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Feedback 2015

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Twillight:
I have nothing to complain about the EF21. It was great.

SouthPaw:
Overall a great con, and it was nice to see the return of the fire pit, but I do have a few thoughts:

[*]Badge Holders : To save having to punch holes in all the badges (which must take hours with other 2100 badges to print and punch), how about trialling the use of badge holders for next year? They could also be double-sided so folks can put their room key on the other side. Obviously this has a financial implication, and experience says that con budgets tend to run pretty close to the wire, but it's a thought.
[*]Hotel Bookings : I missed out on a room at the Estrel this year as I was at work when reg opened. When I got home about three hours later, the hotel was already operating a waiting list. From speaking to others, rooms were freed up close to the con as people arranged room shares and cancelled duplicate bookings. Sadly this was too late for me, as I'd already booked elsewhere.
Going forwards, I would suggest it may be necessary to follow Anthrocon's approach and charge for the first night's stay as a non-refundable deposit at the time of booking. Whilst this wouldn't solve the problem completely, it would hopefully discourage people from making "speculative" bookings just in case they can't find a share. On the plus side, staying elsewhere meant I was walking at least 1.6km a day, and that's without the walking around the Estrel.
[*]Main Stage Queuing : Having the space between the Art Show/Fursuit Lounge and Main Stage for queuing for stage events was a great idea, but could have benefited from additional signage from the "Chillout Lounge" and both sets of doors from the lobby area being opened to make it more obvious.
[*]Delays : Technical problems happen, but EF seems to have more than its fair share. Posting messages about delays on Twitter and the App is fine, but not everyone has data connectivity at con, and if you're half way along the queue you can't see the TV screen by the stage entrance. For next year, having Security (given they're in charge of Crowd Control) or someone from Programming or Ops going along the queue telling people about delays would help a great deal. When it gets to the point that the majority of main stage events at the con are delayed by at least thirty minutes, something has to give. One particular case being the Bandthro Concert, where I got fed up and left the queue 1 hour 15 minutes after the advertised seating time, as the start kept getting slipped in 15 minute increments with no sign of it starting.
[*]Con Ops : As one of the two main "Customer Service" departments at the convention (the other being Security), I have to admit to finding it rather baffling that Ops is tucked away in a corner, and closes whilst events are still running. Whilst I don't think there would be any benefit to providing 24 hour Ops cover, I would certainly suggest it should open earlier and close later and have a dedicated "Front Desk" for fielding queries from attendees (with an intercom link to the "back office" for anything that needs referral elsewhere). Having said that, I realise that getting people to volunteer for Ops isn't the easiest of things to do![/list]


Apologies for the rambling, but I find it best to write up things whilst they're still fresh in my mind...Now if you'll excuse me, by my reckoning I've got about 355 days in which to grow my hair long enough for a mullet so I'm on theme for EF22.

Nathalias:
That delay issue is something that bothers me too... this year the only delay i was really affected was the bandthro concert and it was to my advantage since I was at the pawpet show first...

But I'm still thinking about it. How does other Events handle that? Do you need a really huge budget to handle that by using extremly expensive but good Equipment and professionals or where is the problem really?

It's not really a complaint, but I'm just wondering.

Sheena-Tiger:

--- Quote from: SouthPaw on 27.08.2015, 03:16:27 ---[*]Badge Holders : To save having to punch holes in all the badges (which must take hours with other 2100 badges to print and punch), how about trialling the use of badge holders for next year? They could also be double-sided so folks can put their room key on the other side. Obviously this has a financial implication, and experience says that con budgets tend to run pretty close to the wire, but it's a thought.

--- End quote ---

I somehow doubt this will be considered all to much, not really thanks to the money-issue but take a look at your badge.
It has the same information on both sides so even if it flips around, and badges do that a lot, it always can be identified.
Uncle Kage mentions this even in some of his speeches as improvement he could not think of after being asked to do something against this issue of turning badges and EF introduced this solution the same year.

As Security doing duty at doors as well, it helped a great deal, especially at the Dealers Den.
You see attendees closing in, likely wanting to enter.
With your solution, we would have to stop most people just to have them turn their badge holder around, making the next people wait.
Without, you can already search for the badge, identify the design and colors on a distance and just let the person in.

So no... as Seccie I would clearly vote against that idea as it would make our work a bit more annoying for attendees.[/list]

Torajin:
Really had a great time. Lots of friendly peoples, no drama. Perfect week :)

Here are the random thoughts:

The queues for the main events were a great improvement from last year. No chaos, everything was clear.
The only downside is that they felt boring in that empty, unanimated room.
The other queues I faced(charity and fursuit photoshoots) were not that annoying.

Registration was fast and without any issue (thank you for finding last year's photo for my fursuit badge)

The fursuit lounge, wow, that was a huge improvement. I mostly used it to cool off in front of those big fans, but it felt great. Even when everyone was gathering there before the parade, it didn't feel cramped as last year.

The hotel still was nice and the staff friendly. Good to have that part of the hotel available. There are a lot of stairs to get from the rooms to the fursuit lounge or the main stage, but there aren't many things we can do about it. I'll train myself to climb up and down stairs in fursuit :D
No issues with the elevator's speed but I was in wing 4, last floor. I guess it was the perfect spot :D
It was too hot(not in a good way) but it's only for a couple minutes a day so it's not a big deal.

I missed the PPS but undestand perfectly that the staff needs a break.
I'm more curious about the impossible fursuit charades. It was so much fun last year I'd be sad to see it go away for good T_T. Please, bring it back!

Fursuit photoshoots. I like those photos, they are wonderful memories but I didn't think there where that many people who couldn't get a slot. I'll skip it next year to allow others to have their chance. (unless there is a massive increase of availability)

Before the con, I didn't know what to expect from the GOH but they were a lot of fun. Hope to see them again!

The parade went smoothly. Great job. I just didn't notice after the photo where we were supposed to go so I went from my side(the stair near the bridge) straight back to the lounge. I just noticed when getting back to my room that the parade went another way. My fault for not studying the road beforehand :D
If you keep the idea of radio broadcast during the parade, can you link what we should buy for next time? (e.g. an amazon link)
 
There was a great improvement in both the fursuit game show and enter the arena. The settings, the quality, the preparation, the presentation, the contestants, everything seemed so much better! great job!
As already stated by others, it was not easy to see in the dance arena, even if I was in the second row. And there was a huge pillar between me and the screen. Bah, it was still great.

Opening and closing ceremonies still bring tears to my eyes. Keep them :)

Dance nights were funs. Especially the big blue dance for me. And the light effects... wow, just wow!
Too much smoke on the first night (the 80's). I could not see anything in suit but it was only that night. Also it takes a lot of work to avoid cameras but from the other point of view, it's fun to be able to watch it going on on TV when exhausted in the room.

Enjoyed the charity events. Can't wait to see the final amount collected.

As for the security, I didn't need them so that means they were doing a perfect job too.


A big thank you to all the staff and the attendees who made this week that wonderful!

See you next year!

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