Arisia 2016 Feedback

[meadmaker]

I just sent this feedback on the 2016 Arisia over to the feedback address. drwex suggested that I post it publicly:
I have a few points of feedback on the 2016 Arisia, now that it's finished:
Before Arisia...

• My family signed up to host a Saturday morning party, and the process of getting a suite went easily, as usual.
• We remain pleased with the hotel itself.

Registration thoughts...

• Registration was painful, as I'm sure you've heard from other people. It may be that I'm spoiled by always buying year-ahead memberships and skipping to the pre-registered line, which I wasn't able to do this year because I had not filled out a form ahead of time. But, some more specific thoughts are:
• Instilling a code of conduct on the community
  • I understand the idea that you want to instill a code of conduct. I don't think this instrument achieves the purpose, because I doubt that even 5% of the people bothered to read it before signing it. Heck, I'd be surprised if more than 20% of staff members bothered to read it before signing it.
  • Maybe having some sort of infotainment in the registration area while people wait in line would be more effective to this goal.
• Assuming that your goal with the code of conduct is to have a signed piece of paper that you could produce at a later point in time rather than having people actually understand it, the implementation of it still needs improvement. Why force people to print out individualized documents, rather than photocopying 3,000 blank documents for people to fill out while waiting in line? That way the people who didn't print it out at home won't have a bottleneck at your kiosks.
  • I hear that the reason that you wanted the individualized forms is for the barcode on the document, so that you can locate it later. This makes no sense to me; the barcodes don't perform the sorting by themselves. You still need to have some filing system that can retrieve the document; it's just that this time the document is sorted by barcode rather than name.
  • What would it cost to hire a temp worker for the week after Arisia to file all of the code of conduct papers in a retrievable manner? How many attendees will be turned off by the registration experience enough to avoid it next year? I would guess that the break even point for hiring a temp worker is about ten people's registrations. Do you think the registration line caused at least that much frustration?
  • If, somehow, the barcode does actually make a difference, then photocopy 3,000 copies of the blank forms, let people fill it out while waiting in line, and then when they get to the registration desk have the registration person print out a barcode to stick on to the document using a label printer (http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TJMC0S/ref=s9_simh_gw_g229_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1464Q3R4ZZMHA94WZ528&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop).
  • Or, have a signature pad at each registration desk, and force people to sign before getting their badge. This will become something like a retail store's credit card signature step. Here's a cheap pad: http://smile.amazon.com/Huion-Graphics-Drawing-Signature-H420/dp/B00RHRZRG6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453316087&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=signature+pad&psc=1
• The kiosk experience for printing out the code of conduct form was cumbersome. I had to enter in my personal information, then enter in confirmation questions and answers (and I don't understand the purpose of that!), then choose a badge layout, and then get the form to print. No wonder the line was constipated - you have to spend three minutes per person at the kiosk!

The rest of Arisia...

• The art show was wonderful. I found pieces of excellence in almost every one of the stalls in the show.
  • I also liked the "collector's reception" on Friday night.
  • The student art show probably had better quality on average than the rest of the show.
  • Whoever is curating the art show should be begged to return.
• The programming
  • The panel topics seemed generally diverse and interesting this year; in past years I've found myself bored by the panel topics, but this year was much more interesting.
  • I saw a couple of moderators doing their best to stifle comments from the audience. I mean this pretty literally - one of them actually berated the audience for saying anything, because most of the allotted time had been planned for panel members to speak.
  • I really loved how much the singing track has expanded.
  • There were a few questionable choices about scheduling, as usual. The ones that have risen to the top of my radar are:
    • The photography of people in costume being scheduled opposite the masquerade. I hear that session had no attendees whatsoever, but I'll tell you it's not because the topic isn't interesting.
    • The scheduling of the panels on feminism and masculinity opposite each other.
• Games - my ten-year-old son spent the entire convention in the gaming room. It seemed every bit of well done.
• Locations - I liked moving registration downstairs and the fan tables upstairs.

All told, I can see the results of a lot of good work paying off this year. I am a bit frustrated with the registration lines - I think the implementation of the policies is ridiculous, and obviously in need of major improvements. Most things that I saw once I got past the frustration of registration, however, seemed to be improved over previous years.