Feedback

Home :: Talks :: Photos, etc. :: Villages :: Lost property :: FAQ :: Feedback

Posted reviews, media, blogs/vlogs, photo collections, etc

Please post these on the memories page.

Feedback

Please add your feedback below. Use * to add a bullet point, *: to add an indented bullet point (adding to or replying to comment above), and ~~~~ to sign your name.

Content

• If you took part in the Meditation for Hackers workshop, please post feedback here.

• Please make sure that next time there are video up/downscalers available for speaker/presenter hookups. I had to skip parts of my talk because the video team only supported a single resolution through HDMI. My laptop could output 50 different resolutions, but not the required specific one. Luckily a volunteer offered her laptop to move the talk to , but all the simulation stuff that was part of the talk could not be reinstalled at a strangers laptop at a moments notice. I routinely present at conferences all over the world and the only place I ever had video hookup issues was at EMF ;) User:Gori

• The slide-capture (or USB camera capture) interface lagged somewhere between 1 and 12 seconds. That screwed up some stuff. However some of the videomixer volunteers offset this with great skill and made it un-noticeable. Thanks. BugBlue (talk) 11:36, 10 August 2016 (BST)

• Consider adding a prominent marker to the listings of talks that won't be recorded. I (& at least a few others) like to prioritise in-person stuff at EMF like visiting villages, workshops, meeting old friends, etc and plan to watch talks on youtube later. It'd be nice to see at a glance which scheduled talks can only be seen in person. (Occasional failures to get good recordings are a given, of course. But a note of when presenters have requested in advance that their talk not be recorded would be good). Bugs (talk) 15:28, 11 August 2016 (BST)

• As this section is "Feedback" not "Criticism": IMO, the content (talks, workshops, installations, etc) was excellent and the execution remarkably smooth for a big, volunteer-run event. Thanks to all involved! Bugs (talk) 15:28, 11 August 2016 (BST)

Website

For EMF website issues or bugs, please go to GitHub emfcamp/Website.

Badge

• MicroPython is great. I'm very very happy. MScroggs (talk) 10:49, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• Badges are great BugBlue (talk) 11:35, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• App Store apple-improved guidelines and undeclared censorship where a nice invite to hack the shit out of it. BugBlue (talk) 11:35, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• Would love to be able to play with the badges before the event, there isn't much time to make something for them during. Perhaps an additional cost option to have them posted 1-2 weeks prior next time? df
  • Seconded. A few people in our hackspace were wondering before the event if the badges/specs/libraries would be available early, to work on apps in advance of EMF. I assume time pressures make this impractical, but passing it on just in case the Badge Team finish early next time! Bugs (talk) 15:34, 11 August 2016 (BST)

Food

Volunteer Food

• This was incredible, and a really great incentive to volunteer. MScroggs (talk) 11:19, 9 August 2016 (BST)

  Seconded, it was fantastic. Staff took very good care of volunteers working in the sun with regular water drops. DomCleal (talk) 11:39, 9 August 2016 (BST)

  +1 Bugs (talk) 15:35, 11 August 2016 (BST)

• I've had or heard ZERO complaints. This was really good. Also I love portobello burgers. Moem (talk) 14:49, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• The food was of very good quality, but occasionally it was a bit too fancy - e.g. on Friday lunchtime I had a very tasty meal which had very little protein or carbohydrate in it, which isn't ideal for someone doing manual labour. JMac (talk) 01:02, 11 August 2016 (BST)

Vendors

• Pizza was great. MScroggs (talk) 11:19, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• Queues were not bad. MScroggs (talk) 11:19, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• Pity about the shop, it would have been super-useful. The one at beautiful days is done by http://www.talatonparishcouncil.co.uk/Core/Talaton-TC/Pages/Village_Shop_1.aspx and presumably will have been a good fund-raiser for them, I'm not sure how common this type of operation is around the country, but there might be a similar operation near some sites, might be worth looking into. --sthen
• Next time I would demand that vendors use some onlien and offline ordering/payment system that prevents people from standing in the qeue just to place an order. The pizza guys did great on that.--Gori (talk) 21:56, 9 August 2016 (BST)
  • This would be amazing, especially if it also allowed paying by card. I'd even go so far as to volunteer to implement something. Jellybob (talk)
• Really enjoyed both the noodle bar and burrito stand. ThePhilStrongProject (talk) 23:44, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• Special praise for the Moonshine stall. The burgers were particularly good value (though I thought some smaller meals could have cost less) but best of all they were open well past midnight. I don't stop being hungry at 10pm !
• I did find it hard to buy small cheap snacks. Pretty much everything was 5+. Not overpriced - just more than needed some of the time. Could have done with bags of crisps etc.
• The burritos were great! Ate there 3 times --SECuRE (talk) 06:52, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• Burgers at Goodness Gracious were meh. Could have used pickles, onions, cheese, tomatos :) --SECuRE (talk) 06:52, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• Sweet potato fries at the noodle bar were not good. Way under-cooked. --SECuRE (talk) 06:52, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• thank god for decent coffee. Liedra (talk) 09:22, 10 August 2016 (BST)

Bar

• I found it confusing that the bar didn’t have an exhaustive list of what was offered. I only found out they had Club Mate after asking other participants. --SECuRE (talk) 06:53, 10 August 2016 (BST)
  • There was an exhaustive list at bar.emfcamp.org but we didn't advertise its existence enough. --Sde (talk)
• Not able to get cashback because of "Not Authorised" response. Seemed to be a known issue for some card providers, such as Halifax and Lloyds. Might have helped if the problem was advertised sooner. --dcarley (talk)
  • We didn't know there was a problem until enough Lloyds cashback transactions had been declined for us to be able to see a pattern. We still don't know why this was happening, and I doubt we ever will. We'll feed the issue back to this year's card machine provider but there's no guarantee they'll be able to do anything about it, and we don't know yet whether we'll be using them again next time. Once we realised there was an issue, where do you think the best place would have been to announce it? --Sde (talk)
• Nice assortment BugBlue (talk) 15:27, 10 August 2016 (BST)
  • Thanks! --Sde (talk)
• It took me about 4 times ignoring the "NO" answer to the friendly questions "1 crate of mate please" and/or "20 mate please" before I could even hand over my money BugBlue (talk) 15:27, 10 August 2016 (BST)
  • It looks like we need to make it explicit in the bar staff manual that we do sell Club-Mate by the crate! --Sde (talk)

Showers

• These were yet again amazing
  • +42 BugBlue (talk) 11:34, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• The showers were capable of hot, high flow operation. I had a superb one on monday morning. But when all were in use (queue at breakfast time) they sometimes fell to a drizzle. Possibly a supply pressure issue rather than the showers themselves.
• I found that both times I used them I had barely a trickle of water to wash with. It was a good temperature but no pressure. Liked the booths. --Pinski1 (talk) 07:33, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• By far the best showers I've ever come across at a festival. Keep it up :) chebe
• I don't recall seeing an accessible shower at EMF - if that happens again in the future, would it be possible to provide a plastic chair in 1-2 shower cubicles so that a standard cubicle becomes more accessible to those of us who are just unstable on our legs?

Toilets

• These were significantly better than chemical portaloos. Urinals were not great though; lots of splashback and leaks; quite a puddle in the entrance of the ones on the NE towards the end. Could have done with better lighting and the grid steps weren't ideal. (The best event toilets I've used were at shambala and done by thunderboxes2go - wooden stalls with leds and flowers and very attentive to cleaning, straw bale urinals, no wheely bin management as they use big sealable tanks instead - they also have accessible compost loos). --sthen
  • Seconded regarding the urinal construction, and the lighting at the northern toilets was not great - I had to raise this with staff on Friday as there was none at all Thursday night.
• I didn't go to EMF2014 so have no reference point - but I've used far better loos at events in the past. The toilets could be smelled from the food area by Sunday which wasn't pleasant. Can I suggest event loos similar to the shower trailers? They are significantly more civilised! Edit: Something like these: http://www.andyloos.co.uk/product/abberley-premium-trailer/ ThePhilStrongProject (talk) 23:41, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• I did not mind the 'compost loo' aspect as much as some others I've heard from, and I did not think they were smelly, in fact I was surprised they weren't smellier. But I would have felt better with a little more visual privacy: the doors did not close well and were a little too low at the top and too high at the bottom. A privacy screen would have been neat (and could have a double function as a bulletin board / place for posters). Also the material is too rough to clean well. The thing with the dirt/soil worked well but needed clearer instructions (it took me a while to find them). Also better/sturdier scoops. Moem (talk) 08:10, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• More handwash and sturdier scoops - the wash/scoops were depleted/broken at the loos near the gate by Sunday afternoon :( Maybe put the loos near a water point?
• Some improvements I can suggest:
  • For the shitholes: Have glass doors next time, so you know what others are able to see from you
  • For the shitholes: Implement the africa upgrade: "running water"
  • For the shitholes: Have a gravity based systems that puts dirt or even water on the stuff
  • For the shitholes: Put some heating under the containers so we know earlier how they smell when the sun shines
  • For the shitholes: Use brown coloured board so you can see that they are filty
  • For the urinals: use a smaller drain so people will aim better
  • For the urinals: Use bigger spiked boards so the urine gets distributed better for disinfection purposes
  • For the urinals: Build a bridge over the automatic-bucket-emptier solution that got implemented (work title: overflow-bridge)
  • For the urinals: Make the fences like a flag so that people will have a better game experience
  • Please post the results of the long term "does any of the attendees have a norovirus"-test

BugBlue (talk) 11:32, 10 August 2016 (BST)

• Foul please make them better next time. EMF was amazing but this did spoil it a bit I dreaded using them and spent most of the time bursting and uncomfortable. Not enough privacy, the public scooping thing was embarassing and the dark colours gave no indication of whether or not they were clean. I've attended other events where the toilets were similar to the showers at EMF and it made the world of difference.
• Handwash facilities - running water and soap! df
• Toilets will always be a sore point. They were a whole lot better than I've seen at other festivals though, so good job there. But, I really do like running water. I came across this company at another festival, they sell tickets (extra cost, but those of us that want it really don't mind) and are totally worth it (particularly at other festivals without electricity, the hair dryers come in real handy for drying soaked clothing). Not sure if you'd have enough numbers, but perhaps something to consider; http://www.portabletoiletslimited.com/festivals/seat-luxury/ chebe
• Given that the toilets had to service a nominal 1400 people, I think they were very well managed. You can't go to a camp out and expect hotel-quality toilets. I also don't understand why people are complaining about privacy (other that some of the doors didn't bolt properly). Only feet could be seen below the doors, and only your head above (and then only when standing). They did get a bit ripe, but concentrate 3 days worth of faeces and excrement from 1400 people in just two locations and you can expect no less. The only alternative is to have lorries trundling on and off site to empty them every 12 hours. The lashed-up splashback urinals left bit to be desired, particularly when the trough in the south (which were way too narrow for the job) dropped out of its support at one end and wasn't draining efficiently. The absence of hand-washing facilities was nuisance though. Hand steriliser is all well and good, but far from ideal. -- Raj (talk||contribs) 01:04, 11 August 2016 (BST)
• ++ for the composting loos here. So much better than a chemical loo. And almost never a queue - I think you'd need an awful lot of shower-quality loos to avoid that, and somehow they get dirtier, probably because most loos don't cope with spillage as well as the composting toilets did. Yes, I did find them a bit smelly towards the end, when the wind was wrong. Not great having them next to the food. The urinals had some faults but nothing stopped you using the composters instead.
• Please could the accessible toilets be marked clearly as such at the start of EMF, rather than a day in? Would also have been useful to have a bin in these toilets for nappies, pads etc.

First Aid

You can email ben@emfcamp.org if you prefer confidentiality.

Good things: well supplied with the right supplies Were then even in the middle of the night at the last day Bad things: None BugBlue (talk) 11:33, 10 August 2016 (BST)

Network

• IT WORKED
• It even worked with all the badges coming online while some have very bad antenna reception. BugBlue (talk) 11:39, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• One person I spoke to was spooked when they found out wifi didn't use NAT. Rightly or wrongly, some people like having NAT as a thin layer of security and it's pretty ubiquitous. I think we should mention this in the info booklet. JMac (talk) 01:20, 11 August 2016 (BST)
• The Wifi worked really really well. Never had any issues. Well done! --SECuRE (talk) 06:57, 10 August 2016 (BST)

Volunteering

• I really enjoyed volunteering, EMF staff, CCC staff and other volunteers were friendly and supportive throughout the weekend. DomCleal (talk) 11:39, 9 August 2016 (BST)
  • Thanks for volunteering, glad you enjoyed it! --Lynz
• I think 3 hours was too long for volunteer shifts. I appreciate that staff were working far longer hours and that some types of volunteering would be awkward if changed too frequently. But others would not, and I think would be more popular if such a large slice wasn't to be taken out of the very busy talk schedule. I was keen to volunteer, and I did - but it was really hard to choose when, especially as the talk schedule was fluid and the villages hadn't yet published.
  • The shift length and timing is an issue that we'd really like to work on for next time. The trouble is finding the balance that means there are sufficient numbers of volunteers to cover positions but also that we're not causing volunteers to compromise on the talks they want to see. Some roles also require training, which takes a not insignificant amount of time. We have some ideas though, so hopefully we can improve on this. --Lynz
  • I agree to an extent, so I tended to do more shorter VOC shifts. Perhaps a list of adhoc jobs could be maintained too? e.g. emptying bins, moving equipment, seeing in lorries etc. DomCleal

    I like the idea of a list of ad-hoc jobs but these are often things which need doing "now" so a posted list would be tricky.

  • 3 hours seemed quite a good compromise to me - it's shorter than shifts at many festivals, and having it shorter (i.e. more people needed to cover the same time) means more risk of people not turning up or turning up late and more time taken up showing people the ropes during handover. --sthen
• I enjoyed volunteering and will do it again. One suggestion - for the last shift in a stage, let speaker ops/someone know what to do about kit (or have an end-of-day checklist/info sheet for each stage). We stayed around for over half an hour waiting for someone to tell us we could just leave the kit there - seemed like a lot of expensive gear inc laptops so I didn't want to just leave it & main person to ask was AWOL & vol desk didn't know the answer! :) (and after a long shift we were hungry!! :) Liedra (talk) 09:27, 10 August 2016 (BST)
  • Thanks for volunteering and glad you enjoyed it! Excellent suggestion, I've added it to our list of things for next time. --Lynz
• It seemed we were constantly short on volunteers. Can we interface with VOC to list open shifts on the slides showing between talks? Davidc (talk) 11:50, 11 August 2016 (BST)

  • Excellent idea

• Management and coordination of volunteering was fantastic this year. It did feel a bit like there was a higher proportion of people who didn't really get that everything is volunteer run, but I'm not sure how to resolve that as the event gets bigger. Jellybob (talk)

Tents/Venues

• The blackout tents, projectors and sound rigs were awesome and well worthwhile, just in need of a slightly less noise-sensitive neighbour ;) --sthen
• Some industrial fans pushing air into the tents (particularly stages B/C) would have made them feel less sticky. Jellybob (talk)

Other

• Film festival was great. --sthen
• Electric vehicle power is becoming an issue, when working at the entrance we didn't really have an option other than escorting them onto the camper van section of site in reach of a dk so they'd have enough power to leave. --sthen
  • didn't the map show an electric vehicle section of the parking field ? I assumed that would have power, though it apparently didn't
  • The guys at the gate kindly allowed me to park by my tent to charge mine on Sunday - my car can charge as low as 6A though, which would place less stress on the power distribution system than something like a Tesla!
    • The person with the Tesla was asking us what charge rate to set actually :) Though we (gate stewards) didn't know what to suggest. --sthen
• I think everything that was a guest-visible problem at 2014 was addressed. No issue at 2016 seemed anything worse than minor (the worst thing was probably the...err...boundary-pushing music policy at camp holland), and nothing that detracted from it being a great thing overall. 12/10 would EMF again. --sthen
• It's really nice to have high expectations for something and still be pleasantly suprised. ThePhilStrongProject (talk) 23:45, 9 August 2016 (BST)
• What was the rationale for the gate arrangement ? camping vehicles entering at the top of the site seemed very reasonable, but once the majority of traffic was pedestrian it seemed an annoyance. Could there have been a pedestrian gate optimised for pedestrians ?
  • I think there was a second gate down by the food vendors, but not sure if it was open at any point. Jellybob (talk)
• I didn’t know about the “no-noise-after-midnight” policy, and it would have been good to know (such factors influence the decision to camp on site or stay at a hotel, at least for me). Put it on the website in case it applies next time. --SECuRE (talk) 06:56, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• We had some trouble finding music that we enjoyed. Some higher-quality electronica would be much appreciated in the future. --SECuRE (talk) 06:56, 10 August 2016 (BST)

  Seconded - a couple of sets with some rock / similar would've gone down quite nicely!

  • Find people who are willing to play for free, and have them submit to the CFP next time :) --sthen
• Some more "lanes" in camping areas - in some places it was very difficult to navigate between tents. markp (markp) 08:57, 10 August 2016 (BST)
• Really loved the purple scheme. Can you keep it? :p chebe
• There was no scope for any fieldcraft - a camping zone where trees are available to pitch bashas and hammocks, and where (leave no trace) open fires are allowed would have added to the experience. It's a different, but not incompatible, interest set, and could add another facet to the event. (Which is not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy the event just as it was, and have nothing but respect and admiration for everyone who ran it.) -- Raj (talk||contribs) 00:42, 11 August 2016 (BST)
• Needed different colour bins and labelled stands at all trash areas so we can actually do recycling. Davidc (talk) 11:40, 11 August 2016 (BST)
• Needed scissors for the entrance tent, for shortening tails on the wristbands on children, and to allow removing wristbands if the crimper jams.
• It was really useful to have some accessible parking near the main gate. Although not all the stewards knew about it, and when I turned up it was full, in part of people who had parked there in order to unload. Which makes the parking less useful if you turn up as a disabled driver and need to park! Could collect car registrations of people needing accessible parking when they buy the ticket and insist that a blue disabled parking badge be left on the dashboard? But thank you for providing the parking in principle.