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[Ragear]

ok, I'll start ...

very very nice and relaxed EF! The crew wasn't as pressed as the last year (just hope they don't get used to it too much, it'd mean no pawpet show anymore ...) overall a very relaxing EF! Thank you guys!
Also the hotel felt more relaxed about us. Very nice was that the Biergarten remained opren for the night, that took some pressure from the lobby as a mingling point. Barbecue was nice, too. Still they felt like having to check the hotel rooms every 3hrs or so? seriously?

Only little comment about EF prime: The transmitting/ streaming team needs some sort of feedback about what arrives in the room ... there seemed to have been a loose connector somewhere so transmission was sketchy at times. And when you stream sth with voice: please turn down the background music then

will be in berlin again next year!

Ragear

[Ghostbear]

EF21 was my fourth EF to date and the first one in Berlin (had to skip EF20) and I think it was the most relaxed one (Well, after I arrived, I had a bit of nervous breakdown on Monday, but that was settled very quickly again ^^')

But my first impression very quickly wiped away all the doubts I had and I felt kinda at home at once. Mostly because I ran into some super nice people right from the beginning.
I'm not too much of a Panel guy, but I attended some quite interesting ones.
Plus I had really tons of fun at the Fursuit walk (as a spectator), the story hour, Cosmic & Rhubarb, art auction and several other cool events. And of course at some room parties, mingling in the lobby or at the campfire... just meeting all the awesome people attending the convention. :3

I think most events (aside from the concert maybe) went really smoothly from the organisation, no major delays, unlike some events at past EFs.
Whenever I had contact with the staff, they were always super nice and understanding and I always felt welcome, kudos to that. :3

The only (hopefully constructive) criticism I have was the charity auction.
Namely how the painted Charity bottles, filled with homemade cherry liqueur were handled (and another auction with some pictures that were auctioned off together instead of seperately).
We never really could see the artwork on the bottles (which was great by the way), the artists sadly were never stated and they were auctioned off together...resulting in a quite low bid.
We (so everybody on the con) collected so much money ... but it could have been more. I remembered the charity auction from I think EF19. There was a clock with several pictures of different artists and things were handled in a similar way, resulting in a similar low bid.
I know time was running out and Kage got rushed, because of other items that took more time. Still maybe it's a good idea for the future to plan a lil more time for charity. I think everybody who gives out art or items for the charity auction should have their gifts treated with enough time to get the most of it for charity (especially if people spend a lot of time to create those things).
Just as a lil and (hopefully) friendly suggestion  

But other than that ... I really don't have much to complain. Some minor things that bugged me (like sadly getting no T-Shirt in my sizes on thursday, only minutes after the Dealer's Den was open for normal attendees, because some guy obviously bought them all off), but not significant enough to spoil the awesome time I had at EF21.
Thank you all for that!

See you all at EF22.  

Edit: Sorry for the edits, I'm trying to wipe out some spelling mistakes and such. ^^'

[rajak]

for me it was my first Ef, well my first con ever^^

normaly i am a very shy person, but when i was at the hotel it feel like...how can i say it(my englisch is bad^^)...that we are all...like a big family. i saw many friendly looking person (i talk only to some people, because of my shyness(is that a real word?^^)^^)


most of the time i was at the dealers den(or what it was calling) at the artist Ruki^^ finally meet him personly^^

sadly i couldn´t stay long, because my cat was ill and throw over the whole time, so after 3-5 hours i need to drive back to my flat(i live in berlin^^)
so sadly...i didn´t do anything from the...shows...^^

i was only at the dealers den and the artist show XD

btw. to the one who buy the towel from ruki at the artist show...if i found you, i will hit you i was so hoping to get it XD well i got 2 cute pics(even the one was a little bit dirty...someone touch it with dirty fingers and someone snezz over it...saw it sadly when i was at home with the pic...)


next time i take a room at the hotel^^ 1 hour driving in a full bus and subway is not nice^^

can´t wait for the next one^^

and sorry for my baaad englisch, and i think, i write some words who didn´t exist^^ but well...you should understand me^^

[ysegrim]

the artists sadly were never stated and they were auctioned off together...resulting in a quite low bid.

I'll leave it for the responsible people to answer the question about why certain items need to be bundled or otherwise would not even get into the auction at all. But in this specific case, had Kage not decided to deviate from the planned auction schedule and re-split the items by himself, not only all of them would have been shown on the big screen, but they could also have made twice the total because it would have been clear what you were bidding on -- see the two CDs (that went for EUR 550) as an example on how bundling can raise a price, and the (pre-split) Lynx+Bunny pair in the "normal" auction on how splitting a bundle lowers people's interest (first item not to receive a single bid in the auction).

[ANTIcarrot]

This was my 14th consecutive Eurofurence, and I have every intention of coming back next year. For all the things that go wrong, and that I might complain and whine about provide useful feedback on, that fact there is probably the most important one one of all.

Hotel overall:
Public WIFI seemed to be an immense improvement over last year. Check in and checkout were painless procedures. The lifts worked surprisingly well this year - certainly better than last year. They never seemed too busy to use and there were no breakdowns. I can only imagine that Uncle Kage must be insanely jealous. (Again.)  Individual hotel rooms though remain very basic. With no kettle or safe the hotel lags behind its peers.

Artists lounge:
It was a bad idea to put the artists lounge into a room which shared lighting conditions with the room which hosted the non-DOPE pawpet show. The moment they started, any one trying to use the artists lounge was plunged into darkness. Quite frankly this was a disrespectful thing to do to the artists contingent. Please fix this for next year. In prior years the artists lounge also had some complimentary refreshments provided. (Water, coffee, etc.) This year that didn't happen. A minor issue in comparison to the above, but it was the cherry on top. I know there are all sorts of details that we don't get to see, but I find it hard to credit that providing some basic refreshments in private con-space would be that difficult - or that it would stop people from spending money at the bar.

Security & Event Management:
During the 12PM Thursday SIG in room 3, I arrived a few minutes late to find the door was locked. After several other people joined me, I went to security who assured me that the door was not locked. Then they followed me back, and low and behold, it was locked! And people still could not get in. A brief exchange on the radio and we were sent around the the doors on the side of the room, which were also locked. Though they were also glass and we could see the talk underway inside. Fortunately they could also see us, and someone was able to open the doors from the inside. If this is a characteristic of the function room doors, even when they are booked and paid for, then convention security should probably know about it. Otherwise please ask the hotel to exercise a little more care when configuring the room locks for next year.

Travel:
I haven't actually looked at the travel section of the EF website for several years. Having just checked I was very surprised to see we don't seem to have one. Just a form to request assistance. Can you put it back please?  Can you also please add information to the travel page and/or make public announcements if there is major engineering work scheduled for the week of the convention - as there was this year with a large part of the S41 shut down. I cannot find a service status page, but a link to one might be very useful.

[Vulniir]

But other than that ... I really don't have much to complain. Some minor things that bugged me (like sadly getting no T-Shirt in my sizes on thursday, only minutes after the Dealer's Den was open for normal attendees, because some guy obviously bought them all off), but not significant enough to spoil the awesome time I had at EF21.

I am really sorry for that, I felt bad for telling everyone that we didn't had anything bigger than XXL left, AFAIK someone brought them in bulk while they were still sold at the registration. That's something I have on my list for the internal feedback, so cross your fingers for the next year  

[Ghostbear]

@ysegrim: Thank you for the feedback here and more detailed in the Notes.

@Vulniir: It's okay. I was a bit pissed on thursday, but ..yeah.. first come first serve. Next year I'll just take the Sponsor upgrade
And I really hope I didn't take it out on you.

[SouthPaw]

Travel:
I haven't actually looked at the travel section of the EF website for several years. Having just checked I was very surprised to see we don't seem to have one. Just a form to request assistance. Can you put it back please?  Can you also please add information to the travel page and/or make public announcements if there is major engineering work scheduled for the week of the convention - as there was this year with a large part of the S41 shut down. I cannot find a service status page, but a link to one might be very useful.

Just for reference, I've just looked and there is a travel page, though it's not directly linked from the home page. Instead, you have to open up the menu and it's located under the "Hotel" section thereof. Travel updates, which included the closure of the Ringbahn between Bundesplatz and Halensee, were posted in a sticky thread in the "Travel & Ride Sharing" section of this very forum.

In terms of Engineering Work details, they're only fully available in German, specifically here for S-Bahn and other heavy rail services, and here for U-Bahn, Tram and Bus services. However, the BVG Journey Planner does take them into account when giving you a route.

[meo]

Ok, as no feedback is bad feedback here is mine:

The Good
Awesome Con, lots of nice talks with people I couldn't even remember (that's good because when meeting again next year you can have the same talk again ),  Evlevator-Problems seems to be gone (beside software-Routing-Problems, but that's something we couldn't change, so lets hope Estrel will do optimize the Software next year), Bigger Panelrooms that are not cooled down from Berlin temperatures to Moskow ones (ok, that's not fair for the Suiters but finding a compromise is, so thumbs up).

The not that Good
Sadly the Main entrance security wasn't always at hand. I had reported at least 3 "Photographers". To be fair I wouldn't like a Entrance bouncer but just one or two Secs in disguise so we could pinpoint them more quickly in case something happens. The good point on that is, that as I reported the ones I found Dhary went full Cylon-Mode scanning every person in the Lobby in under 2 minutes. Working on such a level of response time and professionalism really warms my heart

The Bad
Programming - Ok lets be fair, putting the Pannels together so the con wouldn't need another Week to watch them all is a hard one but sadly we had some problems this year that really buggers me. There where several Programming problems with same topics at same time (for example the Music Cafe VS the GoH-Show). I still hope someone recorded some talks I wanted to see but couldn't as I where in another one.

[Akulatraxas]

Artists lounge:

The Artist Lounge was 260qm in size and still was pretty much full all the time. This place is the only one big enough.
You liked the 40qm Artist Lounge better from last year? I prefer to accept the 2 hours of darkness.

In prior years the artists lounge also had some complimentary refreshments provided.

We didn't had it last year. As far as I know this was privately organized in the years before. The hotel does not allow is to provide refreshments in public spaces. At least not for now.

There where several Programming problems with same topics at same time

Do you have more examples? - The schedule is very tight and there are several dependencies that make putting this together a dependency-hell.
The furry music cafe includes many people that have dependencies on their on and it is usually quite long. There is always something on the mainstage that might clash. The schedule is created with the goal to provide something for everyone on each day.  Please note that there are additional blockers in the rooms you cannot see as they are internal.

[Wawik]

But other than that ... I really don't have much to complain. Some minor things that bugged me (like sadly getting no T-Shirt in my sizes on thursday, only minutes after the Dealer's Den was open for normal attendees, because some guy obviously bought them all off), but not significant enough to spoil the awesome time I had at EF21.

Going by the numbers that poeple give when signing up, we had exactly 15 shirts in 3XL and 15 in 4XL that were gone on the second day.
You -do- know you can buy shirts right at registration, do you? It's not mandatory to wait until the Dealers Den opens. 

[Ghostbear]

You -do- know you can buy shirts right at registration, do you? It's not mandatory to wait until the Dealers Den opens.  

I do know it, but honestly .. I was just so done by the train ride, I completely forgot about it.
In the last years I was always lucky to get one, even if I forgot about it at the reg.
No harm done. It bugged me a bit on thursday, but as I said, it could not spoil the fun I had. And I got myself an awesome badge by a friendly artist instead to take home as a memento :3
And next years I'm either a Sponsor anyway or I'll write myself a note to pick it up when I register.  

[Kyera]

The schedule is very tight and there are several dependencies that make putting this together a dependency-hell.

I would guess this is a symptom of how many awesome programs there are going on all the time. Sometimes it was indeed hard to decide which one to choose and which one to skip... but oh well, that's life. The con was still wonderful and I had a great time.

Huge thanks for all the organizers and panel holders!

[meo]

There where several Programming problems with same topics at same time

Do you have more examples? - The schedule is very tight and there are several dependencies that make putting this together a dependency-hell.
The furry music cafe includes many people that have dependencies on their on and it is usually quite long. There is always something on the mainstage that might clash. The schedule is created with the goal to provide something for everyone on each day.  Please note that there are additional blockers in the rooms you cannot see as they are internal.

the Fursuit Photoshoot VS The Fursuit Gameshow several times (I don't know if it is handled the way that participating ones from one Event can participate on the next installment of the other)

Btw. I know how hard it is handling all that stuff so please don't take it personal or to hard, as I wouldn't want that job  

[Cairyn]

the Fursuit Photoshoot VS The Fursuit Gameshow several times

Fursuit Photoshoot runs daily for 8 (up to 9) hours, plus registration times, so it is fairly difficult to schedule around that (as with any All Day event).