JCCC4: Post Mortem (Feedback Thread)
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For those of us not impatiently waiting to travel today, let’s get this feedback thread started!
No set format, do your own thing. Try to be as clear/concise/specific/etc as you can be.
Regarding the Friday morning shadow concerts in the Labyrinth, I have a couple of suggestions:
1) Lighting: Given that stage layout, there appeared to be no way to light the performers more than the audience, so we all settled for basically performing in the dark. Performers were hard to see and pictures and video from those sets will be murky. If we can’t redirect some of the existing lighting to focus where we need it, this seems like something we could fix on our own in an ad-hoc fashion. A couple of big battery-powered flashlights duct-taped to the balcony rail or issued to folks watching from up there was the workaround that occurred to me.2) Sight lines. There are already cameras in the labyrinth set up to send a signal to video monitors in the Labyrinth. If we could somehow get a TV monitor placed on the other side of the staircase and send a video signal to it, that would nearly double the number of people on the ground floor who could hear AND SEE the performers in that venue. (As it was, I’d guesstimate that about a quarter of my audience couldn’t see me and at least half of the MollyClicks audience couldn’t see them.)
On the positive side: the techs showed up on time, the sound seemed pretty great even in those out of the way sightless areas and (unlike last year) there was no bar noise problem. And I was impressed at how many people made it to my 10am show despite all the programming running so late the night before.
UPDATE: As I now reread the above, my initial suggestions all seem like TERRIBLE ideas. The chief problem with putting our own lights in the balcony area is they could fall and kill somebody on the main floor (floor-level lights might work better). And there’s no way it’s worth the effort to put in a TV monitor there JUST for our shadow events unless we’re planning to do quite a lot of them – in cases where we think we’d NEED it that’s a clear second- or third-best option behind “use a bigger room”. Really, the only thing I find salvageable is: if we’re putting real *shows* in Labyrinth we should (1) be prepared to bring in EXTRA chairs from outside the room, (2) think more about how to improve the lighting situation.
i just noticed this thread isn’t in the joco cruise category of the forums, perhaps it shold be moved? i have no idea how one does that…
“i…hate to say it, but i think we’re going to need line management next year…”
Not sure what you mean. We mostly _had_ line management. I know that for the Studio B shows they didn’t do anything because there wasn’t anywhere to _put_ a line.What issue did you see?@arenson9: i didn’t see much in the way of line management at the Alhambra theater at all, and was specifically told there wasn’t any by at least one helper monkey. i stood in line for the shows several times only to have a large number of people just mill about near the front entrance outside the line and then merge into the line as it went in.
additionally, before the Jim Boggia/Thrilling Adventure Hour show, one line was formed leading left down the stairs as you faced the doors. many people stood in that line for a long time, then suddenly there was another line formed going in the other direction allowing people who’d arrived much later to get a better spot relative to getting into the theater than some who’d joined the existing line.it didn’t matter much to me personally—i prefer to sit in the balcony because it’s far less crowded, and there’s always been plenty of room up there—but if we’re going to have more monkeys in future years, it will make a difference.It was awesome meeting Seamonkeys, and the performances were great.
Affirmed that cruises are not my style, but I suppose that was the only way to confirm my suspicion. ..Having looked at some Labyrinth photos, I think the oversize chairs we moved in there – while comfy – aren’t space-efficient. We might have been able to fit more people in by filling it with a stack of say, regular non-couch folding chairs, if such might be obtained.
(Two anecdotes I heard while doing “restaurant concerts” late Friday night: (1) a monkey who had attended the Adam/Glen show didn’t know what I looked like because she had only *heard* our show but couldn’t *see* any of it. (2) a pair of monkeys who had tried to attend both morning shows said they didn’t stay for Molly’s portion because “they were too tired from standing up for so long”)The late night performances killed me. I had to skip more than I wanted to just because I couldn’t stay up until 2am. I’m cool with events going on late (dance parties, karaoke), but headlining performers should be earlier in the day if at all possible.
I know this was mentioned and discussed at the management Q&A, but I also know that many people were too tired to attend the 9am Q&A after being up until 2 🙂My quick and dirty post-mortem notes and observations, in no particular order:* Unlike some, I actually liked having the PF Thompkins Memorial merged with the Live Band Karaoke session. I’ve always felt the PFT Mustache Formal was a bit on the unnecessary side, using up a prime time slot that could otherwise hold some other performance in the general interest of (mostly failing) to get the more introverted Sea Monkeys to get out there and socialize. Also, shadow cruise events and Twit-arrrr seem to do a much better job of bringing new/introverted monkeys in off the sidelines than a formal party.* Office Hours events are a fantastic idea and a great solution for resolving the endless signature-mongering that used to occur at the farewell party. I totally support having more Office Hours on future cruises. The farewell party on JCCC4 was by far the most enjoyable of all of the cruises because most of the people who wanted random autographs/photos/story swapping/etc. got a lot of that done at the individual Office Hour events for the performers who held them.* I really like the Royal Caribbean atmosphere; much fewer odd questions from snorks, and fewer puzzled looks even after explaining what JCCC is. Spoke with several other Sea Monkeys who echoed the same experience.* Would it be unfair to ask that anyone signing up for Live Band Karaoke at least have a passing familiarity with the songs they want to perform on-stage? I understand that it’s a common dream for people to get up in front of a stage and perform for a crowd, but it seems to me like there ought to be some personal responsibility for making sure you don’t crash and burn on stage (and force the crowd to cheer out of sympathy instead of enjoyment – see my further similar comments below about Open Mic night for more of my thoughts on this).* The compressed time schedule of JCCC4 really drained everyone; the game room was emptier this year than in any previous year because people just didn’t have the spare time or energy to spend in there. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think my realization of this happened when David Rees walked in at something like 3AM and was surprised that hardly anyone was still awake/playing board games.* Personal pet peeve: Open Mic night is a broken event and needs to be fixed or tossed, in my opinion.I mentioned this to a couple of fellow Sea Monkeys, but I felt like the Open Mic event needs some work or a rethink. I’m always supportive of fellow monkeys getting up the courage to try something scary, but I think the cruise is not a good venue for people to just randomly try something that they haven’t properly rehearsed.My position is that we’re all paying a lot of money to travel out and be entertained, and while it’s an easy thing to be sympathetic to a fellow Sea Monkey who is struggling up on the stage, sympathy is not entertainment, and there was a little too much need of the former and not enough of the latter at Open Mic. Also, motivational speaking, while a grand thing, is also not entertainment; it’s a fantastic tool to help those who need a little push, but by and large Sea Monkeys tend to be fairly well self-motivated (if we weren’t, we wouldn’t have bothered to sign up for the cruise in the first place, yes?).Beyond that, the prohibition on stand-up comedy was only loosely adhered to. There were some dodgy almost-stand-up comedy routines that were dressed up as stories, but ended up being somewhat neutered in both the humor and pertinence as a result.I felt Open Mic night was the least coherent of the “official” scheduled events, and for me personally, the least enjoyable by a large margin.What @keegsg said. Move performers and celebrity events earlier in evening. My only real annoyance. I missed some things..or just could not appreciate them as much …when so late as to end 1 or 2 a.m. Karyoke party is fun but works just as well later or a brief filler if needed between shows. It is not the major reason I came and without live Joco band not the star attraction.
I think some of the line issues might be solved by noting when doors should be open and when the show should reasonably start, so that the many of us who don’t want to spend our vacations standing in a line can arrive in the window between doors and start. (I know this is iffy since the very limited sound/tech check times means everything may run later, but my whole experience was much better later in the cruise when we started showing up at the listed showtime knowing it wouldn’t have started yet and we could still find a seat. YMMV on whether that would still be workable if we reached a size where we filled the main theater.)
I brought this up in the management Q&A: On JCCC3, there were concerts in Studio B. People came to Studio B and listened to concerts, even though it is a kind of weird and casual venue. On JCCC4, there were concerts in Studio B, and people carried on conversations nonstop all over the venue. I even had friends who were down on the floor during one of the show and could hear all the talking from the seats and above. To be very clear, this was not excitement about/involvement with this show. It was random, loud conversations constantly from beginning to end.
This really, really affected my enjoyment of both the first JoCo show and Pomplamoose. I’d love it if there were way for shows in Studio B to be about listening instead of talking.
And just to repeat, I don’t remember it being like that in Studio B last year. And I’m also not talking about the dance party and whatnot … just the live performances with human beings on stage who in theory we all paid a bunch of money to listen to.
Still thinking about my actual feedback, but I vehemently disagree with @Icemage about amateur performances. The entire POINT is that Sea Monkeys are a more supportive crowd than you will find anywhere else, so it’s a safe space for risk taking. If that is not your deal, there is no requirement to go to Open Mic.
As far as JoCo live band karaoke is concerned: I do like to see people rock it, but I know from my experience on the first cruise that even if you know a song inside out, if you are not ALSO experienced at karaoke or stage performance it is likely to be a train wreck. To a certain extent the event already self-selects for those who think they will do well—think of how few people signed up for certain songs.
I am 100% against shaming people for not putting on a professional enough show. Getting the nerve to get up on stage in the first place is a huge deal for many Sea Monkeys, and I will never stop being delighted by everyone who makes that leap. There are so many events on the cruise that you can easily skip those that have an amateur performance component in favour of things you find more entertaining.
By not having registration at the hotel the day before, the afternoon of embarkation became a much busier affair. I also have the sense that registration at the hotel for JCCC3 brought out a bunch of the first timers to start interacting with other attendees earlier.
Mind you, I expect that doing the registration at the hotel(s) before embarkation is a logistical nightmare.
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