FFXIV Fanfest 2023 North America safety/security/disability support issues discussion

[Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeej]

I don't see it in a search for "fanfest safety", so I guess I'll start the thread.

I'm a Vegas local, and an FFXIV player, and hope to see fanfest come back to my town in the future.

That said, it looks like there were some issues on the floor this last weekend regarding security and disability access to events, particularly pertaining to communication to festival attendees and communication ability within the event execution staff (no radios for event staff? How did communication even happen?)

There's quite a bit of coverage and first-hand accounting on this as of Tuesday 1 AUG 23:

• https://twitter.com/Azekthi/status/1685527714256592896 "I need to talk about security at #FFXIVFanFest in the Las Vegas Convention Center."
• https://twitter.com/PSOflow/status/1685676020668751872 "I wanted to take a moment to talk about #FanFest2023 and the ADA experience."
• https://twitter.com/chainspells/stat...01795538513920 "been to every NA fanfest since the first, but i'm pretty sure this is going to be my last one."
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF9Nu78_l2U ZeplaHQ actually interviews the above poster to get a first hand accounting of what they experienced on the fanfest floor.
• https://twitter.com/shandravdeg/stat...86670781779970 "I am very disappointed at the ADA accommodations at the Primals concert."
• https://twitter.com/Ahzuvi_txt/statu...490781696?s=20 Video from the point of view of a patron in the ADA section during the primals concert when the group was told to step away from the stage and was forced to inch closer to the row of seated disabled people.

My own question here: Is there someone or some process of providing feedback to SQEX, specifically the person in charge on the SQEX side of things for organizing fanfest? I think lessons need to be learned from this situation so that the next fanfest can go much more smoothly--not just for disabled people but for all attendees--via well-communicated and well-enforced security rules. It would be nice to know that someone is listening to us and taking these concerns seriously.

Thank you.
-Nacl Free, who in real life is a resident of Clark County NV near Las Vegas and really wants you guys to return to Vegas next time there's a NA fanfest.

[Karious]

Why does it matter that Zelpa interviewed them? What does that have to do with any of the above points?

[Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeej]

my bad, I meant to prefix that with a youtube link to the video interview. The intent was to provide some data for context.

[Karious]

Oh okay, that makes much more sense. Good stuff on the correction.

[Brightamethyst]

They were clearly not prepared for the sheer number of people at the event. The event staff they had preformed admirably under the circumstances, and did fix what they could on the fly when possible, but they were completely overwhelmed.

Security on the other hand was a huge joke. Effectively non-existent. I did not see the security team do a single god damn thing all weekend.

[ManaEterna]

It is my understanding that posting on this very forum is the best way for this information to be transmited to SE.
I am certain that the community team is aware of this.

[Tsumdere]

I just returned from Fanfest and I think the Las Vegas Convention Center was supremely unprepared.

The convention hall vendors ran out of food and water. I don't know how. You would think a place of that size wouldn't struggle to provide for a single hall convention.
The convention hall security literally didn't care. We ended up just bringing entire McDonald's bags straight through security. Hell... once we saw how much the security didn't care, we even brought in someone who DIDN'T HAVE A TICKET and they didn't check. This person just showed up to Fanfest for free with no problem.
There was only seating for probably like 30% of the crowd so people were sitting on the ground for Keynote/Live Letter/Cosplay Contest/PvP. There was also no line ropes. These are problems with the LACC I assume.

The SquareEnix staff seemed overwhelmed and understaffed, but I wonder how much of it was the actual convention security throwing in the towel like 2 hours in.

Both SE and LVCC were at fault, but I think the LVCC issues were far, far more egregious. Literally anyone could have brought a gun in if they wanted and LVCC couldn't provide basic amenities like seating and food. The fact that we got in someone with no ticket at all with 0 issues was particularly horrific. Lucky for them we weren't psychopaths and just wanted to watch Primals with a friend who couldn't grab a ticket in time.

-

And just to be ultra clear - SE is at fault for not having merch purchasable on the app and not having t-shirts for the battle challenge. They could have had more variety with mini-games or activities. Having another themed lounge like the Radz-at-Han one would have been nice. Just more to kinda spread out the lines.
Everything else was undeniably LVCC's fault.

[Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeej]

I actually called the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (lvcva.com), which is in charge of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and spoke briefly with someone about who is responsible for providing ADA accommodations. The person I spoke with said that anything facility and infrastructure-related was under the purview of LVCVA--think availability of handicapped parking, ramps for wheelchairs, working elevators, etc. I specifically asked if they were in charge of providing support staff for events and the LVCVA representative said "no". Anything happening inside a leased hall is the responsibility of the event organizer, who in this case is SQEX. Even if SQEX hired a contractor to plan and execute the event, it is still in SQEX's house to make sure the contractor is executing according to their wishes. I think the way this is panning out, we're going to find out that SQEX should have brought on a consultant to ensure the event plan met ADA and general safety requirements inside the hall itself.

-Nacl

[Avenger]

LVCC hosts huge conventions with 100-200K attendees, so it's puzzling that a 14-15K convention had so many serious event management issues. SE should probably have contracted experienced local event management who were skilled in handling much larger conventions at the LVCC.

There was more than enough space for everyone to queue inside, so it's puzzling that they had attendees queue for an hour or more outside in the sun and 108º heat on the first day. That seemed risky. Entry was slower than expected given that large conventions like SDCC get tens of thousands of people through the entrance queue in 15 minutes.

Dehydration is a serious issue, so it's puzzling that they had so few water stations outside the show floor and no water stations inside. Also I was disappointed when security confiscated everyone's empty water bottles at the Eorzean Symphony concert. Buying water bottles or other drinks was very difficult as well and the North Hall food court was closed for reasons unknown. The app told us to drink water and eat food, but it was very difficult to follow that advice given the ban on outside food and the very inadequate inside options.

The merch/battle queue mob on the first day was something else, just a huge sea of 5000 people. It did not look safe and I could imagine domino crushing issues. Similar at the concert. For fanfest it isn't surprising that everyone wanted to see the keynote and concerts but there was no crowd, line, or space management and everyone was crammed in like sardines. Perhaps some of the huge amounts of unused space at the LVCC could have been used to relieve some of the dangerous crowding.

[Brightamethyst]

Dehydration is a serious issue, so it's puzzling that they had so few water stations outside the show floor and no water stations inside.

To be fair, there were several water stations in the room. They definitely weren't visible enough, but that's on the convention center not SE.