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

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Author Topic: Fursuit Lounge (EF18)  (Read 39754 times)

Jake R

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Fursuit Lounge (EF18)
« on: 04.09.2012, 02:29:25 »

Hello!

I should probably let Mystifur post about this instead as he's the boss and all, but I've got a case of concrud so I can't sleep and I'm bored now. I'm sure he'll forgive me. If not, I'll just bribe him with stroopwafels or something. <3

Anyway! We already had some great feedback from visitors, so let me repeat this here for everyone to comment on:

- Full-sized mirror on the floor instead of on the table, so fursuiters can use it to check their footpaws / hooves / etc. as well.
- Water with and without ice. This was already implemented on the spot, but I was asked why afterwards, so I'll explain for clarity. Some people, coming from the hot suit then right after drinking water with new ice (and this is several hundred cubes we're talking about here) had trouble with the big change in temperature. Some got headaches, some even became nauseous. So, to accomodate those people we decided to make one water dispenser without ice. Thanks to those who suggested it - you helped a lot of furs!

For those who don't know: I was the little guy constantly in the way of the big drink dispensers filling hundreds of cups. Very sorry about that. As apparently people didn't realize until I told them (some as late as Sunday), I was curious if you noticed:

- The filled cups on the tables aligned in neat rows, spaced so they could be grabbed by furpaws, were free to take?
- The cups on the left side of the dispensers were only half-filled the last 2 days, so they wouldn't spill on furpaws if gripped too tightly?
- The cups upside-down on the table bunched together (placed on just-cleaned areas to keep the rims clean) were also free to take, so furs who preferred pouring their own drinks could do so without having to fumble with the stacks of cups with furpaws on?

If you didn't notice (which is nothing to be ashamed of, as it wasn't announced or written down anywhere), any good tips on how to improve this? Keep in mind, we don't want heads to roll during the opening ceremonies again next year, and it's not of big importance, so announcing it there is not really an option. And I am also not sure if making a sign would work: if you walk straight past 30 cups filled with bright green, would you read some text? =3


Next, here's what I hope will improve next year:

- No more glass in the fursuit lounge. No, seriously, I don't care where it comes from, what's in it, how tightly you'll hold on to it or how careful you are - the fursuit lounge is NOT the place to take your glass. Official word from more senior staff on people taking glass into the fursuit lounge: "they will be drawn and quartered". And I agree.
- People taking their (mostly) dry fursuits off the big pipe monsters, so others can use it, instead of using the fursuit lounge as their personal fursuit storage. For reference - the big bodysuit one had room for 56 suits, not counting the coatracks not connected to the blower. That's only about 1/10 of all the suiters at the con, and some have multiple suits. So please, try to remember and share the limited space we have with others.
- Even less used cups / paper on the floor, on the tables, between the fursuit heads / paws or stuck on the backs of fans blocking the airflow and making them less effective, because people didn't throw them in the bins. I even put up the lids on some of them so you wouldn't have to touch anything dirty with furpaws on, and yet people put the cups on the table literally 30 centimeters next to it and walked away. It's actually harder to focus on putting it on the table, than it is to stretch your arm above the bin, and relax your paw enough to let the cup drop into it. So I have only one question: why? ;_;


Last but not least, I would love to thank all the other people helping others in the fursuit lounge, pouring drinks and keeping it clean. And that includes everyone who threw away their own cups - far more this year than last year!

If you have any more suggestions, or things you particularly liked or disliked, please share!
« Last Edit: 15.08.2013, 00:41:51 by o'wolf »
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Vector

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #1 on: 04.09.2012, 13:15:46 »

The things I really liked this year are :
- the water without ice
- the clocks so you can plan a minimum rest time
- the mirror to check your fursuit

Thanks to the fursuit team !  :)
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Hai λ

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #2 on: 04.09.2012, 15:17:40 »

I remain concerned about the stickiness of a lot of surfaces in the lounge when it is in use. I watched very carefully where I put my paws.

Here is a proposal to think about for the cups: What if the tables with the drinks and the cups were arranged in a line, with a clear entrance and a clear exit? People would have to wait a couple more seconds to access their cups, but at the end of the line, you could put the garbage can, making it even clearer to everyone where the cups should go to after the process of drinking that is then already concluded.
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Rattie

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #3 on: 04.09.2012, 15:52:47 »

The fur suit lounge was really good. Though I would recommend a few improvements to next time.
- full size mirrors (as mentioned) 1-2 should be enough)
- Pens to write names on plastic cups, and holder for them
- clocks and con schedules (as it is easy to lose track of time, when drying the suit)
- wireframe stands, to ease the drying of the masks/fursuit heads (when placed in front of/right over a ventilator)
- gel disinfectant (for the hands)
- guide on how to disinfect your fursuit

- regular washing of the floor
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BD

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #4 on: 04.09.2012, 16:02:20 »

Very grateful for the water with no ice, and having more space than usual in the lounge. Full-length mirror would be very nice!

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Pickle

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #5 on: 04.09.2012, 17:52:41 »

- People taking their (mostly) dry fursuits off the big pipe monsters, so others can use it, instead of using the fursuit lounge as their personal fursuit storage. For reference - the big bodysuit one had room for 56 suits, not counting the coatracks not connected to the blower. That's only about 1/10 of all the suiters at the con, and some have multiple suits. So please, try to remember and share the limited space we have with others.

THIS.

I was having a problem with my head's eyes fogging, and there were so many instances where I would loved to put it over the air blower, just for a few minutes, but couldn't, because all the space was taken.

The main problem was having no way of knowing who had just put their fursuit there and who had left it there for hours. I was frightened of removing someone's fursuit head and replacing it with my own for fear of someone having a go at me, or worse, pulling it off the blower and throwing it somewhere while I was elsewhere. >.<
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Jake R

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #6 on: 04.09.2012, 22:13:00 »

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I'd like to comment on a few points:

Quote
- clocks and con schedules

- guide on how to disinfect your fursuit

- regular washing of the floor / sticky surfaces

Clocks were already there, as a new addition! There were 2 very big white ones stuck to the wooden poles of the bodysuit dryers, and one of the visitors took one with him saying "Is it EF yet? Yes!" or something =) Adding some jumbo-prints of the schedule sounds like a good plan, I'll try to remember that!

A guide on how to disinfect your fursuit might be a bit tricker, but as there was apparently a fursuit with a brownish mold already growing in the padding, it might actually be worth it. ^_^'

Regular washing of the floor is probably out of our control, as it is carpet and not a solid surface. I think the hotel won't let us clean it, and I doubt they'll regularly wash it for us. I did however clean the tables in the middle about twice a day with soap, and I tried to at least wipe them clean with wet paper if they were sticky somewhere. I was afraid of cleaning the tables along the edge, as it would mean moving a lot of fursuit parts around, and I was not sure if people would appreciate me doing so. I will try to think of a solution to this, but if anybody has any ideas on how to keep (in particular) the tables on the edges clean, please let me know!

As for all the other points mentioned so far: you are not skipped, nor forgotten - I am reading everything here and will seriously look at all of them. I appreciate all the feedback so far, please keep it going! Together, I'm sure we can further improve the quality of the fursuit lounge =)
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Suran

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #7 on: 04.09.2012, 22:24:51 »

The mirrors and the large clocks where a great idea.
It was huge, clean and worked very very well.
Great job!
Walked around a few times to pick up trash like I usually do
when around and not occupied but could hardly find any. ;)
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yagfox

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #8 on: 04.09.2012, 22:39:20 »

Still the best lounge in the fandom! :)

Giant clocks and mirrors a very welcome addition, and as always the wonder that is large vats of Eurofurence Green! :)
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Jake R

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #9 on: 04.09.2012, 23:04:42 »

Still the best lounge in the fandom! :)

Giant clocks and mirrors a very welcome addition, and as always the wonder that is large vats of Eurofurence Green! :)

You might be interested in this post: https://forum.eurofurence.org/index.php/topic,3321.msg31662.html#msg31662

Also, thanks for going around and picking up trash, Suran and all others who did so =)
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Hai λ

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #10 on: 05.09.2012, 10:49:02 »

I have a suggestion regarding the drying problem, let me explain it for the paw and head dryer:
Right now, people use the slots randomly. Sometimes, if they recognize paws or heads dry or being in one place already for very long, they take the liberty to carefully take those off and place them somewhere else to use the drying stand on their own. The problem here is figuring out when something's dry...

What if for each table, there was some kind of clearly visible token, on the drying stand or table, that basically walks around the table? People could put their stuff up for drying and move the token further on in a defined direction around the table. Now, if we make an assumption about the drying load per time, it could very well be possible that once the token walked around the table once, the stuff that is still on the dryer and now at the token is already dry -- So everything that the token passes can be safely taken off, drought out properly.

Of course there remain open questions regarding how it would be handled when there are many suiters putting up their stuff at once, and how to convey it to everyone, but yeah, that's my suggestion.
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Suran

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #11 on: 05.09.2012, 11:12:09 »

Sounds like fastfood-restaurant tokens and way over-engeneered.
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Tekumseh

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #12 on: 05.09.2012, 11:27:26 »

Problem with that:
- in times of high usage, the token will move quite fast - so things won't be dry when it comes around
- when you remove something - where to put it so that the owner easily  finds it and doesn't have to start searching his parts? I think that is one major question that keeps people from removing things from dryers.

Unfortunately we cannot build something to house 200 Suits (which would be less than half the suits at EF) for we would need an area the size of the main stage for that. We need the cooperation of the suiters!
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Furvan

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #13 on: 05.09.2012, 12:36:18 »

I am also pondering about the problem of all head dryer full and what todo with dry heads.
We would need somekind of extra space but where ?
Also the problem how to check if a head is dry or still wet...
I have to confess that i am not realy happy by touching into a complete soaked formeign suit heads for checking ;/
Same or worse for other suitparts.
(i mean not only one, it will to check dozzens or hundreds of them over the con)

The FL is NOT a Storage, thats the Rule, because of space and not guarded.
But its not a realy forceable rule.

« Last Edit: 05.09.2012, 12:40:48 by Furvan »
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krakendwaggin

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Re: Fursuit Lounge
« Reply #14 on: 05.09.2012, 12:46:59 »

This was my first real experience with a fursuit lounge, I really enjoyed it, the drying system was interesting but so darned useful, plus the vat of ice water, wonderful!

Though that vat o' green stuff, urgh!

Thanks to everyone who helped maintain it!
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