So let me see. What exactly was good about all of that? I would even argue that no, they didn't lack manpower. They lacked brains. Why were multiple people just walking around the ballroom - unable to assist people with questions, not keeping line jumpers in check (yes, that happened in that room too) - just being absolutely, 100% worthless.
LOL it must be SO hard to follow registration check-in procedures. Sorry to break it to you, it probably wouldn't have helped. If it takes upwards of ten minutes to print out crappy black and white *labels* - they either needed
a) more printers
b) pre-printed badges
c) more brains - oh sorry, this was a given
d) better planning - oops, there I go again
Flawed logic my right gluteus maximus. Probably could have put a thousand monkeys in a room and registration would have been faster and less painless- albeit with more Ebola virus.
points and arguments.
other conventions invest and have the money to invest in better systems. most outsourcing their registration system. run by volunteers at the con, yes.. but the system is still outsourced and maintained as such.. outsource = money.
signage: yes, there wasn't enough. no argument. no time nor money to get them done on time. make-shift signs were made for the most part to help. didn't help that much. people had trouble locating registration when it was clearly announced it was going to be at the Fairmont (there were plenty lost people wandering around SJCC looking for it)
volunteers not being able to give answers/help/info/etc: back to training. not everyone knew what was going on. lots of people to manage, and lack of communication. that covers a big block of your points. not knowing how long the wait was? same thing. not being able to answer questions? not lack of brains.. lack of that information given to them. they have a job to do, told to do something.. and they do it.
rude volunteer/staff: take down their name or badge number. report it and send feedback. it'll be handled appropriately.
more printers: more money or have the appropriate allocation of their budget for them. (yes, they needed more printers and i won't argue there)
pre-printed badges: it was done in the past.. but why not this year? because Fanime wanted the capability for people to choose where they can pick up their badge. (yes, people could have gone to Clockwork Alchemy)
more brains/better planning: well duh.. but it's a bit difficult to plan when more than half the volunteers bail out on you. did i mention lack of manpower? blah blah.. it's because we're run by volunteers.. blah blah.. yes.. that's not an excuse.. blah blah.
you argue that there weren't enough brains, but insist on having a ton of monkeys as manpower.
I'm sorry, but all of that just reads to me as a load of excuses. Excuses on top of excuses that are being thrown out to try and placate people and downplay the MASSIVE incompetence that was displayed at this year's Fanime. For the record, it didn't directly affect me (I skipped the Night Zero line and got my badge first thing the next morning), but seeing people waiting in line for 6-8 hours easily? Hearing about people fainting nad/or needing to be taken away by ambulances while waiting in line? Totally, utterly unacceptable. And yet all you can do is throw up your hands and say 'We're doing the best we can, stop complaining!'.
Sorry, but no. No, you are not doing everything you can. You're doing the minimum that you're contracted to do (getting people in, getting their badge, getting them out), and when people call you out on your outdated way of doing things, you fall back on the tired old 'We're a volunteer organization' excuse. Your attendees deserve a million times better than what they're getting, yet these excuses are blowing off their concerns and making them not want to come back to Fanime. If that right there isn't poor customer service, I don't know what is.
The problem is, Fanime's attendees are outstripping its current registration budget. It's like trying to force ants through a drinking straw, it's an unnecessary choke point. And from what I can tell, this isn't the first year you've had issues like this (though this is so far the worst year). Instead of falling back on the tired old 'We're doing our best', how about putting your money where your mouth is?
~Whoever heads registration needs to take it up with Fanime's higher-ups that this system isn't viable, it has to be fixed budget, equipment, and capacity-wise. Don't have the money to invest? Cut some of the dead weight out of the org so you'll have the budget for the important things. Also, Fanime isn't PMX, or Conji, or other smaller events. Budget for the event as it is NOW, not how it was years ago. Where is there the greatest need for budget allocation? Where can things be trimmed? And so on.
~Volunteers and staff don't know things and/or are rude? The onus falls on reg to train people, full stop. They are the face of the con, and they need to learn to act it.
TL;DR: The excuses aren't fooling anyone. Knock it off and actually take steps to improve things, instead of playing lip service.
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Topic: Con feedback (Feedback will not effectively reach staff if you do not use form) (Read 54962 times)