Campaign 09 Feedback (previously known as "Ulrich is a tw*t").

[Matski]

The decision or the delivery of the decision?

About the ice cream pirates - you don't have to pay for anything if you haven't been informed of the price. Let them serve it, then negotiate as it starts to melt. Better yet, go as a group and order ten.

I hate crap like that.

 

[Bla Bla Bla]

What parent would take them back off the kids after realising they had just been robbed so blatantly and cynically?
QUOTE]

A brave one..

 

[john251282]

I have been involved with business from a very young age and now run my own business helping other businesses.

Based on the feelings that people have been posting up, the Millennium Series is headed down a very common and dangerous route.

They are basically interested in money and that is it. This means they are prepared to compromise their offering to the customers(i.e. us!). This is about the worst way to run a business.

The best businesses have a passion and focus, if I were running the series, mine would be something like. We drive to offer the best paintball event series in the world. Based on this goal, I would be looking at other series, previous events, etc to see what they did right and wrong. Then see what I could do to improve and change so that I can be proud to say I offer the best!!

Off the top of my head, a picnic area and put the venue close to a supermarket. If you have someone good at dealing with people in a business situation you might be able to organise some sort of a special offer on food/drink. Maybe 5-10% off if 5+ people buy the lunch meal or something. Of course on site catering would also be available or if possible put it next to an established place e.g. Burger king, etc. As they will be less likely to try to rip you off.

Then with vendors and shops less keen on attending events, put promotions on so they get excited about wanting to come. Anything from tech classes, or product demo areas. Lots of photo and video coverage. Even if it is done by amateurs who would volunteer in exchange for free pass around the players area and the chance to speak to some of the top players.

Do whatever is possible in terms of a fair price for players/shops/visitors.

Now this could not be achieved over night and to start a downsizing would probably be needed, but this all follows a very simple cycle around loyalty. If you have loyal customers(players/vendors), loyal staff and loyal investors you are vastly more likely to be successful. In this case I do not think they have much loyalty from customers in particular. This means that if next week I or anyone else wanted to start a new series. Offered the things I mentioned above and more. I think that I could take, the majority of teams and most vendors with very little difficulty and take them through the best paintball series they have ever had!

With this focus and passion to achieve the best paintball series, it is would with any luck be well attended and regarded as a great event. As soon as the event is finished I will be making notes on how to improve it for next year before getting ready for the next event.

This then drives loyalty with teams and vendors. This means lots of positive press for the series and the likely hood of a bigger event the following year! So it will keep getting better. After a while you will have very loyal customers/vendors and you will have made some money as a side product.

No companies should be driven purely by money, I think the Millennium have forgotten this.

P.S. Yes public companies are a bit different but that is a story for another day

 

[mikie]

i thought it was one of the worse millennium events i have attended (Belgium still trumps it though) the security was slacking and this resulted in a number of thefts, one of those from the press tent. Getting a press pass for the year is incredibly expensive and i was under the impression some of this cost was justified by the extra security their expensive equipment would get in the press tent.
I only saw security in the parking area on one of the 5 days i was there (though i was one of the first on site each day and one of the last to leave so i can not comment on what went on at other points.)

Food was a robbery but that has already been said.

The rude resection i got from some of the millennium staff was also a joke (though maybe i just got the wrong guy). Sometimes they seem to forget that players and vendors are paying to attend these events, regardless of if you are a little busy if you are the only person on the front desk surely you have to expect to answer a few questions, especially if the other people need this information to do their jobs.

The reffing on one of the fields was a joke (though the ultimate i know is very competent he seemed to be surrounded by morons). I saw one player 3 for1nd and banned for walking out of bounds and then running over to the buzzer as he realised he was the only player left alive, though this in itself was overzealous the penalty wasn't actually pulled until he got back in the pits so what was going on for the minuet or so on the field.
The same field made one match last 9 points with two points being played all the way through (lasting about 2 or some mins each) before deciding they were no points because one of the teams had broken early. This even went as far as them declaring one of the teams the winner before deciding the point needed to be played again allowing the other team to win.

this was on top of the usual and understandable human error calls

 

[Dave284]

Off the top of my head, a picnic area and put the venue close to a supermarket. If you have someone good at dealing with people in a business situation you might be able to organise some sort of a special offer on food/drink. Maybe 5-10% off if 5+ people buy the lunch meal or something. Of course on site catering would also be available or if possible put it next to an established place e.g. Burger king, etc. As they will be less likely to try to rip you off.

Or maybe 20% off your bill at a local restaurant? Thats a great idea! why didnt they think of that.

(btw - couldnt really read the rest of the post, was too long and too many words for me)

 

[stongle]

I have been involved with business from a very young age and now run my own business helping other businesses.

Based on the feelings that people have been posting up, the Millennium Series is headed down a very common and dangerous route.

They are basically interested in money and that is it. This means they are prepared to compromise their offering to the customers(i.e. us!). This is about the worst way to run a business.

The best businesses have a passion and focus, if I were running the series, mine would be something like. We drive to offer the best paintball event series in the world. Based on this goal, I would be looking at other series, previous events, etc to see what they did right and wrong. Then see what I could do to improve and change so that I can be proud to say I offer the best!!

Off the top of my head, a picnic area and put the venue close to a supermarket. If you have someone good at dealing with people in a business situation you might be able to organise some sort of a special offer on food/drink. Maybe 5-10% off if 5+ people buy the lunch meal or something. Of course on site catering would also be available or if possible put it next to an established place e.g. Burger king, etc. As they will be less likely to try to rip you off.

Then with vendors and shops less keen on attending events, put promotions on so they get excited about wanting to come. Anything from tech classes, or product demo areas. Lots of photo and video coverage. Even if it is done by amateurs who would volunteer in exchange for free pass around the players area and the chance to speak to some of the top players.

Do whatever is possible in terms of a fair price for players/shops/visitors.

Now this could not be achieved over night and to start a downsizing would probably be needed, but this all follows a very simple cycle around loyalty. If you have loyal customers(players/vendors), loyal staff and loyal investors you are vastly more likely to be successful. In this case I do not think they have much loyalty from customers in particular. This means that if next week I or anyone else wanted to start a new series. Offered the things I mentioned above and more. I think that I could take, the majority of teams and most vendors with very little difficulty and take them through the best paintball series they have ever had!

With this focus and passion to achieve the best paintball series, it is would with any luck be well attended and regarded as a great event. As soon as the event is finished I will be making notes on how to improve it for next year before getting ready for the next event.

This then drives loyalty with teams and vendors. This means lots of positive press for the series and the likely hood of a bigger event the following year! So it will keep getting better. After a while you will have very loyal customers/vendors and you will have made some money as a side product.

No companies should be driven purely by money, I think the Millennium have forgotten this.

P.S. Yes public companies are a bit different but that is a story for another day

I would imagine, that anyone being paid to advise a business would perform some appropriate level of due dilligence and research before going public with their views. Whilst your points, have a basic merit I think you ignore many of the difficulties faced in putting onsuch as event. And if it were really so easy, why don't you make the 50-100k investment in the hope that teams book in and play? I mean I could counter your thoughts by saying that it's just a dangerous to think putting on an event is easy, and those that do are doomed to fail (probably taking the customers money with it).

As for

No companies should be driven purely by money, I think the Millennium have forgotten this.

well, I'm not sure when the Millennium became a charity but companies exist to make money. How they choose to achieve this and how successful they are are largely dependent upon how they act. Improved customer service, increased consumer value perception, hell even breaking up the ice cream cartel are only means to the end of making money.

The Millennium exists as a business, and as such it's core aim has to be to make money, otherwise why invest and put on the events? Sure there are a lot of ways they can improve the customer service, but not at the risk of operating at a loss. I mean I agree with some of your points, but these are not the first considerations for a business. The Millennium is not some benelovent force prepared to put on events for a few hundred Tounament players with no return. I mean, if you think about it in the wider sense does a Millennium event actually get more people out playing Paintball at customer sites (at least in sufficient numbers to cover the investment)?

Yes, there are a whole lot of things the Millennium could and probably should do better - Ulrich and food venders being top of the list; but maybe the consumer is already expecting too much for too little? Perhaps tournament paintball is actually beyond the reach of the super gifted (and factory sponsored) or super rich?

 

[Piper]

i thought it was one of the worse millennium events i have attended (Belgium still trumps it though) the security was slacking and this resulted in a number of thefts, one of those from the press tent. Getting a press pass for the year is incredibly expensive and i was under the impression some of this cost was justified by the extra security their expensive equipment would get in the press tent.
I only saw security in the parking area on one of the 5 days i was there (though i was one of the first on site each day and one of the last to leave so i can not comment on what went on at other points.)

Food was a robbery but that has already been said.

The rude resection i got from some of the millennium staff was also a joke (though maybe i just got the wrong guy). Sometimes they seem to forget that players and vendors are paying to attend these events, regardless of if you are a little busy if you are the only person on the front desk surely you have to expect to answer a few questions, especially if the other people need this information to do their jobs.

The reffing on one of the fields was a joke (though the ultimate i know is very competent he seemed to be surrounded by morons). I saw one player 3 for1nd and banned for walking out of bounds and then running over to the buzzer as he realised he was the only player left alive, though this in itself was overzealous the penalty wasn't actually pulled until he got back in the pits so what was going on for the minuet or so on the field.
The same field made one match last 9 points with two points being played all the way through (lasting about 2 or some mins each) before deciding they were no points because one of the teams had broken early. This even went as far as them declaring one of the teams the winner before deciding the point needed to be played again allowing the other team to win.

this was on top of the usual and understandable human error calls

Yes Belgium is still the winner of worst event, but Campaign Cup this year was one of the best I have been to, your comment in my eyes (and seeing as I have attended all but 3 since the Millennium has been going) is way off! I can name about 5 other Millenniums that where far worse than this Campaign Cup. The venue was good playing surface was good ample parking...... So waht excatly was so bad? Reffing is always hit and miss and very hard to get right, security is about the only valid point you have!

 

[spangley_special]

No, but my £5.50 hot dog tasted like it had been on the frier for a week!

gutted, mine cost 3 quid haha

 

[Marc0]

I have attended a few Milleniums and this one had me worried as soon as I turned up Thursday afternoon.

The place had as much atmosphere as an asteroid floating around deep in outer space.

The SPL field was almost completely ignored by spectators due to it's location, the trade village was half the size of previous events I have attended, food vendors were short in choice , low in quality and very high in price.

I went to get a few teas and coffee's for the squad but at £1.50 per cup would have needed to get a bank loan to water all the guys.

Worst of all however was the location and layout meant NO non-paintball spectators, they were actually fenced off so they could not even wander over from the urban farm place next door ?????

Let alone the distance from all major travel points ie trains, buses and most of all airports !

I feel the board should look again at what they are trying to achieve with holding an event at a location like this in the future, even at venues like Crystal Palace and NEC the spectators were much more involved and excited and people were attracted to the event by heavy local media coverage in the run up meaning much larger and more interested spectating.

It was good to watch some quality matches in the CPL and beyond and glad to see the CPL and SPL field did not use the inflatable netting systems meaning easier viewing.

Overall and average event, not what we pay for and expect at a Millenium .

Laters

 

[Lovetone]

Why are people bitching about the price of food and drink?

One question just to get it out the way: can you take your own food and drink?

If the answer is yes, then there isnt really an argument to be had.
Make yourself some sandwiches, pack fruit and biscuits whatever, and a thermos / big bottle of water.

simples.