All-Star Dallas Convention Center

[mybabywantstotumble]

I know we are all incredibly disappointed in the conditions and actions of the convention center this weekend. NCA needs to hear it from us parents, athletes and attendees so that they can address all of the issues this weekend to ensure it doesn't occur again. This was not the first time that this town has held NCA Nationals nor was it the first time it was at the center.

I do admit that I am in the hospitality business and manage hotels and a convention center, so what I saw probably infuriated me more than others.

1. Cleanliness - I arrived at 5:30am Sunday and went into ladies room. It wasn't cleaned from night before, trash everywhere and no TP. Apparently there wasn't any TP in the men's rooms either. This building should have been cleaned before the staff closed the building up for the night! Halls never cleaned and Arena never cleaned either. By the time Large Senior rolled around on Sunday evening the Arena was absolutely deplorable.

2. Concessions - at 7am the only thing open was Starbucks and it looked like there was only one worker there. Probably because of the "ice" but why were there no other options open? No way to purchase drinks, coffee, nothing. At 7:30am I was finally able to find a cotton candy stand open to buy a bottle of water from.

3. Arena Concessions - Why were there no food options besides cold crappy pretzels? No one seemed to know what they were doing. At one point I was told I could get a pretzel but had to go to another stand to get Nachos - even though the stands were connected, but apparently there was no button on the cash register for Nachos. WTF?!? They could have made a killing from everyone camped out at the arena. Instead I left to eat. Oh and the credit card machine wasn't working.

The convention center obviously brought in some temporary staffing to man the bathrooms however every time I encountered an attendant the bathrooms were a mess with a serious lack of toilet paper yet the attendant was chilling on their cell phone. Literally EVERY TIME. At the end of the evening we encountered this again but there were two of them standing there with 3 bathroom stalls "out of order". I asked them what was wrong with the stalls and they said no toilet paper, but neither made an effort to go find some.

 

[notimeforthat]

I reached out to Food Trucks in the area and they told me The Convention Center would not permit them there.
Apparently there is a system in place where food trucks pay a royalty fee to attend such events... But the convention center wants the whole pie.
I am comparing NCA wirh communism... ( lmao)....
Stay to play
Eat what we say
Pay 45 to sit in a garbage pit and to use bathrooms that aren't fit for animals

 

[quitthedrama]

@ASCheerMan - I know the last few weeks have been crazy for you (and congratulations!!!) and some of these issues were out of your control since you don't employ the convention center staff, but it was really, really bad on Sunday. I think the community as a whole is feeling like industry prices keep rising and service keeps dropping. Once you get your plate cleared (I realize that may not be until May), is this something you can address and respond to?

 

[cheerKT]

I did this already once in another thread but seeing this makes me want to do it again. I want to commend the Cheersport and GWCC staff. Conditions there were great this year and pretty much every year I've attended as a competitor, coach or spectator.

 

[mamabear]

Just a thought. During the E3 convention in LA, several companies rented out their lots in the vicinity and allow food trucks to park there.

 

[quitthedrama]

I did this already once in another thread but seeing this makes me want to do it again. I want to commend the Cheersport and GWCC staff. Conditions there were great this year and pretty much every year I've attended as a competitor, coach or spectator.

I have attended Cheersport 3 times. There was one year that the bathrooms were deplorable and there were many complaints, but I am almost positive the EP posted on fierceboard (or it was on their website) and apologized and took steps to make sure it did not happen again - and I attended the following year and it was much improved. I thought that was great that an EP actually acknowledged parents and took steps to make improvements.

 

[mybabywantstotumble]

I did this already once in another thread but seeing this makes me want to do it again. I want to commend the Cheersport and GWCC staff. Conditions there were great this year and pretty much every year I've attended as a competitor, coach or spectator.

Yes! And me being in the industry I know what the convention center SHOULD have been like. GWCC had lovely bathroom attendants, lots of food options and was clean.

Now that we have brought STP in the equation, we could probably start a whole new thread about how the hotels were unprepared for us. Which is shocking because it's certainly not the first year we have all been taken over the city. I feel like all weekend I was starved, dehydrated and filthy. I urge everyone to write a trip advisor review on your hotel. The only way to fix the issues are to let them know how we feel. Personally on Friday I waited in line to check in at our hotel for 45 minutes before texting a friend to see if we could drop our luggage in their room and CP could get ready for Friday's meet time. We also waited 2 hours for room service Friday night and we opted for room service because the two hotel restaurants had hour and a half wait times to even get a table. I talked to others in different hotels that had similar experiences.

 

[cheerKT]

I have attended Cheersport 3 times. There was one year that the bathrooms were deplorable and there were many complaints, but I am almost positive the EP posted on fierceboard (or it was on their website) and apologized and took steps to make sure it did not happen again - and I attended the following year and it was much improved. I thought that was great that an EP actually acknowledged parents and took steps to make improvements.

I didn't notice it in too much disarray this year, but I did notice that they turned some of the male bathrooms in to female ones for the weekend. VERY beneficial give the usual male/female ratio at these competitions.

 

[mybabywantstotumble]

I have attended Cheersport 3 times. There was one year that the bathrooms were deplorable and there were many complaints, but I am almost positive the EP posted on fierceboard (or it was on their website) and apologized and took steps to make sure it did not happen again - and I attended the following year and it was much improved. I thought that was great that an EP actually acknowledged parents and took steps to make improvements.

This is what I am hoping. I am not sure that NCA truly knows how bad it was for attendees. The employees most likely had a staff room with buffets and their own restrooms somewhere in the back of the house.

 

[notimeforthat]

I think the big snow storm (snicker snicker)
threw them off this year.
I'm sure some staff called out due to the weather and by Sunday there was no recovery

 

[cheerKT]

Yes! And me being in the industry I know what the convention center SHOULD have been like. GWCC had lovely bathroom attendants, lots of food options and was clean.

Now that we have brought STP in the equation, we could probably start a whole new thread about how the hotels were unprepared for us. Which is shocking because it's certainly not the first year we have all been taken over the city. I feel like all weekend I was starved, dehydrated and filthy. I urge everyone to write a trip advisor review on your hotel. The only way to fix the issues are to let them know how we feel. Personally on Friday I waited in line to check in at our hotel for 45 minutes before texting a friend to see if we could drop our luggage in their room and CP could get ready for Friday's meet time. We also waited 2 hours for room service Friday night and we opted for room service because the two hotel restaurants had hour and a half wait times to even get a table. I talked to others in different hotels that had similar experiences.

YES YES and YES. The GWCC was very prepared but for two years in a row the hotels have not been. Both years we've waited over an hour in line at check in. (two different hotels) And these desks were not fully staffed. There were plenty of open computers and employees taking breaks. I understand labor laws and all that, but you know well in advance the volume of people who will be checking in from say 3-9pm on that Friday. If we're being forced to stay at your hotels, let's be prepared and do our best to make this actually convenient for guests.

(Yes I realize this is a rant towards the hotels more than the EPs but I do think there could be better communication and preparation between the two. Or, ya know, just eliminate STP)

 

[Boo21]

This happens every year and continually gets worse. Because there were more people in attendance this year it was even worse. Trash everywhere on Sunday. The unacceptable bathrooms, lack of acceptable food choices. Also, the security people saying it was perfectly fine if someone takes your seat if you get up to use the restroom!! What the heck!!! My husband had to borrow a passerby to hold my seat until I got back from the bathroom or he had to give it up. I was gone 10 minutes.

 

[The Sixth]

Definitely agree on the arena concessions. Absolutely ridiculous the lack of options AND uniformity.

As for the cleanliness, I generally expect the seating area to be a mess, but the stairs in the arena at times were a huge safety hazard. But the thing is, even though there are people staffed to clean, isn't an excuse for people to act like animals. Ultimately, the root of all that is lazy or apathetic spectators/athletes.

I know there are a few people who can somehow manage to not move from their seat for 8-10 hours, but the other 95% still get up at some point. Show a little personal responsibility and take your trash with you!

 

[quitthedrama]

Definitely agree on the arena concessions. Absolutely ridiculous the lack of options AND uniformity.

As for the cleanliness, I generally expect the seating area to be a mess, but the stairs in the arena at times were a huge safety hazard. But the thing is, even though there are people staffed to clean, isn't an excuse for people to act like animals. Ultimately, the root of all that is lazy or apathetic spectators/athletes.

I know there are a few people who can somehow manage to not move from their seat for 8-10 hours, but the other 95% still get up at some point. Show a little personal responsibility and take your trash with you!

If the trash barrels were not all overflowing by noon time on Saturday, I would agree with you. But where does one put trash if there is no place to dispose of it?

 

[12stepCheermom]

We didn't have any issue with our hotel check in or out. That was seamless, and should've been for the price. Eating on Saturday night was not a good thing. I realize it was weather related but all the delivery places stopped delivering, there was a two hour wait for a table in our hotel (it was 10:30pm already) so we ended up hitting the little snack shop in the hotel with the rest of the hotel... $43 for some drinks and pre-made sandwiches from the fridge. It sortof felt like a refugee camp at that point. Again, that was a weather thing though, not the fault of NCA.

The convention center ran out of food, Some stands were never even opened, when I tried to get a drink they'd run out of cups (this was in Hall A) and only had cinnamon sugar pretzels left (which was actually what I wanted so that worked out).

Of the whole, the arena was disgusting. I only used the bathroom there once and there was a woman cleaning it so I didn't have those issues (although she did promptly go sit down and get on her phone when she finished). But the running joke by our team room was people finding napkins to take with them to the bathroom since there was no TP. There's a Kernersville joke in there (and we made it) but only the kville teal army would get it.

But the floors in Hall A and the arena were absolutely disgusting. It looked like a third world country. I was stepping over and around trash, spilled drinks, wet napkins, food etc trying to pick my way through the stairs and aisles. I've never seen something so nasty. Clearly there was no clean up between Friday and Sunday in any sense. I would think that would be part of the rental fee for the convention center. I'm appalled at the people who attended (seriously, there are trash cans people! Why do you think it's okay to leave your trash all over the chairs and floors and just walk off?! If everyone threw away THEIR stuff, it would've been perfectly clean) but also for the people who attended that had to spend three days in that filth and actually teach their kids some home training (that's a southern term y'all).

This is not a cheap competition for most people. Most people are flying in or taking a long drive and staying in hotels, renting cars and or getting bent over the tailgate of a taxi for fares. I don't expect perfection, but for the amount of money we paid (esp with STP and having no other options to save money) I, at least, expect to not contract diphtheria from the venue. It was appalling, I wish I'd thought to take some pictures to back up my choice of adjective.

If this is the level of service provided by the Dallas Convention Center, compounded with the annual issues of overcrowding in the arena, my suggestion is for NCA to start shopping venues for a place that will provide service commensurate with their standards of competition and they can address overcrowding all at the same time.