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Eurofurence 28 — "Cyberpunk"
Sep 18 – 21, 2024
CCH — Congress Center Hamburg


Feedback 2015

Started by Ragear, 23.08.2015, 21:26:57

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Joleii

The first thing I want to mention about EF21 is: it was AWESOME!
I really liked the fursuit photoshoot setup with all the decorations, the seperate entrance to the Art Show was a great idea (as much as I like the Dealer's Den, it somehow freaked me out to press through the crowd before the stands when wanting to enter the Art Show, so this year it was a great improvement) and the fursuit lounge was just huge, so that I could always find a spot for myself to cool down. Since the walking ways from the lobby to the fursuit lounge were so far, it was an awesome idea to set up the "Little Oasis" in between. I used this quite often and hope to see it again next year. :) And the open stage and chillout-lounge with the bar were awesome, too! I think you made good use of the additonal space you've got there. I don't want to miss this for next year.
My absolute highlight though was the Big Blue Dance! There has been so much space to dance this year and I enjoyed the music setup very much! Also the lasers were really nice and the two big fans made it possible to dance in fursuit for a very long time since I could cool off in between without having to go to the fursuit lounge.
I also enjoyed the Fursuit Dance Competition and the Art Show. I liked it how much room to walk there was between the panel setups.

There are only a few things that bothered me a bit.
First, as mentioned before, I was a bit sad about the issues with EF Prime in my hotel room in wing 3. I like to relax after some shows and dances and watch the dances going on from my room, but sadly this was not possible this year. I'm looking forward to next year though and hope you can resolve this issues. :)
Second, the air conditioning in our room in wing 3, 6th floor did not work properly: on the first and second day it did not work at all, we complained about six times at the reception and there were several technicians at our room and finally on saturday afternoon/evening it worked as it should. I wish this could have been solved earlier because it was a pain to exit the elevator in 6th floor in fursuit and immediately walking against a wall of hot air which was even hotter in our room.
Third, I really missed some decorations fitting this year's theme, the decorations were really scarce. Only during the fursuit photoshoot I really felt like being in the greenhouse world scenario because of the numerous props they've used there. Ok, I have to admit that I felt like being in a greenhouse all the time in the lobby because of the hot and humid climate below the glass roof ::) but that was not quite what I expected. ;)

The last thing that bothered me a bit was the charity auction (as multiply stated before). I don't quite like it that there is so much time planned for the regular art auction, which is indeed mainly for the personal profit of the artists, while the charity part seems to play only a minor role. I missed an information about the charity percentage of the pieces in the regular art auction, please consider to display this also on the screen next time. I kind of like it how Confuzzled manages the art auction, so that every piece that enters the auction automatically gets a ten percent charity on it (if I remember that one right). In order to have more time for the charity auction, how about putting the number of bids until a piece enters the art auction even higher? That would certainly reduce the regular art pieces in the auction and give more time to charity. I think that would put the emphasis of the auction more in a charity direction than in a personal profit direction. Personally I think a higher emphasis on charity would capture the spirit of the furry fandom better, putting the generosity of the community in the foreground.

I'm looking forward to EF22 because after all, I just love the con and the people who make this possible every year. :) You do a great job and I was enjoying every single EF I attended so far (from EF16 until today). I appreciate all the improvements you have made since then! Thank you for giving me a good time year after year. ;D

Carbine

Quote from: Cheetah on 26.08.2015, 19:14:46
Quote from: Carbine on 26.08.2015, 15:11:36
-Lanyards: Would it be possible to get lanyards with break away buckles? This would really simplify putting on my badge while in fursuit. I could use my own but these obviously aren't official EF attendee/sponsor colored lanyards.

Just as a note - we had this for one year, and we got a flood of complaints that it was now far too easy to lose your badge - I guess you can't have the cake and eat it too :)

Alright I was unaware this had undergone trials before! Makes sense!
So far, so good... so what!
Carbine's FA

Cairyn

Quote from: Joleii on 27.08.2015, 12:04:37
I missed an information about the charity percentage of the pieces in the regular art auction, please consider to display this also on the screen next time.

We're already working on that  :)

Leophan

I don't have much to add to whats already been said, but here's some items:

At one point during the convention I accompanied a friend to get a medical check. ConOps was closed but locating a member of security wad easy and we were quickly guided into the ConSec room where the medics were quick at hand with heart and blood pressure monitoring. So I'm very happy with the effectiveness and the technical stuff. The thing I'd like to make a minor complaint about was how they spoke quickly and urgently between themselves in German. I understand the need for quick and effective communication in such a situation, but for the person being ill was very uncomfortable and made him very stressed. More communication in english, and some more effort to calm down the patient would be nice, as this turned out to most likely be stress related after we spent a few hours in the hospital.

The bag storage service was great, I loved the option to drop my bag there when visiting the Art Show, also nice when going to the Dealers Den where there's usually quite crowded.

Force a strict 10 euro minimum increase no matter the starting cost in the auction to speed it up. Also encourage people to not wait until the "going twice" to bid, sometimes it felt like people did it just for fun.

I had almost only positive experiences with hotel staff, and only one I feel like mentioning. At the Biergarden BBQ the food was really good, and the price was good, but the service... The two cooks who stood there were not welcoming. The sign made it look like you could choose one meat item, but it was apprently two. But now free choice, and if you asked for something wrong, or tried to take something wrong you got yelled at. Sometimes they would also just give you something and the get mad at you if it wasn't what you wanted.

The lobby bar had some really good baguettes, but the service was very formal. I'd prefer to order and pay right away, but the waiter insisted on table service, and a proper bill delivered at the table. Nice and fancy, but very time consuming when you just want a quick bite and a soda between events.

EFprime is nice, but I'd like to see more fandom productions like the Country song video from AntroCon rather than various anthro related adds and YouTube videos (not counting the animated shorts, they're a nice part of it)
Also seems people complain about programming, while I don't watch much EFprime it seemed to me the already mentioned AC video, the flying dog animation, some Disney mash-up and the werewolf short aired very often.

Tillikum

Quote from: Leophan on 27.08.2015, 14:53:53
EFprime is nice, but I'd like to see more fandom productions like the Country song video from AntroCon rather than various anthro related adds and YouTube videos (not counting the animated shorts, they're a nice part of it)
Also seems people complain about programming, while I don't watch much EFprime it seemed to me the already mentioned AC video, the flying dog animation, some Disney mash-up and the werewolf short aired very often.

Hi!
Thanks for your feedback. It is very much appreciated.

In several tweets we asked for people to send us furry-related (youtube)videos. The ones you mentioned where not among those we received.
If you could link us to the mentioned videos we would be happy to add them to our next-years program! :)

--
Tillikum

(You can mail the links to video@eurofurence.org, send us a DM on Twitter (@EF_Prime) or send me a note on the forum)

Fafnir Kristensen

Quote from: Leophan on 27.08.2015, 14:53:53
Force a strict 10 euro minimum increase no matter the starting cost in the auction to speed it up. Also encourage people to not wait until the "going twice" to bid, sometimes it felt like people did it just for fun.

auctions are by nature very volatile,
for example, last year a vast majority of the auction went to the bidsheet winner, saving lots of time.
this years, only 2 or 3 went to the bidsheet, all the other were fought, and there was quite a lot of them, hence taking a lot more time.
fixing in a limited timeframe something that can take half or twice that time is not going to work, whatever what is tried.

forcing a 10€ increment may save some time, but may also deter people from biding at all.
a lot of pieces are going away at relatively low prices, because people have limited amount at disposal, and these people would not go into the fight if you force a min amount from the start.
but Uncle Kage manages that well already by doing it by steps, he just tends to need one or two annoying bidder to warm up :D

Kyera

I think this wasn't mentioned before, so I'd just like to say thank you for the designated "unisex" toilet! As a trans-gendered attendant, I was really happy about that. :D

softwolfi

#82
It was an really nice convention!! so thank you so much for make it real! All the stuff ppls /securitys thanks to all of them!

We had so much fun > i have an hard PCD now but looking forward to the next year.. we will be there! ^-^

. ah before i forget.. this fursuit photoshoot set up > detailed decorations was total awesome!. its my 3rd. Eurofurence i had visit.. and this one was the absolutely adorable :D  the best of all!

So the suiterlounge had enough place for cooling down, was very good. But an bit too cold i found..

The next great thing > the spotters were was walking around and asking the suiter about theyre need water.. total comfy, much fursuiters was very happy about this help !  :D 

THX so much!
greez softwolfi ^^

Pinky

Just to follow up on some comments:

More time for the charity auction: I think we might go back to the old system of assigning a fixed timeslot for the charity auction, so there is more time for it no matter how many items there are in the general auction, but it is something we will have to look into in terms of consequences for programming and other stuff

The otter seemed nervous: I can 100% guarantee that the otter was not harmed, we would NEVER do that. In the end I am not an expert so I trust what the professionals from the charity say. He was a lot more calm and playful on day 2, but the first day they had to drive at 4 in the morning, so he was just tired and like babies they react by making a lot of noise and being unruly. But no harm at all was done, and he was with his "mummy" all the time in a safe environment. That said, I think the poster had a good point in the way that we will recomsider the format for the photo shoot. Maybe we can do even more to make it a nice experience, we will have to think about that.

Grouping items: I refer to what I said earlier. We will have a meeting and discuss how donations are handled in general. I make no promises for what the outcomes will be, but I can promise that they will jhave been discussed through and there will be reasons for whatever we decide. And everyone will be told in the future what the terms are. We already tell people, but we can do even more to spread the information and we will.

Lastly, I hope everyone remembers that we all have the very best of intentions and we just want to help out suffering animals. I'm sure we make mistakes and I know we improve a lot of things every year (which is how we got to where we are today) and we will continue to do so. We thank you for the feedback given to us, and I want you all to know that I'm reading it and taking notice. Let's try to do what we can to keep this amazing, awesome side of the fandom running. I'm so impressed with all of you, and how generous you all are. Thank you all for that! It makes me proud to be a furry.

*hugs to everyone*
And so I say the things I say
And do the things I do
And if you do not like it, then
To hell, my dear, with you

mathew.jeffries

Alrighty.. most things already mentioned.. in short... AWESOME CON!

A few details anyway:
* Absolutely smooth checkin/checkout/Estrel_elevator/breakfast, very nice - lot of detail improvements
* Overall, much more relaxed staff and Con, also much better organized - way to go!
* Very nice medical help when my partner needed it - much appreciated!
* Chairman turning into Bikeman.. so much envy :D
* EF-Prime broke a few times in Wing 2, but was quickly fixed, thx for the program, I'm sure that was a hell of a work for all the clips
* Bar outside mainstage: keep it! Too bad they had only limited drinks - this lion runs on whisky-cola :P
* Too bad Kalte Muschi ran out early.. again.. need even more
* Alternative hardstyle/hardcore dance: keep it! it was really nice to bounce back and forth between the dances and styles, did that till the early morning =)
* Lasers/lighting: absolutely awesome, much more than I expected considering German regulations and prices. Would be nice to be dimmed for video-screen clips though
* Enter the arena: good show but couldn't see much from 5th row, unfortunately hard to solve. Maybe alternate seating rows? Or show on video screen?
* Background work/helpers: I really wish there was as video for that (buildup/teardown/behind the scenes) - like a "How to Con". So much work went into so many things, and only when looking a bit behind the scenes, you became aware what immense effort goes into this Con. Will definitely be sponsor next time, but having that as a clip (BBF?) might move other folks to be that too. Props to all the helpers!

Thx for the great time!
Fresh mixes at: https://hearthis.at/nrjay/
Talk to me on Skype: mathew.jeffries - profile link: http://is.gd/dI9hM9

Fafnir Kristensen

btw, did I miss the elevators tweets or were they speechless this year?
at least only one freaked out, but probably more of physical exhaustion than mental breakdown ;)

ysegrim

Quote from: Cairyn on 27.08.2015, 14:44:36
Quote from: Joleii on 27.08.2015, 12:04:37
I missed an information about the charity percentage of the pieces in the regular art auction, please consider to display this also on the screen next time.

We're already working on that  :)
... and done :)

mathew.jeffries

Quote from: Fafnir Kristensen on 27.08.2015, 22:17:30
btw, did I miss the elevators tweets or were they speechless this year?
at least only one freaked out, but probably more of physical exhaustion than mental breakdown ;)

Speechless. Guess the joke didn't kick in this year.. same for the "I survived 'seating'" t-shirt slogan ;)
Fresh mixes at: https://hearthis.at/nrjay/
Talk to me on Skype: mathew.jeffries - profile link: http://is.gd/dI9hM9

Fafnir Kristensen

Quote from: mathew.jeffries on 27.08.2015, 22:43:04
Quote from: Fafnir Kristensen on 27.08.2015, 22:17:30
btw, did I miss the elevators tweets or were they speechless this year?
at least only one freaked out, but probably more of physical exhaustion than mental breakdown ;)

Speechless. Guess the joke didn't kick in this year.. same for the "I survived 'seating'" t-shirt slogan ;)

I miss the "10 people, 5 fursuiters, 2 fanboy" sign

davuu

#89
 
I had a great con! I don't have any complaints!

Registration was smooth, as was checkin. The hotel staff were helping direct people to the desks which sped things along!
I was worried about the lifts being on the 13th floor but it turned out fine.  I hardly waited and it ran smoothly.  The lift only broke one(of which I had video as it was amusing!) and we got stuck on the 5th floor but I rung the reception and they sent someone to help straight away and we helped carry someone's trolley down the stairs.  I was impressed with their quickness in helping:)
- rooms were nice, as were room service. I left a note probably terribly translated! But illustrated by art! Asking for another pillow , and they found me a super comfy one:) I did leave them tips ! They left me a thank you note at the end of my stay :)
- bar staff were great:) friendly and quick, esp Reggie outside who was proudly wearing his con badge someone drew him last year!
- lots of nice food options! Eventually found the food bar at the back of the hotel ( me being blind!) bbq was a good idea, as was the bar by the fur suit lounge.
- I liked how the hotel staff joined in because they wanted to.  Some people said they were made to wear ears and tails but the staff I saw were enjoying it! I saw them rushing up to registration to get con badges printed before running back happy and showing their friends who then ran and got some too. It's nice to find somewhere so accepting.  
- I liked the dances this year, there was a lot of good songs that kept you coming back on the dance floor! Even getting up to dance to The Wurzles Cider drinker song at one point at the Dead Dog Party! The fans on the dance were nice, as was all the fur suit lounge! But Mystifur already knows how good he is ;) there was a big choice of drinks spread out over several tables and also fabreeze and food:) there was always staff to help if you needed it and it was great:) and I took home some Eurofurence Green so I can carry on the con forever! ( or until I run out of green)

Thank you to the people giving out water, I though this was a great idea and revived tired paws to dance that little bit more! Thanks for the kind idea and for making sure everyone was ok:)

And thank you for the bag lockers service:) really good useful idea! Thanks to the staff who took time out to keep it going.

Some people mentioned they couldn't get earplugs for the dances etc... But I saw them everywhere with big signs to tell people where they were, more than I've seen before.

 Also I know people said they didn't like the stairs to the fur suit lounge etc but..... There was a lift right next to the stairs that largely went unused! And worked fine:)
 
So to sum up.... Great company, great con, great hotel and no complaints here apart from it should never end!
Thanks to everyone who bidded and bought my art:) you helped towards the charity and my smile^^

P.s. A thanks to Cairyn for your hard work organising things for the art show and everyone else:)
P.p.s I didn't have a problem with the lights in the artshow I thought they were fine.