Zitat:Hi Michael,


We'd love to have this event at GalaCon, but we need more detailed information on your plans. The team is a bit concerned about micromanagement and logistics of all the plushies, along with having the space to house them all, and we're a bit worried that people might not get their own plushies back in a timely manner. If you could give more information on your plans and how previous events have gone, that would be great.


Thank you,

Charles "Venusy" Skeavington

Zitat:Hi Charles,

thank you for you reply!

In my thread at Bronies.de ( http://www.bronies.de/showthread.php?tid=17719 ), we already had some discussions about the whole idea.

As not every brony might be willing to bring along his plushi(es) while some might be bringing several of them, we estimate the number of plushies gathering together about 500 to 1000 - of course, that's only a guess since no "plushi meetup" at such a big convention with so many guests was held until now.

We (I'm speaking of "we" as two other bronies, Crash Override and Meganium, have volunteered to join me and form a kind of "plushi meetup team" - maybe more volunteers will follow and join our team once the project has been approved and officially announced by the GalaCon Orga team) would need a room that's large enough to house such a number of plushies on tables for everyone to watch, a bit like the Art Gallery. We thought of asking for one of the panel rooms after the panels scheduled for this room are held; such a room should be unused by then and free for us. Tables should be available from the panel held in there earlier, so the furniture is no issue.

There should be a scheduled time slot during which plushies can be brought to the meetup and handed to the team - speaking of which, only the team would be allowed to handle the plushies and place them on the exhibition tables, visitors are required to stay away some steps as not being able to steal plushies or get them (whether on purpose or not) dirty or stained. To ensure this, we would need some kind of a barrier rope and some poles, maybe Crash Override can support them. After being given to the team, every plushie gets a label with a number, and the owner gets a checking label with the same number. Today I've experimented with textile ribbon: such ribbon is used in laundrys to tag the clothes, from the past of my family, I have pretty much of this ribbon left to bring it along and make tags and checking labels from it (both plushi's tags and checking labels need to be prepared in advance, of course). The tag for the plushi could be wrapped around a hoof, the neck or another part of the plushi and stapled together. Please have a look on the photos attached (I have to admit: my "test tags" with fantasy numbers were a bit short and barely fitted around the plushie's hooves, serial version has to be longer as I now know). Furthermore, a list could be made: owner, plushi(es) and numbers are written down.

During the next stage of the plushi meetup, no further plushies are accepted, and no plushi is given back - this is the time for the photographers and visitors to enjoy the gathering of the plush ponies. Of course, plushies can be re-arranged if the photographers want them to be.

After that, during the last scheduled time slot, it is time for the owners to get back their plushies: they present their checking labels to the team and get back their plushi(es) in exchange; in addition, the names can be marked at the list (list is optional). The only question is: what's happening to plushies that aren't claimed back during that slot... maybe we could use the service of the information desk for that?

As for your question about previous events: the first event of this kind I've ever seen was at Blackys Bar Meetup at the first weekend of March this year in Magdeburg but wasn't held by me, it was the idea of Anna and Black Fantasy. There were about 90 guests, the plushies were first being arranged at boards along the walls for several hours and freely accessible for everyone; the next morning, Anna collected them for the meetup and the photos. Everyone got back his plushi without any problems.

I then brought the idea to the Orga team of the Winter Wrap Up (WWU) meetup, some of them were at Blackys Bar meetup and had seen the plushi meetup themselves. The plushi meetup for the WWU was officially announced, and I got a room, the tables being necessary and an official time slot. The guests (about 180 in total, but by far not all of them interested in the plushi meetup) brought their plushies, most of them arranged their plushies themselves. Everyone treated every plushi with respect and care, and after the photos were shot and I had counted them, they were taken back by their respective owners - all went without checking labels or number tags and without any problems, but we are aware that GalaCon is much bigger and a plushi meetup there needs to be handled in a somewhat more official and professional manner.

I'm stating openly that I don't have any more experience with plushi meetups since these two were the only ones I got to see and had the chance to take part in until now, yet we think we are capable of handling a plushi meetup at the GalaCon to everyone's satisfaction.

Best regards,

Michael Otto / Railway Dash.

Hier im Spoilerkasten noch die versprochenen zwei Fotos, wie ich mir die Sache vorstellen könnte: (Öffnen)

(16.04.2014)Crash Override schrieb:  falls ich es nicht hin bekommen sollte, die Absperrungen zu besorgen (wer weiß, was noch alles passieren kann), dass wir dann welche vom Forum bekämen. Die haben auch welche, wenn ich mich recht erinnere*.

(19.04.2014)Railway Dash schrieb:  die Kontrollabschnitte für die Besitzer können wir uns sparen: sie bekommen ihre Nummer direkt von uns auf ihr Ticket oder die Rückseite ihres Namensschildchens geschrieben (...)
Außerdem könnte man sich dann eigentlich die Liste sparen - denn daß das Hin- und Herschieben bei der Ausgabe problematisch werden würde, ist mir auch schon durch den Kopf gegangen.

Zitat:Hi Michael,

Sorry about the very late response! I apparently accidentally marked your email as read, and so I didn't see it until now. My sincerest apologies.

I need to speak with the rest of the team about this, because you are right that it would need to be handled professionally, and we do have to be worried about risk and liability, as well as if there are any suitable rooms and timeslots.

Charles

Zitat:Hallo Michael,

tut mir leid, daß ich so sehr spät antworte! Ich habe offenbar versehentlich deine e-Mail als gelesen markiert und deshalb bis jetzt gerade eben nicht gesehen. Ich entschuldige mich aufrichtig.

Ich muß mit dem Rest des Teams darüber [über das Projekt, ist klar] sprechen, denn du hast recht: das Ganze muß professionell gehandhabt werden, und wir müssen uns Gedanken über Risiken und Verantwortung [der GC] machen, wie auch darüber, ob es geeignete Räume und Zeit-Slots gibt.

Charles

Zitat:Hi Michael,

I'm very sorry for not getting back to you before now, some emails slipped through the cracks.

We've come to the conclusion that it would be too much of a logistical issue to have at GalaCon, and even with a signed waiver, there would still be an expectation for the con to do something if the worst should happen. You can still fill a hotel room with plushies, but we can't be officially associated.

Sorry,
Charles

Zitat:Hallo Michael,

tut mir sehr leid, daß ich nicht eher geantwortet habe, einige Mails sind mir durch die Lappen gegangen.

Wir sind zu dem Entschluß gekommen, daß es [das Plüschie-Meetup] ein zu großer logistischer Aufwand wäre, um es auf der GalaCon stattfinden zu lassen, und selbst mit einer unterschriebenen Verzichtserklärung [auf Regreßansprüche seitens der Plüschie-Besitzer] gäbe es trotzdem eine Erwartungshaltung gegenüber der Con, etwas zu tun, falls das Schlimmste passiert. Du kannst / Ihr könnt immer noch ein Hotelzimmer mit Plüschies füllen, aber wir können nicht offiziell daran beteiligt sein.

Bedaure,
Charles