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[Cheetah]

Sorry for being brief, trying to answer in bulk as good as I can

The fursuit friendly dance didn't seem to have been optimized for fursuit dancing

Since I seem to be hearing that a lot this year, we'll look into this.

Some serious sound issues on the main stage during events

If you don't mention which event and which kind of sound issue, your feedback is not very useful.

Not enough space for the dealer's den: there was a queue all day long almost permanently in front of the main one.

Sadly there is nothing we can do about it. We are out of space.

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.

The registration page clearly says "food is not included" pretty much all over the place. EF hasn't been providing free food since EF13. The opening times are mentioned for your convenience only.

Some events, specially the concert, started very late, and I lost info about it.

Yup, an accident happened on stage, and a staff member had to be taken care of by our medics. Staff was overwhelmed with stress, and communication wasn't as good as it should have been. I apologize.

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?

Yup, we wanted to improve this, I don't know what went wrong about that yet. Possibly some missing communication between the new dealers management and security - we'll discuss this in the team.

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.

The location of the con-ops office was well announced, but you ad mittedly have to know that lost-and-found is being handled by con ops. Small signage mishap.

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?

Because one extra day of con activities would considerably raise the costs, and because it's beyond the human power of our staff to run events for one more day.
Don't forget our programming begins on Wednesday evening - that's one day earlier than at most conventions.

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.

The answer to this one is easy: It's the least of all evils. Firs tof all We have to do that, because our function rooms have limited capacity, so we need to "spread out" the crowd over many rooms. Then, having fewer parallel events would mean programming would have to start earlier, and end later during the day - that gets us into serious scheduling conflicts with the evening programming, and complaints from those panelists holding talks in empty rooms at 10 in the morning.

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

I don't understand your point. Why can't you just say "Let's meet at the bar" or "Let's meet at the elevators"? A single meeting point really makes no sense with 1300 people coming to ... uh ... meet

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.

Agreed, but since we're at 100% space usage, there's simply no free "area" where we could put it.

[Ralesk]

Heh, I kept telling people in the back of the long queue at the first DD room to go to the other one, because that room is like almost empty (okay, there were about a dozen people inside at that point).  It kinda felt like people didn't even know about the other room.

[krakendwaggin]

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!

I do remember how surprised you looked when you opened the door, besides Codewolf gave me a cup of tea and then Uncle Kage made me drink a massive beer (okay okay, not 'made me', I did offer as he needed the glass empty... seriously, ask him!)

[Alpha_Ki]

That was my first year as team lead and I promise, me and my will work hard on that.

The Den is a very important part of EF not only for the artists but also for the customers.
So far I tried to help every one who came to me with a problem face to face but I felt a little helpless when I saw people "camping" in front of the door. You guys moved me in a very positive way and I will do my very best to improve the Den not just from inside but also on the outside.

These impressions I have to deal with myself first. But we will talk about that at the next staff meeting.

[Shiro]

All In all I don't have much to say about EF18.
It was my first time at Maritime hotel, and I was fairly impressed with how well EF used the space that was available to them.

Where I felt the ice cracking where.

1.
The BBQ event.
I had in no way expected this event to be free. But at the very least I would expect the price of said event to be more.. Available.
I cheeked the conbook, with little luck. I then asked staff, who then told me that EF has nothing to do with it, and that I should ask the Hotel.
So basically it would be nice if such information got put either in the conbook, or on the pocket time schedule.

2.
The lines at the Dealers den.
I can't remember where I heard this. But it seems there was a misunderstanding going around, that one dealers den had the "clean merchandice" and the other one is where you would find all the porn.


3.
The art show aftermath.
I where told at the art show, after the art auction.
There would be put op a list off all the bidders. Where you could then see if you had indeed won anything, so if you didn't. You would not have to stand in line to get nothing  
This sounded like a really great plan. But I never was able to find said list, or a staff member who could tell me when it would be up.

But as I said minor things.

[Ravusy]

The problem I saw with the Dealer's Den rooms, was that all of the popular artists were placed in the same room. The room with the less known artists never had a entry cue.
So please mix the artists next year, it would enhance the flow rate of customers and ease the bottleneck problem.

[Cairyn]

I where told at the art show, after the art auction.
There would be put op a list off all the bidders. Where you could then see if you had indeed won anything, so if you didn't. You would not have to stand in line to get nothing  
This sounded like a really great plan. But I never was able to find said list, or a staff member who could tell me when it would be up.

Unfortunately, there was a mishap with the bidder numbers. Through a combination of human error and technical failure, some numbers were issued twice. We were forced to ask the affected bidders to identify the pieces they were actually bidding on. This prevented the automatic generation of proper usable winner lists (and caused some delays).

So, while it was planned to hang such lists in front of the Art Show (as we had done last year), they were ultimately deemed too unreliable and confusing to be used. Since we have taken steps to implement an additional security layer on the software for next year, the winner lists will return for EF19. I am very sorry about any fruitless waiting this year.

[BD]

The charity was a really good one, it felt great to contribute to their cause. How much did they finally get in the end?

One other question - there was a crew from a Dutch TV show there, they filmed me and a few others in our fursuits while we were standing around in the lobby waiting for the Savannah Revolution concert to start , then when I was seated for the concert (still in my suit) they sat next to me and started asking questions, they asked me if I'd take my fursuit head off for the camera! (of course I didn't!) The woman seemed curious and friendly, yet a little bit pushy, and  I was courteous and friendly to them without really saying much, as it made me a bit cautious. Anyone know what that was about, hopefully they will do a positive feature about us for a change.

[Jake R]

The charity was a really good one, it felt great to contribute to their cause. How much did they finally get in the end?

One other question - there was a crew from a Dutch TV show there, they filmed me and a few others in our fursuits while we were standing around in the lobby waiting for the Savannah Revolution concert to start , then when I was seated for the concert (still in my suit) they sat next to me and started asking questions, they asked me if I'd take my fursuit head off for the camera! (of course I didn't!) The woman seemed curious and friendly, and  I was courteous and friendly to them without really saying much, as it made me a bit cautious. Anyone know what that was about, hopefully they will do a positive feature about us for a change.

[edit:] Official word on interviewing crew below. [/edit] I actually just saw today's episode, which was on Amsterdam's Red Light District. I was rather impressed with it, and if next week's episode on fursuiters (yes, next week!) is anywhere near as well executed as the one on prostitution I'd be glad to watch it. It's in Dutch, but who knows, it might end up subbed in English online someday =3


[edit:] The charity raised 'over €13.000'. Which is amaaaaazing! =D [/edit]

[o'wolf]

The charity was a really good one, it felt great to contribute to their cause. How much did they finally get in the end?

At least 13000 Euros according to the sign Pinky showed around at the Dead Dog Party.

One other question - there was a crew from a Dutch TV show there, they filmed me and a few others in our fursuits while we were standing around in the lobby waiting for the Savannah Revolution concert to start , then when I was seated for the concert (still in my suit) they sat next to me and started asking questions, they asked me if I'd take my fursuit head off for the camera! (of course I didn't!) The woman seemed curious and friendly, and  I was courteous and friendly to them without really saying much, as it made me a bit cautious. Anyone know what that was about, hopefully they will do a positive feature about us for a change.

Hrmpf, they weren't supposed to film or even interview random people without asking them beforehand. I left them with a Dutch furry who should have kept an eye on it to avoid situations like this. No need to discuss it in public, but if anyone has made any negative experience with them please drop me a note so we can avoid situations like this in the future. The crew was from BNN, a  broadcaster which is part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. They were filming for a serious documentary series called "je zal het maar zijn" (very, very roughly: "you should see it from my point of view"). The previous seasons were the best I've seen in TV journalism in years, and I have reason to believe that the next season will be equally good.

[Fafnir Kristensen]

Just an idea but maybe shuffle the *stars* artists between the two room would greatly reduce the queue in front of the main den.
The best thing would be two even sized room, so both would have the same level of interest, splitting the queue evenly, but I dont know if that configuration is possible with the available rooms.

That was my first year as team lead and I promise, me and my will work hard on that.

The Den is a very important part of EF not only for the artists but also for the customers.
So far I tried to help every one who came to me with a problem face to face but I felt a little helpless when I saw people "camping" in front of the door. You guys moved me in a very positive way and I will do my very best to improve the Den not just from inside but also on the outside.

These impressions I have to deal with myself first. But we will talk about that at the next staff meeting.

[BD]

Hrmpf, they weren't supposed to film or even interview random people without asking them beforehand.

They did ask when we were in the lobby if we wanted to be filmed, they didn't just start filming without asking. I was just a little surprised when they ended up next to me in the concert though, I didn't want to be personally interviewed, so instead of answering I started asking them questions But don't worry they weren't being aggressive or anything at all, I was nice to them, it was fun but I think they picked up on the fact that I wasn't really into being interviewed. I remember she asked me "which do you prefer being, the bear or your human self?" and I said "Well I can't really play the guitar very well as the bear."

I hope to see the finished video, thanks for the info.

[o'wolf]

I actually just saw today's episode, which was on Amsterdam's Red Light District.

Before everyone panics: each episode portraits three people. One topic is about sexuality or gender issues, one is about someone with an unusual hobby, the third usually about someone completely "normal" who was involved in some kind of major incident by pure chance. They basically accompany their protagonists and let them talk, giving just a bit of background information. I've watched two seasons of the show and haven't seen them once exploiting or ridiculing the portrayed person. I have reason to expect the fursuit segment to be in the "unusual hobby" part of the episode.

(And yes, I do know the reservations against BNN in general. And they sure do have some shows I don't want the topic "furry" to appear on. Nevertheless, the reputation of the broadcaster is just one aspect of several to consider when we decide whether we let them in or not.)

[Jake R]

Before everyone panics...

[edit:] Actually, you know what? I'm sick and not able to properly share my point. Bottom line is: I see absolutely no reason to panic, and am looking forward to next week. Feel free to delete my earlier posts and quotes of me on this if you think it is required. [/edit]

[o'wolf]

Before everyone panics...

[edit:] Actually, you know what? I'm sick and not able to properly share my point. Bottom line is: I see absolutely no reason to panic, and am looking forward to next week. Feel free to delete my earlier posts and quotes of me on this if you think it is required. [/edit]

It wasn't directed against you. It's just that furries tend to jump to conclusions. I just want to clarify what the show is about to avoid that from happening. Heck, I just had to say "BNN" to have some people almost freak out when I talked about it before EF. Anyway, as usual I'll write up a report about the media coverage and work and why I allowed some things I normally wouldn't as soon as I have my wits back.