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EF20 feedback

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Jorinda:

--- Quote from: Zestence on 26.08.2014, 05:07:06 ---I'll try to keep this short.

--- End quote ---
Me too, so I won't repeat stuff that has already been said. I guess we don't need another text about waiting lines.

Fursuit lounge
The fursuit lounge was organized very well. There were always full containers of different drinks, snacks, and cups. Everything was refilled rapidly.
I was surprised to find free head-dryer slots all the time. I had expected some waiting time for a free dryer at peak times, like just after the fursuit parade.
Also the separation between head-dryer and feet-dryer worked perfectly.

The only negative thing I can say about the fursuit lounge: It was awfully cold. The ventilation was great, but the cold air made people feel quite uncomfortable, even when changing from fursuit to normal clothes took only few minutes.
(On the other hand, the temperature kept people from lingering in the lounge and blocking it.)

About stairs/lifts:
Most has been said in previous posts. Just one small addition: There was the staircase from 1st floor to the lobby. Would it be possible to keep that one open all day? I had a hotel room in the first floor, and could have walked easily, but the doors were locked in the morning (because of breakfast, I guess).

About EF Prime:
Nice choice of videos between the events.
Sometimes there were techical issues such as beeping, no sound or stripes in the image. But those were fixed after the first or second day, if I remember correctly.

The main stage:

Nice idea to put up that dancing poles. But the aluminium caused dark stains on white fursuit paws.

The light during the dances was very nice.

Not sure if that was a general issue or I just had a seat right underneath a vent: I felt very cold during the Fursuit Gameshow. For other events such as Dance Contest and Fursuit-Friendly Dance, the temperature was good.


Fursuit Game Show
Nice creative games.
On the other hand... nice "creative" system of giving the points? I wasn't the only one who failed to understand how the points for the games were calculated. (Well, I won't complain, since my friends won, but still it seemed a bit illogical.)

The moderator seemed to be a bit confused and sometimes misinformed. He announced the winners, and then saw that there were more games to come. I don't know what happened there.
During the "How did this victim die?" game, some of the images were not shown on the screen.

All in all, the games were fun to watch, but lacked information for the audience at some points.

edit: One thing I really disliked: The charity thing in the pre-Games. I was in one of the last teams, and when we came to the lobby with the charity box, everyone greeted us with "Not again, I was asked for money 15 times in a row now." Annoying people isn't a great idea for charity.


The campfire
Big thank you for that! It was awesome. A nice place to sit and chat.


The environments
Well, I see that the con organisators couldn't influence that. Local people showed a wide variety from happy curiosity up to threats to beat fursuiters. But as far as I know, noone was really attacked.

There were some restaurants that were frequented by many furries. For example the "La Terrazza". Maybe they would be partners for a "Show you Badge"-thing next year?



Details and suggestions
Not sure if that would cause too much extra work: Would it be possible to offer con shirts in two colours? Standard black and one non-black colour? This year's brownish colour wasn't liked by everyone. (Well, of course we have the choice to just not get a conshirt if we dislike the colour.)

Maybe some finger posts pointing to the main event rooms? I know there was a plan in the conbook, but most people just carry the pocket guide, and many were searching for panel rooms during the first days.

For the Dealers Den: Someone could earn a fortune by selling punched pockets. Many artists offer unframed prints, postcards and similar stuff that would be easier to take home in a protecting pocket.

Cyrilius:

--- Quote from: BigBlueFox on 26.08.2014, 01:50:20 ---
Thanks for your feedback, but we strongly depend on statements by the stage and pawpet crew, and when all we get is a "It's done when it's done", we cannot do anything about it.

--- End quote ---

Ok, thanks for clarification then!

Redirecting that request for the future to the stage crew then. I think everybody can understand that the stage has to be ready and nobody wants to see a half-prepared show.

But if there are problems, it's better to state a realistic time and keep people informed.

Fafnir Kristensen:
summary:

I had one week of great fun :)
thanks to everyone who made it possible :)


in details:

location:

mmm, I miss the feeling we had in Magdeburg, where we were in the city center, near all the people and the life. I wonder why they built the Estrel so far from the center? maybe because the land was cheap, but still.
but there are enough supermarket around to accommodate for any needed "supply", and the ring train station is just around the corner, so it's not that bad.
anyway, we cant really move the hotel location


hotel:

the good:
- I like the new hotel, more space for everything is good.
- Breakfast is nice too, also I dont think I have seem that many people up so early before :D
- Reception/concierge/restaurant staff were very friendly and offered me excellent services.

the bad:
- stairs door locked... seriously, this has been the same problem in all the hotel we have been, why dont they put handle on both side of the doors ? also that would much alleviate the stress on the elevators.
- the bar...
the bar staff was either seriously overwhelmed or not happy, because the service there was not good: long waiting, sad faced waiter/waitress, and please, I order a black ice and they dont have any left? (it seems they were not making these live at the bar but only prepared big jerrycan somewhere else) so I order a Spooge Special and I get a glass completely full of ice and 5 sip of cocktail? I was not happy and never ordered another one).
also, the bar closed at 3am the evening of the pawpetshow/dance, WTF, seriously, thats completely retarded, the bar manager is really bad/clueless (please give me back André the hairless master of alcohol! that guy knew what he was doing).
even the small bar in the corner of the main stage room closed before the end of the dance (but kudo to the waiter who did the service, he was nice and did a good job)
- the wifi in the room (estrel-rooms network) is the absolute WORST i have ever experimented, it was just plain unusable. a 4 stars hotel should be ashamed for providing such low quality service :( :( :( .


dealers den:

the good:
- more space, can fit everyone inside, almost no queue! (but for the opening, but thats normal).

the less good:
- not really bad, but friends who were dealing in the first isle block near the entry where quite cramped and told me it would have been better with a bit more inner space, and when I see all the free space behind the larger tables near the window where almost nobody was, that should be easily possible without causing any flow problem.


artshow:

the good:
- more space
- the item deposal/pickup (at the entrance of the dealers den), excellent idea and it worked very well, please do it again.

the less good:
- lighting was so-so, I often had the lamps reflection in the art glass, making it difficult to really appreciate what I was looking at. though with the big ceiling, I understand it may be problematic to improve.
- I was a bit annoyed by the fursuite photoshooting flashing all the time. I understand you tried to use the space as much as possible, but next year please try to not put the two together in the same room.


the dances:

the good:
- I liked both dance, I had a lot of fun doing both till the end! big thanks to the DJs!

the less good:
- no more ears protection? If I remember correctly these were previously offered unofficially by one of the attendee, did this person not come this year or couldnt offer the service ? please let me know if thats the case next year, and I will try to provide boxes of theses.
I brought my own ears protection, so I was fine, but im pretty sure lots of people would have appreciated having some too.


pawpetshow wait:

the less good:
- making people wait outside of the hotel: really bad idea
- information was slow to come and when an announcement is done, it should get relayed along the queue.

the better:
- thanks to the person who thought about distributing drinks along the queue.


pawpetshow itself:

the good:
- interesting and complex story, nice music, nice props and fun special effects.

the less good:
- the actors voice volume were FAR TO FAINT! sometime I simply couldnt hear what they were saying. the music volume was, in comparison, too loud and covered the voices.
- in some scenes, the puppets were partly hidden by the front pieces of props, for example the scene in the swamp with the remains of the burned house, I had to look a the display to see the amulet part, otherwise it was not visible,
same problem in 2 or 3 more scenes.
for information I was in the exact middle of the chairs between the scene and the control booth.

Token:

--- Quote from: Jorinda on 26.08.2014, 10:16:46 ---The campfire
Big thank you for that! It was awesome. A nice place to sit and chat.

The environments
Well, I see that the con organisators couldn't influence that. Local people showed a wide variety from happy curiosity up to threats to beat fursuiters. But as far as I know, noone was really attacked.

--- End quote ---
Glad you enjoyed the campfire! :3

As for external people causing troubles: Luckily this happens extremely rarely. But still, this is one of our (security team) 'major' tasks… keeping all attendees safe from attacks. If you see some sec-people jumping out of every corner and running like stupid somewhere*, this is sometimes the reason. Even if you feel uncomfortable with some outsiders e.g. at the campfire because they look like trouble, go and tell a seccie! We are more than happy to keep a close eye on these and act if needed.

*That one early afternoon you might have seen us all running to the campfire - it was actually a false-alarm. %-)



--- Quote from: Fafnir Kristensen on 26.08.2014, 11:21:26 ---the bad:
- stairs door locked... seriously, this has been the same problem in all the hotel we have been, why dont they put handle on both side of the doors ? also that would much alleviate the stress on the elevators.

--- End quote ---
And like every year, there are very strict fire protection rules that cannot be easily changed without getting into _MAJOR_(!!!) troubles. Like every year, we try to negotiate with the hotel and local authorities (yes, also police and firefighters) to sort out as many workarounds as possible. Please bear with us, please do not force-open the doors and please tell off/tell security any dick you find abusing/breaking the elevators.


--- Quote from: Fafnir Kristensen on 26.08.2014, 11:21:26 ---artshow:
the less good:
- I was a bit annoyed by the fursuite photoshooting flashing all the time. I understand you tried to use the space as much as possible, but next year please try to not put the two together in the same room.

--- End quote ---

--- Quote from: SiranaJHelena on 25.08.2014, 20:59:20 ---The fursuit photoshoot right next to it was very unpleasing though because of this constantly flashing light you've seen as soon as you were looking in that direction. Please don't forget that this can be even cause medical problems for some people with e.g. migraine or epilepsy far away from just being annoyed. Please move that somewhere else or shield it from the Art Show.

--- End quote ---
Yes, it was a technical issue that hardly anyone was happy about. And if it is remotely possible, we will not ever do this again. We have to work with what we get from the hotel.



--- Quote from: Starfighter Suicune on 25.08.2014, 20:36:29 ---- Great idea to make that corner where I could leave my luggage in front of them and using the registration number for it. Would be nice to see that somewehre in the middle of the hotel if possible. Would reduce the stress on the elevators maybe. Maybe print buttons that people could put on their luggage :)

--- End quote ---
Thank you, we are glad you liked it. But as for the idea to have to more central/running longer: Sorry, not possible. It already ate a huge amount of manpower. Basically we know how inconvenient the forbidden bags inside artshow/dealersden can be and thus tried to 'ease the pain' for those who do not read the conbook (and signs, and handhouts, and RoC…) and come to the artshow/dealersden with a bag or camera. :-)



--- Quote from: ANTIcarrot on 24.08.2014, 13:17:17 ---Germanwings losing my suitcase. :'( And then not picking up their phone, answering their email or doing anything to contact me until it turned up Saturday just before the pawpet show; the miserable ########! But I do accept this was for the most part beyond the control of the con staff. ;)

--- End quote ---
Yes, we are really sorry that happened and are planning next year to handle the luggage-operations of the nearby airports ourselfs. We already negotiated contracts with most of the major airlines and will ramp up our security team accordingly. This should not happen again next year, please drop a note, if otherwise. :-)

Now in all seriousness, I am really sorry and can imagine how this can ruin the con experience quiet a bit. But that feedback should be left with your airline. *hugs*


Best wishes and more hugs,
Token

Fafnir Kristensen:

--- Quote from: Token on 26.08.2014, 15:18:26 ---And like every year, there are very strict fire protection rules that cannot be easily changed without getting into _MAJOR_(!!!) troubles. Like every year, we try to negotiate with the hotel and local authorities (yes, also police and firefighters) to sort out as many workarounds as possible. Please bear with us, please do not force-open the doors and please tell off/tell security any dick you find abusing/breaking the elevators.

--- End quote ---

a few questions about this: at the Maritime, on one side of the hotel, it was possible to open the door from both side, was this a very special case of that hotel? was it something which was specially arranged for us? what kind of regulation allowed that to be possible in the Maritime but may not be the same elsewhere?

I understand you may not have the answer for these questions, though I would be really interested to know the answers.

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