MASTER POST FOR REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-09-04 06:53 pm (UTC)Pre-reg pickup on Thursday night was easy, fast, and the people were super friendly. This was my first time doing the Parade, and the staff there were also friendly and helpful.
The MC of the Masquerade was great! I missed his name due to being in the shower, but he was charming and knowledgeable, and made the experience of watching that much better.
"Predator VS Ninja VS Waldo" is still making me laugh uncontrollably, so well done there, DCTV.
I really dig the "guided conversation" style of celebrity panel, where the moderator has questions they ask as a sort of interview, rather than rely on audience questions.
Crowd control seemed better. Friday and Sunday were downright pleasant.
The bad:
I witnessed so much douchebaggery this year, from attendees and staff. People were swearing at volunteers, cutting in lines, walking in front of photographers, cutting off the disabled, just generally being dicks. It was mind-boggling! Did somebody put nasty pills in the water or something? On that note, this is the first year I have experienced being cursed at by volunteers, and I'm not super pleased. I get that you're tired and overworked and volunteering to boot, but I paid good money to be here, and I don't appreciate being cursed at.
DCTV needs to lay off the con suite. Some hours every other clip was something about the (free!) food there being disgusting. I've never worked the con suite, but they're volunteering just like the rest of staff, and I'm really tired of the constant digging. Furthermore, DCTV needs fresh material. If I see "I'm on a Blimp" one more freaking time I'm going to go insane. The sound levels were better this year, but they still need work. I was disappointed not to see "Avengers: Assemble!" episodes this year. And finally, there are geeky bands who are not the Extraordinary Contraptions.
The "Fandom and Feminism" panel got stuck in a tiny room with no projector, which was ridiculous and, frankly, a little offensive. It was part of the Comics and Pop Culture academic conference, and the lack of AV equipment for the presenters, who were presenting peer-reviewed academic papers(!), was really detrimental. Furthermore, the room was full to bursting five to ten minutes before it even started, and I'm not sure how many people had to be turned away, but it was quite a lot. DC clearly underestimated the interest in feminism in the geek community (which, WHY?), and I hope that next year similar offerings are given proper space and equipment.
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Date: 2012-09-04 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 08:47 pm (UTC)I'm sorry you were cursed at by volunteers. If you remember what they looked like, and where/when they were working (or got a photo) I'd suggest contacting security (via the dragoncon 'contact us' page, dropdown for security, and talking to them. They might be a different department but at least they can start you off.
Better yet is that you ask to see their badge at the time. It'll have their name and department on it, and then you can contact their director directly.
All I can say is that I hope I helped everyone I could, and that I
The Consuite stuff is a running joke. May not be 'funny', but I guess it's a tradition. and I know how hard the work there is too, Joe tried getting me to do a shift there and come up with a recipe back in Jan (although I don't think steak+kidney pie would have gone down so well, OR fishfingers+custard.
Content... some has to be retired through age and relevance. Some of the older stuff's gone because they've moved to HD (and sometimes its gone because there were legal 'questions') so the new stuff sometimes just fills holes. There's only one way to make sure there's more content - MAKE IT!
I dropped DCTV a few emails earlier this year about bumpers, I'm going to work on a video about my track.
We had the same 'room problems' at the EFF track. We make sure our 'home room' has a projector, but there are things called 'large room requests'. We always make sure to put down a request for a projector if we think we'll need one. This year, we had bruce Schneier, an executive at British Telecom and a world renown security expert. We had him confirmed AFTER the large room deadline. We get 80-90 chairs in a room with a legal limit of 184. Two of his three panels we had to turn away when we hit 135. The other was 10am Sunday, and still every seat was full. We could have filled a small ballroom (and we knew that ahead of time) but because we missed the date, we were unlucky.
Everyone wants more space and bigger rooms, and there's always going to be fights for rooms. We're the track no-one ever hears or thinks about, and this year we've smashed our attendance records. And from the feedback we've had (and we'd LOVE to hear more!) we're starting to look at our schedule for next year accordingly.
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Date: 2012-09-09 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:31 am (UTC)So while you missed the chance to ask him questions, you can still hear what he had to say. And I hope you'll keep an eye on us and visit us next year!
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Date: 2012-09-09 12:56 am (UTC)I'm looking at the schedule on the track site now, and I must have really misread the app, because I don't remember seeing half of this, and there's a lot that looks interesting. I'll definitely take a closer look next year!
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Date: 2012-09-09 01:38 am (UTC)This year was a breakout year for us in many ways, with us at/over capacity for many panels. As I noted earlier, bruce was a little bit of a late addition, but the success of his panels means I hope The Powers That Be will look more favourably on our guest 'requests'. I for one have already started trying to line up guests (or at least gauge interest) for not just 2013, but 2014 as well (yes, someone's already told me they're booked for next years Con time, but they're thinking about 2014)
I really want us to start challenging the 'expected' tracks, and I'm looking into ways to raise our profile, including working on some bumpers, and maybe a video for DCTV. Also, I'm looking for a 'theme' that might fit the parade (right now, my brain's stuck on Dilbert, which I would have spent Saturday dressed as, if I'd not been so rushed Thursday as to forget my costumes)
And if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or the like, LET US KNOW! We tend to lack more in 'guests' than other tracks (and depend more on attending professionals, Con volunteers, and regular attendees who come to panels) we're sometimes more flexible. I think our '10 rules for dealing with the police' panel is a prime example. When our speakers cancelled one by one, the last the day OF the panel, we ended up with 3 speakers from the audience, who shared their experiences, 2 of them ex-police, and it turned out pretty well.
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Date: 2012-09-09 01:49 am (UTC)I'll definitely look at this track as a whole for next year. I'd already planned to do that with the Science track, where I spent a good deal of time, and the other academic/professional focused panel events I ran across (which aren't yet a track per se, I don't think). I'll be very interested to see what you come up with.
I'll also do some thinking about ideas & suggestions, since you've said you're open to such! I'm presuming anything in the general broad content areas covered by the EFF as a whole would be appropriate, particularly in areas of fannish intersection?
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Date: 2012-09-09 02:43 am (UTC)Yes, anything related to technology, the internet, law, and related things probably falls into our purview, although the problem is that it becomes SUCH a big area, it's hard to program (and stuff changes so rapidly, you'd not believe how many people asked if we were going to cover Samsung V Apple.)
I've also some ideas for panels to consider, which might improve our publicity more, and this year we broke our own track records, so we'll see!
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Date: 2012-09-04 08:53 pm (UTC)As a staffer, you should not have been cursed at - period. If you feel you are being treated poorly by a staff/volunteer member, please get their badge name. This way the issue can be handled quickly and easily.
Again, sorry your were cursed at by any staff member.
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Date: 2012-09-04 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 11:38 pm (UTC)I HAD to walk in front of people who were trying to take pictures multiple times, especially in spaces like the dealer's room where aisles are already narrow. I tried to be polite, but after a few minutes -- it's on you when you're blocking a major walkway. I have stuff I want to do, too, and it's nothing to do with your photo, sorry.
(sorry, comment got posted twice and I tried to delete one, but both got deleted ...?)
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Date: 2012-09-04 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 02:58 pm (UTC)For the most part, the people I saw getting in the way of pictures didn't even realize someone was trying to take one and were apologetic if they noticed after the fact. People doing it on purpose would have upset me.
That said, I took one picture in a main walking area when it was at a standstill. I would have understood if it started moving and someone walked in front of it. It's a matter of priority.
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Date: 2012-09-05 06:46 pm (UTC)Like irishbuddha said, try and get the badge name of whatever staff member curses at you and speak to somebody in security operations so the directors and shift leaders can get to the bottom of the issue and take appropriate action.
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Date: 2012-09-06 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-06 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:05 am (UTC)I understand why you feel the way you do about the skits/bumpers, but JSYK, Joe Campbell, the consuite director, is a good friend of DCTV's and has even appeared in at least one skit (Tribbles on a Ship). So the staff are in on the joke, as it were ;)