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EF24 Feedback (2018)

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Lazer_Hyena:

--- Quote from: Ziegenbock on 01.09.2018, 20:56:02 ---After a few days recovering from another brilliant con, here are a few general suggestions and observations from me.


* Food trucks - more variety please. The trucks were a brilliant idea, and great when folks needed food in a pinch. There is certainly scope for more options and cuisines next year.
* Have ushers selling drinks/sweets/snacks during queues. With multiple queues at various points throughout the con, I know a few furs would have appreciated (and indeed bought) some refreshments while they waited.
* Have a Fursuit Team desk, in the Fursuit Lounge, where people can go with fursuit-related queries (for example, new suiters who may need help using the equipment). This desk can also have a lost-and-found, in case people's (expensive) fursuit parts and gear get moved around or misplaced.

* Please advertise Registration opening times before the convention (ideally on the website and Twitter), and keep to them.

* Art Show: Please make it clearer that, when an item goes to auction, the bidder number on the 'big list' (outside the art show) was the highest bidder in the regular art show, and not the outright winner. Maybe have one list for regular items, listed by 'winning bidder' in numerical order, and a separate list for auction items, listed by 'current high bidder' in numerical order.

Also echoing points which have been made elsewhere:

* A registration system for the Artist Lounge and Alley. With demand for tables much higher than supply, there needs to be some regulation, to keep things fair for everyone, and give more artists a chance to use the Lounge (and stop people allegedly blocking tables with 'be right back' notices and not returning all day). We'd need to think how this'd work, but one option is to offer each table on a time slot (such as 4 hours or 6 hours). Keep a reserve list, and if a person needs to leave early, offer their table to the next person on the reserve list.
* Drinking water for attendees. This will go a long way to keeping attendees healthy and hydrated (whether suiters or non-suiters). If there are concerns about plastic waste from used cups... encourage attendees to bring their own refillable bottles.
--- End quote ---


I agree with most of your points but I do not agree with time slots in the artist alley. If someone gets up at the crack of dawn to get a table and they want to work all day then that's their prerogative. What I think does need to happen is that we need a staff member with a table either in or just outside the alley to monitor the space. Every other con I've been to with an alley has this and has rules on how long you can leave your space, most being 15 minutes which gives artists time enough to go to the WC or find a snack and return.

Having time slots would suck because it means that everyone is going to try to queue for the best times in the alley and that people who got up early and got their table could be kicked out at prime times for business. I don't feel that people who are willing to get up early to get a table should be punished just because some people came later in the day and couldn't find a table. We all have the same opportunity to get up and get there early if we want a space.

Cifer:

--- Quote ---We all have the same opportunity to get up and get there early if we want a space.
--- End quote ---
We actually don't. For some, getting up and getting there early means taking an elevator. For others, it means taking public transportation halfway across the city.

That said, I think it depends on what we think the Artist Alley should accomplish. If it's somewhat of an overflow dealer's den so we can have x+12 instead of x pro artists sell stuff at the con, it's fine as it is. If we consider it an institution where as many artists as possible get a chance to sell stuff, an organized rotation might be better.

Lazer_Hyena:

--- Quote from: Cifer on 02.09.2018, 11:46:50 ---
--- Quote ---We all have the same opportunity to get up and get there early if we want a space.
--- End quote ---
We actually don't. For some, getting up and getting there early means taking an elevator. For others, it means taking public transportation halfway across the city.

That said, I think it depends on what we think the Artist Alley should accomplish. If it's somewhat of an overflow dealer's den so we can have x+12 instead of x pro artists sell stuff at the con, it's fine as it is. If we consider it an institution where as many artists as possible get a chance to sell stuff, an organized rotation might be better.

--- End quote ---

I didn't stay at the con hotel, I had to walk there every morning or take an Uber and still managed to get a table every day. :) Sure I sometimes got the crappiest table in the alley, but I still managed to get there and get one. Everyone DOES have the same opportunity to get up and get there in time to get a table. Do some of us have to get up earlier than others? Yes, of course, but if you know you need X amount of time to get to the hotel then you get up early enough to get there.

I've always seen artist alley set ups at other cons as first come, first served, not as a guaranteed place for as many artists as possible to get a chance to sell. I think if you want a guaranteed place to sell then you need to try to get a dealer's table, otherwise you take the chance that you won't get a table to sell at. That's the risk of the alley in my opinion.

Cifer:

--- Quote from: Lazer_Hyena on 02.09.2018, 12:48:50 ---I didn't stay at the con hotel, I had to walk there every morning or take an Uber and still managed to get a table every day. :) Sure I sometimes got the crappiest table in the alley, but I still managed to get there and get one. Everyone DOES have the same opportunity to get up and get there in time to get a table. Do some of us have to get up earlier than others? Yes, of course, but if you know you need X amount of time to get to the hotel then you get up early enough to get there
--- End quote ---
If some people have to spend more effort to get there in time than others (in our case: 1 hour public transport or 44 € for a taxi), that doesn't seem like "the same opportunity" to me, no.


--- Quote ---I've always seen artist alley set ups at other cons as first come, first served, not as a guaranteed place for as many artists as possible to get a chance to sell. I think if you want a guaranteed place to sell then you need to try to get a dealer's table, otherwise you take the chance that you won't get a table to sell at. That's the risk of the alley in my opinion.
--- End quote ---
The tables in the dealer's den are rather limited - that's why the Alley is needed in the first place. So no, trying to get into the dealer's den does not guarantee getting a table either.

But the relevant question for the organizers is indeed what they consider the point of the Alley to be - and how much effort they're willing to spend to make it achieve that point of course, since a more strongly moderated Alley would bind more resources.

ANTIcarrot:
Given that the Estrel is okay with food trucks, and indicates in their terms and conditions that snackfood and bottled water is okay...

Would the convention staff consider asking the Estrel how they would view a professional water refill station.
http://www.eventwatersolutions.com/water-stations/
It looks like something like this could be located in the same area of the food trucks, and kept going 24/7. All you'd need from Estrel is effectively a place to plug in a water pipe and possibly some power.

I mean I know they might have had some concerns the first year, but they know we empty out the local cash machines, and buy a huge amount of alcohol from them, and bring in bottled water anyway (which they have said they're okay with.) We will probably fill most of their tower the first year it becomes available. They really should know us well enough to know that having a water refill option on site won't reduce our spending.

Plus something something doing good for the environment something.

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