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[DarkFoxDK]

The blackboard actually was at the back entrance, probably due to the fact that the front entrance had this huge and awesome piece of decoration set up.

I do have to admit, tho, it wasn't the best or most obvious place to put a blackboard. At the same time, I lack ideas for a better place.

In front of the other doors of the Fursuit Lounge? I remember it was always closed.

No, it was at the back of the lobby, where the two elevators are. Pretty close to the con ops office.

It felt too hidden away to me. I only came across it on the last day. Perhaps placing it behind the decoration, across from the elevators would work better? It seemed people were putting up announcements around there anyway.

[Cookie]

The blackboard actually was at the back entrance, probably due to the fact that the front entrance had this huge and awesome piece of decoration set up.

I do have to admit, tho, it wasn't the best or most obvious place to put a blackboard. At the same time, I lack ideas for a better place.

In front of the other doors of the Fursuit Lounge? I remember it was always closed.

No, it was at the back of the lobby, where the two elevators are. Pretty close to the con ops office.

Yes, Drachetto was suggesting a new place to put it, i think

[Drachetto]

.... I lack ideas for a better place.

In front of the other doors of the Fursuit Lounge? I remember it was always closed.

No, it was at the back of the lobby, where the two elevators are. Pretty close to the con ops office.

Yes, Drachetto was suggesting a new place to put it, i think

Yes, I was ^^'

[datgingercat]

EF18 was my first furry convention and I have to admit, you guys have successfully convinced me into wanting more!

Some things that particularly suited me:
+ Hotel location, pretty much everything was in walking distance
+ Panel organisation; there were really a lot of panels, many of them taking place at the same time yet somehow, I don't know if this was intentional, with the last schedule modification I was able to attend everything I wanted to see.
+ Security team was doing a great job! You need to put two boxes at the bar next year, where one can put in donations for the security team and the staff, which they can obtain by the end of the day in the form of fine German beverages
+ Informative screens with maps (I know there were maps in the con book, but taking one quick look before rushing off in search of the next room was much easier this way)

However, there were some things which might need slight improvements:
- My name contains strange Martian non-ascii characters and that resulted in a very funny badge. I was kindly offered to have my badge replaced, but I didn't want to bother the team, thought if you guys keep up the good work you should consider the possibility of further Martian guests.
- I guess this should go without saying, but perhaps, apart from asking people to not abuse the elevators, you should also write a short guide on how to use an elevator, because I didn't feel very safe when someone decided it would be fun to start jumping up and down in the elevator and the whole elevator was shaking.
- Another thing about elevators, this might be a stupid suggestion as I don't know how the elevators are controlled, nor how cooperative the hotel staff/elevator staff is, but perhaps you should consider adding an option for security and fursuiters - when they swipe their badge through the card reader, their floor of choice is given priority to everyone else's, which they could use if they were in a hurry.

[Gero]

Please no: That would leave everyone with a fursuit badge doing that trick all the time making it everything but impossible for every one else to use the elevators att peak times. So as much as I as fursuiter would love this suggestion please dont.

[Raider]

- I guess this should go without saying, but perhaps, apart from asking people to not abuse the elevators, you should also write a short guide on how to use an elevator, because I didn't feel very safe when someone decided it would be fun to start jumping up and down in the elevator and the whole elevator was shaking.

This seems to be a never-ending story at furcons. I honestly don't get why breaking the elevators by jumping in them is such an intriguing idea to some people. It shakes for some seconds and then it's broken (again) and everyone is taking the stairs. Well done. The same goes for pushing all the buttons and getting off at the first floor.
I think Gyroplast would be interested in having a talk with the guy you met there.

[Dhary Montecore]

We WILL take care of the elevator problem next year as this repeats year after year. The few elevators are a limited ressource and to hear that there are still people breaking them for fun is getting annoying. We will handle that, I promise :3

[Fafnir Kristensen]

mmm, I have had much less problems with elevator this year compared to previous years, and I was at floor 4 instead of 1.
I think more people were using the stairs.
Though maybe it would be nice to clearly explain in the conbook or some other visible place (forum?) that the stairs front side, which have magnetic card pass, are now always open from both side, while the stairs from back side can only be used to go down (no magnetic card pass).
once you know you need to go front side to go up, it's really easy to navigate the hotel without needing the elevators

about elevator breaking up, I noticed at two occasion that if someone tried to keep the doors open when they are closing, the doors would open but the elevator would decide to play dead with all the button not working. I guess this a security feature, but it's really easy to freeze them that way.

[silverfoxwolf]

The only problem I found with the lifts was on departure day when so many people were trying to leave. It was easier to walk up the stairs and then only wait for the lifts going down.

[nifela]

Overall, the con was a nice experience. Please don't take the things I'm about to say as having ruined the con for me - but when EF can be such a great time, negative things can have a much higher impact.
Generally I want to thank the staff and security for being helpful.

• Banning of poi/staff during the dances - to my surprise, Poi and Staff-twirling was banned this year (I asked for permission prior to the dance and thus got a negative response). This should be better communicated next year, as I've seen a few pictures with people spinning poi/staff on the dance. Thanks however, for letting me play outside the hotel. For me, this is a large part of the fun I have at the con - I ordered spare parts just for EF and rarely get a chance to use my gear.
• Fear of heights again, the hotel tried to put me on the 6th floor. For the third time in a row. Luckily I was able to get a room a bit lower, yet still not in an ideal place. This also meant that I had to rely on the elevators more often. I start to think that this option during registration does absolutely nothing. I even booked early arrival to make sure that I don't get a bad room this time and took the first possible train I could
• Obnoxious (drunk) people - well, I guess I'm more to blame for being so picky.

[Gero]

• Fear of heights again, the hotel tried to put me on the 6th floor. For the third time in a row. Luckily I was able to get a room a bit lower, yet still not in an ideal place. This also meant that I had to rely on the elevators more often. I start to think that this option during registration does absolutely nothing. I even booked early arrival to make sure that I don't get a bad room this time and took the first possible train I could

Maybe a good idea to try one of the overflew hotel next year? No names but mine had only five floor and I got a room on the first one, thus it has no indoor open space and was a short two minutes walk from the con hotel.

[nobs]

Great con for me. I had lots of fun and nothing to complain. I just avoided the things I don't like ;-)

The main thing to avoid was the "UNF UNF UNF" music. I was there for some minutes. Thanks to Thygrr's ear plugs it was bearable for a while. But apart from the pure volume I really would prefer some more "melodic" music from time to time. I understand lots of furs enjoy the simplistic music. But there are other's as well.

Or is there really no DJ anymore willing to play the "classics"?

Another small thing is the time of day of the room cleaning. I understand that there is a problem with the messies. And I guess the personal wants to do the job "in a row" of the rooms. So skipping the "garbage dumps" rooms first might not be an option. But I just like to point out that this is a problem for every other attendee.

[Taggy]

Thanks for the great con. It is my third and everytime it is better.
Thanks to all the people and a great thanks to cheetah.
I don't know if there would be an EF without him, but it would not be the same...

[Pinky]

My main point of concern this year:
The charity lottery table should be much more visible! Last year we had the fortune wheel, this year many of my friends apparantly didn't even notice the table. But well, I'm sure I can help out with some big banner or sign next year so the table won't be missed And then afterwards we can sell that banner for charity XD

Just to follow up on this one, I totally agree and that's one of our learning points for next year. I welcome you to help us on this, I think you'll do a smashing job at upping our visibility.

Did people like the charity concert? Should we try to do something similar again? DId it work splitting the auction into two parts and keeping the charity items as surprises/mystery items? Did you like the idea about the otter noses? Should we try to bring next year's charity to the con as well? Should they bring animals? Would you be interested if next year's charity also did a panel?

[Amy Ninetails]

Did people like the charity concert? Should we try to do something similar again? DId it work splitting the auction into two parts and keeping the charity items as surprises/mystery items? Did you like the idea about the otter noses? Should we try to bring next year's charity to the con as well?

i for one would have liked to know what items was up for charity auction. they usually are the cream of the crop and thus making more people inclined to bid on them.

the otter noses were awesome! more of this!

absolutely! bring the charity to the con was a great idea and it was really moving to see their reaction to the preliminary figures. it is a great idea to have their staff there to be able to tell more about what they do and see some of the work they do. big plus and much love on this!