I Agree in certain points - for me as part of an exhibitng group it was the worst organized con i ever attended.
The Hallsituation in Hall5 was terrible. Hall 11/12 were big enough for the visitors - but in Hall 5 were the Fantables were squeezed in you almost needed 15 minutes for 20 meters. With Pillars right in the middle the hallways to squeeze the visitors tighter together.
For the lifesize Props: The Con was announced too short. Not even a full year. Our Group and alot of other Groups in Germany had Ideas and started Projects for lifesize Props. And one year is alot of time. Then they announced the Deadline for 1:1 props in November - 7 monts before the Con. So no time to rush- 2 Months are not enough to get a decent start. For the Tie Fighter in Hall 12: That project already started in 2011 and were exhibitted the first time, 2 monhts ago. Everything Else exhibited was old cheese.
For C7, the folks got a full 2 years extra for planing and building and its a more realistic goal.
For the Visitors: The Fedcon for example is the biggest Sci-Fi con in Germany, she is every year, 4 days long and a 4 days ticket only costs the amount of 2 CE2-tickets. So for many visitors it was a question of Money. There are around 1-2 major Sci-Fi/Fantasy Cons in germany every month with around 10k-15k- the diffrence is that the infrastructure and small size in europe give us the abbility to attend every major con on the continent. Of course those cons are not as big as the CE2 was. Actually the CE2 was the biggest con so far in europe. But People here can visit a con nearly every weekend with maximal a 10h drive. Not like in the US were you have alot of space between the major cities and need to rely on planes or plan a 2 day driving trip..
Also there was a Anime-Con in Bonn (a 1 hour Drive from Essen) at the same Weekend. Alot of the local Nerdscene (SW-Fandom also) went out to this con because it was more cheaper
For the Program: Normal Cons in Germany rely on Fans. So the Fandom takes a big part of the Program via Workshops, Panels or Shows. Its a win:win situation for the host - who get some variety in his program, for the exhibiting fans who get normaly free entry and for the visitors aswell.
for the drunken Stormies: Well this ist still Germany were kids get Beer witht the Mothersmilk
funny story from a Friend of mine who worked as a Crew-man on CE2 - while the briefing of the reed-expo (the organisatiors form the US) one of the Crewman aks what they shall do if they had to deal with drunken visitors.
The Face on the orga-guys were priceless because they properbly never expect that people drink on "Nerd-Cons" and had no preperation for this pretty common situation.
Everytime they cleaned the Grugahalle for garbage after the Panels they collected two big Bags of Beerbottles every time ^^
but the worst thing on the con were the amout of props that were stolen from the Fantables: A Glasscase on the Rebel Legion Stand were broken up and 2 Lightsabers with a 500$ worth are missing, the 501th misses a whole Backdrop and a TK-Helmet. Nearly every Fantable in Hall5 has some major and minor goods stolen. And that is Sad.
For me as visitor it would be a nice con - but for me as Exhibitor I'm glad its over and the Next CE will be in another country in 4 years maybe ^^
