst case scenario, we may have to cancel some outdoor events. We highly recommend you bring good outdoor gear - a rain jacket, waterproof shoes, and something warm.

If something goes wrong

If something goes wrong at the event, or you need medical attention, find a member of our staff as soon as you can. You’ll know them by the bright green Southern Paws t-shirts. And the huge “STAFF” label written on the back. That helps too.

If you need medical attention urgently, our onsite medical fox will be wearing a red shirt, so he should be easy to spot.

If at any point during the convention you need to get in touch with staff and can’t find anyone, you can reach convention staff using the phone number 0225655351 at any point during the convention. Cell signal at the site should be fairly good. We recommend that you put this number into your phone now - before you need it in an emergency.

If you have any problems with your fursuit or cosplay, our artist Kittyraa will be bringing basic supplies to help fix minor damage and tears.

Furry Convention Survival

What to bring

First of all, we have to go over the basics. The list below will cover all the basic things you will need to bring with you to the event.

• Bedding materials. Anything you might need - blankets, pillows, and a warm sleeping bag. Mattresses will be provided, and the rooms are heated, but the night can be pretty cold in the South Island.
• Warm clothes - as said above, things can get pretty cold! Bring all the clothes you’ll need for the weekend, and some extras if you want to be safe.
• Towels! At least one, but two is better. The showers on site are diesel heated, and you’ll want to use them.
• Toiletries. A tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, soap, all the basics you’d need for the weekend. This includes deodorant. We don’t want smelly furries.
• Decent outdoor footwear. The site is fairly easy to get about, but if you want to spend time outdoors you’ll probably want to bring some decent shoes. Some activities may require closed-toe shows.
• A rain jacket.
• A water bottle
• A torch

And, a few more things (that while not essential,) you might want to bring.

• Snacks and drinks. The nearest full-service supermarket is Countdown Amberley, located about a ten minute drive away from the site. There will not be any snacks available for purchase on-site, so we recommend you bring some with you.
• Basic medication. It’s a good idea to bring any basic medication you could need - Ibuprofen, Immodium, Paracetemol, and antacids being a few examples.
• Earbuds, earplugs, or headphones. You may end up sharing a room with someone who snores!
• Swimming togs. We will be having a water-slide activity, and you’ll need togs for this. We don’t recommend a wetsuit for this activity, though.

What not to bring

• Weapons. We can’t allow weapons on-site at Southern Paws. If you want to use a prop weapon as part of your costume, please contact us in advance to ask if it’s okay. Nerf guns and soft arrows are permitted as long as they are used outdoors and only between consenting persons. You must also clean up after use.
• Pets will not be allowed at Southern Paws. Guide dogs, and other disability assistance animals are permitted, but we may ask for evidence of this. Please contact us as soon as possible if this applies to you.
• Drugs. We will not allow any drugs that are not prescription or over the counter. This includes “legal highs”. All prescription medicines must be in their original containers unless evidence is provided that it is the same as what your prescription states. Anything else is prohibited and maybe reported to police.
• Valuables. We don’t have any secure storage available on site, so please don’t bring anything valuable that you might lose.

What to do

As with any convention, remember the 6-2-1 rule: Get six good hours of sleep each night, eat two good meals each day, and take one good shower each morning. Besides that, just have fun. Furries tend to be a friendly bunch, so get out there, mingle, and chat!

Remember the event staff are just volunteers, and we pay for our tickets just like anyone else. None of us are making anything from the convention and we are doing it for you folks, the NZ furry fandom. So be nice, considerate, and understand that we are trying our best to make this an awesome weekend for all of us.

We’d also like to thank all of those who are attending this year for helping make this event possible. The old cliche remains true - none of this could have happened without your support.

1 MONTH LEFT TIL CON

So, here we go. Last leg before con. it’s so exciting to see this all coming together. As we mark the one month till con milestone we have three small reminders today.

TICKETS

Reminder the first: Tickets close this week on Friday. GET YOUR BOOKINGS IN NOW. We need these final numbers in. This includes the day pass bookings.

PAYMENT

For those of you that HAVE booked then please make sure to get your payments in by the 10^th of July at the latest as that is when we need them by.

SHIRTS

And as a final reminder, if you are coming then the shirts are available for you to pick up when you check in. These need to be ordered AND Paid for by the 19^th of July.

We look forward to seeing you all in August and a giant thanks to all those that have paid for making this event possible. Without you this event wouldn’t even be possible.

Thanks, Votter Chairman

SHIRTS

Tiny bit of news, but I am sure you will all be happy because Shirts are now available to order until the 19^th of July as that is when they need to be ordered by to arrive in time for con..

Shirts!

That’s right we have those available for purchase in a number of sizes and colours for $35. You can go check these out by clicking the link below:

Get a shirt

If you have any questions about the shirts then do let us know. If you want to see the design from our own Kittyraa then have a look below:

Two months to go!

We’re about 2 months away from the event and have a few updates to share. Let’s keep the hype going and get more of you to come.

Schedule

We are currently finalising the con schedule and what panels we are wanting to host during the weekend. It’s going to be a pretty busy weekend, but it should be a very good one.

Over the course of the next week or two we will be getting in contact with those of you that have suggested activities and/or panels to discuss your ideas for the event.

Shuttle times for Sunday morning

For people taking advantage of our shuttle service, we now have shuttle times for Sunday morning after the event. The first shuttle is at 6:15 AM which will be before breakfast for the insane among us on the early flights home.

After that, the next ones are as follows:

• 9:45am (after breakfast)
• 11:45am
• 1:45pm for the final shuttle

Payments

We’re starting to get closer to the event and we have 20 unpaid bookings. If you are among these, then please do pay for your tickets as soon as possible. You’ll find the payment details on the website under “My Orders”. If you have any issues with the website, or anything else, please do let us know. You can reach out to us by using the Telegram chat, the contact form on our site, or by sending us an email.

Identification Cards

So this one is a bit of another detail. We confirmed during our meeting this last weekend that ID is needed to stay at the camp overnight. While most of you will likely have a form of ID we imagine there are a few that may not have it.

You’ll need one of the below to be able to attend the event.

• Passport
• Driver’s Licence
• 18+ Card/Kiwi Access Card

People attending on a day pass will not need to show ID.

One more thing

We still have tickets available, but it is coming down to the wire. Help us get everything good and sorted. Invite your friends! It will be a weekend of furry fun and festivities for all that attend. We look forward to having everyone down south for a change to see what we are all like. We also hope to meet new friends ourselves.

Yours truly Votter Chairman

Day Passes and Shirts

Hey Everyone.

It’s been a great past month. I know we’ve been silent on a couple of things that people want to know about, including an important item that many of you want to know more about. Hopefully we can help you out with that information here.

Day Passes

Yes finally we’re getting the information for this out. This means that those of you that want to come and join in for a day or two but don’t want to stay with all of us furry folk will have the information you need, and what you will need to keep in mind.

There are going to be two types of day passes available:

• A two day pass costs $50, giving you access to the event on Saturday and Sunday
• A single day pass costs $30, giving you access to the convention on Saturday only

Yes, if you want to come and visit for one or two days of con you can do that! Tell your friends and let them know that they too can come and join in. They can come and see their friends, join in and listen to/watch some of the panels, and browse the artist alley for new art to buy, or artists to commission.

While this is all well and good, there are a couple of limits. Those of you attending with a day pass will not be able to join in with the camp run activities, such as archery, confidence course and air rifles, and there will also be time limits for how long you can stay at the event(Friday 2 PM - 8 PM and Saturday 10 AM - 5PM).

This is still going to be a great event with people coming from all across NZ, and one or two from further away that you can come and see. Even meet some of the people that you’ve talked to from other parts of NZ.

T-shirts

The t-shirt design has been finalized and will be available through our website shortly for $35. In case you don’t know the shirt features the con mascot wielding a sword and shield with his pet kea flying over his shoulder. The last details for the shirt to be sold on the website are getting set up as we speak. So expect those soon. You can however see the image below. So get ready for those.

Other News

So payment has been open for a while now and half of those registered have paid, but we still have room for more people to come and have fun at the con. Invite your friends and furry family to come along, and if you want to get your real family involved, invite them too if you want to get them into it too. We’ve also added one more shuttle run as well for after dinner for those of you that are arriving late to Christchurch (8:30 PM pick up time from the airport), save some of you late arrivals the hassle of dealing with car rental agencies for a couple of 45 minute drives.

That seems to be all for now, though we have a few more bits of information to get out to you in the next two months before con. The next update should be very soon with the con events schedule, unless something with more urgency comes up.

We will keep all of you involved for if anything happens to the con as well.

Yours truly, Votter

Payments and Shuttles

Couple of important updates. They’re small, but very important updates.

Firstly, Payments. PAYMENT IS OPEN. At this time it is open via bank transfer from NZ accounts We are currently working on a solution for any international folk. Those of you that have booked a ticket should have received an email about this in the last couple of days. Get onto this as soon as you can.

There are still beds available. At time of writing we have had over 50 beds booked, though we’re aiming for more.

Secondly, Airport Shuttles: We have a Friday schedule of airport shuttles now. We’ve been working with Naghala, our driver, on getting these times sorted. The trip from the airport is approximately 45 minutes if everything goes according to plan. At this stage the shuttle will be departing from the airport at the following times with departures on Sunday also listed below.

Friday Pick up Times

• 12:45 PM
• 2:45 PM
• 4:45 PM
• 8:30 PM

Sunday Departure times

• 6:15 AM
• 9:45 AM
• 11:45 AM
• 1:45 PM

This is approximately three trips. If your arrival is later than this and you have booked a shuttle please let us know. At this time it gives approximately 2 hours between departures on the shuttle. The driver of the shuttle will be Naghala.

In other related news I was recently interviewed by Patch from DogPatch Press from the USA about our convention while they were doing some research about the New Zealand Fandom. If you are interested in reading this then please take a look: Interview with Patch about Southern Paws Con

Thanks everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing you all in less than 4 months time. Encourage your friends to come along if possible.

Thanks, Votter

Payments Soon & Updates

Hi Everyone

We have a new telegram announcements channel. It will be used alongside the blog, as well as our facebook page and twitter account. This will be a centralised news feed on Telegram for people who want to get all the news updates. The main news will be posted by myself, Baz or Nagahla. See below:

To join the channel, just click this link.

Just a couple of other smaller updates. We are still looking for people to run panels. So far we have had a bunch of great suggestions from food eating contests to writing panels and fursuit tutorials. For submitting panels that you would like to run, or would like to see then please submit your ideas through the contact page here on the website.

[Update] Payments are now live!

Thanks, Votter

Call for Panels

Hi Everyone.

Boy it has been a very exciting week for us that are organising Southern Paws. We have already had a good number of registrations for the con. It has been fantastic to see the enthusiasm everyone has for the con.

Panel Submissions

We are making our official call for panels starting NOW.

If you want to submit an idea for a panel then please do so through the Contact us page here on the website. Please make reasonable suggestions, also include the length of time you may require for your panel

We cannot guarantee what panels will be accepted but we will take all suggestions into account when we are deciding what panels get the spots Please note that if you require additional equipment for a panel then it will be up to you to supply it.

If you have any questions about the submission requirements, or any additional clarification then please get in touch with us through our website

Lets keep this going

Thanks, Votter

Update and Registration Now Open

Hi Everyone,

We here at Southern Paws want to apologise for the radio silence over the last month regarding important details such as when will tickets be available to purchase and the event schedule.

Firstly to address the elephant in the room, when will ticket purchasing go live?

There are two answers for this. The quick answer is NOW

The long answer is as follows: We have been trying to get everything ready. The website side of this is basically ready to go, however the bank side is where there have been hold ups for the last couple of months. We’ve been working as hard as we can to get this ready to go. I know that it is frustrating as many of you do want to book your tickets now and pay for them soon. We understand this. We’re as frustrated as you all are. Our original plan had been to have the tickets go live, and then have the payment options available at the same time, however due to circumstances we will be making ticket ordering available RIGHT NOW, and then as soon as the bank hold ups are finished we will be putting the payment options available. We promise that we are getting this sorted.

Speaking of which, tickets. Initially when we had done the maths we had done it relying on the fact that we would need to sell almost all of the tickets to be able to run the event. Looking back at that, it was a mistake. We have since reworked our calculations and found that we should base our maths on selling about 70 tickets for the event to be realistic.

So what does this mean for you? This does mean that we do need to raise the cost a little bit. I know this is disappointing, but it is what we have had to decide. We are trying to keep it realistic in terms of our pricing.

Are we still going to do an early bird special? We are choosing to withdraw our early bird pricing this year.

So what is the cost now? The costs are now going to be going up a small amount to $160 for the Bunk Room and $190 for the cabins.

Is there sponsor options? Yes. We are having two sponsor options. We Are also offering people the chance to sponsor the event by paying an extra $30. This will get you a pass to be in front of non sponsors in the line for food, and also name in the con book. The other sponsor options that we are adding is that there are 2 rooms a little bit further from the main hall, these each have a double bed with a single bunk bed above. The sponsors will also get first in line for food if they so choose to use it. The pricing for the supersponsor option is $230 PER PERSON in the room. These rooms will be limited to having 2 tickets available. TOTAL. If you order these tickets then no one else will be able to select that ticket. The Super Sponsor rooms will be available shortly after the rest of the tickets.

About Scheduling:

Scheduling for the con is being finalised, we are working through with our staff what we think is the best plan, and when the best times for various planned events would be. We will be making a call in the next 7 days for people that want to run events or panels to send us submissions via our email if they want to run an event. If you have a good idea please do let us know and we will go through each suggestion and see what we believe will work within our means and within the spaces that we have. We have already had multiple people make suggestions.

And YES, we are planning on a dance at the con on one of our two nights.

Thanks, Votter Southern Paws Chairman.