Polyday Report & Thanks

[emanix]

Polyday happened on Saturday. After months of planning, plotting, communicating and organising, I still feel like I ought to be crossing my fingers as I speak about it, but it's over for this year, and it went well!

Comments

[meihua]

It was overall a very good day and I enjoyed it hugely - thank you very much.

We did have a couple of negative comments about the content of some of the songs - having recruited some more alternative acts, one does run the risk of offending the odd couple of people. However those people I have heard from were each bothered by a *different* song, which seems perhaps the mark of a good, if slightly edgy show.

I should probably be clear that I and about five other people I've spoken too all objected to a single song, but I at least didn't come to you to complain since I got the feeling that you had already had a fair number of complaints and more wouldn't be helpful. If you've come to the conclusion that the show was "good if edgy", though, then I think maybe it would be helpful if I raised my concerns. What would be a good way to do that?

[emanix]

Thanks for letting me know.

This is a part of why I said I intended to post further about a complaints procedure, as I did become aware that we didn't have one, and nor has there been a formal one for previous years. In the meantime I'd appreciate emails addressed to myself directly, preferably not to the other organisers and absolutely not to the performers. If messages need to be passed on to them I will do so.
My address is theofficialmaxine at gmail dot com, and I'd like to know which song is being referred to, the reasons for offense, and what can be done, if anything, to avoid in future.

[meihua]

Thank you! I've sent you an email - and yes, I agree that a route for complaints beyond "wandering up to you or commenting on LJ" would be a good thing to have. :)

Re: WRT Polyday...

[plumsbitch]

All the more amazing since you had barely any experience of past Polydays and How It Was Done.

Yeah, from my personal experience it went off very well and v.impressive to come straight into an event with a history and run one. (which, I realise, I have also done myself with BiFests so if you'd like to talk over that would be happy to.) Also a combination of 'old' and 'new' heads is a very good thing I think, as while previous knowledge and experience are invaluable, fresh perspectives and new personal vision are also important.

Re: WRT Polyday...

[lovelybug]

Yes - go Paul and his sensible suggestions :)

[pir]

Thanks for running the event. I feel a large part of it went very well (although I had to leave fairly early due to other commitments so I can't comment about the evening at all) and with that as a given, complaints should be taken as "it was good but

[emanix]

Hiya,

I would very much prefer to receive complaints via email, but I wanted to respond to this one particularly on my public journal, as we did have every intention of using half of the main hall as social space, but due to the day and some of the workshops in particular being much more popular than we expected, we had to cut into that for workshop space, and I had actually already talked about this with the organising team.

There really is a shortage of venues around an appropriate size (and price), especially that are accessible to the organising team. If we were to stick with the same venue next year the plan would be to start earlier, and have much longer breaks between sessions in order for people to socialise and digest. Otherwise it'll be a hunt for a new venue all over again.

M.

[pir]

Venues in London are a perennial problem, which seems odd for a city this size. Thanks for the response and I'm glad it's a concern.

[naxela]

I keep on thinking I should run a venue just for events and pub meetings...

[skibbley]

Excellent event and particularly impressive given a new venue and small team of helpers and the large numbers you managed to attract.

I will process through many ideas from the weekend and will also be in touch about what I think might be resolvable and learnable from the small parts I was not at all happy with.

[lemuria]

Well done for putting on a great event - can't comment on the cabaret as I didn't attend but the day itself went very well and I thought the organisers coped admirably with the constraints of the venue.
From a personal viewpoint, having been off 'the scene' for several years I found it very heartening to see so many people there and to get back in touch with people I hadn't seen for years as well as meeting new folks.
(And the kink panel alone was worth the entry price!)