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Some things Prime could learn from East (maybe)
Just got back from my first East. Fun, but I much prefer Prime I think. There were some things I saw over there that are implemented *much* better than how we do them over here that I think would be great if Prime could perhaps emulate a bit, however.
First and foremost, the tabletop freeplay setup. I get that the WSCC is set up massively different than the BCEC, but it'd be awesome if someone could find a layout that makes Prime's more like East's with regards to TT. The issue with Prime's is that all the tabletop areas are shoved into these small conference rooms apart from one another all over the place, with the checkout area being in yet another room off in a corner somewhere. Demos are scattered everywhere - there are a bunch on the skybridge, some in conference rooms, some wedged near the consoles....it's just really disorganized, it's not prominently featured, and I think a lot of people go the whole weekend without even knowing it's there. Not much tabletop ever going on as a result, really. I was absolutely amazed at how much of it was happening at East. It was utterly fantastic. The demos were fairly consolidated, the free checkout area was right in the middle of the tabletop area in prominent view of passers-by, and there were people gaming EVERYWHERE around it. It was incredible. I really hope the organizers can find a way to improve upon it out here. Maybe give it the space on the bottom floor of the annex across the street from the main hall?
The Mech Assault room. I'm not sure the name of the game (because I didn't even spot that room until I was leaving at 1 in the morning on Saturday night and we left town Sunday), but they set up one of the rooms with 12 mech assault-style pods and had open warfare battles going on. Box that stuff up and send it to Seattle, because that looked like a great time.
Lunch trolley. OK....not entirely possible, as when *we* build a trolley, we spend 50 million dollars and it only goes 1.3 miles. But maybe a small charter bus? It was pretty cool that there was a coach to take people directly to restaurant hotspot areas from the convention centre. Granted, Prime has the benefit of being located in the heart of downtown Seattle whereas East is out in no-man's land, but it might be cool to have something that runs a circuit between the convention centre, Pioneer Square, Belltown and QA.
Staffing: OK, when one of the most polite cities in the country (Seattle) is outdone in terms of friendliness, competence, and professionalism in BOSTON (where there's an implied "now go $#*@! yourself!" at the end of everything anybody in that city ever says to you) by the hired security staff - and outdone by a wide margin - something is wrong. Now that I know it's *possible* to hire private security firms that don't spend all weekend sneering at you, making you feel unwelcome, or being overtly hostile to you at every turn, I expect to see it going forward. Make it happen.
Things we definitely should NOT emulate from the way they do it @ East include the panel queues, on-site food situation, parking, vendor layout, music, and swag stinginess.
My 42 cents.
First and foremost, the tabletop freeplay setup. I get that the WSCC is set up massively different than the BCEC, but it'd be awesome if someone could find a layout that makes Prime's more like East's with regards to TT. The issue with Prime's is that all the tabletop areas are shoved into these small conference rooms apart from one another all over the place, with the checkout area being in yet another room off in a corner somewhere. Demos are scattered everywhere - there are a bunch on the skybridge, some in conference rooms, some wedged near the consoles....it's just really disorganized, it's not prominently featured, and I think a lot of people go the whole weekend without even knowing it's there. Not much tabletop ever going on as a result, really. I was absolutely amazed at how much of it was happening at East. It was utterly fantastic. The demos were fairly consolidated, the free checkout area was right in the middle of the tabletop area in prominent view of passers-by, and there were people gaming EVERYWHERE around it. It was incredible. I really hope the organizers can find a way to improve upon it out here. Maybe give it the space on the bottom floor of the annex across the street from the main hall?
The Mech Assault room. I'm not sure the name of the game (because I didn't even spot that room until I was leaving at 1 in the morning on Saturday night and we left town Sunday), but they set up one of the rooms with 12 mech assault-style pods and had open warfare battles going on. Box that stuff up and send it to Seattle, because that looked like a great time.
Lunch trolley. OK....not entirely possible, as when *we* build a trolley, we spend 50 million dollars and it only goes 1.3 miles. But maybe a small charter bus? It was pretty cool that there was a coach to take people directly to restaurant hotspot areas from the convention centre. Granted, Prime has the benefit of being located in the heart of downtown Seattle whereas East is out in no-man's land, but it might be cool to have something that runs a circuit between the convention centre, Pioneer Square, Belltown and QA.
Staffing: OK, when one of the most polite cities in the country (Seattle) is outdone in terms of friendliness, competence, and professionalism in BOSTON (where there's an implied "now go $#*@! yourself!" at the end of everything anybody in that city ever says to you) by the hired security staff - and outdone by a wide margin - something is wrong. Now that I know it's *possible* to hire private security firms that don't spend all weekend sneering at you, making you feel unwelcome, or being overtly hostile to you at every turn, I expect to see it going forward. Make it happen.
Things we definitely should NOT emulate from the way they do it @ East include the panel queues, on-site food situation, parking, vendor layout, music, and swag stinginess.
My 42 cents.
Quintious on
+3
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A great place would be in the Queue room. After the initial morning line it feels like the space is mostly waste.
Why not roll in a bunch of tables and chairs once the morning line is gone and set up a proper Table Top location. I know this will cause logistic issues, but having that much space sit open for the majority of the day seems horribly inefficient, especially considering how precious space at Prime is.
The badge checkers at the WSCC are out of the control of PAX staff, as they're employed by the building themselves, but I do agree that they tend to look really angry.
SWAG stinginess is up to the exhibitors! The quantity of everything seems to have gone down in recent years but I blame the economy. Everything is expensive when you have to order 5-10k of them!
PAX East 2013 Status
Hotel: Waterfront Westin; Flight: Booked; Pass: Purchased; Suitcase: Packed
PAX Prime 2012 Status: Level Complete
TWDT'12: Hufflepuff OotP
Not sure what you saw, but there might already be something of interest to you in the Seattle area. Google "The Airlock in Kirkland" and let me know if you can make it out there - bring a couple of friends and I'll introduce you to the owner and give you a mini bootcamp.
It might be because I'm a New Yorker, but I found Boston to be a really nice city (first time in Boston) and everyone was polite (I only had one old guy tell me the Yankees f***ing suck when i wore my New York Sweatshirt ;D )
They definitely weren't checking badges every 2 minutes at East which was nice!
Lastly, I agree that prime is definitely more maze-like but I think going into my second Prime I will be more ready to navigate!
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
TT at Prime 2012 had 23 rooms total I believe( HQ, vendors, theatre, freeplay, tournaments, etc). There just isn't enough space for everything to be in one big space. TT actually did have the bottom 2 floors of the Annex at Prime, and tons more. At this point Prime is smaller than East, thats just the way it is for the foreseeable future. That being said, in their effort to always make things better, i'm sure PA will shift and tweak and seek alternative space around the WSCC. But expo is not likely to get smaller. PC (and in some ways CFP) have hardware that is expensive and needs to be watched and large rooms are easier for security. TT by its nature can fill in any available space. Enjoy it while you can, if East grows more, and it probably will, TT will likely get pushed out of that main hall, maybe to the Westin.
We have that over here already, up in Kirland at a place called The Airlock. Maybe a PAX group venture to The Airlock is in order?
I am a Seattle Native and have been to a lot of various events at the convention center and they always use the room numbers of the building. Here is a map if you want to study it now to get familiar before the big event. http://www.wsctc.com/pdfs/floor_plans/FloorPlansCapacitiesDimensionsNov2012.pdf
I will give two big clues there are three main areas. The big escalator in the lobby at street level with all of the places too eat leads to probably most of the small conference rooms you remember. At the top of it (several stories up level 4) turn left there is another escalator to level 6 walking around this escalator brings you to the area traditionally used for registration and day one entrance 4A. If you were to just turn around straight behind you at the top of level fours escalator your would find the sky bridge just past 4C which is usually all opened up and connected to 4B which. All of that area 4B and 4C will probably be merchandise and or exhibition booths and the same or similar on the other side of the bridge. If you were to take that Escalator up from level four when you first turned right you would hit the 6th floor which typically has the main event forums (6ABC become one big spot)(609/608 becomes 6D)(611/612 becomes one big room). Also they often use the back rooms of 6 (615-620) for Celebs because the back halls allow them to get around to the main events and 6E for Meet-ups with celebs). you will notice there is also another escalator in these back rooms which leads down to the main escalator you initially rode up digression usually plays a role into weather or not to open that one up to traffic. I can tell you at comic-con this year it was open. Also across the sky bridge of level 4 there is an escalator leading down. This is the Conference center which could have been seen kiddy corner to the main lobby I fist spoke of with all of the concessions. It could be confusing because if you use the sky bridge you see yourself crossing one street but may miss that you actually then turn and cross an another street but you cannot see that one (The sky bridge is near to the four way intersection of pike and 8th). The Conference room below the 4th level has three usable levels the 3rd usually has a lot of computer gaming in it. They skip the second level. The first level is street level and is fairly open I have seen it used for arcades, Tabletop space, More Merchandise etc... Below that is the basement level and typically had a lot more table top or RPG gaming. The last and probably most confusing is the Office Tower but id you look at things from out start of the main lobby again and remember a few simple layout tricks you will be fine. Of to the right of the main escalator is a much wider escalator which leads up from the street level floor first to level 2 then 3 then 4. the main escalator lead to these levels too but they are connected by hall ways that are not as apparent partly because the higher up you go the smaller they get and often level 4's connecting hallways are closed to casual traffic and used for celebrities. You will see that the second level is connect by the wide 'North Gallery' which has a big windowed wall you can see out of while Level 3 is connected by a narrow hallway sandwiched next to the Parking area. These rooms typically hold the smaller panels/discussion rooms. These are primarily extrapolations as to what they will hold but I hope this all helps. There may even be events and often there are events in buildings right next too and nearby (within walking distance) the WSCC).