{{link-banner}}
Please let us know what went well and what didn't go well at EMF this year. We really do care about your feedback and we'll try and improve this for next time.

Add your feedback below:

== Good Stuff ==

* Location
* Badges
* Variety of talks [+1]
* Showers [+∞]
* Hand washing facilities
** putting the showers (with hot water in handbasins) next to toilets v.good
* Parking
* Shuttle trailer to car park
** ... and shuttle to BLY railway station. Made coming by public transport a doddle.
* Power & data infrastructure - pretty much rock solid throughout! [+2]
* Speedy response of volunteers/organisers to problem resolution
* Service at the bar was good (while the drinks lasted), and it was very nice to have ''multiple'' indoor social spaces, esp for people who wanted a quieter lounge as well as louder bar.
** Being able to check beer availability on the till website was awesome!
* Floor panel roads [+4]
* String lights (cut through to showers was awesome!) [+1]
* Ability to hire tables/chairs/marquees/hay bales etc. - were all good quality, too. [+1]
* Kids workshops [+1]
* Arcade!
* Friendliness of other attendees
* First aid
* Shop - selling books of speakers was a really nice idea, and it was good to talk to speakers & do signing there afterwards.
* That spinning music installation.
* Lighting - I didn't have to turn my torch on at all, but it was still dark enough in my tent to sleep.
* Club Mate.
* Ring making workshop
* Lake was pretty
* Supportive atmosphere for speakers and very nice feedback afterwards
* Water: plentiful flow, tasty water, cool dispensers [+1]
** Hand soap by taps (udders?)
* Keeping toilet paper supplies topped up in all the toilets
* Nice choice of real ales and proper cider
* Lasershow + Chiptunes in Tent A
* Tschunk
* Everything that Dimitri brought along
* EMF CTF: Like getting lock pickers to cook your food, playing IRL replay,relay and pre-play attacks and memory corruption, sadly no real-life cross-site scripting :)

== Stuff that could be improved ==

* Buy more beer! [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]]) [+1]
** No firkins next time, kils only! --[[User:Sde|Sde]] ([[User talk:Sde|talk]])
* Toilets... 'nuff said! [[User:AndyB|AndyB]] ([[User talk:AndyB|talk]]) [+2]
** Agreed - I've seen portakabins (like the shower blocks) that containing proper flushing loos. They're ''much'' less stinky and likely to block up than the portaloos we had, which didn't always seem willing to drop their loads into their collection tanks, leading to nastiness and health hazards (even without the pumping contractor being rubbish)
** Additionally, LIGHTS in the toilets. Having to use my phone / badge as a torch to see what was going on while i cleaned off the toilet before sitting down was particularly difficult. [[User:Thinkl33t|Thinkl33t]] ([[User talk:Thinkl33t|talk]]) 20:05, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** thunderboxes2go.co.uk are good and know how to handle local authority problems, they have done shambala for 10+ years - high enough capacity to not need emptying during the event [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** Maybe ask Cambridge & District CAMRA who provided the toilets for Cambridge 41st beer festival - they had some fairly nice flushing toilets which came on a trailer, a bit like the posh wash showers. I think Jonty mentioned that a lot of providers were put off by the fact that we're a festival. Well, if these guys are ok with providing for a beer festival, they must be pretty brave! -[[User:Alecjw]]
** Definite vote for the trailer-style flushing toilets, with multiple cubicles (+sinks, lights and mirrors) on one tow-along trailer, just like the showers. I've seen these at MANY festivals - though, granted, usually only in 'posh' camping/press/VIP areas. Should be possible if you manage to convince the providers that we're not a rowdy bunch of drunken teenagers!
** A clue to the problem with the chemical toilets is in the name: no chemical sanitiser/deodoriser was used in any toilet I tried. Adding Elsan or similar to the toilets would probably have made them much more acceptable. [[User:PhilSwinbank|PhilSwinbank]] ([[User talk:PhilSwinbank|talk]]) 22:18, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
* Make sure that drinking water is clearly labelled as such
* More food and drink options
** Eg. non-caffeine / low or no sugar options
** Chips!
** Jacket potato vendor
** Healthy 'green' food
** also possibly going on later, a lot of the places shut up shop quite early.
** A late night vendor would be fantastic - doesn't have to be fancy food, but just something hot to eat after 9pm [+2]
* Survey positions of lanes/tents/DKs as early as possible before items arrive and mark out.--[[User:Sully|Sully]] ([[User talk:Sully|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** This was planned but we were let down by the rather poor state of mobile GIS software.
*** there are multiple open source solutions for mapping, try https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/ or reach to out myself or #openstreetmap, there are many OSM'ers in the UK, [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]]).
* Similar to this, measure for fence panels and drop stillage appropriately, to avoid the need to carry loads of them right up the camping field by hand
* Make it longer! There was loads of cool stuff I didn't have change to check out :( After all that work everyone does, it was a shame I couldn't experience it all! ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]])
* Visibility of presentations in tents (brighter projectors/darker tents??) ([[User:StuartL]]) [+2]
* washing points over drains/soakaway so the ground doesn't get muddy ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]]) [+3]
* Mark out/allocate spaces for villages who had pinpointed locations on maps ([[User:Markp]]) [+1]
* Use more plasma screens in stages instead of projectors ([[User:Markp]]). Or (better, as then the speaker can point to things) black fabric shades for the screen or marquee roof
* Improved arrangements for washing and washing up (and handling the waste water from that) [+1]
* Provide sanitizer gel dispensers at water points and near loos [+1]
* Have the schedule linked off the EMF main page
* Distribute and display paper schedules (even if their might be some last-minute changes) [+2]
** Or have small screens at the entrances to tents showing what's currently on & what's next.
* Much more workshop activity (more hands-on electronics and physical making) [+5]
* Do have component vendors (maybe at their cost for marquee/power/space)
** This is very difficult without a clear list of what will sell, as CPC was arranged to appear but wanted advisement ([[User:Stanto]])
* Pick a flatter site (for ease of disabled access)
* Ask speakers for bio's to include with their abstracts. Given them an abstract length up-front instead of editing it in an ad hoc way. Confirm acceptance to speakers and workshop organisers earlier.
** Do this after talks have been accepted. I didn't write my talk so didn't know details until I got the OK.
* Make and enforce a clear music curfew (say from midnight or 1am or 2am to 8 or 9am or 10am), to defend those sleeping from (eg) the technoevangelists and the drunk [+4]
** Perhaps try to select a site next time where we can make part of the site to be a quiet area, eg a part surrounded by trees for natural sound insulation. Then enforce a noise curfew there. I'm not keen on the idea of having a noise curfew covering the entire camp though. [[User:Alecjw]] [+1]
** Seconding enforced quiet/family camping area, but no overall noise curfew. It didn't take long to get away from the worst noise, and the end of the field by the kids' area was incredibly quiet (though strangely empty!!)
* Loos not so near food vendors (pong + visible urinals offputting) [+5]
* stronger enforcement/signage of quiet camping area [+4]
* an explicit invitation (with clear instructions) to report Code of Conduct violations in open ceremony, brochure, Twitter, etc. We had no direct reports to Team Comfort, but several anecdotal tweets after the event -- when it's much too late. [[User:Martind|Martind]] ([[User talk:Martind|talk]]) 20:58, 1 September 2014 (UTC) [+1]
* quieter, less-enclosed and more spacious bar (I suffer from social anxiety when I'm closed in with crowds, so I had a very sober emf!). [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
** perhaps an outdoor seating area if a larger marquee is too costly.
* use our collective knowledge of technology to sort accessibility issues
**ring-fence money for things like closed-loop in the stages early on.
**ask people about their access requirements much earlier on - e.g. when they buy a ticket - so that there is more time to meet these requirements (or reach a workable compromise)
**Build some kind of working system for preventing able-bodied people from using the disabled loos and showers (radar keys that only work when the loo is empty?) [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
* Info desk didn't seem to have the details wrt. volunteers, so when I volunteered I was sent out and found I wasn't needed. Suggest splitting the job - having a volunteer team leader (or several, in shifts) whose job it is to know who is where and also to make sure nobody gets stuck on a gate for 12 hours (eg. rotating people to more interesting places every couple of hours). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])
* Also similar to this, a register of 'on call' people - excess volunteers who can deal with sudden demands for people (esp. in the case of fire I can imagine this would be extremely useful - you'd potentially need to cordon off a largish area very quickly, and that takes people. More mundane reasons would be a talk/workshop accumulating a large queue that needs managing). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])

==Suggestions==
* Ask for an optional email address for each ticket to go on your announce only mailing list. Only the person that bought the tickets got your emails and they were slow to forward them on meaning most messages were received too late.
* Ask for age of children when booking, to give better planning stats for workshops etc. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* A talk (a bit like lightning talks) where people are given 5-10 minutes to share what they did with the previous event's badge. (If someone sends me the competition winners/runners up, I'll co-ordinate it) [[User:MatS|MatS]] ([[User talk:MatS|talk]]) 07:54, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
* Pre-paid accounts for spending money on food/beer/whatever to negate need for cash ([[User:Markp]])
* Have a fleet of communal wheel-barrows to help people transport their stuff from car to campsite [+1]
** Stepney City Farm have a fleet of broken wheelbarrows – fix ’em, use ’em, everybody wins! ([[User:Andylolz]])
** Or purchase some sack trolleys
* contactless payment gear for food, beer, workshops
** We had contactless payment for beer! (And we also offered cashback.) We should have messaged that better. Contactless payment for other things is complex, as we don't really control them. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* forewarn food vendors to expect all-day demand, not just mealtimes, so they can stock and staff appropriately [+1]
** food vendors were pretty much *events* caterers, used to feeding people snacks/lunch, we need *festival* caterers who are used to feeding people who are staying for a number of days. thethalicafe.co.uk? bedouin tent (shambala)? +late night options [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
*** It's really difficult to get caterers. Now we're a bit better known it's getting easier. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* pinboard (offline) notice board everyone can contribute to (lost property, mini event notices eg rocket launches, would like to meet.., etc) [+1]
* Ask people who want to give workshops if they'd be happy to give more than one session - the blacksmiths' output was extreme, but even giving two or three sessions would greatly increase the % of attendees who could sign up.
* Sign-ups some kind of "express preference" systems, so most people (including those who don't check email regularly) can get at least one of their top choices, rather than first-come-first-served.
* Board games tent in the evenings [+4]
* Poker tent
* Be less ambitious with badge functionality [+3]
** And provide full documentation of features/functionality [+1]
** And sample code for each function
** Perhaps a back-to-basics through-hole design that comes with soldering iron, solder and instructions?
** I think we might build on this design for the next event. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
** Software that doesn't involve an OS (but rather more conventional Arduinoery) might be more easily hackable by others during/after the event? Especially given libraries for people to do amusing things with the peer-to-peer radio...
* EMF is unlike other festivals - for a large number of people, carrying kit to/from car is impractical and security walking every car through site is time-consuming and volunteer-intensive (not to mention the fact that cars driving off site weren't walked off). Suggest that the parking area is directly next to and easily accessible from the camping area (e.g. just separated by hay bales to stop cars driving on to the camping area).
** As a village/car user you could generally provide your own security person walking in front of the car. This works 2 fold: 1) security doesn't need to walk for you 2) less waiting time for you since you already provide someone to walk.
** The plan for this was to allow people to drive onto site on the Thursday evening. It wasn't very well communicated and we had a *very* tight setup schedule so we needed to reduce this as much as possible. This is ultimately an issue with our setup schedule
** It wouldn't work on this site, but for some locations it might be possible to have a drop-off point close to camping (with a limited number of cars at one time), better idea than having cars (ignition source) close to tents. Some people were taking the mickey on Monday morning, many people driving onto site that could have carried things instead tying up volunteer resources to escort them.
* Provide job descriptions for traffic control, parking and entrance gatehouse. Instructions were handed from volunteer to volunteer by word of mouth and whilst common sense prevailed, it would have been useful to have instructions as to what to do under certain circumstances and a list of answers to FAQs, e.g.:
** What if somebody didn't have a parking ticket and wanted to park?
** What if somebody was just dropping off - where should they do this?
** What times were shuttle buses running?
** What times the gates were open/closed?
** Have a priority queue for people with machine readable tickets (ie paper!)
* Add suggested age ranges for all workshops, some of the "adult" workshops were also very suitable for children (e.g. electronic fashion, solar pv) or could have been run once in main workshop once in kid's area [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Bolt the fence from the right side, I know we didn't even want it at all but local authorities can be fussy, I've been at a festival before who did the same and they made them fix it during the event.. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Want the good coffee on Monday morning, especially for drivers :) Maybe in the car park to help persuade people off site. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Would be good to have eggs, fresh milk, bacon at the shop (there was a comment like "we don't have eggs, they break too easily" - so charge extra to cover this, though it's probably not as bad as you think..) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** Morrisons did a tent with Milk, Bread, Burgers, BBQs etc @ http://www.festivalofcycling.org/expo/name/morrisons/, might be worth asking them? [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]])
* Start ticket sales (a couple of months?) earlier, maybe with a slightly bigger difference between early ticket prices and full price to encourage attendees to get in early (which in turn would improve cashflow) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]]) [+1]
* Start ticket sales *now* whilst you have all the publicity or at least have a page up where people can register to be emailed once the next event has tickets for sale. That way you get your current mailing list + everyone else who has only just learned about it as your audience. [[User:Alteralias|Alteralias]]
* Cluster the talks into related-topic sessions
* Volunteering stuff ([[User:HughePaul|HughePaul]])
** Whiteboard in info tent for current issues / tasks, handover
** Have info tent next to security tent so both can be available at the same time and all the time.
*** The info tent and the gatehouse/security tent could be two sides of the same erection.
** have predefined named people in shifts for head of / coordination of volunteering (could also double as an info/security tent staff)
** maybe stream some talks in info tent so they don't feel like they are missing things
** more formal defined (and communicated) lost-property form and procedure
** define volunteer job roles to make handovers easier and so we know what we are meant to be doing
* Have dedicated blog / tweet / website updating person/team
* big screen with latest official event update tweets
* info about getting DISconnected from DKs and leaving the site in vehicles

Feedback

2014-09-03T23:32:28Z

Jburgess777:

{{link-banner}}
Please let us know what went well and what didn't go well at EMF this year. We really do care about your feedback and we'll try and improve this for next time.

Add your feedback below:

== Good Stuff ==

* Location
* Badges
* Variety of talks [+1]
* Showers [+∞]
* Hand washing facilities
** putting the showers (with hot water in handbasins) next to toilets v.good
* Parking
* Shuttle trailer to car park
** ... and shuttle to BLY railway station. Made coming by public transport a doddle.
* Power & data infrastructure - pretty much rock solid throughout! [+2]
* Speedy response of volunteers/organisers to problem resolution
* Service at the bar was good (while the drinks lasted), and it was very nice to have ''multiple'' indoor social spaces, esp for people who wanted a quieter lounge as well as louder bar.
** Being able to check beer availability on the till website was awesome!
* Floor panel roads [+4]
* String lights (cut through to showers was awesome!) [+1]
* Ability to hire tables/chairs/marquees/hay bales etc. - were all good quality, too. [+1]
* Kids workshops [+1]
* Arcade!
* Friendliness of other attendees
* First aid
* Shop - selling books of speakers was a really nice idea, and it was good to talk to speakers & do signing there afterwards.
* That spinning music installation.
* Lighting - I didn't have to turn my torch on at all, but it was still dark enough in my tent to sleep.
* Club Mate.
* Ring making workshop
* Lake was pretty
* Supportive atmosphere for speakers and very nice feedback afterwards
* Water: plentiful flow, tasty water, cool dispensers [+1]
** Hand soap by taps (udders?)
* Keeping toilet paper supplies topped up in all the toilets
* Nice choice of real ales and proper cider
* Lasershow + Chiptunes in Tent A
* Tschunk
* Everything that Dimitri brought along
* EMF CTF: Like getting lock pickers to cook your food, playing IRL replay,relay and pre-play attacks and memory corruption, sadly no real-life cross-site scripting :)

== Stuff that could be improved ==

* Buy more beer! [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]]) [+1]
** No firkins next time, kils only! --[[User:Sde|Sde]] ([[User talk:Sde|talk]])
* Toilets... 'nuff said! [[User:AndyB|AndyB]] ([[User talk:AndyB|talk]]) [+2]
** Agreed - I've seen portakabins (like the shower blocks) that containing proper flushing loos. They're ''much'' less stinky and likely to block up than the portaloos we had, which didn't always seem willing to drop their loads into their collection tanks, leading to nastiness and health hazards (even without the pumping contractor being rubbish)
** Additionally, LIGHTS in the toilets. Having to use my phone / badge as a torch to see what was going on while i cleaned off the toilet before sitting down was particularly difficult. [[User:Thinkl33t|Thinkl33t]] ([[User talk:Thinkl33t|talk]]) 20:05, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** thunderboxes2go.co.uk are good and know how to handle local authority problems, they have done shambala for 10+ years - high enough capacity to not need emptying during the event [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** Maybe ask Cambridge & District CAMRA who provided the toilets for Cambridge 41st beer festival - they had some fairly nice flushing toilets which came on a trailer, a bit like the posh wash showers. I think Jonty mentioned that a lot of providers were put off by the fact that we're a festival. Well, if these guys are ok with providing for a beer festival, they must be pretty brave! -[[User:Alecjw]]
** Definite vote for the trailer-style flushing toilets, with multiple cubicles (+sinks, lights and mirrors) on one tow-along trailer, just like the showers. I've seen these at MANY festivals - though, granted, usually only in 'posh' camping/press/VIP areas. Should be possible if you manage to convince the providers that we're not a rowdy bunch of drunken teenagers!
** A clue to the problem with the chemical toilets is in the name: no chemical sanitiser/deodoriser was used in any toilet I tried. Adding Elsan or similar to the toilets would probably have made them much more acceptable. [[User:PhilSwinbank|PhilSwinbank]] ([[User talk:PhilSwinbank|talk]]) 22:18, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
* Make sure that drinking water is clearly labelled as such
* More food and drink options
** Eg. non-caffeine / low or no sugar options
** Chips!
** Jacket potato vendor
** Healthy 'green' food
** also possibly going on later, a lot of the places shut up shop quite early.
** A late night vendor would be fantastic - doesn't have to be fancy food, but just something hot to eat after 9pm [+2]
* Survey positions of lanes/tents/DKs as early as possible before items arrive and mark out.--[[User:Sully|Sully]] ([[User talk:Sully|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** This was planned but we were let down by the rather poor state of mobile GIS software.
* Similar to this, measure for fence panels and drop stillage appropriately, to avoid the need to carry loads of them right up the camping field by hand
* Make it longer! There was loads of cool stuff I didn't have change to check out :( After all that work everyone does, it was a shame I couldn't experience it all! ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]])
* Visibility of presentations in tents (brighter projectors/darker tents??) ([[User:StuartL]]) [+2]
* washing points over drains/soakaway so the ground doesn't get muddy ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]]) [+3]
* Mark out/allocate spaces for villages who had pinpointed locations on maps ([[User:Markp]]) [+1]
* Use more plasma screens in stages instead of projectors ([[User:Markp]]). Or (better, as then the speaker can point to things) black fabric shades for the screen or marquee roof
* Improved arrangements for washing and washing up (and handling the waste water from that) [+1]
* Provide sanitizer gel dispensers at water points and near loos [+1]
* Have the schedule linked off the EMF main page
* Distribute and display paper schedules (even if their might be some last-minute changes) [+2]
** Or have small screens at the entrances to tents showing what's currently on & what's next.
* Much more workshop activity (more hands-on electronics and physical making) [+5]
* Do have component vendors (maybe at their cost for marquee/power/space)
** This is very difficult without a clear list of what will sell, as CPC was arranged to appear but wanted advisement ([[User:Stanto]])
* Pick a flatter site (for ease of disabled access)
* Ask speakers for bio's to include with their abstracts. Given them an abstract length up-front instead of editing it in an ad hoc way. Confirm acceptance to speakers and workshop organisers earlier.
** Do this after talks have been accepted. I didn't write my talk so didn't know details until I got the OK.
* Make and enforce a clear music curfew (say from midnight or 1am or 2am to 8 or 9am or 10am), to defend those sleeping from (eg) the technoevangelists and the drunk [+4]
** Perhaps try to select a site next time where we can make part of the site to be a quiet area, eg a part surrounded by trees for natural sound insulation. Then enforce a noise curfew there. I'm not keen on the idea of having a noise curfew covering the entire camp though. [[User:Alecjw]] [+1]
** Seconding enforced quiet/family camping area, but no overall noise curfew. It didn't take long to get away from the worst noise, and the end of the field by the kids' area was incredibly quiet (though strangely empty!!)
* Loos not so near food vendors (pong + visible urinals offputting) [+5]
* stronger enforcement/signage of quiet camping area [+4]
* an explicit invitation (with clear instructions) to report Code of Conduct violations in open ceremony, brochure, Twitter, etc. We had no direct reports to Team Comfort, but several anecdotal tweets after the event -- when it's much too late. [[User:Martind|Martind]] ([[User talk:Martind|talk]]) 20:58, 1 September 2014 (UTC) [+1]
* quieter, less-enclosed and more spacious bar (I suffer from social anxiety when I'm closed in with crowds, so I had a very sober emf!). [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
** perhaps an outdoor seating area if a larger marquee is too costly.
* use our collective knowledge of technology to sort accessibility issues
**ring-fence money for things like closed-loop in the stages early on.
**ask people about their access requirements much earlier on - e.g. when they buy a ticket - so that there is more time to meet these requirements (or reach a workable compromise)
**Build some kind of working system for preventing able-bodied people from using the disabled loos and showers (radar keys that only work when the loo is empty?) [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
* Info desk didn't seem to have the details wrt. volunteers, so when I volunteered I was sent out and found I wasn't needed. Suggest splitting the job - having a volunteer team leader (or several, in shifts) whose job it is to know who is where and also to make sure nobody gets stuck on a gate for 12 hours (eg. rotating people to more interesting places every couple of hours). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])
* Also similar to this, a register of 'on call' people - excess volunteers who can deal with sudden demands for people (esp. in the case of fire I can imagine this would be extremely useful - you'd potentially need to cordon off a largish area very quickly, and that takes people. More mundane reasons would be a talk/workshop accumulating a large queue that needs managing). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])

==Suggestions==
* Ask for an optional email address for each ticket to go on your announce only mailing list. Only the person that bought the tickets got your emails and they were slow to forward them on meaning most messages were received too late.
* Ask for age of children when booking, to give better planning stats for workshops etc. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* A talk (a bit like lightning talks) where people are given 5-10 minutes to share what they did with the previous event's badge. (If someone sends me the competition winners/runners up, I'll co-ordinate it) [[User:MatS|MatS]] ([[User talk:MatS|talk]]) 07:54, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
* Pre-paid accounts for spending money on food/beer/whatever to negate need for cash ([[User:Markp]])
* Have a fleet of communal wheel-barrows to help people transport their stuff from car to campsite [+1]
** Stepney City Farm have a fleet of broken wheelbarrows – fix ’em, use ’em, everybody wins! ([[User:Andylolz]])
** Or purchase some sack trolleys
* contactless payment gear for food, beer, workshops
** We had contactless payment for beer! (And we also offered cashback.) We should have messaged that better. Contactless payment for other things is complex, as we don't really control them. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* forewarn food vendors to expect all-day demand, not just mealtimes, so they can stock and staff appropriately [+1]
** food vendors were pretty much *events* caterers, used to feeding people snacks/lunch, we need *festival* caterers who are used to feeding people who are staying for a number of days. thethalicafe.co.uk? bedouin tent (shambala)? +late night options [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
*** It's really difficult to get caterers. Now we're a bit better known it's getting easier. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* pinboard (offline) notice board everyone can contribute to (lost property, mini event notices eg rocket launches, would like to meet.., etc) [+1]
* Ask people who want to give workshops if they'd be happy to give more than one session - the blacksmiths' output was extreme, but even giving two or three sessions would greatly increase the % of attendees who could sign up.
* Sign-ups some kind of "express preference" systems, so most people (including those who don't check email regularly) can get at least one of their top choices, rather than first-come-first-served.
* Board games tent in the evenings [+4]
* Poker tent
* Be less ambitious with badge functionality [+3]
** And provide full documentation of features/functionality [+1]
** And sample code for each function
** Perhaps a back-to-basics through-hole design that comes with soldering iron, solder and instructions?
** I think we might build on this design for the next event. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
** Software that doesn't involve an OS (but rather more conventional Arduinoery) might be more easily hackable by others during/after the event? Especially given libraries for people to do amusing things with the peer-to-peer radio...
* EMF is unlike other festivals - for a large number of people, carrying kit to/from car is impractical and security walking every car through site is time-consuming and volunteer-intensive (not to mention the fact that cars driving off site weren't walked off). Suggest that the parking area is directly next to and easily accessible from the camping area (e.g. just separated by hay bales to stop cars driving on to the camping area).
** As a village/car user you could generally provide your own security person walking in front of the car. This works 2 fold: 1) security doesn't need to walk for you 2) less waiting time for you since you already provide someone to walk.
** The plan for this was to allow people to drive onto site on the Thursday evening. It wasn't very well communicated and we had a *very* tight setup schedule so we needed to reduce this as much as possible. This is ultimately an issue with our setup schedule
** It wouldn't work on this site, but for some locations it might be possible to have a drop-off point close to camping (with a limited number of cars at one time), better idea than having cars (ignition source) close to tents. Some people were taking the mickey on Monday morning, many people driving onto site that could have carried things instead tying up volunteer resources to escort them.
* Provide job descriptions for traffic control, parking and entrance gatehouse. Instructions were handed from volunteer to volunteer by word of mouth and whilst common sense prevailed, it would have been useful to have instructions as to what to do under certain circumstances and a list of answers to FAQs, e.g.:
** What if somebody didn't have a parking ticket and wanted to park?
** What if somebody was just dropping off - where should they do this?
** What times were shuttle buses running?
** What times the gates were open/closed?
** Have a priority queue for people with machine readable tickets (ie paper!)
* Add suggested age ranges for all workshops, some of the "adult" workshops were also very suitable for children (e.g. electronic fashion, solar pv) or could have been run once in main workshop once in kid's area [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Bolt the fence from the right side, I know we didn't even want it at all but local authorities can be fussy, I've been at a festival before who did the same and they made them fix it during the event.. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Want the good coffee on Monday morning, especially for drivers :) Maybe in the car park to help persuade people off site. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Would be good to have eggs, fresh milk, bacon at the shop (there was a comment like "we don't have eggs, they break too easily" - so charge extra to cover this, though it's probably not as bad as you think..) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** Morrisons did a tent with Milk, Bread, Burgers, BBQs etc @ http://www.festivalofcycling.org/expo/name/morrisons/, might be worth asking them? [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]])
* Start ticket sales (a couple of months?) earlier, maybe with a slightly bigger difference between early ticket prices and full price to encourage attendees to get in early (which in turn would improve cashflow) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]]) [+1]
* Start ticket sales *now* whilst you have all the publicity or at least have a page up where people can register to be emailed once the next event has tickets for sale. That way you get your current mailing list + everyone else who has only just learned about it as your audience. [[User:Alteralias|Alteralias]]
* Cluster the talks into related-topic sessions
* Volunteering stuff ([[User:HughePaul|HughePaul]])
** Whiteboard in info tent for current issues / tasks, handover
** Have info tent next to security tent so both can be available at the same time and all the time.
*** The info tent and the gatehouse/security tent could be two sides of the same erection.
** have predefined named people in shifts for head of / coordination of volunteering (could also double as an info/security tent staff)
** maybe stream some talks in info tent so they don't feel like they are missing things
** more formal defined (and communicated) lost-property form and procedure
** define volunteer job roles to make handovers easier and so we know what we are meant to be doing
* Have dedicated blog / tweet / website updating person/team
* big screen with latest official event update tweets
* info about getting DISconnected from DKs and leaving the site in vehicles