Author Topic: 2012 Feedback  (Read 54618 times)

Offline Matt the Lion

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #60 on: May 31, 2012, 07:49:28 »
Because the items are being used in a public area for business purposes, they have to be tested to their specifications which requires the full test rather than just a visual inspection.
Hm, just out of curiosity.
How are "business purposes" defined? As by actual function or by "in a room that is used for business"?
My cellphone charger is normal not used to do business. :)
On the other hand does that mean that i.e. private owned stage equipment does not need that test because it is not used to generate money (in this particular case?)
UK law is weird... you don't have to be making money for it to qualify as being used for business purposes. If the item us being used in one of the function rooms for any purpose, then it must be tested.  The same applies if I take my phone charger with me to work - if I want to use it I have to have maintenance come test it first!
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Offline Noodles_Husky

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #61 on: May 31, 2012, 08:55:32 »
Not everyone has the constitution to stick through things until they have an opportunity to slip out unnoticed. I had to run in the middle of one event, getting out before I passed out >.<

I agree. You need your head off, you need it off. I nearly had to take mine off during the photoshoot, but managed to get to headless, since it was so close...
If this is about the thingy in the conbook, do not worry about it. I de-headed in public twice to break my mute-ness in suit (yeah, I hyper ultimate rarely speak in suit) and the con staff didn't bat an eyelid to it. They can't force you to shoehorn you back into the head. If they get a complaint from someone, they will probably say to you to move out of sight

Offline Bezel

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #62 on: May 31, 2012, 09:44:17 »
If this is about the thingy in the conbook, do not worry about it. I de-headed in public twice to break my mute-ness in suit (yeah, I hyper ultimate rarely speak in suit) and the con staff didn't bat an eyelid to it. They can't force you to shoehorn you back into the head. If they get a complaint from someone, they will probably say to you to move out of sight
The thing about deheading being often frowned upon as "destroying the magic" mainly only applies to activities in public. At a furcon where 99.9% of the people around you are also furs, there is generally less of an issue, though you may get a few curious looks if you're doing it in the main corridor, rather than discreetly out of sight.

Apart from that, I'm going to repeat this again - PLEASE dehead immediately if you're feeling faint, light headed or generally unwell.

However, I sense I'm drifting off topic :)

Offline doco

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #63 on: May 31, 2012, 11:27:18 »
Okay, I must say that after a few years of lowered expectations *cough* Britannia *cough* the current venue has been up to considerably better standards (well, as far as you get them in the UK anyways  :P).

The con staff's been doing a fair job (I hardly saw any of them until the last day, which is normally a good sign) and there's hardly anything to add that hasn't already been mentioned.
Since I work Con Ops for That Other Con[tm], I've got Con Ops Eyes even when it's Not My Con, Not My Fault, Not My Problem[tm], and whenever I saw a potential issue in the public spaces (creases in the red carpet, anyone?) I found it to be resolved soon afterwards. That, and I guess your ConOps team now knows why you don't use Gaffa tape on carpet... :D

There's two minor grumbles I have with the con though; first, setting up the queues for the stage shows in the main corridor led to unneccessarily narrow passageways at times, especially since people had a tendency to just stand around in doorways and chat at the junction between the two corridors in the function space.

Secondly, for those members of staff who communicate with attendees it'd be nice to tone down the level of sophistication in con communication a bit. Con communication has been written in such a formal style that it's been hard to read if you're not a native speaker of English - heck,  I've seen things that made me scratch my head and re-read them twice, and I've got a Grade A Cambridge certificate mounted on my wall.

So, please don't write stuff like "The Convention is proud to announce that after long and exhausting talks with the Hotel it has been prospected that on the premises of the Hotel whilst conducting business a venue has been set aside in the Brasserie meeting room where the Hotel in conjunction with the Convention will be holding an all-you-can-eat buffet of a great variety of choice that will be prepared by the Hotel's master Chef each day of the week to be enjoyed by you from the hours of 6.30 am to 11.00 am as the Convention has secured a special deal with the Hotel ensuring maximum breakfast enjoyability to improve your Convention experience by having luxurious foods such as undercooked sausage, shavings of bacon, and inclusive toast, whilst the Convention would like to remind you that thermonuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, or any other items of similarity are not permitted anywhere near the designated breakfast venue, as per the Agreement with the Hotel", but rather write "Breakfast will be from 6.30 to 11.00, don't bring nukes" as it will make your messages easier to decipher for us poor foreigners.  ::)


Speaking of The Hotel (which, for some reason, is capitalised... British English is odd at times.):
Two more things.

a) my room got overly and awfully hot during daytime. I do realise there was a "hot" spell (if you can call 23 degrees hot, which it really isn't, unless it also is humid) - but the fact that the windows did open just a mere 3 centimetres did very little to ventilate the room, so it was fucking sweltering in there by lunchtime. Apparently there was a way to bypass these stupid safety clips (as I could see on the other wing), but I didn't find out how. Had this happened in my native country and at paying a full rate, I would've been down to reception moaning about it... but I really couldn't be arsed to deal with that in Health & Safety-insane UK. Should've booked an airconditioned room, maybe, but then I heard from a friend the aircon in their room wasn't all that well either. Can you bring multitools into the UK without getting arrested for having a knife? :P

b) The breakfast buffet. Admittedly the cooked buffet was rather nice for UK standards (I've seen far worse, like the Manchester YHA), but the Continental buffet just.... disappeared when the con was running, and magically reappeared on Late Departure day. All you could get during the con was toast with... erm, sixty different flavours of jam. I don't really like jam.


Offline aurora

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #64 on: May 31, 2012, 11:53:24 »
Quote
the only MAJOR thing is the weather 8V you should make it less hot next year! pay your weather wizards more money this time!

Only a few weeks before the con the weather was cold with heavy rain at times, I'm thankful that we had good weather during the con.

Walking into the slight breeze helped cool me in my fursuit and the thick fur helped insulate me from the sun's radiant heat.

It actually felt cooler in suit outdoors than inside the hotel.


Offline Dhary Montecore

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #65 on: May 31, 2012, 13:58:23 »
b) The breakfast buffet. Admittedly the cooked buffet was rather nice for UK standards (I've seen far worse, like the Manchester YHA), but the Continental buffet just.... disappeared when the con was running, and magically reappeared on Late Departure day. All you could get during the con was toast with... erm, sixty different flavours of jam. I don't really like jam.

Oh yes! Seconded! After a very long and exhausting night of work I just wanted some decent breakfast, and all I got was heavy beans, poor toast that was drowned brutally in butter, jam and slices of ham, that was twice my daily dosage of calories. :3

Don't get me wrong, the breakfast was grand for British standards and as the good token German I am I not only DO integrate into the culture I'm visiting but even enjoy tasting something new. But after two hours of sleep all I want is dark bread and good slices of cheese and meat. (You know... Grey bread... that kind of bread that has a taste itself? With grains in it? ;3) No, I do not complain about the breakfast buffet which was great, especially since it was free for the residents. All I wanna suggest is, having a tiny corner with dark bread, meat and cheese for the species-appropriate feeding of us poor Germans. :3

Offline leinir

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #66 on: May 31, 2012, 14:07:17 »
b) The breakfast buffet. Admittedly the cooked buffet was rather nice for UK standards (I've seen far worse, like the Manchester YHA), but the Continental buffet just.... disappeared when the con was running, and magically reappeared on Late Departure day. All you could get during the con was toast with... erm, sixty different flavours of jam. I don't really like jam.

Oh yes! Seconded! After a very long and exhausting night of work I just wanted some decent breakfast, and all I got was heavy beans, poor toast that was drowned brutally in butter, jam and slices of ham, that was twice my daily dosage of calories. :3

Don't get me wrong, the breakfast was grand for British standards and as the good token German I am I not only DO integrate into the culture I'm visiting but even enjoy tasting something new. But after two hours of sleep all I want is dark bread and good slices of cheese and meat. (You know... Grey bread... that kind of bread that has a taste itself? With grains in it? ;3) No, I do not complain about the breakfast buffet which was great, especially since it was free for the residents. All I wanna suggest is, having a tiny corner with dark bread, meat and cheese for the species-appropriate feeding of us poor Germans. :3

As a Dane who has lived in the UK for some time, i can tell you that if one thing is near enough to impossible to find at anything even remotely approaching reasonable price here in the UK it's dark rye bread like you and i know it. You /can/ find it... In the super-expensive-and-special isle in the supermarket. At around ten times the price of a loaf of the boring stuff the British call bread, for a total of around five slices... i'm afraid that makes it somewhat unlikely that they'll be able to sort it out without actually baking their own ;) i would greatly appreciate it if they did, but yeah... something which we consider truly basic like that turns out to be incredible delicacy-type stuff over here - funny how the world is both tiny and big at the same time ;)

Offline yagfox

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #67 on: May 31, 2012, 14:42:41 »
I think there is a culture clash over what constitutes a good breakfast! ;)


Offline Feera Fox

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #68 on: May 31, 2012, 18:40:38 »
The fursuit lounge was nice and quite and, yes it is prohibited to take photos in the lounge. and no good fur myself included would break this rule, see code of conduct. Regarding the dealers den, i would have liked to have seen, items to help fursuiters keep cooler, sold at the den, i went to the furry hypnotism, i really found that rather relaxing, in the wikifur quiz our team was 3rd the card and board games was very informative, and challenging the pawpet show it was great again this year, with the film festival it took me a while to find it. The fursuit round table was very useful, it has given  me answers, the only drawback was on one day is that i missed a lot of colson and fox amoores concert, the one thing that was bad thing was the hot weather, it made, me feel a bit wiped out, so i only suited when i felt up to strength. Having said all that
CF2012 has turned out to be the best time i have had in many year.
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Offline Washu

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #69 on: May 31, 2012, 20:15:57 »
The only sad part of running the Artist Alley is that the hotel staff couldn't be bothered to empty the trashcans and change/fill the water dispencer.
Next year I'll be bringing my own trashbags and check where the water is being kept. This is totally not the con-ops fault who did an awesome job with even providing me a radio for emergencies.

Awesome work, guys <3

Ah Rin, if you called through to the PUMA team via the radio or the team in Operations we could of had the bins changed out rapidly and had water delivered.

An oversight for this year.
The next train to arrive is the 13:40 train to Hull, which is a pity as this is Tesco's.

Offline Tsanawo

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #70 on: May 31, 2012, 20:17:49 »
Sorry, that was my fault. I forgot to give instructions when I handed out the radio.

Next year remind me, Rin ;) And it would've been so easy to do it in Moonspeak (tm)!
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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #71 on: May 31, 2012, 21:56:29 »
Oh yes! Seconded! After a very long and exhausting night of work I just wanted some decent breakfast, and all I got was heavy beans, poor toast that was drowned brutally in butter, jam and slices of ham, that was twice my daily dosage of calories. :3

If you're referring to the bread that was with the bacon, sausages, etc that was actually fried bread. If you wanted toast, that was where the muffins, jam and marmalade was, and utilised the conveyor toasters, of which the left-hand one produced the most evenly browned toast, whereas the right hand one produced warm bread.

Cheers,

Southie

Offline Fionacat

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #72 on: June 01, 2012, 09:17:40 »
Oh yes.

Volunteering, I said I wanted to help and didn't hear anything back.

I turned up at the orientation meeting and wasn't given any advice.

I felt kinda bad as I wanted to help out and it probably would have made my friday a better day.

Offline yagfox

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #73 on: June 01, 2012, 11:08:01 »
Oh yes! Seconded! After a very long and exhausting night of work I just wanted some decent breakfast, and all I got was heavy beans, poor toast that was drowned brutally in butter, jam and slices of ham, that was twice my daily dosage of calories. :3

If you're referring to the bread that was with the bacon, sausages, etc that was actually fried bread. If you wanted toast, that was where the muffins, jam and marmalade was, and utilised the conveyor toasters, of which the left-hand one produced the most evenly browned toast, whereas the right hand one produced warm bread.

Cheers,

Southie



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Offline Lazerus101

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Re: 2012 Feedback
« Reply #74 on: June 01, 2012, 16:11:57 »
I will admit I was a little disheartened when the continental meats disappeared after the first day. Bacon and Sausage is all well and good but awfully greasy though not as bad as the Britannia thank goodness, I also noticed that veggie sausages had to be special ordered and black pudding disappeared as well.
Also the chinese buffet was a HUGE disappointment. Next to 0 choice in the meal and items disappeared as fast as they arrived meaning you had to snap up what you could while you could. I understand that the chef fell ill but that doesnt help us that paid our not-insubstantial £15 for a rather lackluster buffet which we also discovered drinks were extra and came in even SMALLER glasses than at the bar. Really wish I had saved my money on that night and gone with the light bite menu, would have cost less and been more satisfying.
I was lucky enough to join the queue early for the BBQ but it was hardly "all-you-can-eat" as after I got my initial choices it wasnt worth queueing 45mins to get a second helping, though what I had was nice and well cooked.

I think the cooking staff were a little overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of hungry furs. Hopefully most of these things will be remedied for next year.