-The smokers outside the doorway were atrocious and disgusting. Even if they stayed the requisite distance away from the door (which not all of them did), you had to go through what was basically a wall of smoke to reach the entryway. You were REQUIRED to do so or else you couldn't get in the building. Please have a designated smoking area next year in a low-traffic area.- *cough* *hack* *gag* My lifespan just got shorter. Seriously, if you wanna smoke, please go FAR AWAY from the convention center.
-There needs to be communcation as to what, exactly, the photography rules are. I was frequently being stopped by staffers to tell me that I was required to ask people before taking their picture despite the con rules specifying that it's the person being photographed who has the responsibility to say that they don't want to, and photographers just have to use common sense about the situation the subject is in (ie, no half out of costume, nothing in sensitive spaces like washrooms, etc). I was following the rules and it seems that so many people are unaware of those rules.
-The food situation is absolutely ridiculous. I get that the OCC doesn't want outside food in there, but I also know for a fact that food carts often go to the OCC. Heck they even covered that exact situation on the Food Network once, showing that yeah the food trucks get a fine for parking at the convention center, but at big events they make enough money to go anyway. Surely we're a big enough event that we can get some to come by, right?
-On a related note, can we alert the nearby restaurants of the dates for next year so they have better staffing? I get that there's only so much we can do, but I feel like an hour wait for food at Denny's due to them being understaffed is a bit ridiculous.
-More varied merch booths were turned down for this year but insurance and cable companies got booths? Seriously? At least the yogurt drink booth is ever so slightly on topic since it's a Japanese drink and they gave samples, and the video store booth was showing some of their collection.
-Don't let shoots get into the schedule if they're "location to be determined". There's no way we can meet up if we don't know where to begin. Please only include shoots that have an agreed upon location. Not everyone has Facebook and not everything will be posted there anyway.
-Apparently there was an enormous issue with the schedule sorting the tabletop games into the wrong categories and that seems like a weird mistake to make.
-Transphobia among the OCC staff is inexcusable. We need to find those people who tried to dictate who goes to what washrooms and file reports.
-Of course, the obligatory autograph ticket complaints. But also with the ADA badge even though I could go to the front of the line, we were still standing there for half an hour! Part of my disabilities is that I can't stand in place for very long! And even people without disabilities have trouble with that.
These were the two points I wanted to bring up, too.
-The smokers outside the doorway were atrocious and disgusting. Even if they stayed the requisite distance away from the door (which not all of them did), you had to go through what was basically a wall of smoke to reach the entryway. You were REQUIRED to do so or else you couldn't get in the building. Please have a designated smoking area next year in a low-traffic area.
-There needs to be communcation as to what, exactly, the photography rules are. I was frequently being stopped by staffers to tell me that I was required to ask people before taking their picture despite the con rules specifying that it's the person being photographed who has the responsibility to say that they don't want to, and photographers just have to use common sense about the situation the subject is in (ie, no half out of costume, nothing in sensitive spaces like washrooms, etc). I was following the rules and it seems that so many people are unaware of those rules.[/l][/l]