Handing out the Bula stamp of approval, one post at a time!

Let me start off by saying that I did not have the opportunity to attend Wekfest….in its entirety.

However, I will clarify and expand. I went to Wekfest, but I spent three hours in line waiting to get into an event that I ended up not getting into. Sure I got to see Wekfest. I got to see the cars sitting outside, the people taking pictures of said cars, but most importantly, the huge line and the security, rather, the lack thereof. I saw gaps in their security, as they were only letting groups of people at one time. The problem? There were two sets of lines. One line to get into the building, and the other line that contained everyone else who were waiting “patiently” to get in. Here’s how it worked:

Group A (the general population) waits their turn to get in. The security guards allow a number of people to get to the next part, where Group B is standing.

Group B (the ones waiting to pay and get a hand stamp) wait at the door. It was a whole new line that had a lapse in security. No one was watching for cutters, and I was there standing watching this all go on. Yeah I could have jumped in, but I had other people with me and didn’t want to leave them behind. Besides, it would be very noticeable if my own group just conveniently jumped in. I also saw a lot (and I mean a lot) of line jumping. There were also a number of staff members bringing their groups of friends into the Group B line. I am also sure that the Group B would have to reach a certain number before another 5-10 people from Group A joined Group B. The problem with the Wekfest staff letting their friends in the same way as everyone else is that it would simply cause delay for Group A. This, I believe was the real reason why not a lot of people could get in. There wasn’t a constant flow of traffic, people continuously jumped in and out of the lines, and special privileges were allowed. My suggestion for this is, if you’re going to allow VIP entrance, then MAKE a VIP entrance. There’s no need to screw the rest of the people who have been waiting.

If you’re one of those people who say “What are you talking about? It wasn’t that bad.” Please. Shut your mouth. I just told you what happened and you can ask the hundreds, if not thousands of other people who wanted to get in. I arrived on time, but parking was a disaster (it’s SF what do you expect). Why hold an event in the busiest part of SF. Why? Why hold it during an important holiday? Why hold it in SF at all? Weksos is based in San Jose for crying out loud. Go do it locally, or at least find a place that can accommodate, what I believe, 20,000+ people and the cars so that it’s not so cramped and people can still get in. Why did HIN and Remix work out so well? Because people were always being let in and there wasn’t a stupid bottleneck that didn’t allow people to get inside the venue in a reasonable amount of time. Driving around for an hour to find parking in the worst city in the Bay Area? Standing in line for 3 more hours, only to pay 20 bucks for a show that wouldn’t allow enough time to actually browse and meet people? All I am saying is: better planning, security, and a constant flow of traffic. If you’re worried about overcrowding, why hold it in such a small place? Did you not plan ahead? Wasn’t there some meeting that discussed the “unforeseen” number of people that attended Wekfest 2010 in that cramped Japantown garage? What was that? There was line cutting there too?
All I’m saying is, please plan better for Wekfest 2012. I have yet to attend a Wekfest and I don’t want a repeat of this.