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Eurofurence 28 — "Cyberpunk"
Sep 18 – 21, 2024
CCH — Congress Center Hamburg

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Author Topic: Honest Opinion of EF 16  (Read 103859 times)

Mystifur

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #105 on: 13.09.2010, 17:03:06 »

The fursuit lounge was really huge compared to last year o.O And for me was everything alright. Only at the last night there was a little thingy. I am a diabetic and the tea/sugar water there, was very sweet. The days before, there was the big normal water bottle, but not on the last night.

[...]

Another thing, which was kinda unplannable was, that the fursuit parade was nice, but the little sidestep through the dealersden and the stairs was not the perfect route ^^

Thank you for your feedback,
The diabetic issue was already brought to my attention. We will clearly mark our supplements in the future. However i have to wonder why there would have been no water. The single only chance to not have seen the water dispenser during the last night is, that you have been there WHILE it was taken to the kitchen to actually refill it.

As for stairs and fursuiters, we know since years, that they are not the ideal combination. After much thought Eurofurence decided to give priority to the parade walking through the dealers den anyways, because this is about the only time during the days when the dealers get to see any distraction and all the suiters.
To help the suiters deal with that, we announced twice in the Loiunge right before starting, that we will be taking the stairs up and down, and that whoever cannot or doesn't want to deal with that should be waiting in the lobby, because the parade will return to the same place after the detour.
Therefor the dealers den visit will remain being part of the parade.
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Keenora

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #106 on: 13.09.2010, 21:13:28 »

Ok, I think thats a good reason. Then I would to mention, that the annoucments were too quietly. I stayed at the beginning of the parade and totally havn't recognized it. What about the little poster at the lounge? There was this "third-party" parade and they made a picture of the route aswell. Maybe we could do that for the main parade aswell...maybe it was made somewhere, but as such a hangout it would be much easier. Just an idea ^^
For the water thingy, well, as you recognized maybe in the morning, I was there till after the end ^^° And the barrel was gone for hours. Well, but maybe I really havn't noticed it later...was a hard night ;)
So, thank you very much for taking cognizance of my feedback :3 And thank you also for your awesome work...you were kinda dead while cleaning the lounge at sunday morning ;P
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Weed

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #107 on: 13.09.2010, 21:45:15 »

However I'm curious, how exactly did you manage to break the perforation? I was dancing all night long during the Fursuit Dance & Big Blue Dance, as I did at EF14 and 15, and I've never experienced anything like that :P I can't really see it happening on a normal wear and tear.
Maybe from taking it off and stuffing into a jacket pocket; I don't like dangly things around my neck, took it off most of the time I went outside the hotel.
That's why I'd prefer one of these thingies, to hang it on my shirt.


Ahh, understandable. Those clips do look useful, I think I should grab one for my badges next year :P I had my mini-doughnut hanging from my old EF-laces. Didn't like extra-stuff hanging in my neck, so I tied it around my pant's belt buckle thing. Worked nicely enough.

- Weed
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Henrieke

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #108 on: 14.09.2010, 13:35:52 »

Hey!
I don't post on this forum much but I thought I'd give some honest feedback as well. I didn't really read the rest of the thread so sorry if I echo what has already been said.

Hotel/Location
Err, yes, ofcourse the hotel is not the Ringberg. It's the Maritim. While the environment and atmosphere at the Ringberg were simply fantastic, I really loved the Maritim as well! The giant lobby looked AWESOME, I took a lot of photos of just the hotel already. Props to whoever came up with the idea of hanging up the (beautiful!) banners and especially the DISCO BALL. Genius! I had a room on the 4th floor and I loved looking down and watching the people down in the lobby, the hotel literally feels very open.
As much as I loved the view from the Ringberg (and I do kind of miss having a large outside area that belongs to the hotel only), I do think the location itself is a big improvement. Getting food is just so much easier right now! I don't have a car myself so instead of having to drive all the way down to the supermarket, I could simply cross the street and there's a whole mall! That, plus the fact that there's loads of restaurants at walking distance, makes the location perfect for me. Not to mention Magdeburg is a beatiful city!

Hotel staff
The staff seemed fine to me, I even got to interact with quite a few of them while in suit.
Hey, imagine you work at a four star hotel, normally only filled with boring business men, and then you get THIS over your floor! I'd be pretty shocked frankly! I didn't have any troubles with room service, even though there were fursuit props spread all over the room. Apparantly some people got complaints, maybe they should consider cleaning up their room at least a BIT? These people try to do their work... and I think next year, when they know what to expect, it'll go a lot better. Though I honestly never had a single problem myself.

Fursuit lounge
This was the third big con I suited at and the so-manieth event, and I have to say this was the BEST fursuit lounge I've ever seen. I already thought the one from last year was fantastic but no, we get a GIANT BALLROOM! The fursuit lounge at FC was tiny compared to this. Enough fans, awesome suitracks and fursuit-head dryers, boards in front of the entrance giving you some privacy (for those who don't like taking their head off in public) chairs, snacks, different types of drinks, long and short straws; really, it was perfect. If I HAVE to think of any suggestions, then maybe placing a mirror somewhere would be nice, so you can see if you put your suit on right (and practise your doublebounce walk :P). Then again there were always plenty of people around who could check for me if everything looked okay, so it all worked out just fine.

Artist's lounge
Not too much to say about this. It was nice and large, and I enjoyed sitting there! I don't drink coffee myself but the free coffee was really appreciated by a lot of artists, especially at night :P

Dealer's Den
Having a big dealer's den is something I kinda missed at the Ringberg, so that has been solved! It was a bit cramped, but this is understandable considering the tables were free. However, several tables were empty a lot of the time (because of this I was able to take a table for half a day myself, even though I did not register for one). Because of that it felt more like an artist's alley than a dealer's den, and though it was nice for myself, maybe it's a bit unfair for the artists that registered early? Maybe it'd be nice to have one row of tables less, or to be more strict with the registering of tables and/or have an artist's alley elsewhere. These are just suggestions though, I can't really complain since at any other con you'd have to pay for your table and there are giant waiting lists or raffles for spaces at the artist's alley.

Art Show
The art show location was great!! Very large and very light. Hanging up my art was no problem and two friends who did have problems with their frames got plenty of help from the staff, and everything worked out.
I'm sure people mentioned it before but both the art pickup for bidders and money pickup for artists took very long. I was at both, for the art pickup I stood in line for 1,5 hour or so, and with the money pickup I even saw a poor artist who fell asleep in front of the door ;) I don't know exactly what caused this, but I hope it'll work out better next year. I can imagine why it takes very long, maybe it's possible to think of some way so people don't have to stand for so long. In any case, and I think a lot of people do not realise this; the art show at EF is completely FREE. At any other con you'd have to pay for both the panel, and a percentage of your art sales! (actually, I believe buyers also have to pay extra tax on top of their bid). Also since many cons pay out with checks you have to wait for your money even longer, and send in your forms via snailmail which also costs money. So keeping in mind the EF art show is free and done by volunteers, I'll gladly stand in line :)
Another thing I should mention is that the addition of the charity sheets was great. The charity panels have always been there, but donating a whole piece when I only have two or three paintings is just too much. This is a great solution and I hope many artists made use of it!

Events
I was so busy having fun that I didn't get to see a single panel, but I did get to see the pawpetshow and another stage act. The new main stage literally is a HUGE improvement. Both times I was at the Ringberg I had to sit on benches at all events which seriously hurt my back, and I could hardly see anything. The new stage is great! Comfy chaiiiirrrrrs!
There were some delays, but I'd be seriously disappointed if a furry con did NOT have delays, and keep in mind that this is still the first time for everything at the new hotel, so ofcourse things go wrong! It'll go more smoothly each year to come.

Fursuit games
I never did a event like this before, but I was told the games at EF were not harmful for your suit so I joined the pre-selections in a team with Titash. Those of you who know his and my suit can imagine we didn't join to win. The games were spread over the hotel which was a bit confusing at first (especially since I cannot wear glasses in suit, I couldn't read what was on the paper... I need Arial 40 B or something XD), but it gave everything a nice touch, since wandering through the hotel in search of the games felt pretty adventurous XD
The games were really fun, they were not hazardous for the suits but very challenging, and ofcourse in a padded suit with bad vision they're a lot harder to do than in a five-fingered partial. I couldn't even manage to hold the ball guns or shoe laces with my giant foam hands, so we just made a big game out of the games and it was hilarious! We won last place, hurray!
The best part was the bonus game, where you had to collect money from charity. Since we were pretty much the last team to do it pretty much everyone had already been robbed from their money by other suits, but Titash still managed to rid people of their euros by threatening them with his plunger :P In total the fursuit games brought up 670 euro this way, should do that again next year!

Fursuit parade
The fursuit parade inside was very slow but that was definitely because of the staircases. I didn't hear in advance where the route would be going, I also didn't know we would go outside afterwards, but thankfully people directed us the right way. The outside part was tons of fun, so many people watching! (Because of the article in Bild, I guess?) The outside part felt very well organized, all the suits could safely cross the street without a problem.

Con Book / EF newspaper
The conbook gets better every year! The newspaper is a great touch and was also better than before! I know plenty of people who worked hard on either of these, props to all of you! These are conbooks and newspapers I can take home and show off to my friends and family :)

Dead Dog Party/Piano bar
Wow, this was great :) I didn't sit in the piano bar before the dead dog party, and at other cons so far I was always kind of bored during these parties because it was just a dance (or smelled like swiss cheese). There was enough place to sit and I especially appreciated that there was music, but no REALLY LOUD music. I sat at the piano bar the whole evening talking to people (this was actually possible thanks to the not-super-loud music!) and having a massive art jam. I personally loved the cheesy music too. The fan on the small dancefloor was a nice touch for fursuiters. Later in the night the music got louder and more hardcore, but by that time I went to bed anyway. It was a great end of a great con :)
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Henrieke

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #109 on: 14.09.2010, 13:37:54 »

Ohhh how could I forget, the roomkeys! Roomkeys AND badges! PERFECT!!! Why don't other cons use this system as well?? Next year I want toony art on the badges though! ;D
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Onkel Kage

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #110 on: 14.09.2010, 14:03:40 »

Ohhh how could I forget, the roomkeys! Roomkeys AND badges! PERFECT!!! Why don't other cons use this system as well?? Next year I want toony art on the badges though! ;D

I think they should!  Although it requires a rather substantial investment in equipment.  They need a badge printer (and depending on size and registration system, two or even three), badge stock with magnetic strips, and a hotel that uses the standard CR-80 card size and is willing to work with them.

I briefly thought about it for Anthrocon but then realized that I have four hotels that use different key-card sizes, which would really muck things up.
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Loewi

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #111 on: 14.09.2010, 14:06:50 »

Ohhh how could I forget, the roomkeys! Roomkeys AND badges! PERFECT!!! Why don't other cons use this system as well??

Thank you thank you thank you!:)

Next year I want toony art on the badges though! ;D

Is that an offer that we can ask you for conbadgedesign some following EF? ;P
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Henrieke

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #112 on: 14.09.2010, 14:18:25 »

I briefly thought about it for Anthrocon but then realized that I have four hotels that use different key-card sizes, which would really muck things up.
I can imagine that. The only US con I've been to is FC, and they use credit-card sized roomkeys, which also have customized art. I can imagine printing a few thousand roomkeys with the same picture on is is a lot cheaper than having a custom one for every attendee, but then again they do need to give everyone a badge with a custom sticker anyway, and they also offer free (credit card-sized) fursuit badges. I never even thought of combining them until EF!

Is that an offer that we can ask you for conbadgedesign some following EF? ;P
Oh heck yes! Anything you'd need me for, as long as I have SOME time on my hands I'd love to do it :)

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Tioh

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #113 on: 14.09.2010, 19:36:33 »

I think moving Eurofurence to Magdeburg was the right decision. There were lots of things that would not have been possible otherwise. Just look at the space the fursuit-lounge, artshow and dealers den got.

I know of no other furry convention in the world that offered so many dryers for fursuits before:

Thanks to everyone who helped building it so quickly.

The daily Eurofurence newsletter was very well received:

Having those is also very helpfully if you want to explain what happens at a furry convention ... now I have to translate those for my mother. 

The pawpet-show moved me to tears:


I couldn't take many photos at Kage vs. 2 - I was laughing too hard:


It was fun to help at the fursuit-gameshow - sorry it took me so long to calculate the scores:


Fursuit theater was very nice:


I took a lot of fursuit-pictures:

A small selection of those is at http://media.furcon.de/Eurofurence/ef16/tn

The events at the Piano Bar were great - especially the death dog party (that worked much better when last year).

The hotel staff was very nice and it someone heard the cleaning ladies complaining - they had every right to do so (some fursuiters should learn that leaving wet toilet-paper everywhere in the room after drying a fursuit is not a good idea).

As a fursuiter the biggest improvement was having one room-key per person. Also the rooms were bigger - I had three fursuits with me and did not occupy all the space.

I spend less money on food when at EF 15 - there were a lot of good (and not expensive) restaurants in walking distance. I did pay a lot for parking, but that was my own choice (I was just too lazy to drive my car to a cheaper garage).

I think everything worked very well considering it was the first time in this hotel. The Eurofurence staff did a marvelous job. I'm very grateful for all the work the put into this convention.
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BigBlueFox

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #114 on: 14.09.2010, 21:23:04 »

EF 16 SUCKED!!

I brought four suits to EF, spent more time suiting than at any EF before.... NO PHOTOS!
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Fairlight

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #115 on: 14.09.2010, 21:26:14 »

BBF: Tell your alter egos to stop stealing people's camera's then ^.^
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Henrieke

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #116 on: 14.09.2010, 21:40:28 »

EF 16 SUCKED!!

I brought four suits to EF, spent more time suiting than at any EF before.... NO PHOTOS!

I know that Kougo has a nice photo of Bent-tail and Yotie, at least!!
Just wondering... did you wear the fox? I never even saw it IRL!
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BigBlueFox

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #117 on: 14.09.2010, 21:45:45 »

EF 16 SUCKED!!

I brought four suits to EF, spent more time suiting than at any EF before.... NO PHOTOS!

I know that Kougo has a nice photo of Bent-tail and Yotie, at least!!
Just wondering... did you wear the fox? I never even saw it IRL!

The fox was too stinky and big-headed. He didn't get out. :)
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Suran

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #118 on: 14.09.2010, 22:03:52 »

Fursuit theater was very nice

Nice?
It was awesome!
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JBadger

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Re: Honest Opinion of EF 16
« Reply #119 on: 14.09.2010, 23:33:23 »

Really I liked the driers a lot
Just small tweaks maybe to get even airflow out of all the holes (baffles) but that could drive a person crazy figuring out baffle size in the pipe flow.  Staff are crazy enough so what you have is good enough.

I think something like this could only be at EF sadly, Anthrocon has unions so the union would have to do that set up even if it was fan built.  And other cons well, not really needed to have so many.



I think moving Eurofurence to Magdeburg was the right decision. There were lots of things that would not have been possible otherwise. Just look at the space the fursuit-lounge, artshow and dealers den got.
.....
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