A little about why I was at PDXCon. I live in Seattle and am married with a 2 year old kid. I mostly play EU4 (time is limited with a toddler). My wife and I were overdue for a vacation, and have discussed trips to Europe; narrowing them down to Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain, and France. When I saw this event, PDXCon, I proposed we align our vacation so we can also go to this event. We planned a two week trip to Germany with Baron tickets to Saturday PDXCon. we didn’t plan a vacation around PDXCon, but it drove the decision to come here. We just got home last night.
I had fun at PDXCon. The announcement show was awesome and delivered on the expected hype. The booths were pretty cool and the goodie bag was awesome (although probably could've been a digital goodie bag). The only feedback I wanted to provide is, in my opinion, the venue was too small.
Don’t get me wrong. The venue was very cool. If not for PDXCon I never would’ve seen the Funkhaus, a very cool building with a unique history. And maybe being an American changes how I think open space is needed at these types of events, but in my opinion the venue proved multiple times to be too small to get an enjoyable experience. Here are my examples.
The announcement show: it seemed there was seating for maybe 1200 people at the main stage. Paradox indicated there were 2,000 people there and I assume all of them want to see the announcement show. I arrived at 9:45 and the seating was filled. We ended up standing three rows deep in the back behind a pillar that blocked half the stage. Partly my fault for coming so late, but I also assumed there would be enough seating for the main announcement show.
I immediately went upstairs for the streamer show in the auditorium. There were probably 200 chairs in the auditorium which, in the presentations I saw going on there were more than enough. That was good. Except it was on one half of a hallway shared with the amphitheater. When presentations were going on at both, it was nearly impossible to hear in the auditorium. This was made worse because there was a gathering area behind the auditorium that echoed over the auditorium stage. If anyone was back there talking it was nearly impossible to hear the presentations.
After a few presentations I decided to check out the store. We waited in line for 40 minutes to get into the store to see what it even had. It worked like a queuing line even through the store. You couldn’t just walk in and browse and walk out or come back later. It was a 40 minute commitment the entire time I was at the event.
The final straw for me on the day was I went to the amphitheater for the Clausewitz presentation. The announcement show brought me to PDXCon, but the Engine presentation was why I stayed all day. There was probably room in the location for 70 people and there were about 150 that wanted to see the presentation. I tried to get there early, but everyone from the previous presentation stayed for the Clausewitz one, too. A lot packed in and got headphones, more packed in and tried to just listen, and others were left standing room only. It was difficult to hear, but not impossible. Until the presentation in the auditorium started. Probably 40 people walked away as soon as that presentation started (myself included) because there was no way anyone was going to hear the Clausewitz presentation. I figured “I’ll just watch it online” as I walked away disappointed and went back to my hotel for the day. As of right now I still haven’t found this presentation available to watch online.
My hope is that future PDXCons vet their venue and the space they truly need. Sure, Funkhaus can hold 2,500 people no problem, but when there are booths and computers everywhere, the space really shrinks and takes away from the experience. I told my wife as we walked away, I wouldn’t go out of my way to attend this event in the future, which is unfortunate because of how much I like paradox games, the community, and the experience of video game conventions.
I had fun at PDXCon. The announcement show was awesome and delivered on the expected hype. The booths were pretty cool and the goodie bag was awesome (although probably could've been a digital goodie bag). The only feedback I wanted to provide is, in my opinion, the venue was too small.
Don’t get me wrong. The venue was very cool. If not for PDXCon I never would’ve seen the Funkhaus, a very cool building with a unique history. And maybe being an American changes how I think open space is needed at these types of events, but in my opinion the venue proved multiple times to be too small to get an enjoyable experience. Here are my examples.
The announcement show: it seemed there was seating for maybe 1200 people at the main stage. Paradox indicated there were 2,000 people there and I assume all of them want to see the announcement show. I arrived at 9:45 and the seating was filled. We ended up standing three rows deep in the back behind a pillar that blocked half the stage. Partly my fault for coming so late, but I also assumed there would be enough seating for the main announcement show.
I immediately went upstairs for the streamer show in the auditorium. There were probably 200 chairs in the auditorium which, in the presentations I saw going on there were more than enough. That was good. Except it was on one half of a hallway shared with the amphitheater. When presentations were going on at both, it was nearly impossible to hear in the auditorium. This was made worse because there was a gathering area behind the auditorium that echoed over the auditorium stage. If anyone was back there talking it was nearly impossible to hear the presentations.
After a few presentations I decided to check out the store. We waited in line for 40 minutes to get into the store to see what it even had. It worked like a queuing line even through the store. You couldn’t just walk in and browse and walk out or come back later. It was a 40 minute commitment the entire time I was at the event.
The final straw for me on the day was I went to the amphitheater for the Clausewitz presentation. The announcement show brought me to PDXCon, but the Engine presentation was why I stayed all day. There was probably room in the location for 70 people and there were about 150 that wanted to see the presentation. I tried to get there early, but everyone from the previous presentation stayed for the Clausewitz one, too. A lot packed in and got headphones, more packed in and tried to just listen, and others were left standing room only. It was difficult to hear, but not impossible. Until the presentation in the auditorium started. Probably 40 people walked away as soon as that presentation started (myself included) because there was no way anyone was going to hear the Clausewitz presentation. I figured “I’ll just watch it online” as I walked away disappointed and went back to my hotel for the day. As of right now I still haven’t found this presentation available to watch online.
My hope is that future PDXCons vet their venue and the space they truly need. Sure, Funkhaus can hold 2,500 people no problem, but when there are booths and computers everywhere, the space really shrinks and takes away from the experience. I told my wife as we walked away, I wouldn’t go out of my way to attend this event in the future, which is unfortunate because of how much I like paradox games, the community, and the experience of video game conventions.