Much has been said, so here is pretty much what I agree and disagree with. This is like the first time I'm doing the feedback thing so I hope it isn't too long or repetitive.
the app is nice, though somehow I could not watch the maps in landscape mode, for some reason. am I the only one who had that issue?
Nope - had the issue on several (all android!) devices every year so far that i can remember. A landscape image on a portrait screen is kinda like vertical video on youtube...
Notifications being slow can easily be helped by using the Telegram announcement channel which has basically the same content as the App notifications but is more reliable.
I also used a lot less mobile data compared to the years before despite little change in phone usage that I'm aware of, so I think wifi coverage was a thumbs-up.
Speaking of announcements... Am I the only one who missed any and all announcements where the parade route was going to be? None of my "good spots" from the last years seemed to work well which left me constantly hunting for a useful spot during a comparatively short event.
Switching between events and the map in the mobile app always resets the view to Tuesday morning, so you constantly have to go scrolling around for what is happening right now. The "funnel" icon in the event view was mildly misleading, in my opinion. I was hoping to be able to *filter out* events by type or interest. E.g. I'm not a fursuiter, so I don't care about fursuiter-only events. I'm also not a dealer, so I don't care about artist-only or DD/artshow/... ancillary events. But since these facilities are open throughout most of the day their event entries are near the top of the list and I have to scroll through them every time the event view opens - even though I will almost never find them relevant. (Same kinda goes for done events... if they're more than an hour or two in the past, the entries are not very interesting anymore.)
Speaking of the DD... Yeah, the U shape and the small blind alleys behind the stairs (around Starburrow's table) were annoying with this many people. I didn't go through there at all and instead spent the extra cash at the tables on the window side of the room.
I know the con's not even over yet, but I have to complain about those damn portable bluetooth speakers people are carrying around with them. I'm quite sick of them, they're so loud, you can't hear yourself think or have a conversation within about 10 meters of someone with them.
This. Have you ever heard a really bad DJ practice his mixing? Thats what hearing three completely unrelated songs at the same time sounds like...
The DJs were actually great this year. But I don't get the comments earlier about the stage having great sound either. Room and volume distribution issues aside, I thought the concert (despite being a great show in general) was somewhat less enjoyable than it could have been. It ranged from really badly boomy and distorted basslines ("This Suit") to very faint and drowned-out vocals ("Stay as you are") and being generally very quiet in some places ("Lighthouse" / beginning of "Starry Destination" ... yes, these are slower songs, but *that* quiet?). Did the bass drum even have a mic at all...? This situation was much better at other events though, with no distortion or boomyness in the music and clear voices. You guys have great gear back there, so use it!
Speaking of other events... The Game Show was fun and awesome - no prop failures during the games, and the video and scoreboard was working great! The pawpet show also turned out quite awesome! (Even though I thought the ending of the story was a bit rushed to make time for naughty scenes in the middle...) <3
I didn't watch as much EF Prime this time as in the previous years (mainly because of the lack of public TVs). But would it help with the rotations at the end if people brought down their material during the con to tack on the end for as long as you can keep the channel going? Also, are recordings of the current year's events/panels/presentations an option?
The breakfast itself was delicious, but I rarely eat the sausages in question so I can't comment on that. The rest of it was still great regardless of the sausage situation. I agree that the tables are really cramped for four people if everyone is eating. The triangular decoration/advertisement thingy doesn't help with that. Being able to get some fries for a midnight snack was a very welcome addition though.
However, I would pay for personal cuddle time So maybe that is an idea ^^
Or anything else more personal that has nothing to do with dancing. Imagine going with a fursuiter to a restaurant
My first thought when the auction was announced was like "... Can I have a pole dance please? I would like to be the pole..."
<3
(p.s.) If the scope of the fursuiter auction is expanded beyond dance performances, it is probably a good idea to unambiguously differentiate which fursuiters are available for which kinds of activities, to avoid ... disappointed expectations. If you get my drift. Or other ideas could be for example exclusive photo/video sessions (both in front and behind the camera) with particularly good looking (or well known) suiters.
And last but not least... Besides getting into random badge checks twice for the first time ever (which I didn't mind - the security guys were quite friendly about it despite my
dumb stare surprised look), i didn't get the feeling that the amount of security at large was much different. That said, I did notice quite more stories about ... incidents, that were circulated compared to the previous years. So it probably ended up being less security *subjectively*, but possibly not in a way that more *objective* presence could help with.
There probably is a reason why it isn't done that way, because it has been mentioned every year before... staircases not being a one-way route to ground floor could help a lot to take load off the elevators. Even well after midnight, you had to routinely wait 15+ minutes just to go one or two floors to another room. This was particuarly pronounced near the ends of the elevator where it shows twice in quick succession - then no more for some 30+ minutes. Also, despite an announcement to avoid using the hotel's service elevators, there was a LOT of hotel personel every day using the main elevators to move cleaning supplies...
In the end, I had a blast and a great con experience again - so thanks a lot to everyone, and I hope to see you all again next year! <3