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[Ragear]

Hi everyfur

I've modified this a bit with Cheetah's additional input. PLEASE READ before making EDUCATED suggestions. Not just one or two conditions need to apply, but most, if not all, to keep hassle from staff.

well, there's a thread about theme ideas going on so: EF18 seems to squeeze the Maritim Magdeburg to the limits, and a limit to the growth of the EF doesn't seem to be near.

Are there ideas about  possible other venues? You have an idea? Share it. But before, consider all this:
1) Venue/ Hotel must hold ~1500 min. 2000 Attendants
2) Venue must have 2-3 big ballroom(s), sized about at least 1500-2000sqm (that's 2 complete sport gyms!) and 800-1500sqm. and minimum 6 function rooms with 75-120sqm/ ea.  for staff, back office, clinics, SIGs, gaming and so on.
3) reasonably reachable by public transport, and given who runs the show prefurably in Germany.
4) alternatives in terms of drinking, eating or partying outside the hotel.
5) a large supply of innocent bystanders handy to cuddle and admire the suitwalk.
6) reasonably rates for hotel rooms ... but good quality. Spa would be nice...
7) some sort of waterhole inside, like a bar or so.
some sort of waterhole outside, like a supermarket or so.

another one: I think it's not going to work if another very big event would be there around end of August or when EF could take place.
AND PLEASE: DO NOT APPROACH THE HOTELS BY YOURSELF; LEAVE THIS TO THE CAPABLE HANDS OF THE EF STAFF!

*hugs*

Ragear

[Dhary Montecore]

Suggestions for new venues? Cool idea. But you know that the suggestions are useless when you ask for parameters that are not the real ones. Maybe you should ask a member of staff AFTER EF for the real conditions we need.

[Cheetah]

It's so cute to see how you believe you'll have so many choices, that you'll even get to the last point on your list   Well, let's see how many venues you will find in Germany who have 1500+ beds and matching convention space on site. If you find any, I am VERY interested in hearing about them

For everyone wanting to chip in, some extra criteria:

- We're most likely talking about 2014, not 2013.
- Must be located in Germany
- Hotel capacity of at least 2000 beds. (We're already at 1300 this year.)
- Must be an indoor location. Outdoor locations are a no-go.
- Main ballroom must have at least 1500-2000 square meters.
- Secondary ballroom for artshow must have at least 800-1200 square meters.
- Third ballroom for dealers den must have at least 600-1000 square meters
- At least 6 more function rooms with 3 of least 75 square meters and another 3 of at least 120 square meters aeach are required

Now if you find me at least ONE location that matches these criteria (and that is not the Estrel in Berlin), I will be very impressed

Now before we even get to the point of comparing room or bar prices, we'd need to have TWO locations to choose from. So just for the record: If you find me TWO locations that match the above criteria, you should be doing this as your main job.

[Duma]

I don't know if InterContinental Frankfurt hotel sound good. The hotel got 770 rooms and 21 floors. Sorry if it doesn't seem good enough.

[Cheetah]

I don't know if InterContinental Frankfurt hotel sound good. The hotel got 770 rooms and 21 floors. Sorry if it doesn't seem good enough.

You didn't even read what I wrote did you? People, I know that you all have all the best intentions, and I really don't want to seem arrogant, but we also know how to use google, if you found a venue in 5 minutes, and didn't even bother checking more than ONE criteria, your suggestion is worthless and you can as well just save the time for something useful

Really, don't get me wrong, if you SERIOUSLY have a good suggestion, by all means, let us know. But as you can tell from my irritated reaction, I've gotten a lot of "suggestions" in the last years that were so pointless that it makes me doubt that there is any intelligence life on this planet.

If you can't even be bothered to check the criteria I posted before blurting out the first hit on google, you are not helping. You are wasting your time, and our time, too.

[Ragear]

ok, I modified the starting post accordingly to Cheetah's additional criteria. I suppose when germany is prefurred most of the locations will already be known to the staff, but let's give it a try :-)

*hugs*

Ragear

[BigBlueFox]

Germany is not only preferred, but it's definitely required.

The reason for that is that roughly 90% of the staff is German. We know German laws, regulations, requirements. We can negociate with offices, bureaus, authorities and businessmen in our native language only. Eurofurence has grown to a point where we can no longer fly under the radar, we have to comply with the local laws with everything we do, be it serving of alcohol, controling the access of minors, public performance of music, usage of lasers, security issues, providing first responders for possible medical issues...

Also, EF owns more than a truckload of equipment that is ultimately required to run this convention. You may not be aware of this, but every year, we haul a truck and several station wagons and vans filled up to the rooftop to the convention site. Also, we rent a truck full of lighting gear from a company that keeps things affordable for us because we've been working with them for many many years.

Moving countries would mean that we'd lose that benefit. We'd have to rely on a different lighting company that would make things much more expensive. Then, there's all the red tape involved: most of the staff would have to invest weeks and months learning about the different local laws. It would completely change the face of EF when suddenly, serving of alcohol gets regulated in ways like the UK does. Moving our equipment is a logistical problem that is nearly impossible to solve.

So as much as I hate to say it, but at this point it's no longer to just roam around Europe. EF is now a big player and all the red tape involved is time consuming enough. We couldn't do this any longer in a different country. EF 9 in the Czech Republic was a lesson for us.

[Wawik]

Germany is not only preferred, but it's definitely required.

 

[Gyroplast]

YMMD.

[Dhary Montecore]

THIS

[BigBlueFox]

Thirded.

[Ragear]

ahaha, I get it :-) war stories ...

I'd like to excuse me, it was not my intention to pee on somebodys achievements! I'm involved as operative in an pan-european model club whose non-public shows fills 6000m² at time, so talk about transport of valuable and complex stuff ... I surely understimated the complexity of this undertaking. And now you mention UK (I say required electric testing of EVERYTHING! at CFz) I get the neccessity for staying in Germany. You're absolutely right.

I intended this a bit as fun, with the chance of a gem idea. If you consider this to be counter-useful, if not worse, feel free to close this thread. Otherwise: just keep an eye out, maybe s.o. has a good one. Sorry to have abused your time 9 days short of EF :-)

Thanks for all the fun that you give to all the furs!

Ragear

[BigBlueFox]

Don't worry, it's all good. I do admit it can become some kind of a hassle sometimes, not because people suggest venues that turn out to be unsuitable for our event, but mostly because a lot of people will start discussing things they deem useless, which however are a bare neccessity for us.

We have been and will always keep looking ourselves, but we still appreciate any suggestion you guys have. Just please don't be upset if we have to turn it down, or if it sometimes happens in a way that seems more rude than neccessary. This is an exceptionally difficult and busy period for most staffers.

[SouthPaw]

I'd like to excuse me, it was not my intention to pee on somebodys achievements! I'm involved as operative in an pan-european model club whose non-public shows fills 6000m² at time, so talk about transport of valuable and complex stuff ... I surely understimated the complexity of this undertaking. And now you mention UK (I say required electric testing of EVERYTHING! at CFz) I get the neccessity for staying in Germany. You're absolutely right.

Off-topic I know, but in the UK it's got to the stage where the team organising the London fur meets (every three weeks!) have had to set up a Limited Company (closest German equivalent being a GmbH) to take out public liability insurance for their fursuit walks and the details of the Summer and Winter parties (and possibly the normal meets) have to be notified to the local Police due to the numbers involved!

Back on topic, I don't envy anyone trying to find a suitable venue for a future move, given the essential requirements. And finding a suitable venue with an achievable budget is going to be even harder, even allowing for economies of scale.

Cheers,

Southie

[Wawik]

You can pretty much work down this list anyways 

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_gr%C3%B6%C3%9Ften_Hotels#Liste_der_deutschen_Hotels_mit_den_meisten_Zimmern