Robert Jasiek
2015-08-11 14:47:55 UTC
The European Go Congress 2015 was held in Czechia, Liberec, Babylon
Centre. This former textile factory is situated in between the station
and the city center. Now, the gigantic building is a hybrid of hotel
and a tiny Disneyland mainly for children. The missing sunlight in the
conference halls and rooms used for playing was compensated by
airconditioning, which allowed to ignore any heat outside. However,
the free playing and casual pro commenting areas were dry and hot.
There was an ugly sun roof (on floor 6 and not, as described in the
congress information, floor 5) with useful furniture and barbecue but
without any view on the environment.
The large top playing room had up to 40 boards. Reaching it was an
adventure: walk in floor -2, lift A upwards to floor 1, walk (instead
of taking the next available lift), lift B downwards to floor -1. But
what was "floor 1"? If you took the green lift, as recommended by
congress organisers, you ended in a dead end of a parking deck.
Choosing "H1" was the tesuji (H for hotel, 1 = P1 for parking).
The major playing hall ("Expo hall") on floor -2 had about 250 boards.
Nevertheless, the acoustic architecture had been designed so well that
you would never be annoyed by too much noise. The ceiling with
anti-acoustic installations caught much of it. Instead, the Expo hall
suffered from a very different problem: There were three doors, of
which the largest was almost always closed and the smallest but still
important door was closed half of the time. Those doors were indicated
as emergency exits. When, early during the congress, only one door was
open, I suggested to an organiser that they all should always be open.
He was unwillingly, complaining about not having the keys. So on
average, 1.5 doors were open (without my intervention maybe even less)
but the largest door was always closed during the tournaments and
"secured" by a closing rope around the handles. For a room with
hundreds of players this was totally irresponsible. A fire could have
meant hundreds of dead people instead of only a few casulties.
Whatever an event is - there never can be any excuse for locking any
emergency exits at any moment. Event organisers (go, music or
whatever) are responsible for the lifes of people even if the
organisers need to organise key management. Nothing is more important
at a go congress with several hundred of participants (762 players in
the main tournament). Organising the go tournaments is of only
secondary importance. The life of people always is the most important.
There have been tragic incidents at big events or in big hotels around
the world before and there simply is no need to learn this afresh.
Every congress organisation, amateurish in organisation or not, ought
to know the basics: if you run a big event, you are responsible for
its participants.
The double digit kyus played in the "Registration hall / Conference
hall". A small other announced room was apparently never used. There
was a relatively small lecture room next to the top playing room.
Centre. This former textile factory is situated in between the station
and the city center. Now, the gigantic building is a hybrid of hotel
and a tiny Disneyland mainly for children. The missing sunlight in the
conference halls and rooms used for playing was compensated by
airconditioning, which allowed to ignore any heat outside. However,
the free playing and casual pro commenting areas were dry and hot.
There was an ugly sun roof (on floor 6 and not, as described in the
congress information, floor 5) with useful furniture and barbecue but
without any view on the environment.
The large top playing room had up to 40 boards. Reaching it was an
adventure: walk in floor -2, lift A upwards to floor 1, walk (instead
of taking the next available lift), lift B downwards to floor -1. But
what was "floor 1"? If you took the green lift, as recommended by
congress organisers, you ended in a dead end of a parking deck.
Choosing "H1" was the tesuji (H for hotel, 1 = P1 for parking).
The major playing hall ("Expo hall") on floor -2 had about 250 boards.
Nevertheless, the acoustic architecture had been designed so well that
you would never be annoyed by too much noise. The ceiling with
anti-acoustic installations caught much of it. Instead, the Expo hall
suffered from a very different problem: There were three doors, of
which the largest was almost always closed and the smallest but still
important door was closed half of the time. Those doors were indicated
as emergency exits. When, early during the congress, only one door was
open, I suggested to an organiser that they all should always be open.
He was unwillingly, complaining about not having the keys. So on
average, 1.5 doors were open (without my intervention maybe even less)
but the largest door was always closed during the tournaments and
"secured" by a closing rope around the handles. For a room with
hundreds of players this was totally irresponsible. A fire could have
meant hundreds of dead people instead of only a few casulties.
Whatever an event is - there never can be any excuse for locking any
emergency exits at any moment. Event organisers (go, music or
whatever) are responsible for the lifes of people even if the
organisers need to organise key management. Nothing is more important
at a go congress with several hundred of participants (762 players in
the main tournament). Organising the go tournaments is of only
secondary importance. The life of people always is the most important.
There have been tragic incidents at big events or in big hotels around
the world before and there simply is no need to learn this afresh.
Every congress organisation, amateurish in organisation or not, ought
to know the basics: if you run a big event, you are responsible for
its participants.
The double digit kyus played in the "Registration hall / Conference
hall". A small other announced room was apparently never used. There
was a relatively small lecture room next to the top playing room.