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[o'wolf]

True. And they did not even have the (lame) "excuse" of the Maritim that this is not their parking house, so they can not give any discount. But unfortunately this gets more and more common in hotels.

AFAIK the Estrel parking garage is indeed operated by an external company, though this probably isn't very obvious.

[Cifer]

Most of the major points were already mentioned, so I'll keep it short:

1.) Wow! That was a wonderful first foray into the world of Eurofurence. Thanks to everyone who made it possible - convention staff, security, hotel staff and so on!

2.) Would it be possible to print the map of the Den on some posters and hang them inside the den? I found the map in the con book very helpful as I had only heard of many of the dealers before and wasn't able to match the names with the faces. For some reason, though, I rarely had the book with me while visiting the Den.

3.) I'd very much appreciate it if the chairs at the main stage were set in an overlapping pattern:
CCC
.CC
I'm not exactly small, but it seemed like there was always someone bigger sitting right in front of me. With the non-existant slope of the theater, I can only imagine what problems smaller people must have had.

4.) The app. I love the fact that there is an EF app, but at least the iOS version needs a little more work. The convention messages were generally cut off/didn't wrap, I have no idea how to make the app look for new messages and the event list had the lowest event hidden by the bottom bar. Additionally, events were only marked with a beginning, but not an end.
As for feature requests rather than bug fixes, I'd very much like it if the app acted as a calendar as well. Mark events you want to attend, then have the app notify you when they draw near - perhaps even push messages about delays and such.

5.) Did I mention I had an awesome time?

@Token

Thank you, we are glad you liked it. But as for the idea to have to more central/running longer: Sorry, not possible. It already ate a huge amount of manpower. Basically we know how inconvenient the forbidden bags inside artshow/dealersden can be and thus tried to 'ease the pain' for those who do not read the conbook (and signs, and handhouts, and RoC...) and come to the artshow/dealersden with a bag or camera. :-)

For the people who don't stay at the hotel, the problem is not so much analphabetism as simple impossibility - unless of course I go for the 90 minute drive home and back every time I want to visit the den/show. So I'd certainly be happy if you kept the storage option for next year as well.  

[Masada]

I just want to share the following:

In the fursuit lounge I saw someone blatantly stand up, take out his cellphone and started recording everything around him. Not a minute before, I was asked to put away my cellphone when I was just checking to see if I had a message.

The request to put it away was friendly and I complied. But to have someone stand up and be /care about it was awkward and I didn't know what to do with the situation. I guess mentioning it now is too late, but I feel like this should be addressed as a good concern for the future. I also heard about a photographer selling pics of people that were headless to a newssite, including me. I would love to know how that is possible, as he would have to have sneaked into the fursuit lounge. I didn't see the picture as it was removed, but I'm definitely not ok with this.

[BigBlueFox]

True. And they did not even have the (lame) "excuse" of the Maritim that this is not their parking house, so they can not give any discount. But unfortunately this gets more and more common in hotels.

AFAIK the Estrel parking garage is indeed operated by an external company, though this probably isn't very obvious.

This is a fact. Like at the Maritim, the Estrel does not operate the garage.

[ysegrim]

The images not showing on the screen were technical difficulties - that's all I currently know about that.

I have no idea what went wrong there. We are using a commercial software for show cues (the same as the pawpet show *cough*), the picture showed up during all tests right before the show, and it didn't show up during the show. Just this picture, and even when we restarted the cue. (I only remember one, though. Was there a second?) Any way, sorry about that, we'll think about a backup now that we know the software isn't reliable when it comes to pictures.

[Cookie]

The good:

Loved the food at breakfasts, so much choice, and the quality of the food was impeccable. Gonna miss this latte macchiato, i'm telling you!!!

Even at the lobby restaurant, everything was nice.
I ordered Kalte Mushi and they had to bring it from the bar -as it wasn't on the menu... but they did.. and with style (he handled the bottle like it was a precious red wine) and a smile!)
As for the price, 33 euros for 2 people -main course and dessert- in a 4 stars hotel restaurant IS reasonable.
(Of course it had to be a special occasion and not a daily fixture but as we shopped for groceries before going to the con... we didn't lacked food).

The lobby as great, the Dealer's Den far less cramped than in the previous years...and far better lit (which for me is not always a good thing, as i sell glowies )

The staff was so friendly and smiling.. i still remember the first year at the Maritim, where they looked at us like we were a bunch of retarded weirdos.. Here they just smiled and were friendly, quite immediately.

For the last 2 days we lived 20 minutes away from the hotel at my cousin's place and we never had any issue walking that distance at night or during the day..
The only "local" guy who spoke to us in the street was to tell us he loved the way we were clothed and my green hair.

Never had any trouble with the elevators in Wing 4 (besides the "you have to stick your card to activate the lift" feature, which was apparently switched off after a day, to my relief).


The Bad:

The air in the rooms (and the hotel in general) was painfully dry.
By the second day i had throat issues (even after switching off the airco immediately upon arrival in the room) and the inside lining of my nose just kept splitting open due to dryness.
We had to run very hot showers with the door of the bathroom open and the light off (to avoid aeration to suck the steam out) to try to "moisturise" the atmosphere a bit, before going to bed.
(Coudn't leave the window open because we were on the construction site side.. far too noisy (they are working 24/24....) ).

The "art" in the hotel rooms was horrendous.. ranging from "meh" to downward creepy - crucified dolls, wolf/sheep hybrids.. etc...(solved the matter by putting a drape over ours). And i won't even mention the "Leda and the Swan" statue in neon near the campfire...

Our sketchbooks being stolen.

[meo]

4.) The app. I love the fact that there is an EF app, but at least the iOS version needs a little more work. The convention messages were generally cut off/didn't wrap, I have no idea how to make the app look for new messages and the event list had the lowest event hidden by the bottom bar. Additionally, events were only marked with a beginning, but not an end.
As for feature requests rather than bug fixes, I'd very much like it if the app acted as a calendar as well. Mark events you want to attend, then have the app notify you when they draw near - perhaps even push messages about delays and such.

Would you mind sending me screenshots of your problems? I wrote Traxswe mine and I am willing to Help him (without being a programmer but tester) to get this thing running better.

[Vixus]

Big one: The cash machine ran out of money / went out of order way too soon.

[nobs]

Big one: The cash machine ran out of money / went out of order way too soon.

TODO: tell the Volksbank Berlin about the event in advance 

[Fafnir Kristensen]

- no more ears protection? If I remember correctly these were previously offered unofficially by one of the attendee, did this person not come this year or couldnt offer the service ?

anyone know anything about this?

[Tillikum]

I also heard about a photographer selling pics of people that were headless to a newssite, including me. I would love to know how that is possible, as he would have to have sneaked into the fursuit lounge. I didn't see the picture as it was removed, but I'm definitely not ok with this.

The pictures where taken during the Lacy Photoshoot and have already been removed by the admin of the news site.


Also: Sorry about the low volume and the humming noise on EFprime. We are going to make sure this won't happen again next year

[Raider]

But to have someone stand up and be /care about it was awkward and I didn't know what to do with the situation.

If another person is making you feel uncomfortable, come and talk to Security in front of the Fursuit Lounge. Taking pictures inside the Fursuit Lounge is a big no-no.

- no more ears protection? If I remember correctly these were previously offered unofficially by one of the attendee, did this person not come this year or couldnt offer the service ?

anyone know anything about this?

Thygrrr brought them with him the last years. I do not know why he was not able to bring them this year, but I imagine that providing earplugs for about 2000 people would become quite expensive really fast.

[Fafnir Kristensen]

Thygrrr brought them with him the last years. I do not know why he was not able to bring them this year, but I imagine that providing earplugs for about 2000 people would become quite expensive really fast.

I guess, though not everyone goes to the dances and some have their own earplugs, but I will see with him to manage something about this next year

[Druon]

Hey there,
I want to thank all people involved with preparing and running the convention for a job well done. All in all I had a great time and a much needed break from daily life. I met old friends and made some new ones and again I enjoyed how approachable everyone was, attendees, staff and guests of honor alike.
I try to not repeat to much of what was said already, just want to emphasize some points and offer personal impressions/observations.


Eurofurence App on Android:
Many thanks to Trax for a wonderful app. There was a lot of useful information in there, aside from the events themselves I am thinking especially about the maps and the guide for parking pace and restaurants/bars (along with opening hours in several cases ).
I hope something similar will be available for the next Eurofurence. There is some room for improvements, though:

• It would be very nice if events could have listed their expected duration or ending time as well. Helps with coordinating a group of friends that spread out over several events and want to meet up afterwards.
• I tried to keep an eye on the convention messages feature and was pleased to get some useful intel from it, but I still think that you could need a few more helping paws to feed the system with messages, as - for example - there was no info at all during that big PPS delay. I suspect the people feeding this system where otherwise busy and simply forgot in the heat of the moment.
• There have been a lot of notes put up on the hotel walls for impromptu events and semi-private parties and photo-shots. Maybe some of these could find their way into the app in the future. Either as Convention Messages marked in a different color (to indicate that they are not from EF-staff, but rather from other attendees) or by adding another section to the menu.
• If there is a way to make this technically possible, it would be great if the events in the database can be updated with the new timestamps when an official message announces a delay. It is easy to forget about or miss a delay message when you are looking at the 'events right now' section.

Fursuit Gameshow:
I enjoyed this event much and tried to root for the teams I favored. I don't mind the chaos that usually goes with the show, it is part of the experience and usually for the most part rather amusing. But I have to agree with what someone else already mentioned:

The system for keeping the points this years was very unpleasant for the audience. It can very well be, that you have a rather refined system, but it was never explained properly and changes to the points and positions on the scoreboard where not emphasized. Also I think many would rather have a tie-breaker game than a score that is hard to follow. Just food for thought.

From my point of view colored indicators or - even better - animated scoreboards would have gone a long way here. The little extra-time for showing the allocation of points among the teams shouldn't hurt the flow, as setting up the stage for the games usually took more time than the animated trailers.

Another observation: I don't know if it was an issue with the lighting or if the colored markers on the teams where simply too small, but it was not easy to identify the teams. Even the host had trouble telling blue from white. Maybe it can be improved with more vibrant colored armlets, larger/more colored identifiers or the use of symbols, rather than colors?


Impossible Fursuit Charades
A real gem, it was so much fun to watch and I loved how much teamwork our furs on stage showed. I failed miserably when it was my turn to guess, but then again it sometimes is impossible - though two or three people did the impossible and earned themselves some cookies. I hope this show will return next year and I will keep poking my friends to attend in order to draw a larger audience.


Lounge areas and restaurants:
I enjoyed having plenty of seats available this year to settle down to chill for a while or chat with friends. But I missed more secluded places. Almost everything was out in the open, with noise and movement going on from all sides. I wonder if there are possibilities to rearrange some of the lounge chairs and/or restaurant furniture in order to create more cozy zones.
On a positive note, I really enjoyed having that lounge stage in front of the Fursuit-Lounge. The elevated position and the setup of tables and seats there was much better than anywhere else in the hotel. Also a very good spot to just wind down and watch EF-Prime for a bit.


Security:
They did a great job on this year's convention. I liked that at all times there were some of them visible at the various big events and all over the lobby/atrium. Their outfit makes them easy to spot, too. Also thanks for providing  "American Beer" during the long time we had to queue for the PPS.


That's it for now. Thanks to all the helping paws behind the scenes. You have all been part of something great - something that will keep me going for quite a while. And I'll be back for another EF to recharge.   

[Token]

In the fursuit lounge I saw someone blatantly stand up, take out his cellphone and started recording everything around him. Not a minute before, I was asked to put away my cellphone when I was just checking to see if I had a message.

The request to put it away was friendly and I complied. But to have someone stand up and be /care about it was awkward and I didn't know what to do with the situation.

We are really sorry, this happened. I am not trying to come up with lame excuses, but to put things into perspective: I think the average sleeping-time for a seccie is around 3-4 hours a night. xD We try our best, despite a few people even being really upset toward us when we try to enforce the rules. But we are attendees like everyone else, just trying to make everyone of us enjoy the con to its full extend without ruining it for anyone else.

If you see something like this happening, please try to remember the person and immediately search for a seccie. We also try to take care of things in a polite and calm manner (as long as we do not get aggressions back, which rarely happens, but does :C ). In the rare case that you cannot find anyone, please go up to the person and ask him politely to stop immediately. You might even try to remember his name/number and note it down / bring it to conops or security(!), but please be friendly(!) and do _not_ argue. That is what we are there for. :-)

I guess mentioning it now is too late, but I feel like this should be addressed as a good concern for the future.

It depends. If you remember his name, or someone who knows him, or the images pop up somewhere, we might still be able to investigate this. Please drop a PM or an eMail to security@eurofurence.org and we will see what we can do!

I also heard about a photographer selling pics of people that were headless to a newssite, including me. I would love to know how that is possible, as he would have to have sneaked into the fursuit lounge. I didn't see the picture as it was removed, but I'm definitely not ok with this.

Usually our press team offers the photographers a bunch of press material and (controlled) exclusive interviews etc., *if* they register with our press team. Then they have a press-badge. There was this one reporter which intentionally did not do this and took these pictures without the staff knowing. As far as I know, press team is already at it and I know from a few taking legal steps against it. If you happen to be one of the persons on one of the pictures violating your personal rights, the press team can offer you advice on what you can do! Please PM or write to press team (I think press@eurofurence.org, please check).

Best wishes and hugs,
Token