Suggestions for NEXT year?

[funky49]

How in the world could Nerdapalooza be improved?

Renting another room with some tables so that people can play Magic,
cards, board games with one another?

A dedicated "dinner time" before the headliners of the event go on?

Two bigger projector screens?

Blackjack and hookers?

[DV]

On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 3:26 PM, funky49 <fun...@gmail.com> wrote:

How in the world could Nerdapalooza be improved?

I was pretty verbose in my feedback to the survey that Sport sent out today.  I can forward it here if people are interested.  It focuses on lighting and sound problems we faced this year.

 -- Larry

[Matt Sweeney]

Not a fan of blackjack. Craps though? Oh hell yeah!

My biggest complaints are in line with Larry over the sound. It just
seemed to plague everyone over the weekend. Some of it is just the
room (rooms like that are not known for their top notch acoustics),
but things like mics not working, or no one around at the board to
turn a mic up, little things like that just kind of rob things.

Otherwise, a dinner break would be nice. As would expanding the game
room area. Hex mentioned the idea Sunday night of setting up a kind
of open-mic room, where gear is set up and folks can play through out
the fest. Hook the room up with some couches and places to rest, and
I think that could be a great plan.

I'd also love to see the thing expand by a day. Move the pre-party
back to Thursday night, then start the fest on Friday. Friday doesn't
need to start at noon, it could start at like say 6. With two day
events, just about the time you're getting comfortable with the place
and how things work, the last band is playing and its time to go home.

Those are my thoughts.

matt

--
Matt Sweeney
mattws...@gmail.com
http://tsuibhne.com/

Geek Culture Calendar
http://stopstandingstill.net/

[funky49]

An open mic room. Pretty cool. Add in a projector and maybe the
producers of the genre can give workshops on how to create music. I'd
bring in my laptop and give a demo of Acid and/or ProTools. Bring in
multiple laptops, instruments and wicked jam sessions could break
out! :)

On Jul 16, 11:17 pm, Matt Sweeney <mattwswee...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Not a fan of blackjack.  Craps though?  Oh hell yeah!
>
> My biggest complaints are in line with Larry over the sound.  It just
> seemed to plague everyone over the weekend.  Some of it is just the
> room (rooms like that are not known for their top notch acoustics),
> but things like mics not working, or no one around at the board to
> turn a mic up, little things like that just kind of rob things.
>
> Otherwise, a dinner break would be nice.  As would expanding the game
> room area.  Hex mentioned the idea Sunday night of setting up a kind
> of open-mic room, where gear is set up and folks can play through out
> the fest.  Hook the room up with some couches and places to rest, and
> I think that could be a great plan.
>
> I'd also love to see the thing expand by a day.  Move the pre-party
> back to Thursday night, then start the fest on Friday.  Friday doesn't
> need to start at noon, it could start at like say 6.  With two day
> events, just about the time you're getting comfortable with the place
> and how things work, the last band is playing and its time to go home.
>
> Those are my thoughts.
>
> matt
>

> On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 3:27 PM, DV<datavor...@datavortex.net> wrote:

> > On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 3:26 PM, funky49 <funk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> How in the world could Nerdapalooza be improved?
>
> > I was pretty verbose in my feedback to the survey that Sport sent out
> > today.  I can forward it here if people are interested.  It focuses on
> > lighting and sound problems we faced this year.
>
> >  -- Larry
>
> --
> Matt Sweeney

> mattwswee...@gmail.comhttp://tsuibhne.com/
>
> Geek Culture Calendarhttp://stopstandingstill.net/

[Andrea]

I don't know how feasible it would be to add more days? I was sad
about missing bands to find food. I also would love to have more
meetups. I feel like I missed out on some good parties because I was
too wiped at the end of the night.

A small suggestions, but can we have a bulletin board next year? I
mean a real, physical one somewhere in the area, like the gaming or
vendor room. Lost & found, adventure outings, grabbing dinner. A few
times I tweeted about going for pizza buffet or sushi, but people
never knew about it until much later.

--Andrea

[DV]

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 2:27 PM, funky49 <fun...@gmail.com> wrote:

An open mic room. Pretty cool. Add in a projector and maybe the
producers of the genre can give workshops on how to create music. I'd
bring in my laptop and give a demo of Acid and/or ProTools. Bring in
multiple laptops, instruments and wicked jam sessions could break
out! :)

This is a cool idea.  An open, secondary stage, perhaps with a paper sign up sheet for time slots could have some awesome effects.

Some other thoughts of mine, most touched on by my form feedback to Spork:

We need better quality lighting - more of it, better controlled, and at least a little more professional.  Trying to take video or photos this year was pretty painful, especially before Snipe, et al, setup (or turned on) some frontal photographic lighting, but even then the situation was less than good.  A few theater-style lights (AKA 'cans') with the proper gels on them would pretty much fix the problem.  Add in a light board with an operator and things start looking a whole lot better.

On a somewhat-related note, having the entire (main stage) event recorded would be awesome.  Professional of semi-professional hobbyist videographers with the proper setups could both alleviate the need to allow for fan bootleg recordings and allow for another popular product for the festival to sell.  As someone who recorded shows with a camcorder from the front row, I know how annoying and in-the-way people like me are. :)

Pro video producers would be able to get the whole show on a pristine DVD set, and given a few requirements could make a really kickass DVD set, containing the ENTIRE weekends' shows.  The requirements would probably be something like:

• Two elevated, fixed positions, about halfway back and against the wall, protected from the crowd and big enough for two swiveling camera mounts and their operators.
• Strong lighting with at least gels that won't terribly distort color or resonance
  
• Access to the raw and uncut sound board feed for the whole show for post-production overdubbing.
• Ability to pre-sell DVD sets at the show with them keeping the bulk of the money (and a ban on video recording by the audience)
  
• Full set list, names, etc, everything that you need to make all the relevant metadata

Using quasi-pro rather than paid professionals would also imply renting pro camera and lighting gear for a couple (few?) hundred bucks a day.  I think the DVDs would be popular enough anyway, but I guess it could be a risk.  I am not sure how well the show albums pre-sold this year, but that may be helpful in estimating DVD sales (especially if they are advertised somewhat better, including to those not at the event).

As far as sound goes, well I sent Spork a long diatribe, but my wishlist basically boils down to - make sure everything works, including all the microphones, and have enough staff at the sound board all the time so as not to delay the show.  If we'd had 100% functional (and well-equalized) mics this year I would have been reasonably happy with the sound (except for anything trying to make it through Kabuto's mask, that will never work).

The idea of having 2 stages in 2008 so that we could move between them - allowing one act to get setup while the previous act went on, was a good thing that allowed us to basically ignore setup time in the scheduling.  The 2009 schedule seemed to ignore setup time, but with just the 1 stage this didn't much work.  Having 2 stages again for the same reason would be awesome, but may not be a realistic goals in terms of increased cost, especially if it requires another light board, another sound board, perhaps more cameras, etc.

Another random sound point: having a cogent and sufficiently long set of audio to play (quietly) between sets would be nice.  Lots of times when no one was performing there was no audio.  Good for having conversations, but mood-breaking.  Let's have a whole shitload of between-set music lined up, played quietly enough for people to still chat between acts.

A bulletin board is a good idea too.  So is a twitter stream (or something) to allow people to plan stuff like meals.  Maybe post a sign telling people to keep a twitter search for "#nerdapalooza" open would be good enough for the online end of that concept.

Meal breaks for the win!  Count me among those who missed shows due to my annoying habits known as lunch and dinner.  Some groups like MC Frontalot or I Fight Dragons have extended setup requirements that would be an ideal time to break for an hour for dinner.

And one random other idea, blatantly stolen from Google I/O conference: QR code scavenger hunt!  Give introvert, shy geeks an "in" to start up a conversation with their favorite performers.  Just give every artist a unique 2D barcode, and have people scan it (with their iPhone, G1, or other smartphone) to gain access to a special URL that counts them as having met that artist.  Also hide codes all over the place, everywhere you want people to go.  Each barcode scanned awards a number of points and at the end, the person with the most points wins something.  Really encourages people to get out there and meet one another.

  Ok, that's it for now. :)

    -- Larry

[Matt Sweeney]

I was actually thinking about that when I first showed up at the hotel
friday night. I think next year, if I don't have a smart phone by
then, I'm going to pick up an iPod Touch just for the wireless web
access so I can use Twitter as kind of a back channel for the event.

I know some festivals have used the bulletin board idea to let people
leave notes for friends and what not, but I've never been to those
fests so I don't know the full scoop. From the anecdotal evidence
I've heard, they tend to work best for people who are already friends
trying to meet up, though that I don't know why they wouldn't be able
to scale. There was a white board in the game room that people were
writing all over, and there may have been some cork on the sides of
it. May be next year make a little sign and hang it up somewhere.
'going for pizza at 5 PM, meet here' kind of thing. Then see who the
hell shows up.

At the end of the day, I think something like this will probably
evolve over time. I doubt it'll be something that just pops into
existence. Kind of like the Hipster, please meet up. This year it
was a couple of (very cool) folks hanging out near the pool. When I
decided to put it together I purposely left it kind of open and vague
since I didn't know the terrain and didn't know what kind of interest
I'd have. Now that I have an idea, I can start making little tweaks.

Or to put it another way, we're talking about a real world
implementation of the rapid application development methodology. Come
up with an idea, toss it out into the wild, see how people react, and
then tweak it.

[Matt Sweeney]

Just to play devil's advocate.

Light: The lighting struck me as pretty normal for an event of this
size. Better light set up means increased cost, means greater risks
for the promoters (i.e. more money they need to make back). I know
analog cameras can compensate for the light issue (shutter speed,
types of film, etc.). Any way digital cameras could do the same?

Two stage set up. A festival I used to work at back in the 90s would
take the main stage and split it in two for most of the day. While
someone performed on one side of the stage, the other was being set up
for the next act. Then the headliners would be given the entire stage
to work with. Not sure how well this idea would work for someone like
Scrub Club, where you've got a whole bunch of people, but its a rif on
Larry's idea.

[Matt Sweeney]

I kind of hinted at this before, but I'm just going to come out and state it.

Some place to sit and chill would be VERY cool. I know I'm not the
only person who's feet/legs were hurting by the end of the night. At
Portus last year, they had a "common room", which was basically a side
room with some chairs and a couple of tables. It provided a nice
little spot to sit and chat with friends and collect your thoughts
before figuring out what you were doing next. Also could be a nice
central locations for meeting up with folks. One idea would be to
combine this with the game room. A couple of consoles in the back of
the room, with chairs and tables closer to the doors. That way folks
could use the tables for table top games and what not as well.

matt

[Andrea]

On Jul 21, 4:04 pm, Matt Sweeney <mattwswee...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Some place to sit and chill would be VERY cool.  I know I'm not the
> only person who's feet/legs were hurting by the end of the night.  At
> Portus last year, they had a "common room", which was basically a side
> room with some chairs and a couple of tables.

Same here. That was also a great thing about Prophecy in Toronto--we
had a Common Room with games, couches, open mic, bulletin board, etc.
My feet were KILLING me... and so when I finally sat down on the floor
outside the vendor room on Saturday afternoon, I stained my only pair
of shorts bright red with what I think was spilled Bawls or Vitamin
Water.

I like the idea of the hunt. I know I am pretty shy, and I barely
talked to any of the artists while actually at the event. (I ended up
talking to a bunch of people on Twitter though.) And even when people
were telling me about suites or after-parties, I felt just slightly
too shy to just show up. Next year I'll know better. Everyone was so
awesome.

--Andrea

[DV]

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Matt Sweeney <mattws...@gmail.com> wrote:

Light: The lighting struck me as pretty normal for an event of this
size.  Better light set up means increased cost, means greater risks
for the promoters (i.e. more money they need to make back).  I know
analog cameras can compensate for the light issue (shutter speed,
types of film, etc.).  Any way digital cameras could do the same?

The photos I kept (about 1/3 of the number I took) did do this to some extent or another.  People with SLRs got better photos, but I was working with just about the best compact you could get, and it had lighting problems throughout.

Before Snipe and her husband did their thing with adding additional lighting and helping to get existing but not-working lights functional, the situation was just downright awful.  Even ignoring cameras and lenses for a moment, the stage was just plain dark, lit more by light seeping in around the window shades than anything else.  An example:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4vE4ArcjHGZxoYSu4LaqPg?feat=directlink (notice from the EXIF that flash was used)

I was lucky in that I was at the front for most of the show and I had a decent enough ultra-compact flash so may of my pictures came out.  Check out pictures from people who were further back or posessing a weaker flash to see how pronounced the difference is.

Post-Snipe-work with 3 additional decent lights things got a lot better, and if you were both in the front and possessing a camera or camcorder with decent glass then you could get good shots.  And pretty much everyone could see, at least in the first 10 rows of people or so.

But a stage show should not require a flash to get a good picture, and should not look dark to a viewer recessed 40 feet back in the room.  This was taken from just in front of the sound board, after the light fix:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9RpoilHRsm6VnUpte7LhSQ?feat=directlink (with flash, edge of the flash range so it had little effect)

For many people further back, the show looked something like this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iFwgecOGLndYw2csxHE3MA?feat=directlink

I think the lighting is a serious concern that needs a lot of work.  If there was only one thing I could improve from 2009, it would be that.

 -- Larry

[MadHatter]

Here are a few of my ideas:

1. Have a projector and large screen dedicated to performances. I
didn't even know there was going to be a projector this year, or I
would have made our show in video form to go along with it... Although
we would have to make sure the DVD player is hooked directly into the
sound as well, of course.

2. A large, game-dedicated room for playing and resting is a must. It
should honestly be just as big as the performance area was. We half
love music and half play games, pretty much. Gotta reflect that. Plus
it would be easier for people to find each other (not having to roam
random hotel corridors and look outside). This room needs to be
stocked with drinks as well. More electronic gaming, please! I was
excited to battle people from other states that challenged me to MvsC2
only to find it was just on someone's dreamcast and someone had taken
the disc. What? Need a volunteer position in this room as well to
handle everything.

3. You guys need a few positions that are dedicated to helping get
artists info and materials they need at all times. A real good helper.
I'm not sure if you had one of these or not, but Sangriaa REALLY
helped to step up and take great care of us during the festival. In
just about every way. You need a few more of her for next year. These
people should have basic, core knowledge of the audio / visual setup,
basic hotel knowledge, basic surrounding info (closest restaurant, gas
station, etc.), and always know who bands need to talk to in technical
situations.

4. WIRELESS MICS.

5. Actual water near the stage and in the green room.

6. A mascot. No, seriously. It helps in more ways than you'd think.
Ties together a lot of print, merch, and PR, too.

7. I agree, proper stage lighting is needed and isn't all that
expensive. Get some sound reactive light racks up in there! Yum! The
bright light pointed towards us was ungodly and blinding. I could only
see the crowd when I crouched down near the front, right up on people.

8. The sound was good... but could have been a lot punchier and
rounded. Our mics should have been able to go louder.

9. Purchase all artist airfare and provide proof well ahead of time. A
promoter should be utterly professional about this.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Thoughts?

[DV]

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 6:01 PM, MadHatter <scrubclu...@gmail.com> wrote:

1. Have a projector and large screen dedicated to performances. I
didn't even know there was going to be a projector this year, or I
would have made our show in video form to go along with it... Although
we would have to make sure the DVD player is hooked directly into the
sound as well, of course.

Agreed - I also talked about this in my comments to Spork.  A couple dedicated permanent projector positions are pretty much a must for this show.  So much time was spent moving them and then screwing with the keystone, etc settings to get them straight, it was nuts.  Not to even mention time spent looking for DVI-VGA adapters and the like.  A couple projectors and screens that are secured in place, with inputs well-known before the show are needed.

2. A large, game-dedicated room for playing and resting is a must.

Some place to sit, yes.  Even if the game room is just tables and chairs - some of us are too old and crotchety to sit on the floor for long.  Even if we just play Apples to Apples (which I brought), I'm happy!

4. WIRELESS MICS.

Expensive but I agree would be awesome.  Between Frontalot and STD there were some there, but I can understand artists being protective of their gear.
 

6. A mascot. No, seriously. It helps in more ways than you'd think.

A Hex-scot?   :)
 

I could only see the crowd when I crouched down near the front, right up on people.

Well, to be fair - proper stage lighting necessarily blinds the performers looking into the audience.  You should see vague black blobs if everything is working right and the house lights are down.

8. The sound was good... but could have been a lot punchier and
rounded. Our mics should have been able to go louder.

Of the 5 wired mics, there were at least 2 I consistently wasn't sure were doing anything.  The 2 known good mics got passed constantly.   Not sure where the problem was, but it lasted the whole show.

  -- Larry

[cupcake]

Put more hours in the day. It's the only way.

[krazykraker]

man... i wish i was there.... but by the way this sounds... you guys
got everything under controll! also, on the note of wireless mics...
dont they have small problems with the wireless communication and
losing the signal on occasion? i mean i love the wireless but
sometimes it seems to drop out.... and i wish i was there... iv been
doing light and sound for plays for a while so i might have been able
to giva ya a hand... but in the mean time i can help with what i can
here... with opinions... and you all suck for ebing able to make it =p

[DV]

You sound like just the kind of person whose opinion should be heard. :)

The wireless mics Frontalot, STD, et al used seemed to work well.  In fact everything in the audio worked pretty well save for some mics and perhaps the need for another hand on rare occasion.

Have you seen any video of the stage?  Any recommendations based on them?

See you in 2010!

 -- Larry

[krazykraker]

i have seen a few scattered photos... if anyone has links or anything
then i can see what i can see... but note, im not a professional, but
il still d waht i can

On Jul 22, 5:49 pm, DV <datavor...@datavortex.net> wrote:

[A. Lunde]

I have some video posted here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E291D838AAD0BC8F
With a TON more to come - like 6 more hours. I know Data Vortex posted a buttload too:
http://www.youtube.com/user/datavortex

Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lundegaard/sets/72157621483549329/

The biggest problem we ran into was the lighting - as you can see by the Devoe Spice sets, there were times where there was no lighting at all, so I had to punch up the brightness just so you could see him. We late started using a camera-mounted LED light which helped a lot, but a better lighting setup would be dreamy.

--
-- snipe
sn...@snipe.net

snipe.net | phpchick.com | pet-abuse.com |  everydayactivist.org
geekhaiku.com | crankyhaiku.com

[krazykraker]

holy crap thats alot of video O_O
ima... start that wehn i get home... lol

[MadHatter]

If the setup is proper and you have good equipment with good signals,
the only thing stopping multiple wireless mics is a bad battery.

[Z.]

I realize my words probably have very little meaning considering that
I missed this year’s show, but may I make the counterintuitive
proposal that perhaps next year we try and do a little *less*? Allow
me to explain.

As Nerdapalooza grows bigger and garners more popularity, the initial
instinct of all involved is to go bigger: to invite more artists and
offer more diversions like an open-mic area and video/ table-top
gaming. Unfortunately, these kinds of things cancel each other out. In
a weekend where going to grab a bite to eat means missing a
performance, wandering into an adjacent area to play some Munchkin
likewise means you’re compromising your gig time.

Instead, why not offer a couple less performance slots or slightly
reduce playtime in order to allow a more complete stage breakdown and
mic check. In the interim, you can implement a lot of the other ideas
being tossed around. DV’s idea of a between-set DJ or musical playlist
could smooth out the rough edges, Matt and Andrea’s idea for a common
room could give folks a place to clear out to and chill and such
interludes would make grabbing some grub much less problematic.

I know I’m talking crazy here, so feel free to stone me for
blasphemy.

--Z.

[Andrea]

Ah, Z. The voice of reason.

I understand what you are saying, and sometimes the old cliché is
true, and less really is more. I'd hate to have to compromise missing
things in order to do other things I would like. And I'd also hate for
some of our ideas to actually be implemented (like scheduled gaming in
the common room) only to be ignored because everyone's rocking out at
the main stage.

Also, someone needs to hire a professional foot massager.

--Andrea

[hex]

just to let everyone know i AM here reading all this as a bit of a
lurker. :P

i'm soaking in everything, and gonna take it back to our planning
team. also, gonna discuss to them about putting up ideas to run
through here. DV pointed it out as making it "open source," which
tugged on my heart strings as something i couldn't say no to.

<3 you all

[hex]

[krazykraker]

creepy!!! lol but... feel free to toss advice at us, i dont really
know waht went though the planning for this

[Matt Sweeney]

Now that I've had my first post-Floydfest shower, a couple of thoughts.

First, with all the "how can we make it better" chatter, I would just
like to take a second and remark on something I like about the current
NP set up. So, to Hex, and everyone else involved in planning NP,
thank you for making it a hotel based fest. This way I don't have to
lay in a tent during a several hour long down pour wondering how bad
my tent is leaking, like I did Wednesday night. Or scramble to get my
poncho on during a sudden (though luckily short) rain storm like I did
on Friday and Sunday. Oh and flush toilets and showers are nice. :)
Though, on the plus side, after 5 days of porta-johns, even my little
half bath looks freaking HUGE.

Second, I did see something at Floydfest that caused me to immediately
think, "we need this at Nerdapalooza". That being, fire dancing.
Cause let me tell you, nothing says 'night out with the freaks' like a
girl doing the hula with a flaming hula hoop, except may be that other
girl who did it with two.

Matt

p.s. despite what I said above, Floydfest was a blast. I'm already
contemplating plans for next year. And if anyone's near south western
VA this time next year, I suggest checking it out.

On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 2:04 PM, krazykraker<tater...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> creepy!!! lol but... feel free to toss advice at us, i dont really
> know waht went though the planning for this
>
>
> >
>

[Andrea]

On Jul 27, 3:15 am, Matt Sweeney <mattwswee...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Second, I did see something at Floydfest that caused me to immediately
> think, "we need this at Nerdapalooza".  That being, fire dancing.
> Cause let me tell you, nothing says 'night out with the freaks' like a
> girl doing the hula with a flaming hula hoop, except may be that other
> girl who did it with two.

I do know a couple people who do sideshow...
--Andrea