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Confuzzled 2015 Pros and Cons

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MorbiusMonster:
This year was a pretty good years in terms of attendance and money raised for the charity, and it felt a good year for me, since I got more involved with things. But here are things that stuck out for me;

+The variety of gaming events - Normally, we're limited to just a Smash Bros and maybe a Mario Kart event, but this year saw a few more things show up, which was very welcome.

+New function spaces - In order to make better use of the venue during a rather busy time, the convention had adopted new function spaces. These function spaces were really nice and I do hope we get to use a lot of them again.

+The inclusion of a Thai Food bar in the lobby - I know this was more the hotel's doing, but it meant we had another exotic cuisine to eat which was both tasty and very reasonable.

+TWO arcade machines - I see Confuzzled has noticed how popular the machines are and can swap between the games. Might I suggest a schedule or a system where people can vote for which games can be put on.

-The absence of a dedicated video game room - This one was a bit of a bummer for me, because it gives me somewhere to hang out in the evenings. I understand that staff and crew were very thinly spread, but hopefully, next year would still be good.

-Confuzzled TV - In theory, a very decent concept; in practise, very messy. The PawPets show had such awful sound quality and on the auction, the picture was constantly flickering and hen just cut out along with the sound. I know this was a prototype round, but hopefully this could be improved next year.

-Distribution of events - This was something that I noticed last year; a lack of panels in the latter half of the con (if we place the parade to be the midpoint). Monday was very empty in comparison to previous days. I know the first few days are the ones people want to go to, but a few more events would be nice on the Monday.

-The lifts - The scourge of "Out of Service" struck again this year. The traffic for the lifts was always in demand, which made trying to catch one very annoying, and a lot of guests thought so too (I noticed a number of the times the lifts would stop at floors with no one waiting, probably because they took the stairs).

Personal Praise - As always, the con staff did and amazing job and I was particularly pleased with how the theme was implemented into stuff like the photoshoot and I cannot wait for the pictures, Malamutt always does an amazing job. I think the increased attendance rates just go to show how brilliant Confuzzled is.

Personal Gripe - I had tried to set up an event known as the Mad Hatter's Riddles. I had hoped it to be a little better executed. I know I probably could only have achieved how I envisioned it if I put up the riddles myself, but I didn't want to get in trouble with the hotel staff. However, the riddles were unevenly distributed and, out of 34, I only found 8, one of which was a bonus riddle which could only be solved with the use of the others and the rule sheet. And there was no announcement either at the opening or closing ceremony (I probably should have had alarm bells ringing the moment I heard that you hadn't printed answer sheets). Next year, if I run an event like this, I will start earlier, so it gets a con book mention and perhaps ask for it to be mentioned in the official opening and closing ceremonies. I understand it can be stressful running a con (I've had several exams right next to each other and have been chasing up so much in the run up to the con), but I felt really let down.

wyvern_sieyes:
hey ya.
glad that you had a fantastic time.
Thought I would just reply to your mention about a dedicated video gaming room.

I totally agree with what you have written. I think this is certainly something that the convention needs, especially for the evenings, as it would give more choice for people who don't dance or drink too much.

In the past they have run into issues with gaming events. Mainly, acquiring equipment, storage and man power.
 
Most of the consoles and games in the past, have been peoples own equipment, and so they had to lug it along with all their other stuff. I know from experience that some consoles really hate being manhandled too much.

Storage of gear whilst at the convention was difficult in the past. I remember back at the Britannia hotel, poor Chrome had to setup and tear down every night so everything could be stored in a secure room. I think it broke him.
In the Hilton i cannot see this being an issue.

Man power was really thin back in the day. As i said above, Chrome was a shattered wreak that year. Now with great facilities and lots of eager people to lend a hand, this should be less of an issue

I was at all the gaming events this year, and I was surprised with how many people came by with their own laptops to the Kerbal Space Program and the Retro gaming events. At the Artemis event, people just came along just to watch how horrendously the players were doing.

So don't worry. With Oculus Rift within our grasp, I foresee the return of the gaming room. Maybe not as console based games though.
I also Hope the Guest of Honor, Yak, will be around next year, so maybe we could have a Llamasoft night.
blowing up more poor Kerbals is a must as well.


P.S These are solely my experiences as a volunteer in the past, and as a knuckle dragging grunt this year. There could have been issues that i'm not aware of.
P.P.S Yes, Elevators are a total bitch. There's a good reason why Anthrocon, in America, is nicknamed "Staircon". Be thankful there was only 5 floors at the Hilton.

Nidonocu:
Thank you kindly for the feedback!

Regarding the gaming events, we'll definitely be reviewing them and seeing what we can do to improve him.

The problem with a games room is that it is super high in resource requirements:

* Setting up two Wii U's took about half an hour and tearing down about 15 minutes. Add more consoles and this would get longer meaning we'd need to basically 'take over' a room because sharing it would be a huge effort every start and stop.
* For all the hours its open, it would need a rotation of at least two members of staff, similar to Ops which has a big team to handle it. Given the cost of the equipment involved, said staff would need to be well trusted.
* It would require some careful security requirements to prevent theft, including maybe a security guard at the door for all opening hours.
* We'd need a TV or compatible projector, screen and a sound system for every console. These are items we have but are in high demand by other events with presentations from laptops.
* Arranging consoles and loaned equipment requires careful planning and the older systems certainly aren't getting any less delicate!
If we were able to solve all these issues then maybe we could bring back the games room! But failing that, let us know specific games you'd like to play and maybe we can add more events next year. :)

The Dark Knight:

--- Quote from: Nidonocu on May 28, 2015, 11:50:36 ---Thank you kindly for the feedback!

Regarding the gaming events, we'll definitely be reviewing them and seeing what we can do to improve him.

The problem with a games room is that it is super high in resource requirements:

* Setting up two Wii U's took about half an hour and tearing down about 15 minutes. Add more consoles and this would get longer meaning we'd need to basically 'take over' a room because sharing it would be a huge effort every start and stop.
* For all the hours its open, it would need a rotation of at least two members of staff, similar to Ops which has a big team to handle it. Given the cost of the equipment involved, said staff would need to be well trusted.
* It would require some careful security requirements to prevent theft, including maybe a security guard at the door for all opening hours.
* We'd need a TV or compatible projector, screen and a sound system for every console. These are items we have but are in high demand by other events with presentations from laptops.
* Arranging consoles and loaned equipment requires careful planning and the older systems certainly aren't getting any less delicate!
If we were able to solve all these issues then maybe we could bring back the games room! But failing that, let us know specific games you'd like to play and maybe we can add more events next year. :)

--- End quote ---

Not to mention the drain on personal that is required to PAT inspect all consoles/machines that attendees bring it for said games room. It's a legal requirement and it's not something that can be feasibly done "on the fly".
Essentially, as Nido said, we'd need a team of people who are prepared to sit in the games room to monitor it, and the equipment, and perform any PAT inspections required.

TL;DR - If you want a games room we need people to volunteer to run it! ;)

tinka:
As a first timer at CFz I can only compare this to EF and various smaller cons. It was great, perfect!

I was actually surprised how well everything was organized and yet how relaxed the organizers seemed to be - at least that is how it looked to us the con-goers - everything seemed to run smoothing thoughtout ^^'/

Here's some tips for improvement:

- I would've liked to attend the Tea Party but got conflicting info on the times when the tickets should've been bought and was instructed to come back to reception later. Upon returning I was then told they were no longer selling them. Tickets for separate events should be sold as part of registration or at least at the registration table.

- The smoking outside the main door wasn't nice. I'm especially sensitive to tobacco smell (but expensive cigar or pipe smell is actually nice ^^') - makes me want to vomit which is not good if you're in a fursuit :/ It would perhaps help if the smoking area was clearly marked which large signs pointing to it.

- Minor annoyance was realizing the ice bath was still available past midnight at the dead dog party. Again I was misinformed that it would not be available for the DDP evening dance so I didn't plan on dancing and suiting that late. Arrangements should be made so that it is available througout the con as it does significanly extend your endurance to fursuit.

Tips for the icebath users: please place the packs neatly sideways in rows next to each other. This way everyone can easily insert new packs and find their frozen packs. Perhaps a photo instruction of this should be placed next to the bath.

The hotel should get some serious feedback on quality management: I had issues and heard from others that such basic things like rooms having lights broken, taps and showers not working properly were commonplace. The so-called wellness center had even worse maintenance issues with exactly half their shower heads 'out of order'. It reminded me of the internet meme 'You had one job!' - major hotels like the Hilton should have such simple and cheap fixes made immeadiately.
I'm a mechanic by trade and I could hear and see that the door mechanisms of the lifts needed a throughout overhaul. Again they should have a 24/7 service agreement for them as it is pretty significant part of their business to have working lifts.

Other than that the hotel staff were very helpful and friendly, perhaps little unprepared for our deluge and ability to consume products from their bar ;3 I hope they learn to prepare for next time - it's more business for them ^^'

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