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Orinoco -

British Juggling Convention 2014 HLGCBS

H: The Ceilidh on Monday night with Tiff's legendary band. The Atrium was a fantastic place to dance & was filled with ridiculously enthusiastic revelers. I went at it with everything I had as usual & it was great to get swept away in the moment.

L: The wind on Sunday & the damage it caused. I came out relatively unscathed but it made some of my friends unhappy :(

G: Qualify for Fight Night, then not to go out in the first round. Check & Check!

C: Joy again, never has a girl been more aptly named.

B: Only being able to be in one place at one time.

S: Abi, Sam, Kat & Dee strolling into the business meeting looking fabulous dressed up to the nines in posh frocks & completely derailing the discussion!

#hlgcbs #bjc2014

Topper - - Parent

H: Meeting friends, the site, the team. The TWJC bar. The breakfast at Veras Cafe in Darton, well worth the 25 min walk.
Watching Cal eat a Banana.

L: The cold breakfasts being served on site.

G: Practice my 5 clubs and double balance every day. To talk to a lot of new people. Have fun and relax.

C: Anything Pink.

B: The bloody wind.

S: No surprises.

magicalmarkwatson - - Parent

H: Has to be compering the BYJOTY competition! Such a wealth of young talent on show and it was a privilege to be able to introduce them all. Hope the audience enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed presenting... Also the fight night qualification event was really great fun! Didn't get anywhere close to reaching the finals, but was great fun competing against everyone!

L: My body didn't last quite the whole week. I started to get a cold on Tuesday/Wednesday and then on Wednesday night I managed to crack all the skin on my knuckles playing gladiators. They'll take a few days to recover...

G: Get back on track with some serious juggling - ACHIEVED! Managed my first 5 ball pirouette and my first 6 club asynchronous fountain flash!

C: Tough one as there was so many great people around, would probably have to go with Luke Burrage for the sheer amount of things he did and particularly for organising the Fight Night which was one of the best events of the convention!

B: It was colder at night than I would have liked, but not much we could do about that.

S: Definitely getting my 6 club flash!

The Void - - Parent

H: Arriving, setting up, then leaving site to go and see The Scaramanga Six in the Puzzle Hall at Sowerby Bridge. Why this band aren't massive is completely beyond me. (Check them out on Bandcamp for free.)

L: Seemingly dropping every time Luke said my name on-mic, during the games.

G: Chill out, have fun, play a little kendama, shoot the EKO Pro division tricks. All checked.

C: Kev for kendama enthusiasm, which rubbed off on me.

B: Shows in the Atrium? Meh.

S: Fight Night was entertaining! (Didn't drag on). Good weather (predominantly).

peterbone - - Parent

H: Lots of juggling in a great venue.

L: Was ill the whole time.

G: I don't have goals at conventions.

C: Frederique juggling every day and visibly improving.

B: Not seeing the original line-up of acts in the Gala show.

S: So many people interested in trying out the dual balance. Next convention I'll bring more poles.

rosiejane -

For anyone who missed Katie's post on Facebook, she is putting in an extra order for anyone who is interested in getting BJC Merchandise. Please email katie@bjc2014.co.uk. Including hoods, zipped and bags.

Thanks :)

Mïark - - Parent

Photographs of the fabulous t-shirts and hoodys for sale at this year's BJC can be found on www.bjc2014.co.uk/merchandise-3/

#bjc2014

Orinoco -

Natalie has created an online survey to get some feedback for #BJC2014.

Q: What would stop you from coming to a BJC?
A: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (fortunately not applicable this year because their horses were not allowed on site)

Orinoco - - Parent

You can also just look at the results.

I knew vegetarianism was just a fad.

Mike Moore - - Parent

While I knew what they meant, I think "meat eater" is a strange "dietary requirement". Wouldn't something like "omnivorous" be better? Or better still, entitle it "dietary restrictions" and have none as a possible response.

Mïark - - Parent

Some meat eaters get audibly distressed when there are no meat products available as opposed to omnivores who might happily select the vegetarian/vegan option if it looks more appetising.

mrawa - - Parent

I'm not sure why, but the results only show 15 of the 48 questions...

Mïark - - Parent

It's in the small print

Results for open-ended questions are not displayed

mrawa - - Parent

bah! There were some open-ended questions that would be interesting to know results of!

Mïark - - Parent

That is not the right answer, as there are other non-open-ended questions - maybe 15 is the limit for the price-plan that Natalie has chosen.

rosiejane - - Parent

Talking to Natalie, once we come to the end of a decided period of time to close the survey she will publish the results for all to see.

Mïark - - Parent

Is a shame question 4 (How many BJC's have you been to?) doesn't have 1 as an option on its own, it might be interesting to know if any new people came to BJC this year.

It's Him - - Parent

I know of 7 people who enjoyed their first BJC this year. Six of them are from Milton Keynes!

Nigel

Brook Roberts - - Parent

Indeed, I know of a few newbies as well, and probably their feedback is almost more interesting, as someone who has been to the previous 5 BJC's is far more likely to be attending the next one than someone who has come to their first - their feedback might be more helpful.

Mïark - - Parent

It might also be useful for BJC organisers to know how many jugglers need BJC to not be in school/college/university term times.
Maybe something to add to the next survey.

Dee - - Parent

The comments/suggestions have all been noted.  Next year I will run a more organised survey where more time is taken to reflect on questions.  This year, the decision was made to strike quickly with the questionnaire, meaning that we didn't have time to carefully craft the questions as is best practice. 

I will be analysing the results shortly [I will leave the survey open over the weekend] - probably over the bank holiday weekend and will be reporting back via facebook and here about the main findings.  A more complex and detailed report will be created for future (as 2013) organisers.

Little Paul - - Parent

While I think about it, living vehicle stats:

Sat am 48
Sun lunch 54
Mon lunch 55
Tues lunch 55
Weds eve 51

I wasn't all that consistent about time of day, and my intentions to classify "small van/motor home/small caravan/large caravan" didn't happen as I forgot my clipboard so had to do it on my fingers.

Hope it's of some use, numbers include vehicles on the hard standing, by the food vans, by the pavilion, and I only counted transits where it was obvious someone was living in it.

mrawa - - Parent

LP that's some really useful stats!

I wonder how many of those stayed throughout the week and joined midway. I wouldn't have expected statistics on that to be captured.

Orinoco -

The 27th British Juggling Convention, Barnsley

Admit it: you've been waiting for this. Go get your cup of tea, you're going to need it.

Thursday

It wasn't the most successful of journeys to Barnsley. I first got stuck behind a massive house being transported through Hawkhurst on the way to Kevin's place, a closure on the M25 forced us the long way around London then we seemingly hit every accident & hold up on the M1. We arrived on site dead on six pm not in the best of moods.

We were quickly informed that the rules were very explicit in not allowing us to bring any horses on site so I texted the second wave of TWJC to make sure they left the cavalry at home. Natalie was petting her gorgeous pet hedgehog which was permitted.

After finding out what would be going on Kev & I went for a hike through some muddy fields & got in a bit of a mess to get to the Old Post Office for something to eat. I had a fantastic steak (they bring out the cow & you get to select how much of it you want to eat which was nice) which put me in a much better frame of mind. The waitress was surprised that we had walked from Darton College, not bad for a pair of soft Southern fairies.

Back on site I helped Ron unload his ridiculously large collection of games from his van & generally moved a load of stuff around the Atrium. I was happy to donate my collection of teabags to the war effort to lubricate the impressively large team of volunteers. We were asked to return in the morning for orientation at 9:30am & most of us had an early night to prepare for tomorrow's work.

Friday

I was woken at around 7:30am by the dawn chorus. I made myself some breakfast to see me through the morning. The fire alarm (which would become a recurring theme throughout the festival) was set off for the first time, allegedly triggered by steam from a shower.

At 9:30 we were taken for orientation around the very impressive venue. The convention would revolve around the impressive three storey tall Atrium complete with a large stage where most of the entertainment would take place. Every direction you looked had toilets & there were many useful water fountains dotted around the side which would prove to be very convenient. On one side of the Atrium was the school cafe which would be serving hot food through out the day, on the other would be the fantastic Lazy Juggler bar. Just outside the bar in the courtyard, Love Waffles & Veggies would be providing more food options. From the ground floor you could access the theatre which would be used for Renegade & BYJOTY. The second floor had a number of workshop rooms & a dance studio.

Outside the main building was the main juggling hall which was a good size & height. Next to this was a smaller hall which would be home to the Torwood Wheelers for the week. Beyond the halls was the pavilion which was home to more toilets, lots of showers, some more work shop spaces & a games room with table tennis tables & a pool table.

Next to the pavilion was several football fields' worth of space for camping. This would be split into late-to-bed-late-to-rise at the top & early-to-bed-early-to-rise at the bottom. There was to be no camping on the pitches themselves, at first I was concerned that there would not be enough space but thankfully I was proved wrong. Completing the circle back towards the Atrium from the early-to-bed early-to-rise campsite, the hard standing for live in vehicles was located in the middle. This proved to be a bit of a squeeze!

Kevin & I were allocated signage duty by volunteer supremo Dee after I went long on the subject in 2012 (I've since decided that some of what I wrote there is rubbish!). We still had a lot of problems with laptops, printers, went through two ink cartridges, ran out of paper, blue tack, cable ties & laminating pouches. In the end we had resort to crappy handwritten signs to get to an adequate state in time. However, on the plus side we made good use of a lot of signs from previous years plus the Sign Generator was fantastically useful & saved a massive amount of time. Using this tool work that took me a couple of hours at BJC 2012 I managed to do in about 30 minutes (& that was in spite of me ham fisting my way around an unfamiliar Mac OS). With all the doors, nooks & crannies, corridors, plus the noise of a lot of competing signs, sign posting Darton College was much tougher than the Southend venue but I think we did a better job in a lot less time. Still much more room for improvement though.

Kat did a sterling job of feeding the volunteers with very welcome handmade rolls. At some point Kevin, Robin & I made a trip to Aldi which was a first for me, I had no idea what I bought & the cashier thought I was a moron when I tried to pay by credit card but I was very pleased with the final bill.

Back on site people were starting to turn up, Nigel was doing a great job of playing Tetris with the live in vehicles. In amongst which I found the BOV; the owner of which treated me to some very nice spring onion flavoured cheese straws. I spent the afternoon doing a bit of ferrying luggage from the drop off point to people's tents & had the odd request for more signs from various people to deal with. I squeezed in a much needed Chickpea & Chorizo curry which I managed to cook from start to finish faster than Kev could boil his pasta, win! After some more signage duty I came back to the TWJC camp to find our flag flying & Paul's beautiful TWJC bar in full operation. Good work Paul! I had a quick pint of cider before going for a wander round site to say hello to old friends.

I was walking through the main hall when I was hit by the most pleasant ton of bricks in my life & almost lost my feet. I never saw her coming but I instantly recognised the cuddle as belonging to Joy, my crush from BJC 2013. She didn't believe me when I said we had our own bar so I invited her back for a drink. It was in darkness when we got there, the look of surprise on her face when I turned on the lights (a fantastic solar powered system of softly colour changing LEDs) was a picture. We were shortly joined by the rest of TWJC & a few friends for a lovely chilled chat & a drink or two (ahem).

Later on I was walking around the Atrium & said hello to Tom Derrick on the stairs when I heard a shout from behind me of, "MY CEILIDH PARTNER!" before being hit by Tor. I was so pleased & surprised that she remembered me because we only had a couple of dances together. I was also very pleased to learn that she would be performing in the gala show on Saturday. Go Tor!

I love BJCs. I don't get beautiful girls throwing themselves at me anywhere else.

Saturday

I was up again at around 7ish & had a shower which was lukewarm but nice & clean. I made myself some breakfast before wandering down the road in search of a sponge which was somehow missing from my kit. I returned to site to find the alarms going off again & a large neverthriving of evacuated jugglers congregated by the fire assembly point. We even had the fire brigade turn up briefly. I chatted to Emily & Lorri while we waited for the all clear. Once it was determined that there was no fire I grabbed my kit & juggled for an hour & a half. It was really nice to have so much time to practice, everything was working very well. I went back to my tent very satisfied with my practice, had something to eat & a brief nap before making my way back to the main hall for...

Fight Night Qualification

32 of us turned up for the preliminary qualification to see who would go through to the main competition later in the evening. Luke quickly explained the rules of the qualification & organised us into 2 lines of 16, each armed with a personal score sheet to record our individual results. We all fought 16 battles each, the winner being the first to 3 points. Space was really tight which made it a real challenge & it was often helpful to play slowly so that you could take advantage of more space as more pairs cleared the area as & when their bouts finished. The pace was frenetic, we were all suffering with shaking hands half way through, I had to get my lackeys to refill my water bottle for me twice & I was able to wring the sweat out of my t-shirt by the end. I had a bad start against Chunk who quite frankly made me look stupid, but then I won I think 9 games on the trot.

I only really remember my defeats, particularly Luke knocking one of my clubs the width of the entire hall just to really rub it in. Iver was impossible for me to get near, but was a joy to watch & humble in victory. I found fighting Marcus a complete puzzle that I couldn't work out, I did manage to score one point but most of the time I was impotently swiping my clubs through a blur. Before fighting Brook midway through the session I did joke that it would be tactically advantageous just to let him win to conserve energy. Of course I didn't do this but to anyone watching it probably looked like I did. There was one moment where Brook & I completely ran out of space & found ourselves chest to chest sandwiched between some other players & the audience with me trying not to fall over backwards into them. Our clubs were descending onto us fast & it is a great testament to his reflexes & his concern for mine & the audience's safety that he managed to bat everything away safely leaving us to share a hug! Behind me I heard Abbi shout, "Awww! You won't win with that attitude Jon!"

The whole qualification was fantastic fun. It was likened to speed dating, except the objective was to knock seven bells out of your partner & leave them hating you. The camaraderie was superb though & it was a great way to meet a lot of new people. I left to get something to eat & lick my wounds which mostly consisted of bruises but I had a couple of leaks around my finger nails & one on my wrist.

I then spent some time in the main hall watching Kevin & Ewan practicing the double balance & did a bit of leisurely jamming with 3 balls to kill some time before kicking back & relaxing at The Old Skool panel show which was once again hosted by Jay Linn with a panel of oldies consisting of Russell Wells, Stephen Bridge, Max Oddball & Richard Gillett. We were a little bit hampered by competing with the noise of the fire show but it was still enjoyable fun nevertheless. I find it amusing how often people mismatch BJC locations to the year despite the ubiquity of the Southend t-shirt (including one on the panel!) which has them all correctly listed!

By the end of the show I think I was sufficiently wound down & ready for...

Fight Night

The Atrium proved to be a perfect setting for the tournament. The crowd filled all four sides on the floor & with people lining the balconies & stairways it was akin to the Colosseum of Rome. I was very pleased to have made it through qualifying & found myself as the 10th seed. Luke introduced the competition & handed over commentary duties to Gold Martin assisted by the lovely Dee who handled the scoreboard so that he could compete.

I was called to fight 5th seed Chunk who thoroughly trounced me during qualifying, so I wanted to make amends & was very keen to not go out in the first round. I stepped out feeling like Maximus Decimus Meridius. I'm not sure he ever greeted his opponents quite like we did though. I don't really remember much of what happened, I remember thinking I needed to do a bit more stalking to give other parts of the audience a better view at one point & stopping myself from kicking out at a falling club which is standard operating procedure at TWJC but not safe in the middle of an audience! I also remember one really nice strike which led to a pleasing 3-0 win.

My second & final match was in the quarter finals against Luke Burrage who convincingly scored all 5 points in my 4-1 defeat! I was just pleased that I wasn't a complete walkover. I think I did as well as I possibly could've done, I exited with no shame or disappointment & enjoyed lots of congratulations for my performance over the rest of the festival.

This was the first big tournament for Iver Roar Tronstad from Norway & he really won over the crowd in his semi final meeting with Luke. The first point saw a moment where both players had a hold of the same two clubs in one hand resulting in a tug of war which inexplicably ended with both players still juggling. There were a lot of blindingly fast strikes & some big tussles which ended in a closely fought & well earned 5-4 victory for Iver. For the final Iver met Dave Leahy which was another exciting & highly skilled match where Iver won through 5-2 before receiving a rapturous standing ovation from the crowd.

Later on after the event I interrupted Luke chatting online with his girlfriend (sorry!), to say thank you for the event. We ended up talking about the event, the format in general & the game as a whole which I really enjoyed.

Because I felt my body could handle a bit more of a beating I then went to the main hall & joined in with the group combat where Jon Peat reigned supreme. Although there was one game where he took a backwards underarm swing at his opponent who trapped the club under his arm for a very surprising steal. During this session I was very pleased to finish a game with two stolen clubs. Alas the three still eludes me.

Afterwards I caught up with friends in the bar, one of which was Hannah from SJC who was by far my favourite Harley Quinn of the festival. She was a little inebriated & she greeted me by hurling herself & wrapping her arms & legs around me.

Sunday

I woke up under attack from winds which prompted flashbacks to last year. So far the TWJC bar mark 2 was holding up well under the onslaught. The TWJC camp was situated on the far side of the camping fields, which meant we were right at the end of the wind tunnel. It felt like we were the people who live on the rim of Terry Pratchett's Discworld who scavenge from the debris that is carried over the edge. We collected a lot of rubbish, towels & even a whole tent stuck in the trees. I collected several empty tent bags & spent some time trying to match the picture on the bag to the tent that went with it which I hope I managed successfully.

Kevin & I went for a wasted walk into town to check out the local cafes both of which were closed, so we had breakfast on site instead. It was then into the main hall again for more juggling which despite my level of exhaustion was pleasingly good. I managed a personal record 8 pairs of scissors with 4 clubs, which I then replicated several times. Andy from Hastings also turned up so I broke him into the convention with some passing. Or rather I broke him with some passing.

Hannah tried to apologise for leaping on me the night before. I tried to get her to do it again.

I was then joined by Joy & we spent the rest of the morning & early afternoon together, during which I find out she is even more amazing than I first thought & that she can bend her fingers back 45° unaided. I also helped critique her angel rolls, surprisingly it turns out I can offer useful advice for skills that I have never even attempted before.

I then went back to my tent to get some food before the games but found the wind had picked up even more. We managed to get the sides off of the gazebo, but still suffered damage to the bar which was gutting. I tied some more guy lines to my tent but decided it was a losing battle & popped the poles out instead. I took a tour around the site & saw a lot of damaged tents. Mostly ripped canvas but a few shattered poles as well, I helped a few people repeg their tents along the way. An honourable mention must go to our Paul who made an admirably heroic sprint up to the top campsite with mallet in hand after spotting a large tent lifting up in the air only to find it was in the process of being manually moved!

It wasn't really safe to get the stove out for cooking so I snacked on mackerel fillets, fruit & biscuits before getting on the bus for the trip into Sheffield for the gala show. I met Casper from Cambridge & we had a really good natter. On arrival we followed some locals in search of a pub called Fagin's that serves legendary pies only to find it was closed for the day. After a bit more wandering Louisa (not Laura), Kevin, Caspar & I split off into a noodle bar which was packed with Asian locals which we took as a good endorsement. This restaurant provided a first for me in that it served me a meal that I couldn't finish. I wasn't served a bowl of food; I was given a child's paddling pool. I didn't even finish half of it. The food was delicious though & the company was excellent. All in all a top meal.

After a brief waddle back to the theatre the staff on the front door took our tickets & allowed us about 5 metres into the building. It wasn't long before we were allowed further though. Andy & I started the queue for the upstairs balcony & grabbed seats in the front row when we were allowed into the hall itself. The Irwin Mitchell Oval Hall of Sheffield City Hall is a lovely theatre with a beautiful ceiling & nicely raked stalls to ensure everyone gets a good view. The toys soon came out. I particularly liked the radio controlled floating sharks which were mesmerising to watch even if one got stuck on the ceiling. I was very impressed with the lone usher standing to attention like a Scots Guard stoically doing his duty with a silly balloon hat on his head trying not to be distracted by the chaos around him.

The Show

Our compères for the evening were Pete Gamble & Russell Wells who both looked very splendid in their flamboyant finery. I found their links a bit too kiddie orientated for my tastes but I was very impressed with the long whip which stretched over half of the width of the very large stage. Aside from whip cracking they did some knife throwing & a crossbow skit for Ashley from Romford's birthday which will hopefully embarrass him for many years to come.

I enjoyed most of the acts in the show; my only real gripe was with the stage management. There was often a wait between the compères announcing the act & the act starting. We were just left awkwardly staring at an empty stage. Waiting for Pete & Russell to get off stage after announcing the next stage was mildly distracting too, in their defence it was a bloody big stage so they had a long way to go!

When the first act was introduced as Voodoo Unicycles I thought, "Here we go, another monotonous presentation of jumps" but I was very happy to be proven wrong. Jason Auld, Mike Taylor & Simon Berry showed enthusiasm & worked the excitement in the crowd well while they bounced around the stage & three platforms. The finish where they performed drops from the large platform to land in between Russell's legs was very exciting. Well done lads, this was the first trials unicycle act that I have ever enjoyed.

Kathrin Pancakes performed her ring routine that I saw last year, but sadly was again too droppy to enjoy. Bekka Rose was having a much better day & presented an elegant club juggling act, filling the stage with graceful dancing.

Matthias Ramfelt from Norway was on fine form with a very slick ball bouncing routine bouncing up to 8 balls between his legs while sitting on a chair. Partway through the routine he missed a catch, the music stopped so he went to his bag pulled out a wood saw & hacked off one of the chair legs for no apparent reason. This continued until the chair had no legs left & he was sitting at floor level to make things more difficult. Very odd. Brilliant, but very odd.

Flambé Circus combined three of my favourite things: Tron, Daft Punk & Tor Callis in a sexy glowing outfit, & used them to create a staff/poi/fan/pyrotechnic/kitchen sink act that was a massive visual feast. The surprise of seeing the BJC logo in the pixel poi was a big crowd pleaser. Admittedly it was hard to see the skill underneath it all but the four person partner poi set piece was worth the cheer (I'm still not used to liking this poi stuff).

My favourite act of the show was the bonkers Gustaf Rosell tying himself in knots through his vest then dropping his trousers & tying himself up through his underpants too all the while juggling balls with many improbable throws & catches.

James Miller was excellent on the Chinese pole performing everything while wearing a blindfold. He showed great athleticism & pulled off some surprising moves that I had never seen before. This act was slightly marred for me by the dipping of the lights on the final plunge which pretty much ruined the effect. While discussing this after the fact someone suggested to me that they may have been going for a blackout to leave the audience wondering whether he hit the floor or not, which I guess could have worked but they got the timing (very) wrong & didn't get anywhere near a black out.

Marcus Furtner performed with his usual high skill & flamboyant style. I always feel that his single devilstick stuff is just filler though because everyone knows that he can do the same tricks while maintaining a second propeller. Marcus is still untouchable when it comes to devilsticking, why don't people talk about him the way they talk about Anthony Gatto & toss juggling?

The indomitable Loz Because threw everything into her comic hula hoop performance, high skill & bags of character. All the more impressive after learning that she was still in London at 3:30pm.

MHD Crew were a team of truly spectacular diaboloists from Taiwan. Following on from my recent post about how to walk on stage I love the way Chinese Circus artists run across the boards. They are so nimble & never put a foot wrong. Footwork aside the act was a breathtaking display of really hard stuff including 3 & 4 diabolos solo, 6 diabolos between 2 people, catching diabolos launched from deep within the stalls, some really big tricks with a single stage wide string with a diaboloist on each end, the best of which saw the diabolo spun vertax style then whipped across the stage & span around the waist of the girl in the middle. One of the performers had a bit of a droppy night but the act was still jaw droppingly good.

Closing the show was Emil Dahl with a faultless club juggling & manipulation routine that was both graceful & lightning quick (which doesn't go together very often). It was the most surprising club manipulation I have ever seen. The clinically smooth 7 club cascade to finish was very impressive. There were some among the TWJC crowd who only liked that part of the act but I really liked the contrast between the two styles & thought it worked really well.

Huge props to Natalie Randall for pulling that show together, especially after three of the acts scheduled to perform were turned away by immigration! Top work.

Also well done to baby Ulysses for sleeping through the entire show allowing Cat & Karina to enjoy it in peace!

On the bus ride home I was a bit worried because it started to rain & my tent was still in a collapsed heap. Indeed I returned to a sodden tent seemingly neatly vacuum packed over the shape of all my bags & kit. I popped the poles back in & was pretty lucky to only have a few damp things to dry out. I was still a bit fed up though so just sorted out what I could & had an early night.

Monday

A good sleep cures everything though & I woke up feeling much better. Kevin & I wandered down to the now open Vera's Cafe & had an excellent fry up, before coming back for another restorative snooze. Then I spent a few hours in the main hall. Graham asked me to join him as his passing partner in Brook & Andy's excellent 7 club passing made interesting workshop which did exactly what it said on the tin. I picked up some nice new patterns which to help me remember them were: 2 count with one person passing straight triples, the other straight singles (massive wait for the person on singles to start), Another 2 count where one person passes straight the other crosses so that the pattern switches every three passes (this is much slower than expected) & a synch 2 count where the selves are doubles & the passes singles. We tried the last one but struggled with the synch self double/single pass so dropped down to using 3 clubs then tried with 5. Turns out 7 is much easier!

In the afternoon we queued up early to get into...

BYJOTY

Previous BYJOTY performer Mark Watson did a fantastic job as the compère for the show, being entertaining & in control at all times.

First up was a guy who did some break dancing then some ring juggling including lots of solid rolls across the face, both sections were very good as standalone pieces but there was no mix between the two which just seemed disappointing. He was followed by another chap with a diabolo routine that was typical of what I have been calling generic diabolo act over the past several years. It was ok but didn't contain anything to make me remember it.

14 year old Lucy was the first to show real promise with her hula hoop act. She looked fantastic in a proper costume with weeping angel make up that looked very Tim Burton-esque. Her routine was high skill, well balanced & with a lot of variety that suited the music by Evanescence really well. The only thing that stopped her from getting my vote was the movement wasn't quite there. I think Lucy has a choice of which way to go. She either needs to be much bigger & bolder in her dance movements (I would have loved to see her hair whipping around to the music), or she could go further down the theatrical melancholic living doll route which would work equally well. As it was I think she was somewhere in between. I really hope she continues to work on this act because I know it could be fantastic. I already want to see this act again, & I don't say that very often.

Max Salthouse came on as Sister Max in a full nun's outfit. He showed great showmanship & played the crowd well. There was a bit of juggling 3 crucifixes in there & he played the drops in character superbly. It was laugh out loud funny but only a one joke act.

My vote ended up going to Arthur Hyam who performed a phenomenally high level single diabolo routine with tricks that were way too complicated for me to follow with precision & style. The two diabolo section was short, unnecessary & actually took something away from the act. I'm sure he would have seen a gold award if he had only performed the one diabolo section.

We then had a young 12 year old ball juggler performing 3-5 balls. It was droppy but very impressive for just a year's work. He clearly enjoyed being on stage which improved his performance. If compère Mark hadn't made all the old people hate young kids by listing some things that happened in the year he was born I'm sure he would have received more votes.

Cal Courtney is certain to be a star performer of the future. He performed 3-5 clubs with an endearing nervous character which was held flawlessly throughout. The first few drops worked in his favour as he covered with an amusing nervous laugh, but unfortunately because of the number of drops it started to grate by the end of the act. Overall though, very enjoyable to watch.

Alex McGillivray demonstrated a phenomenal improvement in skills over his performance in last years competition throwing lots of monster siteswaps with lots of balls, but unfortunately his act was less of an act this time round & was disappointingly more a list of tricks. Closing the show was Luke Hallgarten who is getting more professional every time I see him. His appearance was immaculate, the routine, movement & juggling was excellent, but sadly all too droppy.

It was obviously a tough decision for the judges who took a very long time to come back with the results, so long that Ieuan ended up bringing out bowls of snacks to keep the audience under control! When the judges did return we learned there was no gold award. Arthur & Cal picked up Silvers. Arthur also picked up the Judges Choice & the British Young Juggler of the Year title too. Arthur picked up a silver award & the British Young Juggler of the Year title while Cal picked up a bronze.

Stuff probably happened then it was time for...

Ceilidh

Once again the Rough & Ready Boys, including the legendary Tiff put us through our paces for the evening. The whole Atrium was filled to bursting with hyper enthusiastic dancers giving it everything which was a real spectacle. As usual I compensated for my lack of skill as a dancer with brute force & over exuberance. I was particularly pleased when I successfully managed to manoeuvre my arse backwards through an arch without hitting anything once in about a dozen attempts. Joy did tell me last year that she enjoyed twirling round so I was only too happy to oblige. I managed to keep her on her feet though, others around us weren't so in control/lucky & there were a few casualties along the way!

By the end of the final dance I was even more exhausted than I was after the Fight Night qualification which I didn't think was possible. I sat recuperating for a while with Ritchie & Joy. She commented on Ritchie's massive trainers which led to my favourite exclamation in a Yorkshire accent of the entire festival:

Joy: I love your big trainers.
Me: Yes, they are very Bill & Ted.
Ritchie: Who're Bill & Ted?
Joy: YOU DON'T KNOW BILL & TED!?
Ritchie: No.
Joy: Please tell me you know tut Goonies!

I got to the point where my hands were shaking because I was so tired & hungry so I made myself a midnight curry before making my way back to the main hall for more juggling. I discovered that at night the light effect around the skylight in the middle turned it into an almost perfect mirror which was great to run backcrosses under. Mïark grabbed me for some passing, we warmed up with some basic stuff before he introduced me to Jim's PPSPS which I was not in any frame of mind to try & work out but I had great fun trying though! By the end of our session I think I managed to get through the sequence successfully a couple of times.

I then joined in with the group combat at the other end of the hall with Luke Burrage, Jon Peat, Dave Leahy & others. There were a lot of really good bouts & I was pleased to score some genuine points against Luke. I took a few knocks & added a few more to Luke's already impressive collection that he picked up after falling off his bike earlier in the day.

I was completely wiped out so after a shower I was off to bed.

Tuesday

Kev & I went back to Vera's Cafe for another breakfast this time with Louisa (not Laura) in tow as well. Back on site I hit the main hall again where lots of people were trying the double balance. I watched Ronny come agonisingly close several times to pull off a 1 up 3 diabolo sun, 1 up 2 diabolo sun, 1 up 1 diabolo sun all before the first 1 up landed. I juggled for over an hour & pushed my 4 club scissors record up to 15 pairs which pleased me greatly before heading for the TWJC bar for a drink.

Sometime in the evening it was back to the Atrium for...

Open Stage

Ably put together by Ian Mrawa & compèred by Luke Burrage, the Open Stage show was kicked off by Jamie Fletcher & Lizzy Peat camping it up in Morris dancing get up accompanied by Guy Heathcote on the accordion to form the Morris dancing troupe the Tossing Wallop Morris. There was lots of silly skipping, bashing clubs & club passing interspersed with many moments that made me chuckle. Nigel Roder put on his pyjamas for a kung fu themed devilstick act, which now that I know that his trousers were falling down throughout was even better than I first thought!

Ross Burton did some slick ring juggling & it was great to see some decent ring spinning make it onto a big stage, if I recall correctly he did 3 on each arm & another 2 down one leg. It's really nice to see this coming back into fashion.

Nic the pirate bestowed a volunteer with the gloves of power to enable them to safely handle three legendary knives each with very distinctive blades. I bet he does very well on the street.

Merlin also camped it up & clumsily transformed herself from Diana into Wonder Woman while spinning a hula hoop with a little help from an amusingly fed up assistant.

Star of the show was Ed John Cliffe combining cigar boxes & a contact acrylic in fine style, manipulating the boxes while balancing & rolling the ball on top all the while. The stand out trick saw Ed balance the ball on top of the 3 boxes stacked in a staggered formation one on top of the other, he then span the whole assembly on one finger.

Dawn Marie presented an arty contact act where she did a little contact juggling with various letters of the alphabet & spelt out various poignant words. Sadly I was in far too puerile a frame of mind & spent the time looking for rude words, I think she could have made 'tits' & with a little artistic license: 'jism'.

Luke also did a ring juggling spot with colour changing rings, & also colour changing face whenever he changed direction. Jon Peat was awesome with yet another breath taking Jon Peat act packed full of Jon Peat tricks.

Closing the show was Fight Night star Iver Tronstad doing a lot of studly juggling with 3-6 clubs & balancing them on the peak of his cap. The juggling was amazing but I found the music a bit disconcerting.

It was a good show with lots of variety, & the acts were presented at a good pace. Ian did ask for criticism & I don't like to disappoint so I have to say that the lighting was poor for a number of acts most notably the first act. In general everything seemed a bit dark & there were a few times when it was difficult to see what was going on. I have no idea how whether this was down to the lighting available or whether it could be rectified though.

Later in the evening I found myself in the theatre for...

Renegade

I've been avoiding Renegade of late because it's not been as fun as it used to be for me. In amongst the evening's acts I was very pleased to get to see previous BYJOTY winner Thomas Bounce with a very slick 3-8 bounce ball routine, he was excellent when I saw him perform at Crawley a few years ago but has come on even stronger since then. I thought his routine was even better than Matthias from the gala show.

Trevor Organ churned through a fantastic number of cringeworthy jokes & stuffed a load of ping pong balls into his mouth. A tiny young lad named Frog got up for some diabolo & whip cracking which I think he enjoyed as much as the audience did. Surely he should be in bed at this time?! Jack & a friend smashed hard boiled eggs all over each other in interesting ways. There was a very touching gay wedding featuring a lot of acrobalance & ball passing. The Torwood Wheelers squeezed a wheel into the space & pulled off an impressive flat spin with 4 people mounted round the inside of the frame. Marcus & partner did some really nice partner devilstick controlling 2 devilsticks with one hand stick each & sharing a 3rd handstick in between them. They finished with 4 propellers with the girl on top of Marcus' shoulders.

The night finished with Chaz dressed up in an obscenely tight Jack Staff costume doing his wonderful technical contact staff routine that I saw at Cambridge last year which was great to see again.

Wednesday

I was up early in the morning, went for a pint of milk (the security guard was doing very well with 4 balls), had breakfast, had a shower, then went for a juggle in the main hall to find that someone had taken the time overnight to balance all the clubs that were left lying around on end which looked really beautiful. I had an excellent session & managed a personal record of 327 catches with 5 clubs on my first attempt!

I then went back to camp & ate far too much. Then I went to reception to see what t-shirts were left. My size wasn't available so I filled out a form for a reprint. About 20 minutes later I received a phone call to tell me it was ready which I have to say was extraordinary service!

I went along to the business meeting which was once again hosted by Lorri & scribed by Mïark. It was pretty long, can I make a suggestion that we cut out all the voting nonsense? Surely everyone knows that the audience for the biz meeting is in no way representative of the BJC audience as a whole? It was worth going just to see Abbi, Sam, Kat & Dee totally derail the discussion by turning up all looking sensational in fabulous full length ball gowns. As has been mentioned elsewhere the BJAG thing appears to have made progress, but I still get the impression that no one really knows what progress. I remain confused over the whole thing but will wait patiently.

After the meeting I spent a few minutes in the main hall again doing some handstand work & had my first inkling that a one arm stand may not be impossible.

In the evening I had a quick lie down, only to be rudely awoken two hours later by Kevin telling me it was time for the...

Cabaret Show

This caused me to blearily stumble over to the Atrium, but in the end I could have had an extra 15 minutes sleep due to a late start.

This show was hosted by Rosie Kelly & Charles Brockbank who just get better & better every time I see them. The, "What's your name? Don't care. Where are you from? Don't care." gave me my biggest laugh of the convention. I loved the Guess Who & the introducing skits. Fak & I had an absolute whale of a time dancing the epileptic crab too.

Act wise Luke sang two songs from his album Bitterly Autobiographical, I am Luke's Wallet & the Twin Song. I enjoyed the latter the most finding it funny & also very endearing at the same time.

Harry & Paddy from Circomedia were sensational with their duelling banjo hats. I was blown away when I saw them in the Circomedia Showcase Show last year. You'd think I would be slightly less impressed the second time around, but you'd be very wrong. Their act is blazingly high skill & beautifully put together.

Closing the show was Tom Derrick with one of the best acts of the convention. Set to 'Singing in the rain' (I must have been shattered by this time in the convention, my notes state 'singinginging in the rain'), Tom performed many balancing & twirling tricks with an umbrella. He looked fantastic, the pacing was spot on & the finale water bottle caught on the tip of the brolly finish in particular was executed flawlessly.

Tiff & his blue grass band continued the entertainment. I danced the night away with Joy (who seemed to make the lyrics to happy birthday fit every single song), Kirstie & briefly with Tor who was also looking stunning in another of those full length ball gowns, we had a quick chat & I was very pleased to learn that she & Flambé Circus look set to be very commercially successful with their latest act. Good luck to them all.

As it was the final night we joined in the effort to drink the Lazy Juggler bar dry, we must have been doing well as my usual cider ran out so I was onto the strawberry & lime Crabbies, that ran out too so I discovered the lovely spiced orange Crabbies. Suddenly Renegade started which confused me greatly & made me question where I was. There was some decidedly odd stuff on stage, notably the Pokemon monsters who transformed into Batman & Robin. I didn't quite get the group of people smashing brioche on a string either. There was a rousing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, some good four person acro balance, BJC 2013 supremo Claire Stephens absolutely rocked her hoop routine & looked fantastic while doing it. The MHD Crew from the public show performed another fantastic act full of lots more ridiculous diabolo moves. Security guard Grandad got up & recited some of his poetry he wrote about the last BJC he worked at & Les, one of the star caretakers from the college stole the night with some fantastic lounge singing finishing with the Frank Sinatra classic My Way.

You'd think I'd know better by now not to make the last night before the journey home the latest one of the festival.

Thursday

Bleary really didn't cover it. Four of us went down to the cafe & had enough breakfast to see us through the whole day. There was a bit of rain & the wind meant that conditions were not ideal for packing away but I've dealt with much worse. Fortunately it seemed there were many more hands to spread the work around than usual so there seemed to be a lot less to do, although maybe it was just the lack of fencing to take down that made it seem that way. The amount of rubbish to collect was fairly minimal, very well done every body. I couldn't believe the amount of left over clothing & towels I collected from the pavilion though. Certain people made the most of the left over alcohol that was decided not to be worth adding to the lost property mountain.

It felt like I spent more time in the arms of friends than out on this last day. Which is just how things should be.


Thanks to

Massive thanks to Kevin for getting me there & back in a low number of pieces. Paul & Louisa (not Laura) for the fantastic bar & company. Joy for being the usual whirlwind that she is & for reducing me into a pathetic lovesick adolescent for a second time. The wonderful cleaning staff that did a fantastic job throughout the festival & were very pleasant to talk to every morning. But most of all to Jane, Natalie, Dee, AnnaBod, Claire, Jak, Ron, Kat, Hebe, Uncle Jon, Bryn, Paul, Ian, Ieuan, Nigel, Luke, Anna, Lorri, Mïark, Tom & all the rest of the epic team of people who made the event happen.

#bjc2014
#conventionreview

The Void - - Parent

Cal got Bronze, not Silver (only 1 of each was allowed to be awarded), and there was no Judge's Choice award. (Hasn't been for a while now.)

Orinoco - - Parent

Hahahaha! Ah yes I remember now, I was playing fantasy BYJOTY judge with our preferred awards system (Lucy & Luke also got silver, Max got bronze)! Thanks for the correction.

The Void - - Parent

No worries, also, I don't know if it's possible to add/submit corrections to trivia, but http://juggling.tv/users/5910/KathrinPancakes would appear to be how she spells her name, and I would regard Voodoo Unis as being an "Act" rather than an "Add". Could you pass those along to Marvin to mention to the GodEmperor?

Oh, and thanks for the review. Not sure I can be bothered to write much more than "Had a nice chilled time, played/filmed some kendama. Chatted/gamed/laughed. Thanks to all crew."

mrawa - - Parent

It was actually worse than you thought. The schools system didn't have an obvious (simple) way to have music being played from both the Atrium and on Stage, meaning that the acts couldn't hear their own music!

Yes the lighting situation was terrible. Turned out that the school had an overly complicated system involving control points, DMX, and who knows what else. It took Steve Cousins the best part of two hours to setup what we had for the Open Stage. The next day Joel and Mark ran around for at least three hours sorting out the lights and sound. All, but two lights in the Atrium were turned off, and the ones that were on were pointing in the wrong place. We had no way of moving them.

If we were to be at Darton again, then we would have to request the School provide us with some training on their complex system and have them position the lighting correctly!

Criticism is always helpful!

david - - Parent

Thanks for the great review. "Best convention review ever." Personal and professional.

magicalmarkwatson -

Here's my HLGCBS list after an amazing week at BJC! 

HIGH: Has to be compering the BYJOTY competition! Such a wealth of young talent on show and it was a privilege to be able to introduce them all. Hope the audience enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed presenting... Also the fight night qualification event was really great fun! Didn't get anywhere close to reaching the finals, but was great fun competing against everyone!

LOW: My body didn't last quite the whole week. I started to get a cold on Tuesday/Wednesday and then on Wednesday night I managed to crack all the skin on my knuckles playing gladiators. They'll take a few days to recover...

GOAL: Get back on track with some serious juggling - ACHIEVED! Managed my first 5 ball pirouette and my first 6 club asynchronous fountain flash!

CRUSH: Tough one as there was so many great people around, would probably have to go with Luke Burrage for the sheer amount of things he did and particularly for organising the Fight Night which was one of the best events of the convention!

BANE: It was colder at night than I would have liked, but not much we could do about that. 

SURPRISE: Definitely getting my 6 club flash!

Thanks to everyone for a really great convention - look forward to seeing you all at Lestival in a couple of weeks! :-)

Mïark - - Parent

You can also add your HLGCBS for BJC 2014 at www.jugglingedge.com/hlgcbs.php?EventID=3067

#BJC2014

It's Him -

A different review of BJC2014

Although I was on the crew and spent quite some time doing that I am not going to focus on the workshops because apart from the two I ran I didn't see any. Everyone else who ran a workshop is a complete star and I apologise to Marcen and Bekka in that whilst their workshops were on the internet version of the timetable they didn't get transferred to the hard copy. I would be interested to know how many people used the online timetable as it took a huge amount of time but possibly wasn't recognised as a good thing.

So anyway, we arrived on Thursday and the family sorted out the caravan whilst I went shopping. I came back to find the awning had been erected which was great for me but less so for Tracey as she has been suffering with muscle strains in her shoulder and injured herself more. I spent about 40 minutes getting the caretakers to give us access to the water point and later we were given a guided tour of the site by Kat Bown. This was the only time I went in to the main hall. Went to bed early after having made some mental notes of where things would be going and what signs were needed.

Friday was expectedly busy with Topper and the God Emperor himself being extremely helpful in getting signs put up in appropriate places. I also managed to get the caretakers to clear the whole workshop area which was fantastic as I was expecting to have to do that myself with whomever we could rope in. It was a bit weird with all the teaching staff still in the building but we managed. About 3pm I was asked to manage the hard standing area and spent most of the next 5 hours playing tetris with caravans. About 3 hours in I realised that I had put a van right at the back that needed to leave on Sunday and so we broke the school rules by driving him on the grass and dodging tents. We were rapidly running out of space to put vans and were lucky no more came than did. Tracey did a grand job of feeding me in stages as I directed traffic. I was also lucky to sample some of Little Pauls' Lemon Drizzle Cake, which was delicious.

Saturday started with a fire alarm. The fire assembly point was the MUGA (multi-use games area) which was of course locked. Later in the convention one of the crew would acquire the key but would not appear when the next fire alarm went off until after we were allowed back in. Much of the day was a blur. I do remember the 5 ring circus show which was performed by a group of 19 young people and lasted about an hour. A few bits of this I had seen performed before but it was still most impressive and professional. In many ways it was the most cohesive show of the whole event probably because there was no compere and therefore the segues had been thought about in more detail. The range of skills displayed was also good and the bravery of the kids who went to the top of the three high standing pyramid was immense. I wouldn't have wanted to do it, even if there were a strong enough crew to hold me.

Sunday Tracey and I managed to get in 20 minutes passing practice before the BJG meeting. Bryn managed to get a photo of this. It was the only time I juggled clubs all week. The BJG meeting was started by Jack and hijacked by Ewan and Ron (most discourteously I thought, I am sure they had their reasons but it would have been politer to let Jack go through his talk before presenting their thoughts), I left after 20 minutes. I ran my complete beginners Devil Stick workshop, hopefully it was appreciated. Eventually 4pm occured and we all headed into Sheffield. Most of the Milton Keynes crew were on the same bus and were in high spirits. Mark decided that he would do a selfie with everyone on the bus (apart from the driver) and these are now somewhere in facebook land. We managed to find a pizza hut to eat at (along with at least 30 other jugglers) and this seemed to be more than the restaurant could cope with as service was slow and they made a couple of mistakes (resulting in price reductions and extra pizza). From there we made our way to the show venue and after a brief discussion with the usherette lady who seemed to think that just because half of the group had stall tickets and half had gallery that meant we couldn't sit together, we went in. At this point I am going to turn in to a grumpy old juggler. The balloon chains are now so old hat that they are passe. I may have been one of the people who instigated the idea back in the 90s but I am now very bored of them. It is time for those jugglers with imaginations to come up with a completely different way of amusing the audience before the show starts. It used to be paper aeroplanes, now it is balloon chains, maybe next year it can be something original and amusing. The show was the usual mish mash of good and not so good acts. I felt the Voodoo act was not really suited to the cabaret stage and the music conflicted with Pete's commentary. Emil Dahl's act was to downbeat (especially after the diabolo team) to close the show. Why we needed another Wes Peden clone I don't know. I've seen this style of act many times and whilst I can appreciate the difficulty of the technical moves this act has very little appeal to me now and I'd like to see something that is truly different. The diabolo act was a case in point. Unfortunately the girl was a bit droppy (especially after she had pulled off a hard trick and then relaxed) but the two guys were solid, the extra long string I imagine spurred many to try that trick and the breaking of the fourth wall with an extremely long throw was magical. The technicality was superb throughout and the show was upbeat, it should have closed. Other acts that stood out for me (and I apologise for not knowing the names) were the vest guy, the guy with the saw and surprisingly the chinese pole guy. I had assumed all the way through his act that he was cheating and so was surprised to find that he wasn't. After getting back to the site I had to work but around 01:30 managed to get in with a game of poker. Fortunately there were a couple of players who weren't very experienced and the cards were falling in my favour and I walked away with a £10 profit.

Monday dawned. I was very busy during the day. I managed to fit in a 90 minute practice of the Concrete Circus act just before BYJOTY. In general I would say that the level of acts were similar to last year and though I didn't vote for him I could understand why Arthur won. His was the most polished routine and his performing experience (I had seen him in the show at Ball Ring) showed. My vote went to Cal Courtney because of the character he brought to the stage. His act was much more droppy but still a very high technical level. After the routines and the voting had finished the best trick competition began. Just before that I had encouraged my younger son to take part because there is no-one else his age doing the tricks he can do. He managed to pull off the first of his two hardest tricks first time, the second took more attempts but he still landed it after a few goes. After that I could tell he didn't know what to try as a third trick but he tried a couple of things that didn't work. As a ten year old going up against people twice his age he may have won because he was half the size of the other competitors but he still did two extremely difficult and awesome tricks, neither of which I can do. About 00:30 I managed to get some practice time for my show the next day. I was interrupted about half way through by the security guards clearing the area of people who might want to sleep upstairs (something I had mentioned to Bryn on the Saturday). Practice went ok but I kept forgetting the last few moves.

Tuesday. The day was mainly taking up with shows. At 10am Concrete Circus were practicing their show for about 90 minutes. After that I was involved in the tech rehearsal for the open stage. Then came the tech rehearsal for the Youth Circus show and then came the two shows themselves. At some point I realised that I wasn't going to have time to get the workshop boards done and fortunately Miark stepped in to the job and got it all done admirably. The kids pretty much nailed their act in a Youth show that had a much bigger audience than the 20 or so who turned up last year. I think the audience enjoyed a high level of skill and comedy from people aged 6 to 20. I didn't get to see the Torwood Wheeler show as I was backstage at the time. My act was on second which meant that I didn't have to worry about waiting for too long. It started well enough but about 30 seconds in I realised that my trousers were slipping down and that the bottoms of the legs were now under my feet. This made my act somewhat static. I survived with about 3 drops and with my trousers not around my ankles but the show could have been better. After the show the acts were treated to a buffet meal. This was a nice treat from Kat and her crew.

Wednesday. Another blur of a day. I went to the business meeting which was well managed by Lorri. I didn't agree to be on the crew next year as this year had been so frantic that I had had no time for myself. I will probably still offer a workshop or two and may be involved in one or more of the shows. I got to see my daughter perform in the kids renegade which was my only involvement in that this year. After which we all turned into the bat family and headed to the atrium. Various people took our photo but I have yet to see a copy of Bat-Roders' Assembled. The wait before the award ceremony and then the show was way too long and shortly after the show we all went to bed.

Thursday was spent clearing up, saying goodbye and making sure our awning wasn't destroyed like last year. We left about 15:30 and pretty much collapsed when we got home. I go away from BJC tired, hoping that I did a good job and proud of what my family did. 

Nigel

Chris - - Parent

RE: The online timetable.

It certainly piqued my interest before the convention started, and gave me an idea of what sort of workshops to look out for. I didn't use it at all during the convention however, and I don't remember anyone else using it either (although I could be totally wrong about that).

It was a shame that the boards were only displaying the workshops for that day. I missed a few early workshops because the board hadn't been updated when I had gone to check. I was impressed by the range on offer though. I particularly enjoyed learning to throw knives (I think the guys name was John).

It's Him - - Parent

The workshop boards for the next day appeared the day before on each occasion but sometimes they appeared relatively late. There was a number of reasons for this. Firstly the smaller white boards were only painted on the Friday and as they were supposed to take three days to cure couldn't be used immediately. The CircusWorks workshops in the Atrium on the Monday and Tuesday were only decided in the afternoon of the Sunday and so whilst the signup sheets were on the reg desk before everyone left at 4pm the boards weren't completely finished until later. There was also the problem that I had over committed myself to doing a number of things (two shows, the workshop co-ordination and supplying various kit including one of the aerial rigs and one of the tightropes) and as the week progressed I ended up with less and less time. Interestingly the online timetable was much more up to date than the whiteboards until we got to Tuesday. the aerial sessions never made it on to the online version because they were all signed up by the time I had a free moment to do it.

Nigel

It's Him - - Parent

Also John Taylor was the knife throwing person. His workshops were regularly oversubscribed. He has a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/353757507970202/?fref=ts or https://knifethrowing.co.uk/‎ is a starting link but less useful.

Nigel

mike.armstrong - - Parent

How feasible is it to run the workshop board from a projector? Then it doesn't need writing up each day, the online version and the "workshop board" stay in sync and it can be made mahoosively wall-sized very easily
Cheers
-Mike

It's Him - - Parent

At Carton, very feasible. They had on the stage a very large white board with built in projector that could be used.

Nigel

emilyw - - Parent

A white board that you could also draw on?

Little Paul - - Parent

have you ever tried to use a smartboard?

In my experience, they're fine for drawing arrows or circling things on powerpoint presentations - but they right royally suck for writing anything as the pens/sensors drift out of alignment at the slightest provocation - and writing when your pen is 2" away from where the text is appearing is erm...

Or did you mean a real whiteboard you happen to be projecting onto?

emilyw - - Parent

I mean, does whatever thing Nigel is describing facilitate jugglers adding workshops without requiring IT assistance :-)

It's Him - - Parent

Not sure, I didn't play with it but I'd assume that IT would be needed at some point.

What we didn't have the chance to use was the schools information screens, which could have shown the workshops for the next hour or other useful info.

Nigel

Richard Loxley - - Parent

I used the online timetable before I arrived, and then again on the first day to plan my week.

After that I just referred to the boards each day because (a) it was more convenient (b) I suspected they had more chance of being up-to-date.

But seeing the provisional timetable for the whole week in advance was very useful to me.

^Tom_ - - Parent

Workshop planning/online timetable

I've been thinking about making a number of tools to help BJC organisation in general, and one I'm thinking about at the moment in particular is workshops.

The idea would be a tool where you can input/import workshops offered, spaces available (with times), arrange the workshops within those slots, and view/display the resulting schedule.

I'm a believer in the idea of if it's good, people will use it, and if people don't use it, it needs to be better... so a) it will take some time and with before it will be ready for use, b) if anyone else (*cough* Orin *cough*) is working on anything similar, please get in touch as I have some ideas, and c) whoever next year's workshop coordinator is going to be, it'd be nice to hear from them/maybe someone can let me know when one is appointed.

Orinoco - - Parent

We've had a timetable system on the Edge for ages, but no one has used it yet. Here's an example timetable created on the dev site.

Sadly very few event organisers are bothering to list their own event on the Edge yet, let alone create a timetable :(

Even if they did there are still some issues with my system. Most notably (as pointed out to me by Nigel last week) it is a good idea to wait until you are on site & can assess the workshop locations before assigning a workshop to a place in case it isn't suitable. My system currently requires you to assign workshops to spaces in advance.

I'm thinking of doing away with the locations completely & just stacking the workshops happening at the same time together. It will quickly become apparent if there has been too much scheduled for the same time because there will be a big bulge. However, you've got to put the locations in at some point, otherwise no one will know where to go. I can't see that adding in the locations during last minute site set up will be something anyone is going to have time to do.

I'm also thinking about adding some new fields to the workshops for prop type & difficulty level. I thought the colour coding of all the beginner workshops that Nigel used was a very good idea, but I think colour coding by prop type would have worked better. For example all the passing workshops being in one colour, ball juggling another etc. would allow people looking to improve in a particular area to find what they want more easily.

emilyw - - Parent

When I did it in 2012 I did "tracks" and gave each track a space and a separate calendar, and then did my best to give away the track and its space and its calendar to someone better at organising it than me.

That way the subjects got different colours automatically when I stuck them online.

There were enough space constraints ("need mirrors/chairs/height/quiet", etc etc) that I was pretty glad of having all the space allocation done well in advance. There is always SO much to do when you hit site that it's nice to be able to just copy it all out there and get on.

emilyw - - Parent

So if I was making such a thing I have some use cases in mind.

1. Generating a big word document with full descriptions of workshops and bios of workshop-givers. I did this by hand in 2012 and keeping it in sync was annoying. I printed it and stuck it up above the workshop board.

2. Phone usability. If someone can identify the stuff they are interested in and maybe subscribe to its calendar and get reminders?

3. Giving away permission to edit bits of the timetable (e.g. the youth circus bit, or the Pass-Out bit).

Orinoco - - Parent

1. The Edge system allows you to write as much as you like about each workshop.
2. I still haven't got into this smartphone thing, so I'm really not up to speed on best practices. I could create a link that would export a workshop via vcalendar, would that be any good? What about a Twitter client that tweets the next round of workshops 10 minutes to the hour?
3. Anyone with High Command access to an event can edit its timetables.

emilyw - - Parent

1. Writing as much as I like is not really the problem, it's keeping the calendar view of the data in sync with the big long document view. I might have a play with open document format if the data is wranglable.

2. vCalendar doesn't cope well with things that change after the import (which workshops are always doing). This is where the embedded google calendars win... In fact, exporting from more structured data to to google calendars could be the ultimate solution (this is what Dee did for Nigel this year).

3. If third parties are scheduling a track, it's good to be able to limit their access to their own track so they can't accidentally move the public show! - and the timetable is better with all the shows on, both for people scheduling workshops they are giving and for people planning their day.

But as soon as you start competing with calendars you get into all the nitpicky detail that calendars have. Could be a huge rabbit hole!

Orinoco - - Parent

1. I could easily[1] produce a page that lists:

Workshop Title
Date, time, location
Blurb
...

Taking data from the timetable so you'd only need to update one. The document could be filtered by tag (track), difficulty level etc.

Bios would work best if separate from the workshop blurb because there are many stars who run multiple workshops. I can't think of many reasons why this couldn't work as just a static document, a database solution seems a bit overkill.

The good thing about having to assign a location at the start is that it highlights the workshops that don't have a location ;)

2 & 3 yep, good points.

More pie in the sky thinking: what about a workshop board listing the workshop title & a QR code that points to a page with more info (The QR code page on the Edge will already create a code for any timetables that are set up). For those that really go to town on their workshops with handouts & such like it would be a good place to link to the handout in pdf, videos of the skills to be taught etc.

A festival email list which sends out a daily digest of the workshops, shows, weather warnings etc with links to more info? Do people want info pushed onto them?


[1] In fact that will only take a few minutes. Here's the first day's worth of workshops from BJC 2014:

Timetable view
Document view

emilyw - - Parent

My big document had the bios directly under each workshop but eliding duplicates. A standalone bio document would be simpler, but I'd still have to track which bios I had received and which not. I didn't put date/time/location on my workshop blurb document because I wanted it to not go out of date.

The thing about assigning a location/time up front is that the data often starts coming in before the team have really even locked down the workshop locations, and before the workshop givers can commit to dates and times. Several wanted a gander at the "other stuff" schedule first.

Got no idea about QR codes, do most people know what to do with those? I liked the idea of people just being able to read down the document looking for things that sounded interesting. I didn't get any handouts.

Putting the location across the top of the calendar view is a thing that only happens because it makes it easy to draw on a whiteboard I think. In your example because the workshops are sparse it just serves to make everything wide and harder to read... and who really looks at the board thinking "what workshops can I go to that are held in the atrium"?

The MOST AWESOME thing would be if I (as an attendee) could mark up the workshops before, like "MUST SEE, maybe interesting, not interested" and then see my custom view where the boring stuff is gone completely and the must see stuff hits me with a brick ten minutes before it starts. I also want a pony but I guess it would not be allowed on site.

Personally when I see a QR code I have an irresistible compulsion to sticker over it with this https://i.imgur.com/n1Vzikc.png?1?8479

Orinoco - - Parent

Just doing some quick & dirty prototyping. Try the Document view again, each workshop now has an I don't care link which hides that workshop (requires javascript). Hidden workshops are stored to the device so will work for non-Edgenaughts.

& you can always have a pony.

https://www.jugglingedge.com/userfiles/Orinoco/whitepony.jpg

Do you still have a copy of said document from 2012? I don't remember it from the event itself. Would be very useful to take a look at it.

emilyw - - Parent

Coo that document view is getting interesting, although the repetition of the "I don't care" text might have strange subliminal effects!

https://thebritishjugglingconvention.co.uk/wiki/images/a/a8/BJC_2012_-_Workshops_Overview.pdf

Orinoco - - Parent

Indeed, I just threw my shit into a bag & pushed it down the stairs.

Thanks for the file which is very helpful.

For the workshop coordinator I think the time/location grid is the most useful for allocating new workshops to a free time/space slot. For attendees though I think you are right in that this is not the most efficient way of presenting the details on a workshop board.

Time is important because you can't attend two workshops simultaneously (this also covers being in two places simultaneously so location information is not important), plus you might not get up before 11am & may not be there on Thursday. So workshops definitely need to be presented along a timeline.

Instead of locations which could potentially be empty how about always using the next available cell in the timeslot's row/column & then drawing a symbol representing what the workshop is for. I think people would prefer to scan the board looking for a prop.

In our example there were up to 6 workshops in an hour, meaning the 14 horizontal spaces representing all the available workshop locations could be condensed into something much more readable.


Any talented artists up for creating an icon set for:

Balls - a generic 4 panel juggling ball with a number for however many required
Clubs - as above with a club
Rings - as above with a ring
Diabolo - as above with a diabolo
contact juggling - a hand at 45 degrees with a ball on the back as if halfway through a butterfly
Cigar boxes, Devil stick, Kendama, Unicycle, whip, lasso, knife throwing - picture of prop
Hula hoop - a person with a hula hoop around the waist
Staff - Person twirling a staff
Acro - 2 people in a flag
Games - 2 die
Passing - over head view of two people facing each other with arrows pointing from right to left hands combined with prop: club, ball, ring
Dance - foot prints with arrows
Magic - rabbit in a hat
Other - question mark

Any more?

I'd suggest the icons be simple line drawings that scale well & can easily be copied onto a workshop board by hand if necessary. It'd be nice to have a standard set of glyphs that can be used by other websites & festivals so that they become more effective with familiarity. I'd like something ~100px square to use on the document view. RegularJugular do you still have the original svg files you used for the Edge banners? There is a lot of good stuff in there that could be used.

Mïark - - Parent

I think it might also be useful to have big events on the timetable too. At this year they had a paper timetable of big events and you could write the workshops you were going to on it. But without such a system I might think twice (or make preparations beforehand) before going to a workshop that lasted for 3-4 if I knew I had to get the bus to the gala show at 4.

If you wanted to be really computery and funky you could have the location description link to a map/plan of venue showing where the workshop was located within the venue.

^Tom_ - - Parent

"For the workshop coordinator I think the time/location grid is the most useful for allocating new workshops to a free time/space slot. For attendees though I think you are right in that this is not the most efficient way of presenting the details on a workshop board."

For the workshop coordinator I think you're right I also think that any tool with stuff wot i don't really understand to enable the coordinator to drag workshops around would be incredibly useful. when I edited mine in a spreadsheet, cut and paste worked... but not perfectly, and only from a real computer.

Even for punters, I think that a location/time grid is the most ideal way of doing it. a) they're the only 2 keys which, when combined, provide uniqueness*. b) they're the information that people need to get to the workshop. c) it allows you to mark times and locations of shows/inaccessibility (rehearsals etc)*. d) I actually think some people look at the board and think about themselves needing to move from *points* over there to *points* over here at such and such a time.

the problems are:
i) fitting the whole table on board/screen
ii) the third and fourth keys of prop type and difficulty.

ii) can be fixed on a computer by giving someone a button to change from time vs location to whatever vs whatever, but the hard copy is never going to be easy.


* the key point for a and c is that you can't offer a workshop at the same time and place as another one**, and if this isn't clear, then people will try to offer clashing workshops.

The lesser point is that the workshop board is (or can be) used as a a general timetable as well as just workshops (ie games, buses, shows etc).

** well, if you consider outside, or hall, or (for example an off-site workshop) just a meeting point, then this is no longer true, but a good system could cope with this (while also making it clear that you're trying to be the 10th workshop at the same time I the hall - depends on the exact space - probably would have worked last year, probably not this year).

Little Paul - - Parent

"fitting the whole table on board/screen"

Can I just say that when I eventually found it, I found the "list view" version of the google calendar really handy this year. Especially once I worked out how to make it add the workshops I was interested in to the calendar on my phone.

I still managed to miss John/Tiffs balancing workshop though, which was one of only two workshops I was interested in going to :)

emilyw - - Parent

USE CASES!

1. co-ordinator needs to shuffle workshops around space and time in order that everything has a space and time, and various constraints are fulfilled.
2. workshop giver wishes to offer a workshop (six months before event)
3. workshop giver wishes to offer a workshop (during event)
4. individual track co-ordinator needs to shuffle workshops in time but perhaps not space, within their limited purview.
5. two weeks before event, workshop/track co-ordinator needs to negotiate time slots with givers of offered workshops
6. before or during event, user wishes to skim read what is available over the week
7. during event, user wishes to plan their day
8. user wishes (having planned their day) to be reminded of what is where and when so they can actually go there.
9. workshop co-ordinator needs to track use of limited resources such as portable amp
10. workshop giver wishes to quickly see their commitments and double check for clashes (with their own workshops or with other events they are interested in).

discuss! :-)

Orinoco - - Parent

Right then, got quite a bit further today. We now have 4 different views to play with. There are links to switch between them & also links to filter by category at the bottom. Conflicts are highlighted in red.

What do people think?

Traditional table

I don't like this view, I think we have stuck with it through inertia. This often gets large & unwieldy with so many time slots/locations. I did get drag & drop placement of workshops working using the same code that I use for reordering sections on the customise index page. However, because the table is so large dragging it to a position off the screen really didn't work smoothly at all. I got really fed up with it & found that just editing the time/location was considerably faster.

I've improved adding/editing workshops in that if there is a conflict the editworkshop form displays suggestions for alternative locations that are free at the same time & alternative times when the location is free.

Document

I initially really liked this but have since gone off it a bit because of the timeline issue. Time runs down the page, so as you scroll down, time should move forward, but because the number of workshops in a given timeslot can alter the time/distance scrolled connection is broken & I have no idea what time I am looking at. This makes this view very difficult to use to plan your day because it is not immediately obvious which workshops clash with which.

Detailed list

My second favourite view. I like this because I am a data freak. I know I'm not the only one.

Small panels

Could possibly be more useful if level & workshop leader information is included as well?

This is my favourite view because it is so simple. It fits & scales horizontally on screen well. Even when the number of workshops wraps to 2 or three panels deep I still keep the sense of time.

I think there is a lot more tweaking that could be done & there are more optimal solutions to be had by combining features from different views.

emilyw - - Parent

oh cool! that's super!

For me the primary use cases for the document view are pre-convention browsing, and long-description-looking-up during the convention (from the printed version). In 2012 there was a list of workshops on the website substantially before the times and locations were sorted - you can't really do times much in advance because flaky people. So ideally some view or other could accommodate that.

They could be in alphabetical order and then you would for sure know where in the alphabet you were.

I love #3 and think it could have the description under each row? expandable perhaps?

The traditional view is still important as long as it's necessary to copy it to a physical workshop board. As Tom said, on a board people need to be able to add workshops without generating a time/space clash. And the faster you can write those boards up the more time you have to drink beer.

oOooo innovation!

Orinoco - - Parent

Clicking the title of the workshop in the list view brings up all the details including the description.

Is it necessary to use the traditional view for the physical board? I think the number of people browsing to attend a workshop far outweighs the number of people browsing to offer one so the format should be optimised for the greater audience.

For people looking to offer a workshop I would hope most people would go through the workshop coordinator (did this happen Nigel?) but for those that are unable to find that person I think a poster saying, "looking to offer a workshop? Please pick a slot below" with tear off strips at the bottom that are popular in America would work well.

To do:

Print css to get rid of all the Edge stuff.
Enable filtering by multiple categories.
Enable sorting by category.
Check boxes to toggle all fields of information - I think hiding time+location & sorting by category should improve the document view more towards your ideal.

I'm out tonight but will see how much I can get through on Tuesday night.

It's Him - - Parent

I'd say that about 60% of the workshops offered by individuals at BJC came to me, rather than used the board. Any changes made to the board were also obvious by the simple solution of writing everything in green and getting additional workshops added in black.

Nigel

emilyw - - Parent

That's perhaps a side effect of the boards being in a big atrium hang-out kind of area which you were in a lot?

In 2012 the boards were in a corridor just past reg desk, I was generally nowhere near them (both because I was working the event and because it was not a conducive spot for hanging out) and I don't remember any of the workshop additions going through me, although there were plenty.

Your green pen solution was genius.

Orinoco - - Parent

I would have thought it was more to do with the specific Workshop desk which was the first desk you came to as you entered the college.

emilyw - - Parent

lol could be!

^Tom_ - - Parent

At Pickering it was maybe something like 5 or 10% who spoke to me about doing a workshop. I was also multitasking on site, though normally at the ticket office... which was a nightmare of an office. I think people will tend to do what seems easiest.

The green pen was very clever, and could be extended (eg only let people use a blue pen in the morning, then change then to red in the afternoon, or change the available pens whenever you update from the board).

Mïark - - Parent

I think having a temporary marker near a white board is definitely a good idea as it stops some idiot finding a permanent marker and using that.

There were also people changing a detail on their workhops (eg location) so having another colour to highlight changes might be useful if some people are relying on details they read on the board before the changes.

emilyw - - Parent


There might not be many editors, but if Nigel comes over to the board and finds that a mystery person has accidentally created a workshop clash, what's he supposed to do about it? He doesn't have a way to contact the person to discuss a better time/place or to tell them about it if he just decides unilaterally. They'll probably just show up in the wrong place and get confused and disturb the workshop they are clashing with.

It's Him - - Parent

Fortunately this didn't happen, partly because I tried to never use all the main workshop rooms at one time so that people could just move to a nearby space. The one problem I know about I caught early enough to get the workshop to move room.

Nigel

PS Don't know who came up with the pen idea but it was as likely to be Tracey or the lady on reg desk as me.

Mïark - - Parent

Would you also need some way of marking rooms as temporarily unavailable to be used for workshops (for DIY workshop planners) eg if a room was being used for a show set up.

It's Him - - Parent

You would need to book the room for other use. In general that only happened occasionally as some shows were teched whilst the room was in use (5 Ring/open stage/cabaret) whilst the ones in theatre were preventing workshops.

Nigel

Orinoco - - Parent

Only got round to adding check boxes which toggle various fields of info. This helps us see a whole lot of different possible views.

Orinoco - - Parent

I have done my to dos. Because that's what bank holiday weekends are for.

You can only access the document view ordered by category via links on the webpage at the moment because I think that is the only place where it really makes sense, but if you want to play sticking '&Order=Category' on the end of the list & panel views will work as well.

It's Him - - Parent

Looking good.

Nigel

Mïark - - Parent

I like the traditional, maybe because I can scan it fast for the workshops I want and spot any clashes. There does initially look like there is wasted blank space, but often gaps get filled in with more workshops so it is good people see there is space to add more worksops.

It is also easy to spot any spare good locations if you want to add a new workshop that has special requirements eg needs lot of space

Moon on a stick requests;

The Document is very long involves scrolling which tires my little hands, once I see a Backgammon workshop, I know I have no interest in it from the title, I don't need to see the time (for a 2nd time) the location/teacher/description, since it's on a computer could you have it collapse to just the title and expand on mouse over or click on it.

Genocide might be diabolo rather than other

Ingenious the game is spelt with an "o"

It might be nice to be able to filter by more than one prop, eg I might like both dance and poi workshops, so it would be good to see both so clashes/choices would be easier to spot.

For the detailed list I would appreciate some separator between different hours it makes it easier to spot which workshops occur at the same time - even if it was just a small gap or a line between the last workshop at 9 and the first at 10.

The small panels should work but I keep expecting it to be the traditional table and then realise the same location is only in the same column by chance so have to read the location rather than recognising its location from its position.

It is good though to see trying to find if there are other better ways of displaying workshop information. Even if traditionalists like me are used to seeing them on a physical board

Orinoco - - Parent

The Document is very long involves scrolling which tires my little hands, once I see a Backgammon workshop, I know I have no interest in it from the title, I don't need to see the time (for a 2nd time) the location/teacher/description, since it's on a computer could you have it collapse to just the title and expand on mouse over or click on it.

This is pretty much the panel view!

mike.armstrong - - Parent

For an online, pre-event, view I like small panels best too but I think Traditional tabloe might still be the best once we're on site as it shows spaces where workshops could be added as well as were they already exist.
For small panels some colour coding might help scanability (daltonists be damned!) - how about colour coding the panel by prop (maybe using shade for beginner/intermediate/advanced) and adding a header bar to each box which could colour code locations?
Cheers
-Mike

It's Him - - Parent

Colour coding by prop and shade for difficulty appeals to me if a big enough colour range exists. It might be worth someone (not me) checking the numbers of workshops of each skill offered. Remembering that there were 8 aerial workshops not listed on Tuesday.

Nigel

emilyw - - Parent

+1 for the workshop co-ordinator being able to have a sense at a glance of how well balanced their pile of workshops is, perhaps a month before the convention or so (and again, well before times and places are likely to be sorted out).

KStruthers - - Parent

I like the big table view because you can see which spaces are free, but also the panel view. I think time is more important than location when deciding which workshops to go to, so it's good to be able to see all the details of available workshops together like that. Are these workshop tables available to use for one day conventions/can it be made available? Maybe we could test it at Camvention?

I've also been thinking about how to physically display information at the convention, and how much information should be on the physical workshop board. Do you think that general events happening at the convention like the shows and games should be displayed on the workshop boards? Should the timetable be limited to daytime hours, or should it allow for some evening workshops and activities to be added? Is the title of a workshop enough, or should extra details like the name of the person running the workshop, skill level, and a description be included?

Orinoco - - Parent

I've just updated the live version with the new timetable code.

Timetables can be created for any event. If you go to the Camvention event listing there is an "Add new timetable" link which does what it says. Please have a play & let me know how you get on.

I think how much information to display depends on the convention. For one dayers I'm pretty good at keeping track of time so need less information. For longer events like the BJC & EJC where I only know what day it is by the number of clean pairs of pants I have in my bag I prefer more info.

Mïark - - Parent

I think the list would benefit from having some separator between different times
eg
11:00 Workshop
--------------
11:00 Workshop
--------------
11:00 Workshop
--------------
11:00 Workshop
--------------
--------------
12:00 Workshop
--------------

You might also want to add a field for workshops with attendee limits with instructions to sign up at reg desk as necessary

There were also more workshops on the workshop boards at BJC than made it onto the on-line version.

At EJC in Finland they had a computerised workshop board on a big display screen, you filled in a paper slip and the info desk people inputted it for you. I can't remember if it was available on-line as I didn't have a computer or sophisticated phone with me.

Orinoco - - Parent

Try that.

It's Him - - Parent

There were also more workshops on the workshop board than made it on to the online version.

Not until Tuesday there weren't. I kept updating the online system from the board. I didn't bother keeping it up to date when I realised that all the aerial slots were already signed up when I went to add them to the online system. Although knife throwing and Torwood wheelers may not have been listed as knife throwing was happening every day and Torwood wheelers were changing what they were doing without informing me or changing the board. Instead both were listed properly on the sign up sheets.

The system should be able to cope with this.

Nigel

Mïark - - Parent

My mistake, people were (possibly unofficially) adding more workshops to the workshop-boards in the gaps I didn't think these were getting uploaded to the on-line version, but don't mind admitting I am wrong

Dee - - Parent

It was available online - people were able to check for updates from the campsite as the campsite was fully covered by wifi.

As they didn't have workshop boards it was easier to encourage people to hand in the pieces of paper.  Munich had both a big board and pieces of paper to be handed in - this was a bit of a mess at  times tbh with clashes appearing caused by the lag between the slip being submitted,  logged and then posted to the board.

Dee - - Parent

I kinda like the festival digest email idea - however I think that it wouldn't be practical when lots of people are (trying) to rely on wifi [esp to avoid roaming charges] at an event such as an EJC.  I think at an event such as the BJC, where the majority of attendees are from the country, it's a little more practical. Then you get into the dilemma as to what time works best for the information to be sent out [but not too early as the information needs to be up to date if it's to serve any real purpose].

Dee - - Parent

Hmm. I've been playing around with this a bit, thinking how to set up a google form so that we collect the detail in a more manageable format for creating the online calendars.

My first try this time around is here

Thoughts / suggestions? Even if it is just a suggested reordering of questions.

Mïark - - Parent

Could the e-mail and workshop input boxes be longer so one could see an entire e-mail address (it rejected my e-mail address for no obvious reason). Is there a character limit to workshop title.

It might be useful for level to have minimum requirement for participants eg Popcorn Variations - must be able to already do basic popcorn.

I would have club passing and ball passing as separate skills rather than rely on people to mention it in the description.

Could the skills be in alphabetical order?

add Hats as a skill?

Dee - - Parent

I have fixed the email input box - I had incorrect validation settings on it, so it should work now.  The workshop title has a short text box rather than long to encourage people to keep it short so that it can be easily read on an online calendar.

Skills now in alphabetical order, including hats.  Have not separated out ball and club juggling as these options are merely to trigger colour coding - too many options means a ridiculous number of colours (that won't be easily distinguishable).  In all likelihood, some of the options would be combined into a single colour.  I have also edited devilsticks to include flowersticks.

In practice the minimum requirement would be merged into the description (I'm thinking from the point of view of what fields there are in creating calendar events)

I have also included a minimum / maximum number of participants option.

Mïark - - Parent

I deleted the flowerstick suggestion before posting - are you psychic? (or can you see the preview mode of my post?)

Dee - - Parent

Not psychic, just had a bit of time to think about the options!

Orinoco - - Parent

Hooray for building stuff! Well done.

Couple of suggestions:

I can't see any benefit in the extra workshop level categories. What's the difference between intermediate & improver (isn't everyone an improver?)? What other level could be useful? As much as it annoys me I think the irritatingly popular 'All levels' category should be included.

For the number of participants doesn't minimum logically come before maximum?

Dee - - Parent

Have added "all levels" and merged intermediate / improver. The idea behind including levels is to aid the workshop coordinator in building a timetable before the convention - so that there is a good mix of levels each day (or as good as possible).   Also, the level information is automatically included within the description [i.e. the submitted description of the workshop is supplemented with other information from the rest of the form.

I'm working on the principal that I can automatically extract the relevant information in appropriate formats for my scripts to create all the events.  This means that I could create the calendars multiple times - creating "quick and dirty" versions of the calendars to allow for easy manipulation of time slots.  Version 1.0 would be to have everything on the same calendar [i.e. no colour coding] to check for overloading and allow for easier visualisation of the available slots.  Version 1.1 would be coloured by prop/activity so that it would reflect the spread by prop.  Version 1.2 would be by location - ensuring no clashes. Version 1.2.1 would be by level (merely so that the coordinator could check that you didn't have all the absolute beginners workshops at the same time!).  Versions 2.0 and 2.1 would be made available to the attendees and would be two options - colour by prop/activity and colour by level.

I know that minimum logically comes before maximum, but more workshops will have a maximum number than a minimum number [especially as the minimum number is something that can only determined at the start of the workshop, so really, the scheduler doesn't care about this!].  Having worked on (and taught) survey design, I know to order things by how much you need the information - most needed information is asked first, as you will always get the lovely folks who can't be bothered to fill in the form fully.

emilyw - - Parent

Awesome!

Suggestions:

Leave off "minimum number". It's so unusual it doesn't need a separate box. Everybody can guess that the five person passing pattern workshop needs five people.

Replace "maximum number" with a checkbox for "Workshop has limited spaces and needs sign up sheet". If the workshop has a maximum number that's likely to be reached, people will ask for a sign up sheet. Most don't. The workshop leader can bring their own sign up sheets.

I think I'd split that constraints thing out into separate sections. Makes it easier for people to tell that they filled in all the things they need to. I'd also split description / assumed knowledge. Assumed knowledge could also have an example ("must be able to juggle three clubs").

I would provide a tiny sample bio. This is a good way of nudging people towards some commonality of style e.g. all third person, all in a similar tone of voice. "Fred Bloggs is an accountant and street performer who has been balancing things on his nose ever since he saw a sea lion video on youtube when he was five."

I don't think there's any need for the "as previous" stuff for bios. It will all come out in the wash, I think you can just tell them no need to write it twice.

If you avoid telling people where/how the different bits of info will show up, then that gives more flexibility for Orin or someone to change that around without making your form all wrong.

I'd drastically cut down on the words, people hate reading words. It's all friction preventing them getting to the bottom of the damn form and hitting go. Like after "workshop level" I don't think any of the description is really necessary.

It might be (slightly) easier to follow if it was chunked logically into stuff the public want to know, and then stuff only the organiser needs to know. (Maybe?). So time would come after description and level.

Dee - - Parent

Thanks for the really helpful feedback Emily.  I've implemented your suggestions.  I think that I would automate sending an email to those who select a maximum number of participants checkbox to see what that number is (i.e. get the additional information by email for the few cases that it actually would apply to).

I've left the "About you" section to the end, as it's the most optional bit of information needed [if they omit that, I really couldn't care that much!].  At this point only five questions are required [i.e. name, email, name of workshop, prop used and the timeslot] - do people think that other questions should be required? I'm thinking that if logging these during a convention I would change the status of email and to not being required (and move it down the page).

emilyw - - Parent

coo this is looking well useful.

Only small further suggestions:

Is it possible to shrink some of the text boxes? Having such large boxes under e.g. the constraints seems like inviting essays when ideally people would write "high ceiling please" and move on.

The word "any" could be used to disincentivise rambling in boxes where no rambling is needed. E.g. "Any times you are unavailable", "any requirements", etc.

Slashes should be surrounded with spaces for easier reading.

After all this I really hope some conventions make good use of it!

Dee - - Parent

If they are hosted on the google drive, you can't change the size of the boxes, but if the form is somewhere else you have a little more control over the style sheets and some basic settings (including the size of the "paragraph text" boxes) - at present I've just put in a character limit of 250 characters - so a red box appears if you go over the limit with an associated message gently reminding the person filling in the form that we don't need an essay.

Mïark - - Parent

At the risk of making the form longer...

Name might need to be Name(s) if it is a workshop for passing or other partner skill, so you can ensure that one workshop doesn't clash with another workshop that their secondary (or even tertiary) person is helping with. eg if Adam and Bill are running a workshop there doesn't want to be another workshop run by Bill at the same time.

Poi waving/twirling/spinning might be another skill - but I guess you can add more skills if they repeatedly occur in "other"

^Tom_ - - Parent

speaking from having done most of the workshops last year, here's my experience:
I arranged the workshop timetable online, so all of the pre-planned workshops could easily have been converted into an online timetable (*). then I would have printed them off had the printer worked [so copied them into paper with pen! :-( ] before handing the result to kind volunteers to put into board [thanks guys].

the rest of the workshop boards grew organically, people added workshops into any non taken, non blanked slot on the board, so:
a) if a space is going to be in use for something other than a workshop - you will need to blank it out.
b) never leave a half written/blank workshop board out, someone will write a workshop on it when you're not looking, and it will probably clash with your gala show performers' workshop (whom you've given prime place and prime time) - I'm sorry if it was any one here's workshop that I had to take off the otherwise clear board last year when I wrote up the next day's workshops.

thanks and congratulations for having done a good job with the workshops this year, I didn't check online, but then I don't plan on doing many workshops at BJCs.

* see below.

It's Him - - Parent

So what I actually did with the online calendar was the following. I separated most of the workshops into basic, beginners, intermediate, advanced, unspecified or adult only. With the exception of board games and balloon workshops. This pretty much used up the colour range. Splitting it into props would have been another option but there was a very wide range of those given we had crafts, knife throwing, unicycling, dance, lasso, meta lectures as well as all the standard props such as hula hoop, aerial, acro staff, spinning plates etc. 

I asked most people who submitted a workshop to me rather than via the board what the minimum level of skill they required was and that was added to the online description as well as the sign up sheets (particularly important for aerial with small numbers of sign up spaces). 

I assigned workshop spaces just before the workshop boards were written. In doing this I didn't have to worry so much about the effect of weather which if it had been bad would have caused a disaster as particularly on the Monday and Tuesday I would have had to find room for whip convention, unicycles, tightrope, knife throwing and meteors/rope dart. 

For each workshop I added who was running it and therefore who to find/blame if it didn't happen. To my knowledge only 4 workshops of the sixty plus that were offered pre-bjc didn't happen, two because the person couldn't make it and two because Natalie was too tired. Over 90 workshops were added during the BJC. This means that a non-updated online timetable is basically useless. Many of these were added the day before and two workshops got put on the online timetable but didn't get transferred to the boards. One because I was walking over to the board to write it and got distracted and one was me messing up.

Any system implemented, and the Google calendar system would work fine if done properly, needs the proper equipment to run it. A tablet isn't the best device, a laptop with mouse would be much better and I should have brought one. Cutting and pasting would have been much, much quicker. Some background software or wetware asking questions such as can you do diabolo in that room? Or is this a sit down workshop? Would help as people assigned workshops to unsuitable spaces and I then had to run round altering them and redirecting people e.g. Tom Derrick from w1 to w7.

Nigel

jamesfrancis - - Parent

I think some additional thinking on suitability of workshop spaces may have been more beneficial. I was rather unimpressed when 30 people turned up to my 3 person passing workshop with run-arounds to find I had been scheduled in the drama studio which comfortably fits about 15 jugglers max (and only if you manage to avoid hitting the low hanging ceiling objects). It was no problem as we just moved the workshop to the main hall, but it did kill 10 minutes of the workshop.

I never personally used the online timetable as I imagined it would be cumbersome to view from a smartphone. I did think the workshop boards needed more information e.g. at a minimum who is running them. People attend many workshops often because of the person running them so to leave this off I think was a mistake. I do remember one workshop just listed as 'club juggling' with no description of whether it was 'learning how to' or 'amazingly awesome and hard tricks' and thinking a lot of people would be put off attending or find themselves at completely the wrong workshop. One problem with only publishing full information online is not only the constant updating problem you mentioned but also the requirement for internet connectivity. You have to remember that each year at least 50 people come from abroad and won't have free internet access to get all the details - boards will always work much better for me.

Didn't mean to sound overly critical in this post. I generally think things this year were much better than they have been in many years gone past and the range and timing of workshops was really good. Of the 3 workshops I ran, two had really good spaces and I think generally feedback has been positive with regards to workshops. I just wanted to raise some quick wins that I think could benefit future conventions. Thanks for all your effort in organising.

James

It's Him - - Parent

Large workshop spaces were at a premium especially on Monday and Tuesday. I wasn't supposed to be using the main hall as a workshop space although I did on a few occasions mainly for club passing. I am glad you were able to relocate yourself.

The workshop boards being done in a grid format meant that there were not enough space on the grid square to write all pertinent information. There are other ways to display information on the boards but we went for the usual format. Even then this was apparently difficult for people if the two boards had different times!

I had got someone to check the usability of the timetable on a smart phone before it went live. It was quite useable. I can do nothing about assumptions people make without trying alternatives. Such as assuming we wouldn't update the timetable at the convention. We can publicise it more but with less than a week to go to the convention there were less than 30 workshops which changed to over 50 by the time the timetable went live. It is difficult to let people know about a wonderful timetable option if it is not populated.

Nigel

Orinoco - - Parent

Great review Nigel, thank you for posting.

I too am one that never really plans to attend any workshops. But I still felt that the online timetable gave a good overview of what to look out for, which would've helped me plan my day if I was that way inclined.

#bjc2014 #conventionreview

charlieh -

A review of BJC 2014, Darton College, Yorkshire

Back in the mists of time there were regular long form reviews of conventions posted on Rec.RareWineRedMugenKendama (for the young people, this was on Usenet where we invented long pointless argument threads, before Facebook cornered the market in those). It seems to me this doesn't happen very often these days, so here's my small contribution in the hope others will follow.

I started going to BJCs in 1993 when single - then when Alex became my girlfriend (not at a BJC, as there were only three female jugglers in the UK those days and all of them had far better taste) she came along too, initially for the big shows but eventually to be grappled in acrobalance workshops by large German chaps - luckily I'm not the jealous type. Then we got all sensible, settled down and got married, a house and two kids, so the last few BJCs I've also attended on my own in a retro fashion, lugging a rucsac containing little more than a tent, sleeping bag, five clubs and some beer. Since in the meantime every other juggler has been practising more than me and can do more stuff (this includes the twelve year olds) I usually end up in the bar with the other grumpies, moaning about how we can't take the mickey out of poi spinners any more. This year, however, we were to attend as a family, with Libby ("I'm five AND THREE QUARTERS!") and Ben ("I am four.") - complete with superhero costumes. While dressed up, someone asked them who they were - Libby replied "We're Libby and Ben!!" - so much for secret identities. Fearing camping and the packing involved, we had a booked a cheap hotel a few miles away, situated in an industrial estate built on top of a closed pit and complete with a view of the roundabout (I do like to travel in style), but it did at least serve individual boxes of cereal for breakfast, which impressed the kids no end.

We turned up to site on Friday night, being extra keen and arriving only half an hour after the doors opened. Team Randall, Kat, Bryn, Lazyjuggler Ron and many others were rushing about giving out brown paper envelopes containing bits of paper a lot of people would forget to read and perspex passes that would
light up until the battery fell out later, and setting up a well stocked bar (it's always nice to have jugglers running a convention bar, as they have a realistic idea of how much and for how long we can drink - many's the time I've seen a bar frantically shifting in new barrels after the first night). We met Mandy & Gary's baby Freya, who is very sweet at six months but sadly cannot juggle anything yet, unlike her not much elder brother. She is however very good at gnawing anatomically improbable rubber giraffes and smiling. Libby and Ben dragged me off to explore the site, which was absolutely perfect - a huge central atrium for shows, games and generally mucking about in, surrounded by the cafe, bar, coffee & cake stalls and leading to halls for the traders, a theatre for shows and a reasonably sized gym. After a lot of catching up with friends we returned to the hotel, but I cycled in later for some more chat and beers, a nice downhill run....of course, later on I cycled home, which nearly killed me being mostly uphill. The next two nights I would take a taxi home - cycling in Cambridge is mostly flat, Yorkshire having taken all the slopey bits.

Saturday was the day for workshops, more arrivals and hugging, and watching Libby and Ben collect balloon animals (I'm particularly proud of my Deformed Rabbit and accompanying Mutant Carrots) and join with the juggling - Ben spotted a group of people with 2 and 3 diabolos and went off to join them, although all he can do is get his diabolo spinning. Luckily they've been going to conventions since they were literally weeks old so shyness amongst jugglers isn't an issue. Libby spent a lot of the day reading Dr Dolittle and a weird Australian book called Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (parents, check it out, it's bonkers). Their day finished watching a well-choreographed youth circus show and with the traditional Northern dish of chips and curry, but again I returned later to watch Fight Night (one-on-one club Gladiators, no it's not called Combat in my book) which was lots of fun. We cheered on the two Cambridge qualifiers including Brooke who wins many of our local bouts partly due to his juggling skill and partly due to having arms like Mr Tickle. The event was one by an unseeded Norwegian who sadly didn't resemble any of the Mr Men.

On Sunday morning Alex needed her fix of Art so I took her and the kids to the nearby Yorkshire Sculpture Park - a beautiful place, but I needed more coffee and chat, so returned to the site before picking her up and losing £20 to the parking machine, which needed 4 serious chaps with walkie talkies to retrieve. Back to site for lunch and then the Juggling Olympics, tightly organised by Luke Burrage and launched by Libby and Ben having a 'who can pull the funniest face' competition on the sidelines. We managed to retrieve them before Unicycle Gladiators and a possible trip to casualty. Afterwards it was time to leave for Sheffield and the Gala Show: the kids thought the usual balloon madness before the show started was wonderful. I'm not sure the theatre staff did, looking bemused at the huge modelling balloon chains, volleys of rocket balloons and remote control inflatable sharks getting stuck in the roof - I hope none of them have a latex allergy or are lacking a sense of humour. The show itself was quite long, and a few acts could have been pruned to improve the pace, as could some shorter links from the comperes: we had to bribe Ben with icecream to sit through the second half. His favourite act was the 'funny man who cut off the legs of his chair when he dropped' and Libby enjoyed the glow spinners with their BJC logos produced by a clever LED stick thingummy. I liked the last act although it made Alex sleepy and really enjoyed the Taiwanese diabolists, feeling sorry for one of them who was having a droppy evening but amazed by the skill level of what they were doing. After taking the family back to the hotel I returned for a few drinks and general Renegade avoidance, I'm sure it was all very funny.

We popped in briefly on Monday to collect all our stuff (books, props, part deflated balloon animals, jumpers, coats, a squashed veggie pasty and a bottle of water that Ben had put a grape into) and to say goodbye. The event continued until Thursday so you'll have to wait for other reviewers to describe BYJOTY, the ceilidh, Cabaret and any other shenanigans. We had an excellent time and will return for longer next time - thanks to all involved, you did us proud.

charlieh - - Parent

I really have no idea why 'rec dot juggling' turned into that weird link!!!

Little Paul - - Parent

Hahahaha!

I like that, thanks orin :)

Orinoco - - Parent

Hahahaha! I'd forgotten I'd done that so even I thought it was funny! :)

Thanks for your story Charlie, I too miss the long reviews. I will start writing mine tomorrow morning, & I hope to have it ready by Monday latest...

Oh & tag, you're it #bjc2014

lukeburrage - - Parent

The Fight Night was a lot of fun, and one of the most successful Fight Nights I've organized by a lot of measures. Iver wasn't unseeded (he was seeded second after qualification) but it was his first tournament so was technically unranked (unlike Dave, Brook and me).

See all the results here: http://www.lukeburrage.com/combat/tournament%20BJC%202014%20Darton.html

Orinoco - - Parent

'twas a great tournament, I had a great time & really enjoyed it. Thanks for organising it. The Fight Night website looks great too!

Little Paul - - Parent

His favourite act was the 'funny man who cut off the legs of his chair when he dropped'

Ben clearly has taste, as that was by far my favourite act as well.

Brook Roberts - - Parent

Most of my ability in gladiators is due to it allowing me to release my aggression which builds up from repeated misspelling of my name.

I am nevertheless interested in this kendama you speak of. Is it still for sale?

Dee - - Parent

With my actual name being constantly misspelt, I sympathise with you. This is why I double checked name spelling during fight night.

Brook Roberts - - Parent

Ha, it doesn't actually bother me too much when people get it wrong.
It does bother me when I submit my name to someone, and they decide to 'correct' either my name (which has happened often after I have submitted it correctly) or correct my gender (as a result of which I have a driving theory test in the name of Ms Brook Roberts!). I'm not sure what drives people to assume that they know the name/gender of a person better than the person filling out a form!

Al_Bee - - Parent

I used to have a South African boss who booked me on a course. I arrived to find I didn't have a place but someone called "Ellen" did.

Chris - - Parent

Ever had your name "corrected" to Robert Brooks?

Brook Roberts - - Parent

I have, but that seems only common in person/giving my name over the phone. I think that actually happened at BJC but I can't remember with who now...

Orinoco - - Parent

I am constantly corrected to John Ralph. The good thing about going by Orinoco or the God Emperor is that it generally makes people ask, "what was that again?".

emilyw - - Parent

Who in hell doesn't know who Orinoco is? I mean seriously.

emilyw - - Parent

I just read that the original Orinoco was modelled on Elizabeth Beresford's lazy teenage son. Hahahaha.

(When much younger I once tried to hit on a guy by telling him he looked like a womble. Wasn't successful).

barnesy - - Parent

Wrong womble?

Little Paul - - Parent

Saying a chap looks like Madame Cholet rarely gets you very far.

emilyw - - Parent

Quite obviously there is no such thing as a wrong womble.

jamesfrancis - - Parent

I once had to send out 200 'thank you for attending our conference' emails using our standard dear mr/mrs/ms letter forms when the attendees registered only using their names and no titles. Being an actuarial conference over 50% of the names were non European and unfamiliar to me. Even after googling each of the names I think I probably had a 60% success rate on guessing gender and have permanently excluded myself from ever working in about 20% of the market!

david - - Parent

Dear jamesfrancis,

Clearly it is more respectful to drop the titles and address people by their names.

jamesfrancis - - Parent

I agree...unfortunately the standardised templates the consultancy I used to work and their lack of flexibility disagreed!

emilyw - - Parent

next time just put Dr. for everyone, then nobody will be offended :-)

Lorri - - Parent

Unless they're a professor. I deliberately don't have any title on delgate badges/lists/letters anymore for that very reason!

The Void - - Parent

My pics are at https://tlmb.net/galleries/BJC2014/
A fun week, trouble- and hassle-free, good venue. Big Thanks to the crew.

Tobias -

Waiting for the train to the plane to the train to #bjc2014 and we've got some lovely weather in our bags. Fingers are starting to itch for something to pass...

Orinoco -

Last day of work for me before #BJC2014. I'm really shattered from a busy weekend, a big night of salsa dancing on Monday, a late night of coding last night (nothing anyone will notice but trust me things are a lot better now!) & as usual, right on time, I appear to be developing a cold. Do I forego TWJC tonight so that I can get some rest?

No.

Sorry Kev, I might be snoring in the car tomorrow!

peterbone - - Parent

I always used to get a cold at the BJC. So much so that I stopped going for several years. Fingers crossed that I don't get one now. I'll be working tomorrow but have Friday off, so not much time for packing as I'm juggling tonight at #USCS.

Little Paul - - Parent

I'm on holiday now as well, tomorrow I clean the van and start packing, then drop the cat off at her holiday home ready to pootle up the motorway Friday morning.

Really looking forward to chilling out given how crazy busy this week has been at work!

I too have a minor throat tickle, which I'm hoping comes to nothing...

Topper - - Parent

I have just started packing the car.
I might have a quick power nap on the way as I didn't get much sleep last night. The car knows the way.

Orinoco - - Parent

I'm just about packed, will be setting off for your place in 30-40 minutes or so. Will get there 10:30-11:00 probably.

The frequency of excitable chest tightenings is increasing.

Orinoco - - Parent

Right, time for the first leg of the journey. See some of you tonight, more of you tomorrow!

Marvin, I better not come back to the mess you left me with last year.

Little Paul - - Parent

BOV is packed, and I've got a lemon drizzle cake and a batch of cheese/onion straws baked.

I'm sure there's something I've missed but I'm almost ready to leave...

It's Him -

BJC workshop timetable www.bjc2014.co.uk/workshop-calendar/ change the date to the correct week. The down arrow next to the print icon is really useful.

Nigel

#bjc2014

peterbone - - Parent

Looks good. Who's doing the advanced 5 club workshop? Most of the descriptions give the name, except that one.

It's Him - - Parent

Iver Tronstad and that one should have done as well. I'll correct it soon.

Nigel

Orinoco - - Parent

Good work Nigel.

One workshop that isn't clear is Dawn's drills Wed 14:00-15:00, what prop is that for?

varkor - - Parent

I bet there'll be a lot of people who don't spot the date's wrong, and think the calendar's completely empty. Why hasn't it been changed to the right week yet?

Aidan - - Parent

If you choose the next week on the calendar, you'll see a fully populated workshop timetable. I'm not sure why Nigel has done it like that. I guess BJC starts on the Friday, but there are no workshops scheduled for then. I must admit I was thrown by that at first too.

It's Him - - Parent

Dawns Drills is all about body rolling with ball I believe.

It's Him - - Parent

They have to be the sort of people who don't read the second sentence of a post!

So there is no point in writing anything here.

Nigel

varkor - - Parent

Everyone who comes from here will be fine! I'm just thinking of all those poor people who aren't using the Edge!

It's Him - - Parent

So the ones who came via facebook which I wrote the same thing on. Ok the ones who only went on the website might struggle but there will be very few of those, as how would they know about it. It is right down the bottom of the menu and has only been there for two days.

Nigel

emilyw - - Parent

Nigel, if you or your friendly webmaster want to stick "&dates=20140412%2F20140419" on the end of the embed URL for that calendar you will get the right date range.

emilyw - - Parent

oh and changing the display mode from "WEEK" to "DAY" (also in the URL) produces friendlier output where you can see a lot of the workshop titles in full.

It's Him - - Parent

Don't know whether Paul Randall wants to mess with website now we are actually on site. If you want a different format try hearnden.org.uk/bjc2014/table.html 

Nigel

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