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Post by pistons on Oct 25, 2010 19:54:09 GMT 1
I spent the whole weekend at facts having the greatest time. To me everything seemed very well organised. Only one point that needs improvement though, is the Q&A. As mentioned here before the Q&A booth was too small. A lot of people had to stand at the back or at the side. Also, a seperate room should be better to cancel out the background noises. Kristanna Loken was interupted several times by the P.A. system for example.
Other than that, i think everything went smoothly. Can't wait untill next year !
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Post by rothrockfan on Oct 25, 2010 20:07:07 GMT 1
... but unfortunately we have been saying the last 2 years "last year was better"  F.A.C.T.S. has grown BIG time over the last couple of years and that has its positive and negative effects of course ... Bigger isn't always better ...  |
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kaydra
FACTS Sensei
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Post by kaydra on Oct 25, 2010 21:10:36 GMT 1
F.A.C.T.S. has grown BIG time over the last couple of years and that has its positive and negative effects of course ... Bigger isn't always better ... No, I realise this. But only saying "woot it was awesome" will not do the organisers any good if ppl are actually thinking "I'm only going 1 day cuz it's not worth it anymore going 2 days". I've been going both days the past few years cuz it's been awesome and this year i've only gone 1 day and actually i've heared this from other ppl too. I'm not saying this to pregnant dog or to whine or to just drop in a complaint for no reason. If nobody says a negative thing but they're actually thinking it, facts is only going to lose ppl cuz the crew will not know what can use some twinking So if ppl say that "last year" / "previous editions" were better, perhaps they can compare, see what changes they made. FACTS becoming bigger... do you mean "more ppl are coming" or "they are doing more things" I don't mind them doing more things, diversity is awesome and the more things there are to do then the better. Yes, having twice the amount of visitors does require changes or the whole thing will just get way too crowded. I don't expect the place for myself either  |
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Post by dogsoldiersthingy on Oct 25, 2010 22:09:51 GMT 1
F.A.C.T.S. has grown BIG time over the last couple of years and that has its positive and negative effects of course ... Bigger isn't always better ... No, I realise this. But only saying "woot it was awesome" will not do the organisers any good if ppl are actually thinking "I'm only going 1 day cuz it's not worth it anymore going 2 days". I've been going both days the past few years cuz it's been awesome and this year i've only gone 1 day and actually i've heared this from other ppl too. I'm not saying this to pregnant dog or to whine or to just drop in a complaint for no reason. If nobody says a negative thing but they're actually thinking it, facts is only going to lose ppl cuz the crew will not know what can use some twinking So if ppl say that "last year" / "previous editions" were better, perhaps they can compare, see what changes they made. FACTS becoming bigger... do you mean "more ppl are coming" or "they are doing more things" I don't mind them doing more things, diversity is awesome and the more things there are to do then the better. Yes, having twice the amount of visitors does require changes or the whole thing will just get way too crowded. I don't expect the place for myself either I agree with the lady here. You can't improve anything without comments. I'm sure the F.A.C.T.S. organisors respect our opinions and do whatever they can to fulfil our wishes They've been doing a pretty good job over the last years at that. |
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kaydra
FACTS Sensei
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Post by kaydra on Oct 25, 2010 23:28:57 GMT 1
lol just noticed someone edited a word in my post ^_^
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Post by herlock on Oct 26, 2010 16:37:30 GMT 1
Ok posting here since it's the "official" feedback topic Been attending facts for many years now, did spend a bit of time last year on the forum, complaining on how much facts 2009 was bad ^^ So how did it go for 2010 ? MUCH better hopefully ! - security : you guys did get rid of last years cowboys, barking orders at people and acting allpowerfull. That's a good thing Staff was nice and helpfull as far as I had to deal with them ! VERY GOOD ! - space : much more space than last year, which is a good thing. Could have been put to a better use too, will be back on that latter - services : especially the food thing, it was so much better than last year ! We had a dedicated place to have a drink and rest. - "universe variety" : being a star wars fan, I was concerned with the overwhelming tide of manga (I love manga too BTW, but I don't go to facts for those  ), I think dealers and FACTS staff managed to keep it balanced. Lots of SciFi and "80's" stuff. Overall I think it was great - Language : my mother tongue is french, and last year I complained that most of the convention official documents where only available in dutch, and only a few in english. I think overall it was so much better (only weapon rules still not available in french). Cosplay annoucements where in french too, that was very nice ! - heat : hell that was much much better too ! Last year I recall freezing to death in some parts of the convention. That wasn't the case this year, and thats good news. Keep it up ! - actors seemed nice overall, just been to Murdoch though so I can't really tell. They were easier to get too also ! Which is also an improvement. Now on to the "cons" : - roomplan : after chatting with many people, including dealers, we all seem to agree that the plan suked badly... * fan village was splitted in two : that doesn't make much sense... Rebel Legion was all alone in the game hall, for no obvious reason, the rest was packed on the left side of the first dealers hall, that didn't looked much like "fan village" as far as I can tell. Maybe regroup with cosplay stage ? And have the whole thing really feel like a "fan village" ? * traffic jam ! Hell I know you can't do much about people coming, but the roomplan didn't help for sure ! One tunnel to connect the two first halls !!! With smoking zone and restrooms in that one, and the ATAT at the end... people stop to take pictures of course ! Game hall on the other hand was mostly empty Still on the traffic : I wonder why there are people giving out flyers after the "pass check"... it's a bottleneck already, why add people there ? Can't they give their flyers in the empty aread between cashier and the "entrance checkpoint" ? The huge board "utgang" didn't help either (why having a sign for the exit when you just entered the place BTW ? * can't remember where "XXXX" dealer was : since hall 2 and 3 looked so much the same, it was a pain in the ass to figure out where we saw a given dealer. We kept on going here and there trying to find what we were looking for. Advice for next time : long "american" streets all look the same, please do landmarks so we can tell both halls appart. What about some kind of "round" or "square" booth, so that it makes the streets less boring (and alike). Also having people roam for no reason increased the traffic jam in the convention. - conference room : is that a joke ? We could hear ubisoft over the actors at the conference room. And yet another thing getting in the middle of the way and adding traffic. Since there was so few seats, many were standing outside. - restaurant place / resting space : it was nice, but too few seats half the place was empty, so people had to sit on the floor. Not very good to actually "rest". Could use some more tables and seats - trashcans : same complain that during last japan expo in paris : trashcans are grat, but they need to be emptied OFTEN. I saw some were people started making babylon towers on top of them... - changing rooms : I guess due to last year outcry on the forums about stupid people "peeking" in the girls room, you separated boys and girl. Which is ok. BUT : why did you make them even smaller than last year ? Especially on the boy side, there was ALOT of empty space, could have added 2 or 3 walls on the side to make it MUCH bigger with little effort. The worst part being the tables : 10 tables for several dozens of cosplayers... that's even less than past year. This really need to get fixed for 2011 I think. Costumes get damaged, stuff lost or stolen where everybody walks on each other. I think there was a lot of room to improve this. - actors : marc singer cancelled yet again... Ok it's a running gag with FACTS... but I must say that you guys have gotten too familiar with late cancels... May not be your fault, but from the visitor POV, it's a disappointment of course. And I think that it happens more at facts than other conventions I usually attend. Maybe just bad luck, but in the past 5 years there have been late cancellation almost every year. As for actors : I couldn't see any sign saying "signature is X euros"... I had to line for our dear murdoch and catch his helper when he was signing for the guy in front of me... Appart from the time spent in line, it's kinda awckward to wait in line, get in front of the actor and then say "ho wait nuts, 20 euros is too much, see ya"... Maybe it was written somewhere, didn't see the sign though. - outside line : ok yet again that's not your fault if many people come, but still seeing people waiting outside in the cold and the rain... Can't you guys figure something out to get them to wait somewhere else inside ? Maybe organize the line in the "empty" entry space ? Or have a few "tents" outside so that at least some don't get wet that much ? or have them wait in another hall, does the entry need to be on that side ? Despite this long "cons" list, I think FACTS 2010 was a great improvement over last years edition. It still needs some work though, to get back to the quality of the old facts. Overall, I think you need to improve the "supermarket" layout, keep up with what was better this year. Also I would like to see more animation. I think that appart from dealers and Q&A, there was too few organized to get people to have fun. Toulouse Game Show has a concert on saturday evening for example, other conventions have quizz / games, have more "Q&A / conferences" but not only with actors... Migennes collector had the simpsons voices who subbed "real time" an episode during a Q&A... also projections (movies / series / animes) could be grat. Why not having A-team actors comment some episodes for example ? Hope you guys don't take my message to "badly", only aim is to see things get better (at least from my point of view). There are many cons nowadays, so you need to keep up with the newcomers. Overall the new convention center is midly appreciated over ICC (which was awesome), so you guys need to add content to make up for that ! Good luck with next edition, and thank you very much for the work, because I know it's not easy (while it's easy for me to say it's not good ) |
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Post by sayashinigami on Oct 26, 2010 19:05:58 GMT 1
- changing rooms : I guess due to last year outcry on the forums about stupid people "peeking" in the girls room, you separated boys and girl. Which is ok. BUT : why did you make them even smaller than last year ? Especially on the boy side, there was ALOT of empty space, could have added 2 or 3 walls on the side to make it MUCH bigger with little effort. The worst part being the tables : 10 tables for several dozens of cosplayers... that's even less than past year. I agree on this one, the changing room for the ladies only had 4 tables and 4 chairs. We almost fought to get a place to do our make-up XD However, I'm happy to say (almost) everyone was kind to each other in the changing room ^^ If you needed help with make-up, a certain part of your costume, getting your hands on a pair of siccors... there was always someone to help ^^ (also, mirrors were passed along to everyone ^^ ) |
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Post by dogsoldiersthingy on Oct 26, 2010 21:28:53 GMT 1
Ok posting here since it's the "official" feedback topic - actors : marc singer cancelled yet again... Ok it's a running gag with FACTS... but I must say that you guys have gotten too familiar with late cancels... May not be your fault, but from the visitor POV, it's a disappointment of course. And I think that it happens more at facts than other conventions I usually attend. Maybe just bad luck, but in the past 5 years there have been late cancellation almost every year. As for actors : I couldn't see any sign saying "signature is X euros"... I had to line for our dear murdoch and catch his helper when he was signing for the guy in front of me... you don't sound like you want to be rude and you give pretty good comments and I agree with some of them. But I do think you're wrong on the cancellation part. Yes, last year F.A.C.T.S. had some trouble with the guests, but Marc Singer cancelling for the 3rd time (in a row I think) says more about the actor and not about the convention. There are conventions that are way worse at that point, to give an example I went to the Movie and Comic event in Germany in September, was looking forward to all the great guests coming and all. And a week in front all of a sudden they took away about 6 guests and one more on the weekend itself. That is lousy planning and organising and just using big names to attract people, only to disappoint them later on. I'm still pretty disappointe about how things went down there (and I had already bought a train ticket and all). So we really can't complain with these F.A.C.T.S. organisors who put a lot of effort into this. I'm not trying to offend you or anything btw, just saying  |
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latexstrawberry
Nurdz
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts ~[F4:754608089]
Posts: 780
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Post by latexstrawberry on Oct 26, 2010 21:37:53 GMT 1
i always blame the guest, facts has nothing to do with a cancellation, it's the guest that chooses when to come or not, not the organisation
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Post by grievous444 on Oct 26, 2010 21:54:50 GMT 1
i always blame the guest, facts has nothing to do with a cancellation, it's the guest that chooses when to come or not, not the organisation Couldn't agree more. I don't look who isn't coming or cancelled. But instead I look who is coming. And FACTS had the most actors this year than any other year. They broke the record. The same goes for the artists. So I think they did a very good job this year with our guests. |
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Post by taranis on Oct 26, 2010 22:57:12 GMT 1
This year was my first FACTS and although I had fun and I will come back last year I was kinda disappointed with the organization. In one word it was amateurish. I don't want to sound harsh but it was.
Most of the problems have been summed up in the previous posts but I'll give you my list anyway.
1) Signs!
Nothing is more irritating then not knowing what you're supposed to do or where to go.
This starts at the entrance: There's a big line waiting to get in. I bought a ticket on line but I didn't know I could skip the waiting line. There should have been a sign above the entrance telling this. It would have saved me 30 minutes that I could have spend inside the convention. After 30 min a guy came telling us we could go in without waiting, but a sign could have avoided this.
The Hot Dogs. There were a zillion people in the small passage so a little paper with the prize in the middle of the table is practically invisible. This should have been printed on big papers and put on the wall. This doesn't cost anything, it's big letters printed on a few A4 papers. This is even more important when you're charging € 3 for a hot dog.
The same goes for the actors. Prices for a signature need to be printed on a paper and put behind the actor. It's a lot of money for a scribble on a paper so knowing what you're gonne have to pay beforehand could save you a 'wtf, that much?'-look when you ask for a signature.
2) Organization
It's been said in previous posts but there's too many people in too few places. Only one passage from hall 1 to 2? With the hot dog stand and smokers 'room'? Not a good idea...
Also a lot of people in the halls themselves. It's not that much fun if you want to look around but people around you are constantly pushing and elbowing you. After 16.00 (Saturday) there was more room. If you can't expand or rearrange you might want to consider limiting the number of visitors.
3) Waiting lines:
You've got to do something about the people waiting outside. Some of them say it's a tradition and it's fun to watch to cosplayers but wait until the FACTS when it starts raining hard...
There are lots of things you can do to solve this. Let everyone buy tickets on line, make of few more lines and places to sell tickets, instead of one line, etc. This really is something which shouldn't be allowed to happen in an event that celebrates it's twentieth edition.
Org anise the lines for popular artists. I wanted Dave Gibbons to sign my Watchmen copy but there were a lot of people in line who wanted a sketch. If you have popular artists like him you should put someone there who makes 2 lines. One for signatures and one for sketches. You let him do one sketch and when that's finished you let him to 10 signatures. A sketch takes 15 minutes, 10 signatures take 5 minutes. That way you avoid pissing off people who only want a simple signature. I spend an hour there and left because otherwise I would have waisted half my day.
4) Q&A:
Again it's been said before but this Q&A-'room' could have been much better. Like it's done now, it makes you guys look like amateurs. It's an event with thousands of visitors but still there were only 64 seats... Only the first 2 rows behind the seats could hear what was being said, the rows behind those could only hear noise from the hall. Very disappointing... It needs a separate and much bigger room. Make it so most of the people can sit down. Give the actors something to sit behind with microphones attached to it.
Another small point: I mentioned the hot dogs before. These cost € 3!! A simple sandwich with a 'zwanworst' and catchup. € 3!! That's crazy! A hot dog should never go over € 2. It's a normal consumption and should be equal to a coke or a beer.
I'm sure I can come up wit a few other things later + I can't say anything about the cosplay, games or food area because I didn't cosplay or went to those places.
All together this means that you guys really have to do something about your professionalism. I don't know how it's behind the scenes but if I were an actor or artists and I'd see all this, I wouldn't be jumping up and down to go to this event. Only a quick look at your website says enough. The design is old and not flashy. The information is sloppy, small things like info about all previous events but not about 2009 => makes people think: 'are they inactive?' Wrong info: e.g. Kristanna Loken was not in 'Die Nibelungen', that's a movie from 1924. She was in 'Ring of the Nibelungs'. It looks like I'm nitpicking here but it's small stuff like this that makes you look professional or in this case, not professional.
All this combines would have been ok if it would have been the first time you organized this, but it's the twentieth time... Sorry if I sound harsh and I know 'De beste stuurlui staan aan wal', but there's still a lot to improve for FACTS 21...
But, I'm still gratefull you're organising this though, it must be a lot of work...
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kaydra
FACTS Sensei
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Post by kaydra on Oct 26, 2010 23:44:42 GMT 1
you are right, there is a lot to improve and they can only do it if they actually hear about it. Offcourse doesn't mean ppl have to start throwing insults, it has to be kept constructive The catering is not something that is organised by FACTS. Which is good cuz it basically sucked. At the point where our group wanted to get something to eat they only had 3 of those little pizza's left, spread out over 2 disgusting looking plates and the guy behind the counter was just poking some dried up crust on the side of the plate trying to scrape it off...When he sold another one and cleared one plate it would have looked neater if it was actually removed but he just left it there *rolls eyes* plus we waited 10 minutes for them to finish making the pasta and while waiting I heared a guy ask for something vegetarian and the caterer went "ehm...a muffin?" So yeah it was rather sad (also cuz there was very little seating) Oh it's also not really cool to see a lot of tables with like 4 or more empty chairs but 1 person holding the entire table for when their friends might show up after they finish their shoppingspree = / especially with so little seating |
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Post by dogsoldiersthingy on Oct 27, 2010 0:52:13 GMT 1
3€ for a hotdog is not that exceptional, these people (not the facts crew I mean) just take advantage of the situation (it's not as if there's a mcdonalds around the corner). It's like they do on festivals and stuff.
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Post by boomvavavoom on Oct 27, 2010 10:04:05 GMT 1
I am just glad the cons are mostly what we consider minor points |
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Post by Stoney3K on Oct 27, 2010 10:07:32 GMT 1
I do have to agree that on some moments, there was not a lot of content at the convention to see. Some people will visit a con to shop-till-they-drop and go home again, some will visit a con to be entertained. There is not a lot of activity going on at this time to cater for the latter audience, which, to my experience, has a bigger tendency to go all-the-way at a convention and buy a weekend ticket, do a photo shoot with one or two actors and buy a bunch of autographs.
At this time, however, there is not a lot of actual content (aside from cosplay and Q&A) which will attract additional audiences, and there is possible room for improvement there. I know another convention which attracted the major sponsors (SyFy Universal, Paramount, Disney) by providing them with means to advertise at the con, and also use that infrastructure for a lot of fun. An exclusive trailer for the new Star Trek or Disney movie at FACTS will keep the audiences on their edge before, during or after the cosplay, and generate additional revenue.
More interactive activities, like a DDR/Guitar Hero/RockBand contest or other game competitions, and possibly a few workshops, will get people to FACTS that stay.
With regards to the practical side of things: There are a lot of issues mentioned here in which FACTS had little infuence (expensive parking, hot dog stand in the way, bad weather), and the only thing we can do for that is making up a few workarounds.
One thing I do think needs work still is the volunteer/access system: For an outsider it is hard to see which people are volunteers at FACTS, when they are on duty and what their duties are. As a volunteer, I have found a few times where I was just flying blind because there was no up-to-date information, and I was particularly clueless on where to get it (aside from the FACTS-gods who were already in over their heads).
Solution: Organising a special volunteer area, along with a volunteer coordinator, where the volunteers can get refreshed, not having to queue for catering like the rest. And get a badge system (at least for the crew), which displays each person's name, role and languages spoken so visitors can address them properly if they need info. That way, volunteers also have a central means and place of communicating, and if they're out of tasks for the moment, they can be dismissed or given a new task if they want to.
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Post by cartoonjessie on Oct 27, 2010 10:43:44 GMT 1
Ehm. But there is such an area for volunteers... Where they have breakfast and sandwhiches... Away from the others... A separate room. Or is this not what you mean?
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Post by e-Mino on Oct 27, 2010 12:05:56 GMT 1
Alrighty, you raise quite a few valid points, so let's go... 1) Signs! Nothing is more irritating then not knowing what you're supposed to do or where to go. This starts at the entrance: There's a big line waiting to get in. I bought a ticket on line but I didn't know I could skip the waiting line. There should have been a sign above the entrance telling this. It would have saved me 30 minutes that I could have spend inside the convention. After 30 min a guy came telling us we could go in without waiting, but a sign could have avoided this. This is somehow weird to us: we assumed that people buying a ticket beforehand would skip the queue (we even said it in every newsletter we sent out), yet a few didn't and got in line. We'll make sure to indicate it on the ticket and to place some signs for next year. (that guy was probably me, by the way ). The Hot Dogs. There were a zillion people in the small passage so a little paper with the prize in the middle of the table is practically invisible. This should have been printed on big papers and put on the wall. This doesn't cost anything, it's big letters printed on a few A4 papers. This is even more important when you're charging € 3 for a hot dog. To be clear: we have nothing to do with the catering. The convention room's owners have an exclusive deal with the catering company, so we quite simply have no choice (well, we do: either have no catering at all or work with that company). So both the decision to place a hot dog stand at that place as the prices asked for are beyond us. We will however integrate this in the feedback we'll send back to the catering company. The same goes for the actors. Prices for a signature need to be printed on a paper and put behind the actor. It's a lot of money for a scribble on a paper so knowing what you're gonne have to pay beforehand could save you a 'wtf, that much?'-look when you ask for a signature. Not a bad idea, then again every 'regular' con-visitor knows autographs need to be paid for. We'll see how we can introduce this (keeping in mind that it should be done in an 'attractive' way). 2) Organization It's been said in previous posts but there's too many people in too few places. Only one passage from hall 1 to 2? With the hot dog stand and smokers 'room'? Not a good idea... Also a lot of people in the halls themselves. It's not that much fun if you want to look around but people around you are constantly pushing and elbowing you. After 16.00 (Saturday) there was more room. If you can't expand or rearrange you might want to consider limiting the number of visitors. See above for the hot dog stand. When we heard there was a problem, we litterally (with a little help from the police) pushed the hot dog booth away and opened an emergency exit to reduce the pressure on that one corridor. It helped, since the bottleneck disappeared almost instantly. Bear in mind we rented another room, meaning we grew 50 % space-wise. We never would have thought (nor dreamed) that it would get this crowded! 3) Waiting lines: You've got to do something about the people waiting outside. Some of them say it's a tradition and it's fun to watch to cosplayers but wait until the FACTS when it starts raining hard... There are lots of things you can do to solve this. Let everyone buy tickets on line, make of few more lines and places to sell tickets, instead of one line, etc. This really is something which shouldn't be allowed to happen in an event that celebrates it's twentieth edition. Easier said than done! We offered the possibility to buy tickets online, yet only +- one out of every five congoers did... Trust me, if we don't allow people to buy tickets at the door, you can sit in the cashier's till and explain it to people who just drive 500 kilometers for nothing... We are however aware that the waiting lines are getting (too) long and are looking into ways to avoid this. Org anise the lines for popular artists. I wanted Dave Gibbons to sign my Watchmen copy but there were a lot of people in line who wanted a sketch. If you have popular artists like him you should put someone there who makes 2 lines. One for signatures and one for sketches. You let him do one sketch and when that's finished you let him to 10 signatures. A sketch takes 15 minutes, 10 signatures take 5 minutes. That way you avoid pissing off people who only want a simple signature. I spend an hour there and left because otherwise I would have waisted half my day. Valid suggestion. Noted! 4) Q&A: Again it's been said before but this Q&A-'room' could have been much better. Like it's done now, it makes you guys look like amateurs. It's an event with thousands of visitors but still there were only 64 seats... Only the first 2 rows behind the seats could hear what was being said, the rows behind those could only hear noise from the hall. Very disappointing... It needs a separate and much bigger room. Make it so most of the people can sit down. Give the actors something to sit behind with microphones attached to it. Duly noted as well. The problem is that you need one room to accomodate for both hugely popular guests and lesser guests. And we do want to avoid having a huge room which would be almost empty when a less popular guest would be having his Q&A. But we do realise we'll need a bigger location for next year. Another small point: I mentioned the hot dogs before. These cost € 3!! A simple sandwich with a 'zwanworst' and catchup. € 3!! That's crazy! A hot dog should never go over € 2. It's a normal consumption and should be equal to a coke or a beer. Again, this is not our decision. Worse: we have no say whatsoever in this. I'm sure I can come up wit a few other things later + I can't say anything about the cosplay, games or food area because I didn't cosplay or went to those places. All together this means that you guys really have to do something about your professionalism. I don't know how it's behind the scenes but if I were an actor or artists and I'd see all this, I wouldn't be jumping up and down to go to this event. Only a quick look at your website says enough. The design is old and not flashy. The information is sloppy, small things like info about all previous events but not about 2009 => makes people think: 'are they inactive?' Wrong info: e.g. Kristanna Loken was not in 'Die Nibelungen', that's a movie from 1924. She was in 'Ring of the Nibelungs'. It looks like I'm nitpicking here but it's small stuff like this that makes you look professional or in this case, not professional. All this combines would have been ok if it would have been the first time you organized this, but it's the twentieth time... Sorry if I sound harsh and I know 'De beste stuurlui staan aan wal', but there's still a lot to improve for FACTS 21... But, I'm still gratefull you're organising this though, it must be a lot of work... It is a HUGE amount of work. Do bear in mind this is all just a hobby. We all got regular jobs, wives/girlfriends, some of us have kids. So organising FACTS comes on top. We're not getting paid for any of this, we just do it out of fun and to give something (quite unique, I do think) to the fans. We know it's not pefect (far from that) and we're working on improving the lesser points. Thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated! |
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Post by Stoney3K on Oct 27, 2010 13:15:09 GMT 1
Ehm. But there is such an area for volunteers... Where they have breakfast and sandwhiches... Away from the others... A separate room. Or is this not what you mean? If there was, I was not pointed towards it. Furthermore, is there a person in the volunteer area who coordinates tasks along the FACTS crew, and who can be contacted in case there are some additional tasks to be done? This just comes down to organising your information and sending it to the people who need it, so everybody knows what they're up against. If I need 2 people to haul a bunch of road cases or lift a truss, that would be the place to call and the coordinator there would send a person to help. Centralizing that is pretty important. More specific example: On Sunday I was responsible for handling the Q&A, and the actor's PA's did not know there was a Q&A scheduled at that time, so the signing queues were not closed and the actors were starting their Q&A behind schedule. Simply keeping everybody up-to-date who is responsible for that would have prevented that problem to a certain degree. With regards to the queues in the autograph and photo shoots: People who have Early Birds or Weekend tickets can be assigned a ticket number, quantizing the queues to a certain degree. So if I want an autograph for Dirk & Dwight and my ticket number is 1028, I know what time my autograph or photo shoot can be given out. The first-come, first-serve basis tickets can be scheduled around that without much trouble. |
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Post by cartoonjessie on Oct 27, 2010 13:37:35 GMT 1
It would not be a problem if we had a larger crew, I think. But I do not think all your suggestions are realistic when you look at the amount of volunteers. We would need more crew to achieve many of your suggestions.
Also, the volunteers-area was pointed out on friday evening, I believe? (The place where there is breakfast etc...) Further questions, such as who to contact in case you need someone, are also handled when the volunteers come together on friday evening. I always have a few phone numbers of FACTS crew on my cellphone, just in case there is an issue which I can not handle alone, so that I can call for assistance.
I do however think that we can greatly improve the communication with the volunteers, but I'll save those ideas for the dinner next month. ;-)
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Post by taranis on Oct 27, 2010 14:04:30 GMT 1
It is a HUGE amount of work. Do bear in mind this is all just a hobby. We all got regular jobs, wives/girlfriends, some of us have kids. So organizing FACTS comes on top. We're not getting paid for any of this, we just do it out of fun and to give something (quite unique, I do think) to the fans. We know it's not perfect (far from that) and we're working on improving the lesser points. Thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated! Thank you for answering. That's a very good point since most organizations would not bother to respond. I agree, some of the points, e.g. the signs wouldn't have been necessary for people who are regular con attendants. But, and I could be wrong here, I assume you're also organizing this to get people interested in your hobby and your world. Those people have no experience in cons. Also, Kaydra said something about insults. I talked about amateurism, but that was not meant as an insult. It also doesn't mean you are amateurs (although you are since you're doing this in your free time) but just that some things make you look like you are, which can be avoided. Amateurs here is not used in the insulting meaning of the word. |
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Post by Stoney3K on Oct 27, 2010 14:09:20 GMT 1
It would not be a problem if we had a larger crew... And what problem is there with recruiting a larger crew, or even a crew that does partial duties in return for a ticket discount (not a full refund)? If we have more hands to work with, the FACTS-gods can focus their minds on top-level delegating, instead of having to oversee everything by themselves. What you need for that are a small group of competent and experienced crew members, who can (as a team) make sure the 'grunt' volunteers do what is necessary. On an event with almost 20.000 visitors, having a handful of people who work all weekend to make ends meet is just not enough. |
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Post by e-Mino on Oct 27, 2010 14:23:54 GMT 1
It would not be a problem if we had a larger crew... And what problem is there with recruiting a larger crew, or even a crew that does partial duties in return for a ticket discount (not a full refund)? If we have more hands to work with, the FACTS-gods can focus their minds on top-level delegating, instead of having to oversee everything by themselves. What you need for that are a small group of competent and experienced crew members, who can (as a team) make sure the 'grunt' volunteers do what is necessary. On an event with almost 20.000 visitors, having a handful of people who work all weekend to make ends meet is just not enough. You need to have people you can trust 100 %. If you start recruiting "too largely" (i.e. anyone can participate in exchange for a reduced entrance price) you risk getting people who'll be sloppy and/or not trustworthy otherwise. We fully trust anyone of our crew members, who sometimes do very ungrateful tasks (like standing for ours on end in the cold to control the dealer's entrance). You just can't ask that to anyone. Besides, the more you are the more you risk of it getting all confused. "How come there's noone here?". "Well, I thought he would do that", "No, you are in charge", "Hold on, he told me he would do it", etc. |
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Post by Stoney3K on Oct 27, 2010 14:49:17 GMT 1
I can agree with that, and I am in favor of having certain people do certain tasks which suit them. For example, I don't have the people skills to be an actor's PA or have the authority to be security, but I'm a good technician. However, there is no reason you need to do everything by yourself: If I need 2 mike stands on the other end of the hall in 5 minutes and have no way of getting them myself, sending a random person for such a task is not a problem.
Volunteering at an event takes a certain level of commitment. That's why several conventions offer free entrance tickets or front row seats for volunteers that are on duty at the entire event: Simply because they deserve it as a result of their work and commitment to the event.
Most events run a three-layer structure: The 'core staff' or committee, who make all the important decisions, below that a team of volunteers who have specific knowledge (for example, PA's, techs, security, infodesk) and on the bottom you have a group of people who have only an executive function. I think most people can sit at an entrance desk and hand out volunteer or con badges, but not everyone may be suitable to handle for example the cash for the entry tickets.
The risk of confusion is a problem of information management. Somebody needs to have the overview of which person is assigned to what task, and whether he or she has actually done it. Managing all of the information as committee yourself might put too much of a mental load on the committee members.
If the event grows, IMO, the volunteer crew needs to grow with it. Otherwise, we might be at capacity right now because there is no manpower left to run a larger event.
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Post by feff on Oct 27, 2010 14:57:23 GMT 1
We already have a several layer structure and we are looking into ways of expanding volunteer numbers.
However, what e-mino said is true. If you have volunteers (that you don't know know at all) who work for free entrance, you are in serious danger of allowing people who just do it for the free ticket, without being committed and without doing their jobs properly. Then you might end up in a situation where you need to fix replacements during the event, with disaster as a result.
It's definately something worth investigating, but only after careful consideration.
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Post by Stoney3K on Oct 27, 2010 15:02:42 GMT 1
We already have a several layer structure and we are looking into ways of expanding volunteer numbers. However, what e-mino said is true. If you have volunteers (that you don't know know at all) who work for free entrance, you are in serious danger of allowing people who just do it for the free ticket, without being committed and without doing their jobs properly. Then you might end up in a situation where you need to fix replacements during the event, with disaster as a result. That is definitely true, that's why I think a reduced entry price for 'limited' volunteers (and not a completely free ticket) would be a better idea. That way people would be more inclined to lend a hand and not apply for volunteer duties just to get a free ticket. For example, get a 2 euro discount on the ticket if you work a shift worth 2 hours of work. I've seen the 'volunteer-to-get-in-free' mindset at other conventions, and I know that it does not work. Eventually you will end up with more people in volunteer shirts at the con doing nothing than there is audience. I do consider the volunteers who are on duty (and that means on duty) for the full length of the convention a different matter. |
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~ Selphie Tilmitt ~ F.A.C.T.S. 2011
), I think dealers and FACTS staff managed to keep it balanced. Lots of SciFi and "80's" stuff. Overall I think it was great
