pouët.net

So I happened to be the first one in the hall for Nectarine and more or less in charge of staking out a spot for us, as I knew some people would be arriving later Friday and Saturday. I did put out notes but, crucially, they weren't worded to forbid anyone from being there nor would I have if someone asked. I don't recall the exact wording but they said something like:

"Nectarine

We're not allowed to reserve tables but we'd like together if you don't mind. However if you need, please feel free. We're friendly, we don't bite."

Last year's had a similar intent, but I don't remember the wording, since killerspoon was first in to the hall and took care of it. The year before that it was anni.

So I pretty much agree with T$ here. Put down papers if you want. Stake a claim to let people who are with you where you're at. However just know that if someone needs a seat and you've got an empty one with only a piece of paper standing in their way, they're free to move it aside and plop down. You just might make a new friend.

(I really do mean the above. The next bit is more or less "stream of thoughts" + my 2¢. I'm not complaining or asking something be fixed or ignored, just pointing out things I saw.)

Also, it seems a bit odd with respect to the orga response to "reserved" spots. Someone asked on IRC if there was a seat anywhere because of all the "empty" spots that a group had put a paper down in front of and they were told something along the lines of "There are no official table reservations except those put down by organizers." ... so there are official reservations? ... I get there was the "newbie" section so just say "Party visitors cannot reserve tables. If you're a newbie, we've saved you a section in the middle." Finally I think I did see a section just in front of the newbie table that had signs at each seat with a group name and the one at the end near the aisle said "Put down by an organizer, do not remove" ... which if you're telling us there's no official table reservations, is it really fair to then allow organizers to do it?

like to be together*

holding hands*

Out of curiosity: How well did the newbie area / mentoring stuff work out? Was it a great success, or more like "been there, tried that"?

Nah, but arab thought I was being too polite and borrowed one of my sharpies to fix it so the bottom part just ready "fuck off" :P He only changed the one that was at his spot, which ended up getting put away later or something.

so it just read*

(grr; stupid auto-fixing shit.)

We'll see if the mentoring worked out as soon as our newbies return with a release to a demoparty. :) Seriously though, it seemed like the newbies were pretty happy about the help they got from us (getting in touch, showing how to do stuff, giving hints on how to get started with trackers, etc.). My personal success story for the mentoring program is that I met two guys who studied at the same university as me during my first few semesters at the newbie table, after I have tried to convince other people who still are at my university to pay Revision a visit. :)

I got the impression that the mentoring program gave the newbies a head-start in getting to know people, which they seemed to appreciate. I'm not so sure about the value of the newbie tour through the premises, but the meet-and-greet with introductions and "war stories" should have eased their arrival a bit. Although that's probably something the newbies have to give feedback on. :)

I also helped one newbie with a problem when submitting a prod; I guess it's easier to ask someone you know already from the meet-and-greet than going to the "anonymous" infodesk.

I've only heard positive feedback about the 'look behind the scenes' tours (which technically weren't just open to newbies but I'm not sure how much that was advertised). People seemed genuinely interested in seeing what work goes into running an event like Revision, why we do certain things the way we do them etc etc.

Sorry for the confusion - what I meant was the newbie tour showing the info desk, food stands, toilet tunnel, main stage etc.

The "look behind the scenes" tours were great, at least the ones I took part in! And I hope they will return so I get to see the other ones as well. :-)

So at least the mentoring part seems to be worth it. If I won´t be busy preparing an entry I´ll might help there, too :)

I hope styx was there to get some information about the demoscene.

as far as i know he missed it again =(
maybe he forgot the date?

so so... during... i THINK it was the threeway with Ronny. There was a a Ghostbusters Mashup played. Which one was it!?!?!

I must know.

I can't recall a single track from that session because of getting down.

I know they said there were problems with the Maskinpop recording, but is there one of the other shows? I didn't see it on YouTube yet unless I missed it. Would be easy to at least hear it again, nic0, if they were out there. I do remember something of the sort too (a Ghostbusters thing).

The other shows are probably not on YouTube because they're chock full of commercial music.

Point.

Heh, I never even considered the option of reservations being invalid. IGAD, from which Poo-Brain has blossomed, has reserved seats for the past 5 years now. I've never had any trouble or backlash from this. Is this seriously a strange thing to do? It just seems like common sense to tell people we're bringing a whole busload of people that would like to be in some form of proximity.

EAT-DRINK-FUCK, I think the issue isn't that people do it so much as they "reserve" 10 seats but at any given time only 8 people are actually occupying seats with their stuff and/or their body, for example. So people wandering around the hall may seem unable to find a seat at a table, and if/when they do it's likely to have a "reservation" paper in front of it so they resume looking.

If you're in to the party hall early on Friday (soon after opening) you can grab any seat you like to sit or make sure there's room for your buds. If you arrive on Saturday you're SOL. Heck I even recall reading earlier in this thread that apparently it is hard to find a seat even late Friday.

I totally sympathize with those who want to sit together, as that's what I do with the Nectarines or would want to do if I "went" with another of the group I'm in that was more cohesive or had more than one person it. :P However there are a lot of attendees and plenty of seats ... if we assume nobody groups together and doesn't care where they sit (relative to others). In short theory is great but in practice with people it's a little less than ideal for some.

I'm fairly certain we've actually worked together with the orga team, and had them put down actual "reserved for IGAD" signs on our behalf, instead of having people arrive early to try and snag prime real-estate. This is why we're always in the same part of the hall year in year out.

EAT-DRINK-FUCK: IGAD routinely gets a spot right next to the fire exits and there's several unmarked vans parked right outside. Think about this before you shoot your next video please. :)

How about a second "less-big-screen" on back of the hall, so the rear-facing people can also see notices and stuff while sitting at their computer?

*like*

Depending on your distance, you won't be able to actually read notices on a smaller screen. (We tried a notsobig screen this year and had to abandon the idea due to that. It ended up as the infodesk screen.)