Page 1 of 6

A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:41 am
by nonumber
Overall great weekend, as has been said by myself and many others, but one thing stuck out as a constant annoyance for me personally that could be looked into and that's the sheer volume (in both meanings of the word) of announcements.

Every two seconds it was like a foghorn in my ear.

"TIME TO AWARD THE CAPES!!!"

"SPOT PRIZES!!!!!"

"MORE SPOT PRIZES!!!"

"ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR STEVE!!!"

"ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR KEVIN!!!"

"THE SANDWICHES WILL BE READY AT 12!!!!"

"THE SANDWICHES ARE ALMOST READY!!!"

"THE SANDWICHES ARE READY!!!"

Like I said, overall great tournament, but maybe if we could look at toning these down next year. I did honestly end up with a cracking headache day 2. And I wasn't even that hungover. Lunch schedule etc. could be printed and stuck on the wall somewhere maybe.

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 6:34 am
by Pedda
I loved my first NAFC and I was impressed by the great organization.

However, I too, would like to give you guys some tips/feedback.

I think that it would be great if you could have a beamer, with which you could display the paring for the next round, current leaders and other useful information.
It was a bit crowded by the A4 print out before each round. It was great, that the parings was available online as well, but I still think it would be easier with a beamer for those people without a smartphone/tablet/computer.

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 6:45 am
by driesfield
@ Pedda: I had the same remark last year, but then Paul (Gegg) pointed the cost of hiring the beamer out to me and with the price the venue is charging for it you can do all sorts of things.

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:00 am
by sann0638
I liked the announcements. Gave a party feel. :lol:

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:12 am
by Stig
I'm with sanno on this one, I play in a league every Tuesday and noones wearing a cape

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:21 am
by Pedda
driesfield wrote:@ Pedda: I had the same remark last year, but then Paul (Gegg) pointed the cost of hiring the beamer out to me and with the price the venue is charging for it you can do all sorts of things.
Good argument for not having one. 8)

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:27 am
by Pipey
Nonumber - points will be taken on board I'm certain. Worth bearing in mind though that on one level the timing announcements are almost meant to be annoying! To explain, with 160+ coaches and a strict timescale you really do need to keep reminding people how much time is left. Alternative is to trust they've read the schedule, announce nothing, and let people take responsibility for themselves. I feel this could lead to a lot more games being called prematurely.

I guess it's a balancing act. Too many announcements and people get annoyed. Too few and the organisation takes a hit.

I also quite enjoyed the capes announcements, must admit :)

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:42 am
by Hangus
You know you could have given feedback during the tournament and asked for the volume to be turned down. It's revolutionary I know :)

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:15 am
by lauth81
Apart from the freezing air conditioning (for my taste) and the smell of one particular team (which is not the fault of the organization), I have no complaints at all.

I really liked:
- availability of draw online
- regular announcement of remaining time
- and the overall bang for the buck value including the awesome hotel deal

Very good job!

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:32 am
by duckwing
I wish the Cape announcements came between the matches instead. As it was they were mostly irritating and it felt like we were wasting time when having limited time to play our matches.
That was my only complaint though, I liked the spot prizes, the venue, dinner, the fellow coaches, prize ceremony... Excellent weekend!

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:55 am
by eldritchfox
Just a few thoughts.

I really appreciated the jugs of water being distributed by venue staff, especially on day 1 when I was cooking in fox outfit!

The ability to check matchups and standings online was a great step forwards.

The announcements weren't too distracting or annoying in my opinion. Love the capes!

The retail (Tritex, Willy, Beastface) were all very nicely setup. I hope that this will continue and expand.

Suggestions for next year;

I'd love to see the final being recorded with a fixed video camera and either streamed live or uploaded later. I don't think a camera on a tripod would be too intrusive to the finalists. Perhaps some one might volunteer to do a voiceover commentary before editing / uploading.

A gobbo takeover, show dem pesky 'airy footed lil gits who is da meanest and da best!

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:58 am
by Loki
I only had to change my trousers once after an accoucemnet but did jump a few times :wink: :lol:

My problem was not so much the volume at which the annoucement was made, it needs to be loud for people to hear but more that you get a massive loud unexpected noise when you are concentrating so you jump/ feel alarmed/ shocked. Rather than break straight into the anncoucment the microphone could be tapped or some other noise made which would be at a lower level but enough to break the concentration so the annoucment is heard but does not go straight in at 75db of referee and cause any brown trouser moments.

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:17 am
by Sandwich
I agree to an extent about the announcements; there were a few times where there would be an announcement of some sort just after games had started, when people were trying to get going with games. Things like capes etc (which were awesome, though I may be slightly biased) were good but could maybe have been sorted a bit earlier? I know its tricky but interruptions during games are usually a bit too much of a distraction.

Also: the tables were a bit wide/wobbly.

Finally, my head hurt a lot on Sunday, can I pin that on you guys as wel ;-)

To be honest: given the scale of the event, a couple of minor concerns like that are good going :clap:
eldritchfox wrote:...
Suggestions for next year;

...

A gobbo takeover, show dem pesky 'airy footed lil gits who is da meanest and da best!
We showed dem hairy-footed food-lovers who was best!! And we didn't need as many to do it :orc:

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:49 am
by Joemanji
All feedback welcome, thanks. We would also welcome positive feedback, as if two people complain about something and 158 silently approve of it we will end up coming to some false conclusions.

But I would like to again thank Willy and Tritex miniatures for continuing to donate extra items when the spot prizes ran out, thus causing all the extra announcements!

I think the cape announcements work best once everyone is sat down at the start of the round. The alternatives are when many people are outside of the room or when people are looking for their table and carrying all their miniatures.

I hope you can understand that organising a room of 160 people, about 50 of whom do not have English as a first language, is a significant task. As such our announcements must be clear for all.

The tables are what the venue have. I appreciate that they are not absolutely perfect Blood Bowl size, but they are not going to change if we use the same venue again.

Re: A bit of feedback for the NAFC organisers

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 10:03 am
by Itchen Masack
Well run tourney for which I am grateful. The Team fully deserve all our thanks :-) Dont think I could stand being there all that time and not getting to play.

But...

Dont understand the: 'game must be played in a hurry, we need to be finished in time, planes etc *players about to roll dice* but first...some capes and lots of trivial anouncements!!

Food. It was awful. Again last like last year I understand that catering for so many is difficult, but the sandwiches were meh (sunday tasted stale) and the ''curry'' had exactly zero taste whatsoever. Expect that the Venue requires that we get food through them, and I know it would have been expensive which is what annoys me.

If there was an option to pay less and sit in my car to eat a packed lunch, then i would definitely take up that offer.

I had a pot noodle on Sunday morning and sadly it was tastier than anything we were given at the venue!

But other than that, all was wonderful :D