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[BHO]

We could leave a square empty on the bidsheet, so you can put the art inside :-) No really, I would recommend a table to put these tiny things on, but then a really small item is easily pocketed. You may want a table nevertheless to put the bidsheets on. The people who sell magnets do this.

I have made a note to include the information on what holes are usable with the photo guide. We may expand this section even more next year (currently I have made no new photos).

Careful, I might take you on that offer! *laughs*  The problem is I actually know there are are tables there... but for some reason this option is never apparent to me when I do my planing, which is of course nobody's fault but my own...  After all I wouldn't need to put the smallest of art down there, but I certainly had and will have photosized frames which usually come with a supporting foot so that they can actually stand. So that's a good plan, indeed.

Awesome! Thank you so much for this! Maybe we can take pictures during the MMC art show (I don't think the panels will be used before that again?). Maybe it's a bit late, but still a few months before EF.

[Fafnir Kristensen]

errr, what!?
I have been leaving tips on the desk every year since FE13 with a paper written "for the hotel staff, etc" and they would never get it?
f***!

They will take a tip if it's on the pillow. If it's on the table or nightdesk, they will not recognize it as a tip (and are not allowed to take it). Food, even if it's stroopwafels, is probably not seen as an appropriate tip.

[Cairyn]

Awesome! Thank you so much for this! Maybe we can take pictures during the MMC art show (I don't think the panels will be used before that again?). Maybe it's a bit late, but still a few months before EF.

Well, we do have that photo guide, don't know whether you've seen it:
http://www.eurofurence.org/EF18/policies_artshownewcomer.html
To show the actual usable holes, I would need to have a photo of the disassembled framework, I guess.
If you like, you could make photos of your art hanging from the highest available hole... I'm not at MMC, as always.

[BigBlueFox]

errr, what!?
I have been leaving tips on the desk every year since FE13 with a paper written "for the hotel staff, etc" and they would never get it?
f***!

They will take a tip if it's on the pillow. If it's on the table or nightdesk, they will not recognize it as a tip (and are not allowed to take it). Food, even if it's stroopwafels, is probably not seen as an appropriate tip.

You should be able to tell. If it was gone after housekeeping was there, then they got it.

[Cairyn]

errr, what!?
I have been leaving tips on the desk every year since FE13 with a paper written "for the hotel staff, etc" and they would never get it?

I tried to leave a tip on the nightstand the first night in the Maritim three years ago, and it was left untouched. I asked the hotel staff, and they told me it's customary to leave it on the pillow, etc. (I'm not a fan of that, considering the hygienic state of money, but meh.) I don't remember the Ringberg so well, I guess they were more flexible about that.

If you include a note, it should be fine, although I did have the case this year that the cleaning staff even left the note I put on the pillow. If the money's gone after the cleaning personnel went through, you should be in the green.

[BHO]

Well, we do have that photo guide, don't know whether you've seen it:
http://www.eurofurence.org/EF18/policies_artshownewcomer.html
To show the actual usable holes, I would need to have a photo of the disassembled framework, I guess.
If you like, you could make photos of your art hanging from the highest available hole... I'm not at MMC, as always.

I must admit I have not. I think it wasn't wise from me to skip that section because I didn't see myself as a newcommer. My mistake and I promise to improve on that! >_<

I will talk to BP when MMC sets up the art show again, so we can talk about which photos and which information might be useful.

[Fafnir Kristensen]

You should be able to tell. If it was gone after housekeeping was there, then they got it.

well I usually do that the last day before going out of the room for the last time, so I never know what happen next

[Schorse]

I know what happened with them. Many furries left their rooms in a state of complete mess - crates of beer standing around, dirty clothes strewn all over the floor, giant inflatables taking up all the space, piles of trash on the floor. It took housekeeping on average three times to service a room than it does with normal guests.  Some attendees had to pay extra cleaning fees up to €600 for the removal of bodily fluids and drink spills.

If people do that, naturally, service quality as a whole suffers.

Although, sometimes, leaving a little tip and a small thank you note could make all the difference for the shit housekeeping (quite literally) has to put up with. Be nice to them, and they will be nice to you.

Well, our room was one which was filled with the big inflatable toys. But there was no problem with the roomservice. They came in and we agreed that they just empty the waste bucket and clean the bath, since the main room was not dirty at all. Everyone was very friendly.

I also have to give a special thanks to the house technican.
My roomie is an engineer and asked if it's possible to see the emergency generator. So we didn't just see that one, but the technican gave us an one hour show of the electrical and water system of the hotel.
Also of the tech room for the pool, which was very helpful to understand and prevent the problems with overflooding we had in the years before.
When we had this little special event at the pool on Friday night (filling the pool with inflatables), the technican came by a few times and kept an eye of the poolsystem. So everything went smoothly without any problems.

[Ralesk]

But then, that's not what it takes to run a bag drop for 1300 people.

I perfectly understand that running a bag drop for hundreds of people is out of the scope for EF Security, which is exactly why I've been offering these ideas of compromise.

Moving the pile inside the room (to the entrance, nevertheless, but inside) adds more security without severely burdening EF Security.  They can still say we're leaving our stuff at the designated place on our own accord and they have no responsibility if things get lost.  At the same time, the items are by default protected from the public, because the public are – by the workings of the Art Show – filtered out.  One person inside that assures you get rid of your cameras isn't that much of a hassle — the entry guys could be simply split to be on both sides, there's always like three of them lounging around the Art Show entrance anyway.

Pros: almost a non-issue for Security, better conditions for con-goers.
Cons: still a pile, no promises on getting your stuff back. (but certainly isn't worse than now, so we don't care)

Next level: Get a table to put stuff on it or under it.  Don't promise anything more.  Has a one-time setup, and gives bigger comfort to people by making it possible to leave your stuff not in a pile but in a more cultured fashion,

Pros: non-issue for Security, significantly better conditions for con-goers.
Cons: still no guarantee on getting stuff back (again, isn't worse than now).


In short, yes, I know I keep repeating myself, but I really don't expect you guys to run a proper bag drop (if I wanted that, I'd go to the reception), but somehow the topic always curls back to that — all I'd like is to be able to move my stuff to the other side of the door, without any more guarantees or services provided by con staff.  It would be "good enough" and "better than now" — not perfect, but I personally don't care about that.

[Cheetah]

Nah, sorry, if we run a bag drop, we do assume responsibility. Such as, we must make sure that people can only take out what they put in. And you have to keep in mind, there might be queues, so that takes extra crowd control measures. And you need a plan what to do with items left behind. We should either do it right, or not at all, that's my opinion.

[yagfox]

Have to say, I very much enjoyed watching the fursuit gameshow this year, I'm not sure if what we were watching was what had been planned, but as entertainment it was absolutely first class, I damned near fell of my chair laughing!

Definitely on my watch list for next year!

[Dhary Montecore]

Rest assured that you relentless EF security is working already on a way to provide a item-keep service for you. Just bear with us, you'll see the result at EF19 :3

[Cookie]

Just because some people didn't have a seating preference that doesn't mean they wanted to end up in as what in the eyes of many, many guests felt like an overflow / 2nd class dealer's den.

From the sheer difference of people in Den 1 vs. Den 2, I am pretty sure revenues in Den 2 were at least an order of magnitude lower than they could have been.  

Yup!
I really like the system of "dealer's den" being separated from the "Artist Alley"... But it's not possible here.
So a bit more of a mix-up between "famous artists and dealers" and us "commoners" would be nice indeed ;p (i'm joking with the "commoners", don't get offended, eh)
I know Alpha did all she could to advertise the second room (and thanks to her 10.000000 times for that), but many people don't really read the conbook until AFTER the con...

So yeah, a "mix-up" seems the best solution.

[ANTIcarrot]

Would it be possible to remove some tables from the upper corridor next year? It's a good sized corridor, but when you have tables on both sides, and a queue two people wide, and then they start to cluster and talk to their friends, and a fursuiter turns up... You start to edge into negative width. I assume the hotel wants to keep the decorative coffee display, and have some protection for the pictures on one side, but could we only have tables on the picture side? It would double the effective width of the corridor.

The hotel paid wifi was patchy at times this year. It was okay once you got though, but getting a connection took a long time in the lobby area. Strangely the EF wifi had the exact opposite problem. Connecting was easy, but often you ended up with nothing but a dead line. I know. I know. It's free. I don't supose simple hardware donation could fix this?

Minor point on the drinks issue... There was cold water in the artists alley. And I assume the fursuiters weren't being charged three euros for each 200ml glass of water? Is this a public area / private function deal?

[Fafnir Kristensen]

maybe just a comment about this:
the storyteller part was awfully long and very very difficult to understand.
I know it is not easy to clearly speak from inside a fursuite head, but wouldnt there be some better way to hear the commentator voice?  like a compact mic inside the fursuite head?

also, I would have just fell of my chair if someone had played Benny Hills chase music at the final "hunt" stage

Have to say, I very much enjoyed watching the fursuit gameshow this year, I'm not sure if what we were watching was what had been planned, but as entertainment it was absolutely first class, I damned near fell of my chair laughing!

Definitely on my watch list for next year!