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Author Topic: EF18 Feedback  (Read 148239 times)

krakendwaggin

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EF18 Feedback
« on: 03.09.2012, 10:03:46 »

Well it's that time of the year again, Eurofurence has ended and we all walk back into our 'normal' lives.

This year was an amazing experience for me and whilst nothing can top my first convention, which was Eurofurence 16, this year's Eurofurence was absolutely brilliant and I want to thank every single one of you for making it fantastic.

This year I was lucky enough to receive my fursuit as it was sent directly to the Maritim Hotel, I have to thank them for accepting the parcel!, so I was suiting for the first time ever, I was the red/black orca partial that wandered around a few times, I want to thank the folks in the Fursuit lounge who were so accepting and helpful, giving me advice and being so kind to me, it was a whole new strange world to me and whilst I was still very shy and nervous, I didn't feel like an outsider.

Overall my experience this year was very very positive, the only thing I could mention was the Fursuit Photoshoot, now I was lucky to get a slot on the saturday, and the guys who did it were really fun and made the experience memorable, I'll never forget it and I look forward to seeing the results.
But, that day there were 12 slots, I was 11th in line in a queue of possibly 30 people, the kind lady whose name I sadly forget asked if we could come in groups (which I did for my slot, grabbing two friends of mine), but I couldn't help but feel guilty to all those who waited and had to be turned away, but this nice lady said that they're working on it for next year, so I hope that many more suiters can be made happy next year!

Dealers Dens were great this year (yes I queued for three hours that first day), but I can't help but see that one den gets queues and the other remains mostly empty, I can't help what den gets what custom, but when I can walk out of one den and see a massive queue yet just casually stroll into the other one just a minute later, perhaps a balance needs to be struck, I don't know how, it's just an observation from little old me.

Anyways, much thanks to the Eurofurence Staff, I look forward to next year!
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Fafnir Kristensen

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #1 on: 04.09.2012, 00:58:20 »

(almost) everything was in time!!!!!!
wonderful job from all the EF people to succeed this little marvel!

it may be a detail but I appreciated not having a hundred balloon explosion in the lobby as we had last year, thank you for listening to the forum comments from last year.
though at some point I noticed a giant balloon in the main stage during the bigbluedance, which was, to my opinion, flying dangerously close to the ceiling and the light system and everything, but as it disappeared soon after, I guess the security or staff did something about it before an accident could happen.

all in all, I had another great time at EF, thanks to all the people who made this possible
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Lightfox

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #2 on: 04.09.2012, 01:58:09 »

Here is my humble feedback!

+ Virtually everything was indeed on time, which a welcome change from the previous years!
+ The big blue dance was probably the best one i ever experienced in years, to the point i stayed virtually all night long on the dance floor!
+ A lot of space available in the artshow for people to move around without running into each other, even at the end.
+ The official EF smartphone application was a really nice idea
+ The con ops were really cool with handling overflowing parties
+ The signs on the doors to the stairs, with infos about unreachable areas were very usefull
+ Door knobs in (almost) every door to the stairs were quite an enhancement to be able to avoid elevators

- The fursuit friendly dance didn't seem to have been optimized for fursuit dancing
- Some serious sound issues on the main stage during events
- Not enough space for the dealer's den: there was a queue all day long almost permanently in front of the main one.
- There was a guy who kept wondering with an incomplete fursuit, both in the lobby and the dances, even at the dead dog party: he had a full body on, but instead of a head, he just had sun glasses and a cap with ears on top of them. At first, i thought it was a fursuiter who was cooling off, but it seems it really was his costume, since i never saw him with a real fursuit head on. I know this is highly subjective, but i really found this disturbing and not really pleasant to look at, especially when your gaze switches from a traditionnal fursuit - no matter the quality - to one that's missing the most important part.
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Blaster-Hedgie

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #3 on: 04.09.2012, 05:29:56 »

The Fursuit Photoshoot was rather disappointing. I queued up, along with a lot of others, since 10:30am on Saturday to then be told, "Sorry, all slots are filled for today", even though no one had actually signed up yet. Might've been easier just to put a sign on the door saying "Filled already, sorry".

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Wawik

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #4 on: 04.09.2012, 11:38:47 »

- There was a guy who kept wondering with an incomplete fursuit, both in the lobby and the dances, even at the dead dog party: he had a full body on, but instead of a head, he just had sun glasses and a cap with ears on top of them. At first, i thought it was a fursuiter who was cooling off, but it seems it really was his costume, since i never saw him with a real fursuit head on.

That would be Yagfox. Judging from previous experience, his opinion of what constitutes a "fursuit" differs somewhat from the mainstream.  ::)
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BigBlueFox

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #5 on: 04.09.2012, 11:40:23 »

- There was a guy who kept wondering with an incomplete fursuit, both in the lobby and the dances, even at the dead dog party: he had a full body on, but instead of a head, he just had sun glasses and a cap with ears on top of them. At first, i thought it was a fursuiter who was cooling off, but it seems it really was his costume, since i never saw him with a real fursuit head on.

That would be Yagfox. Judging from previous experience, his opinion of what constitutes a "fursuit" differs somewhat from the mainstream.  ::)

Yep, it's him, he has been pulling the same stunt at Confuzzled and CFD. It's kinda strange, he used to be a well-respected fursuiter years ago, but it seems like that kind of attention wasn't enough for him.
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Cheetah

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #6 on: 04.09.2012, 13:11:56 »

I agree, that open-faced rabbit retard costume is a piece of British humour I can't quite get to terms with either. Oh well.
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Sithy

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #7 on: 04.09.2012, 13:29:01 »

+ EF security and the way they handled my issue with a guy that got...very creepy and did some inappropriate things. Thanks for taking me seriously and even telling me what the consequences would be for him. I appreciate it and I left the situation a lot calmer and at ease than I was before.
+ Again Security for arriving fast (and maybe in too full force, oops  ;D) when we needed a medic at late departure
+ Fursuit Lounge was great. I went in at the oddest hours yet there were always cold drinks and candy available. Great job and thank you! As soon as the drinks got lukewarm staff would seemingly pop out of nowhere to replace them with cold ones. Not sure how you guys did that ;) But thanks!
+ Information availability. I always knew where to go if I needed something. Everything was clear. I tend to get lost easily but never had an issue.
+ EF Prime, worked great apart from a few very minor technical blips, and it was nice to watch in the mornings or when getting ready
+ The discounts at the restaurants for EF goers. Food was really good and serving was as fast as can be expected with restaurants being waaaaay more crowded than usual. (Honestly. I noticed people complaining at the Steakhouse, but have you seen how busy they were? It's to be expected that it takes them a bit longer!) I can also recommend the Spanish restaurant -- waiters may seem a bit cold but that's just how they are, they had amazing food and great service. Yummy fish! Likewise I can recommend Panda's Bubbletea, the kind owner got us an extra slushie for free as he was pleased with the extra clients EF got him. Very good and instant sugar rush.


- Music at fursuit friendly dance appeared to turn to dubstep? (something with a fast beat, anyway) really fast, didn't work so well for most suiters HOWEVER I noticed a lot of non-suiters did love it, so I guess that's good :p I just expected a different type of music since it was called a fursuit friendly dance.
- People and their apparant lack of insight/common sense regarding elevators. Fursuiters go first, which I spoke up about several times and I just got blank stares. People even insisted to take along larger-than-me inflated inflatables while there were fursuiters dying to get to their rooms. Rude!
I know Security is VERY busy so I am not sure if I'm being realistic, but maybe put one or two people at the elevators at peak hours to ensure a more smooth ride? Peak hours like after the fursuit parade, before/after the fursuit dance etc. I am sure Security looks a little more intimidating than me as a fuzzy happy collie ;)
- Likewise, a lack of common sense in the fursuit lounge. Please don't hog the drying devices for hours on end! I noticed this already got covered by lounge staff in the appropriate thread so yay for you guys :) IMHO though it's not something fursuit lounge staff should/can be blamed for...people just need to get some manners. I own a lot of suits so we took our own fans along so we can dry stuff in our own room -- rather than take up 9+ spots for hours on end. Just something to consider! I saw a lot of suits just sitting there for days on end  ???

Lastly thanks to all of you that came to my (and Spark's) Fursuiting 101 panel. There were a LOT more of you than we expected and I'm so glad you liked it :) Thanks for all the positive feedback, we will be back next year.
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Dhary Montecore

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #8 on: 04.09.2012, 13:42:51 »

+ EF security and the way they handled my issue with a guy that got...very creepy and did some inappropriate things. Thanks for taking me seriously and even telling me what the consequences would be for him. I appreciate it and I left the situation a lot calmer and at ease than I was before.
+ Again Security for arriving fast (and maybe in too full force, oops  ;D) when we needed a medic at late departure.

Thanks for your kind words. You are very welcome of course! Party on, we got your back. ;3

[...] (Honestly. I noticed people complaining at the Steakhouse, but have you seen how busy they were? It's to be expected that it takes them a bit longer!) [...]

That impression might have come from the fact, that it was very hard for them to find a language to communicate in. Or that the Steakhouse has a new owner and it was his first encounter with us. Or that they are just not able to handle these extreme demands with the facilities they have. (Quote of the owner: "Next year we just add another building to our restaurant") Despite all these problems they where facing I never found them rude or slow. Quite the opposite. The steakhouse is still my no.1 location outside of the hotel!

I know Security is VERY busy so I am not sure if I'm being realistic, but maybe put one or two people at the elevators at peak hours to ensure a more smooth ride? Peak hours like after the fursuit parade, before/after the fursuit dance etc. I am sure Security looks a little more intimidating than me as a fuzzy happy collie ;)

Your feedback here is highly appreciated, as we deemed this issue to be a problem for years now. We just hoped that mentioning these very basic rules in various places and especially in the "Your First Furry Convention"-Panel, would be enough to spread some common sense. Unfortunately that didn't work out, judging by the feedback you and others give us. So we will place security in such peak-times at the elevators next year, and see if that works better. :3
« Last Edit: 04.09.2012, 13:46:48 by Dhary Montecore »
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Wawik

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #9 on: 04.09.2012, 13:48:19 »

- Likewise, a lack of common sense in the fursuit lounge. Please don't hog the drying devices for hours on end! I noticed this already got covered by lounge staff in the appropriate thread so yay for you guys :) IMHO though it's not something fursuit lounge staff should/can be blamed for...people just need to get some manners. I own a lot of suits so we took our own fans along so we can dry stuff in our own room -- rather than take up 9+ spots for hours on end. Just something to consider! I saw a lot of suits just sitting there for days on end  ???

Remember there's a number of people staying in the overflow hotels, too They probably can't be bothered to carry their fursuit back and forth between hotels, I guess. :-\

(Actually, a good idea would be to put up a few coat racks for storing already dried suits, come to think of it...)
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Gero

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #10 on: 04.09.2012, 14:52:58 »

I wasnt that bothered with the guy in a headless suit, every character is kinda unique and thats maybe his way off things.

What was more "disturbing" in that sence was a guy that had a partial suite but with shorts and short sleaved tshirt so that parts of his skins was showing on legs and arms, breaked the magic for me.

Pros:
+Generally good con and a awesome first con experience, I walked around and adored all the fursuiters, and it was severel off thim in the lobby every time I was there! Great and fun.
+The GOH Peter S Beagle was a great and friendly guy who I really enjoyed hearing and talking to at severel occation.
+The parade was great and off a good length.
+The concert and the pawpet shows was great and fun experience, specially since I love theathre and specially musical theathre.
+Great and friendly staff, speciall Pinky and Cage was awesome to speak with.
+When I come to the station I got greated with severel furries and a swedish friend of me, that was awesome helpfull and something I hope you would make official next year! Such assistance is really usefull for newbis, as well as a great introduction to the con for Magdeburg people.

Cons:
-You have the buffet stated in the official programme and thus Id like to bealive it should be free of charge for the guests, or it wouldnt be off much use to put it as an "offical" meal event, would it? Would have been nice to have a welcome dinner/meal included.
-Some events, specially the concert, started very late, and I lost info about it.
-There was a long que to one off the dealers den, and a short to the other, maybe you should do a better balance or room setting for them next time?
-The GOHs musical event saw the room (munchen room) completely empty and we (including Peter) had to move chairs and other furniturs, thus should be done by the staff, really.
-To loud volume at the fursuiters friendly dance with no (what I could see) earplugs scared me away from that event. Later you suplyed them and it was a great adition to thoose with sencitive ears.
-No info where you could find the different staff sections, specially the lost and found section. As it was now I could see one staff desk and they tryed to make me give a piece I found on the floor at the "lost and found" area but I still havent a clue on where that was.
-No activities on sunday. I would have loved to had a few thing to do before the dead dog party, as it was now most off that day was a long "the day after feeling."
-No official closing cermony. Why, really?
-Not so good timetable on some event. There where many panels at the same times (12,14 and even 16) and you couldnt visit all that you where interested in. Also the fursuit dance contest was at the same time most off us has to go and prephere for the parade, I couldnt onl see 3 or 4 numbers and would have loved to see more of it and it should have been schedualed away from other major fursuiting events.
-No official meeting point. That would have been much easier to meet and great with friends.

Overall a great and fun experience! Thanks!
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Skie

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #11 on: 04.09.2012, 15:10:25 »

The new fursuit parade route is awesome.
Gave trax application feedback already. Nice addition.
Congratulations on getting main events times better :)
Dances were especially good this year, any recordings? :)
Splitting the auction into two parts is very good imo.

Fursuit dance seemed to have failed :/
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Gero

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #12 on: 04.09.2012, 17:15:17 »

- Likewise, a lack of common sense in the fursuit lounge. Please don't hog the drying devices for hours on end! I noticed this already got covered by lounge staff in the appropriate thread so yay for you guys :) IMHO though it's not something fursuit lounge staff should/can be blamed for...people just need to get some manners. I own a lot of suits so we took our own fans along so we can dry stuff in our own room -- rather than take up 9+ spots for hours on end. Just something to consider! I saw a lot of suits just sitting there for days on end  ???

Remember there's a number of people staying in the overflow hotels, too They probably can't be bothered to carry their fursuit back and forth between hotels, I guess. :-\

(Actually, a good idea would be to put up a few coat racks for storing already dried suits, come to think of it...)
Yes we where many that stayed at overflow hotel, and actually some storage area, or even storage lockers, would be a great service to us. I didnt mind carrying my fursuit back and forth but a fixed and secured spot to store/dry it at the fursuit lounge would definately help.
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ysegrim

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #13 on: 04.09.2012, 17:22:45 »

Cons:
Thank you very much for your feedback! EF staff will try very hard to make each con better than all the EFs before ... however, I believe a few of your points are rather unlikely to be changed (anyone, please correct me where I am wrong)
 
Quote
-You have the buffet stated in the official programme and thus Id like to bealive it should be free of charge for the guests, or it wouldnt be off much use to put it as an "offical" meal event, would it? Would have been nice to have a welcome dinner/meal included.

There ain't no free lunch :)  No, seriously, the hotel would charge us for each guest, and if this would result in a bill of, say, EUR 15,- per person (I am making up this number, but I believe it would be realistic for an AYCE BBQ buffet), we would have to raise the con fee by this amount -- even for those who arrive too late, who are still busy setting up their stuff, or who would prefer other food. This way, only those who wants to join the "official" BBQ have to pay for it.

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-Some events, specially the concert, started very late, and I lost info about it.
We are very sorry about the delays, and will try very hard to avoid them in the future (it got already a lot better since the Ringberg days ...) Anyways, the text band in EFprime (visible e.g. on the screen next to the Piano bar in the lobby) was set up to inform people about changes. We will discuss other means of getting this information to our attendees in the future (of course, hoping that we will not have to use them :) )

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-There was a long que to one off the dealers den, and a short to the other, maybe you should do a better balance or room setting for them next time?
-The GOHs musical event saw the room (munchen room) completely empty and we (including Peter) had to move chairs and other furniturs, thus should be done by the staff, really.
Can't comment on those ... anyone from the teams? Anyways, I really doubt the latter was done on purpose, and Con Ops spend a lot of effort to provide every SIG with the material they needed. However, even if we call ourselves "Staff", these are completely unpaid positions, and our con fee is as high as everyone else's (many are even sponsors or supersponsors, which the staff badges don't show) -- "should be done by the staff" sounds a lot more arrogant than I assume you mean this sentence.

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-To loud volume at the fursuiters friendly dance with no (what I could see) earplugs scared me away from that event. Later you suplyed them and it was a great adition to thoose with sencitive ears.
Please submit your Kudos to Thygrrr for that one -- we are very happy about him providing everyone with these earplugs. He will be happy to have feedback on them here: https://forum.eurofurence.org/index.php/topic,4033.msg39507/topicseen.html

Quote

-No info where you could find the different staff sections, specially the lost and found section. As it was now I could see one staff desk and they tryed to make me give a piece I found on the floor at the "lost and found" area but I still havent a clue on where that was.
Basically, all of the staff area most participant should ever come into contact with is the con ops office (you don't want to be in need of the Medics office, and you really don't want to be asked into the security office ;) )
Anyone with a red badge would have gladly shown you the way to con ops.

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-No activities on sunday. I would have loved to had a few thing to do before the dead dog party, as it was now most off that day was a long "the day after feeling."
The con is over on Sunday morning. That's why the night from Sunday to Monday is called "late departure".
Anything after the Big Blue Dance is a bonus.

(We used to have a feedback session around noon, but it turned out to be much more productive to collect the feedback in our forum. Besides, most of our staff is busy breaking down the main stage, art show, Den, and everything else on Sunday)

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No official closing cermony. Why, really?

Traditionally, the end of the Pawpet Show serves as our closing ceremony. A dedicated ceremony on Saturday would either delay the Big Blue Dance, or collide with the Pawpet Show. And you don't want to see anyone from the core staff on a stage before noon on Sunday :)

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-Not so good timetable on some event. There where many panels at the same times (12,14 and even 16) and you couldnt visit all that you where interested in.

We have tried out to have an earlier slot in the morning, and AFAIR also a later slot in the evening. Feedback was rather negative. So the only solutions would be to cancel panels (which I would not consider an improvement), or to make EF days having more than 24 hours (which I would consider an improvement, despite all the legal and physical issues this would raise).

Quote
Also the fursuit dance contest was at the same time most off us has to go and prephere for the parade, I couldnt onl see 3 or 4 numbers and would have loved to see more of it and it should have been schedualed away from other major fursuiting events.

Same as above. It was not possible to move the timeslot for the fursuit parade for a couple of reasons, and it was not possible to move the Contest for a couple of other reasons. Besides, there is more or less always a fursuit event going on; see above. Anyway, Programming will see what they can do next year -- given the large number of panels, they will only be able to avoid most collisions, not all of them.

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-No official meeting point. That would have been much easier to meet and great with friends.

A single meeting point for a convention of 1300 people would have to have the size of the hotel lobby -- which, actually, serves pretty well as a meeting point in my experience :) If you need a smaller spot, you can easily add things like "next to the art show", "next to the glass elevators", or anything else :)

Quote
Overall a great and fun experience! Thanks!

Again, thanks a lot -- we are glad to see people liked EF18, and we will be happy if they will like EF19 even more!
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Alpha_Ki

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Re: EF18 Feedback
« Reply #14 on: 04.09.2012, 20:50:09 »

Yeah yeah... the Dealers' Den... guys, if I had known, that some of you waited for more than three hours to get IN then I would have served hot chokolate and gave you blankets... seriously!

The splitted rooms are a big problem since we ran out of space and needed it to give more dealers and artists a chance to sell their art, prints and goods. We tried to announce both rooms everywhere to make poeple recognize the smaller room - to show both rooms are equal.
As far as I got feedback, it was better than at EF 17 but it didn't solve the problem it just made it smaller... I will bring up that topic at the next staff meeting and we will find a solution.   


We can't move walls... ok, we could... but no one wants to see us working with dynamite anywhere... *evil smile*

All I can say is: It was better than last year cause we learned things from the problems. Same we do for next year. ;) 
That there are always people not as happy as others about the situation I know and can handle.
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