Feedback thread for the first RCM Weekender

[theatticbug]

Lows:
My Sega Master System Everdrive cart being blatantly stolen (no security in the side rooms). Still in a big state of bewilderment and depression over this, and still feel really low.
Being a veggie, the strong smell of burgers and bacon drifting into the main hall was a bit nauseating at times.
The Pub where the meet up took place having no food.

I find it really sad that your Sega Master system Everdrive cart has gone missing. But I also find it sad that you have to mention it on here. It's hardly RCM's fault? The fault lies in the world of greed and spite.

As a veggie myself, I can understand the difficulty with the smells from burgers and bacon but it would be the same as me complaining that there is too much alcohol in a pub (as I am a non drinker).

I find it also quite sad that you need to complain about there being no food in the pub for the meet-up. That's not RCM's fault either.

[The Twins]

The meet up in the pub on the Saturday was not organised by RCM and we did point people in the direction of the nearest places that did food. What goes on outside RCM events is beyond our control.

RCM was not responsible for other peoples systems and if they needed watching for a time you only had to ask and someone would have willingly kept an eye on them.

Unfortunately we were unable to open the kitchen windows and therefore the smell of the food being cooked drifted into the main room. At least we did offer vegetarian burgers, so we can't get moaned at for that.

[theatticbug]

The meet up in the pub on the Saturday was not organised by RCM and we did point people in the direction of the nearest places that did food. What goes on outside RCM events is beyond our control.

RCM was not responsible for other peoples systems and if they needed watching for a time you only had to ask and someone would have willingly kept an eye on them.

Unfortunately we were unable to open the kitchen windows and therefore the smell of the food being cooked drifted into the main room. At least we did off vegetarian burgers, so we can't get moaned at for that.

Well spoken.

[StarshipUK]

I find it really sad that your Sega Master system Everdrive cart has gone missing. But I also find it sad that you have to mention it on here. It's hardly RCM's fault? The fault lies in the world of greed and spite.

There is a difference between something going missing and being stolen, as if it was missing I would have had it back by now. It has cost me £67 to get a replacement. I am sure if someone had £67 stolen from them at any event they would hilight it as a low point of their weekend.

As a veggie myself, I can understand the difficulty with the smells from burgers and bacon but it would be the same as me complaining that there is too much alcohol in a pub (as I am a non drinker).

A bit of the difference as the smell was really strong (I am not normally affected by the smell of meat unless it is boiled ham or fish), but if the windows could not be opened and their was no extractor fan that would explain why. I didn't mention Vegiburgers so don't understand why the hell that was bought up!

I find it also quite sad that you need to complain about there being no food in the pub for the meet-up. That's not RCM's fault either.

Neither was the cost of taxi's at RV2010 my fault, but people still mentioned about that:
http://retrocomputermuseum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1834.0

[Phu]

I find it really sad that your Sega Master system Everdrive cart has gone missing. But I also find it sad that you have to mention it on here. It's hardly RCM's fault? The fault lies in the world of greed and spite.

There is a difference between something going missing and being stolen, as if it was missing I would have had it back by now. It has cost me £67 to get a replacement. I am sure if someone had £67 stolen from them at any event they would hilight it as a low point of their weekend.

I'm sure it was a low point for you and I sympathise that your hardware is no longer with you (for whatever reasons) however, the thread was a feedback thread for the event and RCM's efforts, so it wasn't a low part of the RCM event.

As a veggie myself, I can understand the difficulty with the smells from burgers and bacon but it would be the same as me complaining that there is too much alcohol in a pub (as I am a non drinker).

A bit of the difference as the smell was really strong (I am not normally affected by the smell of meat unless it is boiled ham or fish), but if the windows could not be opened and their was no extractor fan that would explain why. I didn't mention Vegiburgers so don't understand why the hell that was bought up!

There was a slightly implication (or at least it looked like it) that we didn't account for vegetarians or take into consideration how they might react to the strong smell of meat. Linda mentioned the vegiburgers to point out that we did consider vegetarians but some things were out of our control.

I also don't think it was as strong as you imply. Throughout the two days, I only really smelled the meat from in the vicinity of the food window, and it was mainly constrained to the start-of-day rush for the bacon cobs and lunch time, but that might just be me.

I find it also quite sad that you need to complain about there being no food in the pub for the meet-up. That's not RCM's fault either.

Neither was the cost of taxi's at RV2010 my fault, but people still mentioned about that:
http://retrocomputermuseum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1834.0

Actually, if you read that thread it was you who brought up the taxis. It hadn't been mentioned until then. One you had said something, others joined in.

-- Richard

[jimbob005]

good bits :-

getting to see and talk to ppl iv not seen for a bit , me and mark playing 2 player marble madness on the nes with only one joystick , Wining on the raffle im liking the gamecube and the money box Thank You , the food was good and the staff was extreamly nice

bad bit :-
it finishing (i think 3 days over a bank holls )

a big thank you to every one that help and worked hard so we could all have this fantastic weekend      

[filecore]

Great event. Thanks to RCM for letting me have a stall. Hope everyone is pleased with their bargains!

Lots of stuff to look at/play with. Thanks to Soph for stepping into the breach when the epic Bomberman tourney was on, and Andy when I won the Warlords tourney with the regular players. Was about time I won one again. Feared my touch was gone forever!

Loved the food. Bacon, Burgers and Chilli were sampled by me over the course of the weekend. Oh and a cornflake cake.  Lovely.


Cheers
Steve

[StarshipUK]

I find it really sad that your Sega Master system Everdrive cart has gone missing. But I also find it sad that you have to mention it on here. It's hardly RCM's fault? The fault lies in the world of greed and spite.

There is a difference between something going missing and being stolen, as if it was missing I would have had it back by now. It has cost me £67 to get a replacement. I am sure if someone had £67 stolen from them at any event they would hilight it as a low point of their weekend.

I'm sure it was a low point for you and I sympathise that your hardware is no longer with you (for whatever reasons) however, the thread was a feedback thread for the event and RCM's efforts, so it wasn't a low part of the RCM event.

I am not sure what you imply by saying "whatever reasons" but it has been stolen. Cartridges do not just eject themselves and walk off, especially with this one where the chips on the plain PCB jam themselves behind the black cartridge slot therefore requiring some effort to remove it. If something had been stolen at RV last year I would have made an announcement on the tannoy, sent an E-Mail to all those who attended after the event and supplied a replacement or contribution to that person towards a replacement. While it also would not have been my responsibility the item would have been at my event under my care and I would have felt a bit more sympathetic towards them rather than saying you should have asked someone to look after it (which is common sense people should be keeping an eye on things!) and stating it was not my responsibility. Next time someone asks if I can take anything along to an event I will consider it more carefully and most likely say no if it is a open public event. Also the items I loaned to R3PLAY last year which came back damaged or went missing have been replaced with replacements. I am not running RV this year, so if anything is stolen at RV they will have to see Markie about it.

As a veggie myself, I can understand the difficulty with the smells from burgers and bacon but it would be the same as me complaining that there is too much alcohol in a pub (as I am a non drinker).

A bit of the difference as the smell was really strong (I am not normally affected by the smell of meat unless it is boiled ham or fish), but if the windows could not be opened and their was no extractor fan that would explain why. I didn't mention Vegiburgers so don't understand why the hell that was bought up!

There was a slightly implication (or at least it looked like it) that we didn't account for vegetarians or take into consideration how they might react to the strong smell of meat. Linda mentioned the vegiburgers to point out that we did consider vegetarians but some things were out of our control.

I also don't think it was as strong as you imply. Throughout the two days, I only really smelled the meat from in the vicinity of the food window, and it was mainly constrained to the start-of-day rush for the bacon cobs and lunch time, but that might just be me.

Then you misinterpreted my feedback, as the events have always catered well for Vegetarians with Jacket Potatoes and Chips. I even had a VegiBurger on Saturday which was OK, but I did find the roll a bit dry- I am guessing it was a wheat free roll which I am not a big fan of. Just personal preference and not the fault of anyone, so I did not mention it. Did not have anything on the Sunday (cept some left overs), but was a bit put off from food by seeing a massive cockroach near the bomberman setup.

Everyone has a different sense of smell, and to me it was strong. I also overheard some other people mention it, but did not know who they were so don't even know if they are on the forum, although I also guess people are frightened of their feedback being misinterpreted or accidentally offending someone, where I prefer to be honest which is perhaps one of my weaknesses. I even criticised several parts of RV last year myself and I ran it. I know if I was getting feedback I would want people to be honest rather than keeping stuff back, frightened that someone might get offended. Its the only way you can improve on things, no matter how small.

I find it also quite sad that you need to complain about there being no food in the pub for the meet-up. That's not RCM's fault either.

Neither was the cost of taxi's at RV2010 my fault, but people still mentioned about that:
http://retrocomputermuseum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1834.0

Actually, if you read that thread it was you who brought up the taxis. It hadn't been mentioned until then. One you had said something, others joined in.

-- Richard

And I only mentioned it because several people had mentioned it to me before it was posted on that thread. It would be a pretty wild thing to mention randomly and just  stating it was a little expensive was a bit vague for my liking! At least this years event will not be overpriced with it being free entry.

[AndyRCM]

I am drawing this to an end - it is very unfortunate that Steve (starship) had something stolen. I know how this feels - however RCM cannot be held responsible for other peoples actions or equipment.

It is now making me think again about 'other peoples kit' at our events which is a true shame really as it does make for a good event with a variety of kit on display.

Andy

[resident paul]

I had a brilliant time last weekend, the food was great, the systems + games were & arcade cabs were great as well especially the mame one with the easy read menu

It's not as crowded as before & gives me chance to play most systems

The only downer was I was told any tournaments was on until it was too late!

The pub meet was great & lots to drink & munch on the crisps & after that went back to the Travelodge with number of mates + bottles of bud & cider & carried on drinking altogether with pizzas ordered (I picked the 'Coalville special' which has kebab & onion as topping yummy')

[questor]

Great review from the Kick-Off boys...

http://ko-gathering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16234&hilit=museum

[AndyRCM]

Yeah - sounds like they enjoyed it too! Nice one!

A

[felicemaggie]

Good points:-

Seeing the (new) Batman Forever demo actually running on an Amstrad CPC 6128, after having only seen it run on emulators before.

The kitchen setup - this was the first time I tried any of the food and I was rather impressed Thanks to the ladies behind the counter for this - the food was delicious. I had one of the famous baked potatoes and it must rank among some of the best I've eaten over the years.

There weren't any bad points, just one or two slight niggles, I wonder whether the evening do might have been better (though it wasn't officially organised by RCM) by booking a large table at the Indian restaurant in Swannington ? It seems a little odd in this day and age that the pub didn't serve food - that was the reason we didn't come for the drinks, as 2 of us out of 4 had to remain fairly sober for driving home.

The Saturday also felt emptier though that was maybe with the event being over 2 days, compared to the 1 day event we'd been to before. It did allow, however, for ease of movement around the hall.

Thanks again for organising the event and we will be back for future events as time allows ...

Cheers,

Rich

[Derek Barnet]

Hi,
I joined the forum today, so I know nothing about the RCM weekender.
But based on MY OPINION and experience on a different RETRO show - here are some comments.
a) Accept feedback good or bad. Most important is take it seriously,  learn from it and think about it next time. Life is full of opportunities to improve. Try not to have a fall out or argument over feedback. Consider layout of tables(a box shape with exhibitors in the middle), a handout of wise words to exhibitors and advice to exhibitors before they come and visit.(Theft is everywhere, consider a CCTV camera!, some equipment is virtually not replacable - so financial compensation doesn't work)( I do not like leaving master copies of software lying around - backups are ok )
b) I would recommend two one day events separated by at least 2 months. That way you don't miss someone who chose to visit the other day. Perhaps try two different locations, to encourage members who did not visit(too far). Consider it to be a one day where visitors travel to it and return home. So lets say start journey 8am, arrive 10am, leave 7pm and arrive home 9pm. (or at 7pm move to pub for chat then home).
c) Do consider having a 'game theme per hour'. games like 'bat &ball','Fruit machine', 'PACMAN','Frogger','golf' etc exhibitors can start up the best version of that game and visitors can see how the game works on different machines.
d) Consider this to be an opportunity for visitors to bring old heavy kit and swop and pay for a refurbished kit. Especially Monitors and power supplies. But also joysticks, etc.
e) Consider selling tickets on ebay - but you need to add the appropriate key words in title. (BBC micro)etc.
f) Consider attracting Innovators to attend the day. To show and sell their latest inventions.(MMC cards, sideways RAM/ROM etc)
g) Consider running an auction. Visitors bring items to sell and have opportunity to bid and buy. bout 20% Commission is charged of course!
h) A lot of work goes into putting on an event like this. So those involved should be very pleased that MOST IMPORTANT - VISITORS ENJOYED THEMSELVES.

Good Luck for the future and don't be surprise if the event grows and becomes much bigger.

Regards Derek

[AndyRCM]

Derek,
Some very valid points there - thank you for those.
Of course feedback whether it be good or bad is very valuable. You can't please everybody all of the time.
A couple of your points we already do, a brand new computer was available to buy at our recent weekender for example.


Andy