2017-survey-results

What were you the least prepared for?

Heat

i say effective. there was always food and drink available

The heat

Not a good tent, leaky water backpack, no ride out of BRC until night before Exodus.

dust infiltration into tent

LEDs! There cannot be enough LEDs!! And a plan of what I want to do/see. I feel like I didn't see aaaanything. Well, I believe I was overwhelmed with a open mouth all the time.

Costumes!

How I wouldn't want to eat the kinds of food I brought

Was there anything you wish you had packed?

sunburn! but luckily there are SPF camps...

More pee bottles

Calitruck communication with customers.

Nope. I hate thinking.

Costumes

Bike basket, better tent

The heat!

Nothing

The heat. It was SO hot this year.

oh ya, LEDS

Extreme heat!

More Costumes! Probably another long sleeve layer or two. And tights, many more tights

Going out during midday.

Cup Noodles, more outfit options

sofa king hot

sunscreen :) and more snax!

unrelenting heat

What did you bring that you won't bring next year?

An antimatter warhead to blow up the sun and plunge the Earth into a blissfully eternal winter.

The heat fatigue/inability to function during sun hours.

my onesies (I love them, but they are NOT porto friendly,and three years in a row now, I haven't used them) seaweed packets so many goddamn mixed nuts

More funny Costumes

All the dust! My first year was not very dusty.

Less clothes

Cuticle oil.

Being the dinner captain.

I could bring less food and tent hardware.

A cooler

The heat, from a mental perspective.

too much tuna and survival food.

More flowy clothes

The stress of traveling The nervousness of meeting new people

shirts with built in shelf bras

Swamp cooler for yurt

Night time potty runs - p.i.t.a

A battery pack. Who needs electronic devices anyway?!

Closed-toed day boots! Guess I have to buy them first.

Not enough sunscreen! Needed more headlamps. It was freaking hot out there this year!

As much food. 6000 batteries. Apprehension

nope - nailed it.

I did not have a heavy enough coat to wear because I did not have one on hand and it was difficult to find last minute. I looked at the weather and since it was not supposed to drop below 60 at night, I assumed I would be fine. Turns out, weather changes, so I had to borrow a jacket.

Too many bars and too much jerky

mister

Do you have any additional pre-playa planning thoughts? Any additional information we should share ahead of time? Suggestions on effective ways to share that information?

not as many clothes, probably.

More lightweight clothing, lightweight wool socks, better cooler system. Maybe reuseable ice packs and swamp cooler for tent.

The heat! It made it hard to do anything during the day and I was sad.

Half of my clothing items

A better tent!

The heat and exhaustion. I also was not prepared for the vibe of the camp.

things I've started listing relating to camp (vs personal planning): melon green dot team more shade (if we're gonna keep having such gargantuan tents) melon bocci ball drug testing kits (nothing worse than molly that turns out to be meth; I'll take the lead on this one!)

Extra luggage for spending time in SF

Dust mask, Dust goggles, more shorts, weirder outfits, more El wire, a camel back instead of a nalgene, and a much more substantial camera cover.

The sheer harshness of the environment caught me off guard. I knew it would be tough going, but the heat, altitude, dust and lack of amenities all combined was a lot to cope with and I feel like that particular aspect wasn't quite as emphasized as it could have been. But that's also not your job to communicate as a camp, I feel. The BM organization and friends should be conveying that.

Too much food.

Need an indexed list of where to find important pieces of information. Too much important info gets buried in emails or facebook threads.

Those electrolyte water drops. I think they're called num.

As many cold weather items

I would be very happy if we can start atleast 4 weeks in advance for the dinner teams and their preparation. Due to the time difference, it was not enough time to get all the team gel together and come up with solution. In the end, we managed to get it all sorted out for Pakistani dinner but it was a lot of work/re-planning required that could have been avoided, if we had more time.

Bandanas - I had shemaghs but they were heavy and hot :( A bigger tent - one where I can dress standing up and maybe have room for a bag (and a pee jug of sorts...see above) Better night time lights - lots of light fails

Fewer granola bars

the awesome melon fashion everyone else brought -- others seriously stepped it up this year

cooler

THE HEAT. GOOD LORD, THE HEAT.

Bacon and grease for the bikes

oranges

I thought all of the information shared was super helpful and thorough.

acclimation to heat, elevation, etc.

More XTREME BLASTED goldfish

less food

It would be great to compile ""the melon packing list"" to send out to peeps instead of accumulating 40 FB posts about packing....

Handling the heat, though I did okay

Jacket! More lights, more bike decor, more to share with others. Also, spicy snacks.

Clothes that didn't get worn.

Neither me nor my partner felt we read that the dinners were out of pocket. Maybe we missed it, but I feel that the dues should include these dinners and they should be on a set budget as there were disparringing differents in the dinners. Maybe there could be a newbie specific email with a condensed run down of advice because there was a lot of info and opinions about how to do things.

Extremely high temps, contact lens issues

Ice pack :)

I brought way too many lights.

Outfits. Lighting my bike at night

Better bins for organizing items outside my tent (vs. reusable shopping bags that got full of dust). Also a mister to make people happy.

french press and coffee

Life at Melon Camp! Ok, so you got to camp, how did it go?

How much love the Melons bring to the playa every year, gets me every time.

Something to deal with my hair in a more manageable way. A tarp under our tent and for in front of it. Spray bottle.

Not really, you guys are SUPER organized, I think you did an incredible job on your website of explaining everything.

The little trinkets that I never made and never gave out as gifts for the third year in a row.

The dust storm upon arrival! Our goggles were totally packed. Lesson learned, have them handy in the car.

Funkier clothes, ha.

I think perhaps encouraging people to pack for a variety of weather possibilities. I think it's easy to anchor to the previous year and then not quite bring the right stuff. Even if you don't use it, but you were ready for it to be super hot/cold/windy, that doesn't mean you didn't need to bring that stuff.

Less clothes Less food

Rain

I somehow decided to ditch a comfy pair of shoes at the last minute for some crazy reason

My tent (upgrade time)

Had two technical issues where I relied on melons for help but largely speaking was prepared

More pairs of shoes, shampoo (for the 1 shower I took), more items to gift, and a spray bottle with some fantastic smellin' peppermint. Shoutout to the melons who sprayed my repulsive body throughout the 100+ degree days.

nope

So much food (so I claim...)

Socks for hot hot dayssss

Wish i knew about $50 huffys at walmart. We are not a plug and play camp I get it but holy shit would I have saved money.

Leggings

eye drops

Dirt obviously.

I had a lot of help from a good planner who has also been to the burn. Actually reading the survival guide and realizing I was on top of most of it helped me feel a lot better.

A yurt....

More things to handle extreme heat, a different sweater for nighttime, a few more cheap baby wipes, some sort of solution for a very dry/bloody nose, a hydration bladder and compatible backpack (instead of water bottles), more things I cannot recall

lights

I thought the committee ideas were pretty solid, It is good for those of us who want to commit and give back to camp but would potentially struggle with the XVC.

Provided I camp with the Melons: gatorade.

My playattire and playa lighting were both lacking this year.

I know many folks have their own Google spreadsheet with their packing list. An interesting idea might be a common place where people store their lists, so you could see a bunch of people's recommendations all at once. Just freewheeling here!

Extra outfits

Spare contacts, eyedrops, etc More layers for the heat

I was least prepared for the exhausting heat. I don't know that I could have prepared better for this part of the trip. Maybe sleep outside and not shower for a week prior to coming? Haha.

Too many clothes, too much food

More light beer!

I think most people are I encounter are sufficiently prepared or even over prepared if they are new. The Melon packing list is great.

I wouldn't bring as many utilities if we camped with a large camp again as we did not use them. Nor would I bring as the minimal cold stuff we brought and rather bring drinks instead as those were easier to keep cold and be communal with.

More leggings (for style, not warmth)

Dust and costumes

Hair! Get the hair done beforehand and bring oil to out in it. My hair got destroyed on day 1.

Nope.

My bike was broken. Someone at camp help me fix it

Still hear from many melons that there is way too many long emails sent out, which is a known factor that dissuades people from reading important ones - Id suggest tl;dr everything, link to long info on the website for more.

Real world shirts and jeans, who needs em.

More dickies, a better headlamp, more beer

Costumes: I came in thinking that I was cool just wearing some of my regular clothes that I was okay having messed up, but I really wanted to have cool costumes once I saw what everyone else was doing. Rookie mistake!

rubber gloves for sleeping hand moisturizing that didn't fit.

A tad more AA batteries.

Pigeon

Fewer baby wipes & outfits.

First time - the physical discomfort. Dust, heat, cold. Thought I was ready, wasn't.

Nope

Anna and dean have a great packing list

Inflatable couch

More gummy snacks

Can't think of anything beyond the above… I really do feel like I had a good sense of what I was getting myself into in BRC and at camp between all the different communication vectors! For once, it pays to do all the reading :)

Too much food

More lights and zip ties

Food that I don’t really love, too many Ziplocs, allergy meds, more things I cannot recall

More socks

I thought that XVC communicated very clearly and effectively, honestly.

Whiskey & Cliff Bars

Spandex and more costumes

Several bulky outfits that I didn't end up wearing or really even seeing a need for. Learned I want to keep outfits simple but effective

More Lights!!

Even less foods.

A cape. A candle system for ambient lighting.

Non-dickies shorts

I wish I had packed a small portable fan for the tent. I wish I had a more durable tent that helped eleviate the sand a bit more. I also wish I had had more lights for the bike.

We were pretty minimal. I'm having trouble thinking of something we brought unnecessarily.

Least amount of clothes

So much cold weather attire... maybe

Prepackaged Tuna Salad. Was given it by a friend. It's a great pescatarian option.

Too many coats and shoes.

More awesome shorts

Portable heater

More tights. More tent furniture (table, airbed). More underwear. Some slip-on closed-toe footwear for camp & midnight bathroom runs.

Anything that I brought this year (in terms of clothing)

More layers, fewer outfits, a better backpack for getting around playa. It was so hot, I wish I'd had more booty shorts. Am I contradicting myself? In my brain, this all makes sense.

A large backpack

Fur hats.

My car. I would rather fly in and take the burner express if possible. Otherwise, the packing was efficient.

Tons of clothing

Quite so many freeze-dried camping meals. So many ""normal"" clothes. A just-in-case supply of tent stakes.

A second suitcase filled with outfits I never wore and entirely inadequate clothing. Basics only next year. I packed too much of everything, but it still didn't make me prepared.

Tell us about your experience wearing a vest--what did you do? Would you do it again? Suggestions for someone who might do it next year? What should be added to the binder?

honestly, my shift was relatively slow, so I didn't do much. I think I kinda botched it, cause I forgot about the melon orientation note cards in the pocket! I think I got most of it off the top of my head though.

Really enjoyed it, happy to take some pressure off of MMcC. Would do it again.

I was very well prepared. Got a change to orient some melons. Had all the information/tools I needed

Better bins for organizing items outside my tent (vs. reusable shopping bags that got full of dust). Also a mister to make people happy.

Loved it! I helped people figure out how to get ice, make ice runs, budgeted the money, did MATHS!, told people where to find communal food, explained how and where to dump out gray water, or cooler water, where and how to wash dishes, where and how to wash hands. I would say that it would be a great idea to add on the sheet where there's the roster of Melons a column that states their dietary restrictions. I couldn't find that info in the binder.

It was overwhelming for me. Dust storm, a party in camp, and a dozen arrivals at once was a lot to handle. I should have asked for help.

Why did you choose not to sign up for a shift?

It was a lot harder than I was expecting. I had a morning shift: 10-3 and I ended up putting the vest on as soon as I woke up, so I started before my shift started. 1. the vest was physically hot. After standing around for 4+ hours, I was physically uncomfortable. 2. It was a lot of work and a long time. I was very, very tired by the time 3pm rolled around. AND no one had signed up for the next green vest shift, so I ended up keeping the vest on for an additional hour. 3. The binder was clunky to hold and maneuver. I would recommend something that could fold all the way around, so it would only be 1/2 the size when opened. Consistently print the materials inside and re-label some of the dividers (they didn't always make sense). Maybe get a green binder? or put it in a bag that the green vest can carry around? Or maybe it lives in a specific spot and everyone knows where to find it? 4. Add more instructions to the emergency radio. I dealt with an emergency (outside of green vest hours) at 1am and wanted to contact the medical tent or rangers, but couldn't figure out how to do it. I didn't think the situation required calling 911. 5. Add a log/way to leave notes for the next green vester. It would be nice to know how problems were solved or if there were issues that didn't get resolved on a previous shift. 6. In the beginning of the week, I did a pretty good job of referring people and questions to the pink or green vests, but as the week went on and I was more emotionally tapped, I ended up answering a lot more questions myself instead of directing people to the green/pink vest on shift.

Trying to assess my ranger schedule, and then honestly just never got on it...

I had done a lot already and was a little burned out.

hadnt camped with the melons in a few years and wasnt sure what vesting did

Didn't do a great job educating myself on all the different ways I could help out.

I felt I had contributed a fair amount thus far, knew I would be contributing on-playa in other ways, and wasn't sure I wanted to commit to the time/shift. After seeing the MOPs in action, I'm totally onboard for next year.

I did other volunteer work

I was technically eligible, but had not been to BM for a while (and only once before), so was feeling a bit rusty!

Too many commitments otherwise. Generally i felt like i was contributing the right amount to camp

Tell us about your experience with people who were wearing the vests (pink and green) --were they easy to find? Helpful? Anything that should be added to Pink vest orientation? Anything else we should know?

Add to binder: more instructions,/manuals

I think I was eligible but I did not feel qualified.

It worked but I had an easy shift. I really like the concept of sharing the managerial role so everyone has time to enjoy themselves.

Over-committed

Easy to find and helpful. Nice to know who to bug.

We needed a better system to pass the vest and handle overnight ownership of the vest and money. There was nothing about kitchen/ice runs in the binder so it was hard to give guidelines to melons.

Didn't realize there were available shifts for pink vest until too late. Also didn't want to commit that much time ahead of being on-playa since I was there with a bunch of virgins I wanted to hang with.

yes and yes

Never had a problem finding a vested person. They all were very helpful

I mostly used the time to work on setting up camp. No new people arrived until the tail end of my shift. They were dealing with a situation (Coco's fake ticket) and didn't want to be oriented right away, so I hung back until they were in the right mood.

Easy to find and helpful!

Seemed good, I liked it. Some of the folks took an hour or so to get into the role and start figuring things out for themselves (rather than forwarding things to Drew) but they did get it down and I think everyone did well.

It turns out no one came when I was on duty, so that was super easy. Maybe just make sure we only have people when needed? Then we're free to divert resources elsewhere. Or, have an updated list of what else we could be doing while on duty? (maybe that existed and I forgot)

They were great! Very helpful. I really want to green vest next year and it would be awesome if the binder were available ahead of time (maybe on the Burning Melon website? With special Green Vest login for protected infos?!) in order to prepare because I avoid some not-so-nice comments from others who thought the Green Vesters didn't know what they were doing. I don't know exactly whom the comments were really about but as a first time Green Vest, I certainly did not have all the answers but I made sure to resolve any questions/issues/problems no matter what they were.

Pink Vest this year on wednesday was interesting as their were no new arrivals at camp. I ended up trying to share the load with Jake for the green vest duties and it was enjoyable to help people around camp with questions.

My shift was Thursday afternoon and by then all the melons were already home. I didn't get to orientate anyone that day.

Would have appreciated more prep or training on the basics before playa not when I got the vest and then quickly had to peruse the laminates - at times I felt a little scattered orienting. Shifts are quite long ESP w the weather we had - break up more. Had difficulty going back and forth btw helping people set up and orienting

Strike and Camp Breakdown

Knowledgable and helpful

My orientation upon arrival was disorganized. The individual who did the orientation seemed confused about what was on the sheets, the order the sheets went in, etc. This individual offered me water, and when I said I wanted water, I was told I had to wait until I got my camelback off the truck to get water. I ended up being extremely dehydrated, and I think this was unnecessary.

Busy busy but it was good.

Could have used a bit more formal orientation from the person before me

Not always easy to find. It was hot in the vest.

They were not always easy to find. But I think it was super helpful! Repeating something I said in the previous answer: ""In the beginning of the week, I did a pretty good job of referring people and questions to the pink or green vests, but as the week went on and I was more emotionally tapped, I ended up answering a lot more questions myself instead of directing people to the green/pink vest on shift."" Add all of the dinner information in the binder. Print shifts in the binder in bigger font. Include hole punch in binder. Add description of pink vest/green vest differences to pink vest orientation. Some people didn't understand the differences.

Vest-ers not always visible/present during their shift

They were locatable and helpful.

I like the idea of pink and green vest as buddies, but when we know we won't have people arriving (i.e. later in the week), the pink vest is overkill. People recognize that there aren't people arriving, and I think it impacts morale around helping out.

Generally good, though sometimes they asked me questions that I thought they should know!

They were easy to find, and helpful.

If you only showed up for part of your shift or didn't show up for your shift, what happened? Is there anything we could have done to help you work your strike shift?

Jake was the most helpful human ever! He was amazing and so friendly!

I think my pink vest orienter got distracted and didn't actually orient me but I figured things out as I went along!

< no free responses? >

You guys did a great job...THANK YOU!

They were always easy to find and always helpful or willing to find someone who knew more about the particular question. I never really got an official pink vest orientation because I arrived on Saturday, but was still able to figure everything out as I go.

How do you think the take down of camp went? Is there anything we could have done better? Is there anything that went wrong? Suggestions for improvements for next year?

Fairly well. I think the addition of Saturday strike was good for a lot of folks to get that out of the way. Sunday went slower but my feeling is the heat was a big factor there.

Yed

I think it could be really good to have 4 strike shifts instead of 2 Sat AM, Sat PM, Sun AM, Sun PM.

I really liked having the green vest as someone to direct questions to!

Start earlier in the day, too hot!

I didn't know what the difference between the vests was, but it didn't matter, it was great when I first got there knowing who to go to with questions, as well as throughout the week so I wasn't just bothering Drew and Michelle all the time.

From past years, this year felt like strike was very smooth

seemed like they were great.

Already been discussed but make it earlier so it's not the hottest part of the day.

Very welcoming! For pink vest orientation, I would've appreciated a more thorough explanation of the organization system in the truck. It wasn't until the last 1-2 days when I found out about some items/tools available to us. General playa knowledge & tips on getting around, ""street"" layout, bike repairs nearby, etc. would also be helpful, esp for new melons.

Very well! Was easy to do my part, and then when the end came everything was just done.

Went pretty smoothly overall. It was hard to get people's attention to coordinate more efficient ways to do things (i.e. take down shade as a team vs just grabbing poles randomly).

I cannot believe how thirsty I was during my never ending orientation. Water was requested several times and not granted. It was so hot this year I should be able to go IMMEDIATELY to my camelbak and fill it and THEN do orientation if I need it. Filled and drained an entire camelbak immediately upon the end of my 45 minute orientation after lugging probably 70lbs of supplies. So thirsty. Never recovered from this dehydration day 1.

under the given circumstances of the hottest sun of the week burning down on saturday.. WE DID A GREAT JOB! nothing wrong although some melons were rolling around oddly looking for shade

Any other suggestions/solutions relating to in-camp project sign ups, strike requirement, etc.?

the cold brew was great. Better spray bottles for the dishwashing

Great! Might be good to have a number of people that should be allocated to any given task

More white board updating for each day's projects

Super helpful, sometimes difficult to find.

I realize better to have excess of labor than not enough, but so many people were wandering around trying to find tasks and everyone was like ""we're good!"" but it felt like you were letting people down if you just went and relaxed while others were working - so maybe 2 shorter shifts on the sat to spread the labor better

More lasers!

Everyone was lovely! Easy to find and helpful when needed.

Perhaps assign tasks in advance, so that the work is spread out among all people who are part of that strike shift. This way, when people finish one project, they know what is next on their list and will stick around to do more striking, rather than just taking down a few shade structures and then leaving.

Between the green and pink vest binders we were able to solve most things before turning to the XVC.

Excellent!!! Can I please be nominated permanent Sunday Kitchen Czarette? :D

Extremely helpful!

Would it be possible to have a clear strike down plan already prepared in form of design work printed out and distributed at the strike, clearly defining what come down when and how? Just a bit more structure to the plan would be great.

Print an extra big list of in-camp project sign ups sheet. Maybe paste it next to the melon photo board so people can see what they signed up for on their own. Print or post list of scheduled events by melon board so people know when things are happening around camp. A few people didn't participate fully in strike. I heard there were a few people who were giving people not on the Saturday strike shift a hard time for not working on Saturday. It might be a good idea to remind people that you only need to sign up for 1 shift and to not give people a hard time if they are not on shift. Maybe everyone gets a silly headband or arm band that they wear on their shift to identify who is working?

Helpful!

always helpful

It seemed to me that not everyone on my strike shift actually worked the entire 4 hours. It seemed certain people did one project, and when that project was done, they left camp and didn't offer to help those still working on projects (note: this was not everyone on my strike shift; two people in particular went above and beyond to take on as many projects during the 4 hours).

There wasn't a mandatory orientation for the few and the lucky who got to sneak in early. Most of us stepped up and participated in an orientation but it should be known that EVERYONE needs to go through the paces so they are able to answer questions and help out the rest of the week.

The Kitchen was constantly being used and cleaned but could have been more efficient in # pots used. It seemed more people than needed opted for kitchen duty, in the shade than breakdown in the sun.

Extremely helpful

I never got a chance to visit the camp directly behind us, but the music they played in the daytime was astonishingly good.

Didn't really need them, but they seemed helpful.

late night take down on Sunday did not feel super participatory. Is 4 hours really enough, I probably worked 8 hours on Sunday and was not the first or last. Hopefully remaining take down worked alright.

Dinner teams should meet the night before to discuss their plan of attack. Teams that did this were super chill and organized on their day, including for ice runs. Teams that didn't had lots of uncertainty and undue anxiety. That uncertainty/need for direction bled over to green/pink vests and XVC who were around.

Participatory Budgeting Process

I never had any problem getting the help I needed. The vests were helpful in keeping track of who to ask first!

Require that personal items, excluding water bottles, be out of common areas by Sunday strike time.

Always helpful! I guess, honestly, I was a little intimidated about the whole everything. I'd have asked to help out more had I known upfront what was going to be done and when. A little schedule about building stuff, so I could have foreseen when I'd have wanted to help out at camp, would have been useful. Next year, I want to be more involved. Anyway, vests worked well.

I liked that it was kind of up to us whether or not we were going to volunteer to do things around camp (besides dinner shift and strike shift). I personally wanted to volunteer and do as much as I could in the first few days and here and there throughout the week. I know that the XVC and veteran members of camp will notice which Melons are actually participating in making camp a better place and which ones are just here for the perks.

full time misting people

It seemed to go pretty well/smoothly/quick from my perspective.

Breakdown this year was 10x better than the last. The strike plans and strike shifts were super helpful. I believe we could've had everything done by Temple Burn if it hadn't been 110 million degrees and people weren't needing so many longer breaks.

maybe a smaller white board where melons can note which events they plan to check out so we can meet up? this way, melon meet-ups can happen regardless of whether or not you're physically there to ride out with the group. for example, ""butt buffer tent @ 10 am"" or ""mayan warrior @ sunrise""

Seating

I don’t think I fully understood the breadth of activities available to assist with before about the middle of the week, but now that I know I would love to sign up for more next year. (Also: first year, so yes obviously I did not know)

It's hard to tell who is being lazy and not working, but I wouldn't say it's a big deal.

Recommend packing up the kitchen and just leaving the kitchen essentials before starting to cook up the leftovers.

Add an option to strike shift question above for 'i worked more than i was signed up for', etc

I think signing up for projects beforehand might be helpful?

Don't think so!

It's hard to tell who is being lazy and not working, but I wouldn't say it's a big deal.

Start wrap earlier since it was so hot

I am not sure how it has been in previous years, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly. It was efficient to have at least half the camp tackling strike all at once. For me, I wasn't quite sure sometimes how to do the projects that needed to be done, but I was able to find a lot of tasks to work on, or simply ask someone how I could help.

I think now that I know what needs to happen at camp, it will be easier to get involved. It seemed like we had a lot of infrastructure in the trailers that wasn't being used. If any of that stuff was cool (like another jungle gym, etc.), it could have been nice to have it up and built. Maybe before we get to camp next year, we can see a brief inventory of what we have. That way, if someone wanted to build something that could be nice to have at camp but wasn't absolutely necessary, they'd know ahead of time and could plan to assemble it when they arrived to playa early in the week. It would be a shame for year's old Melon project to go to waste - also, this was just a feeling I got, I'm not sure if this is actually true).

Excellent

How do you think the process went? Do you have any thoughts on submitting proposals, voting on proposals and being awarded money? Do you have any suggestions for improving on the process, timing, etc.?

I haven't heard yet how the Sunday and Monday take-down went, so I can't speak to the overall outcome. Saturday's shift strike felt really positive and everyone was working together. We finished early and at times it was hard to find a helpful task to do, so maybe we could have shifted more work to Saturday (especially if Sunday / Monday was tough). We were supposed to take down the kitchen tent but Michelle ended up calling that off, not sure why.

Worked great, I think! Ample time was given for melons to participate, which was important.

I was very happy with the process overall, I think it got non XVC melons excited about projects they may have otherwise known nothing about

I think this was ironically very well done. I say ironic because it was the take down. There was a clear list of what to get done and it went quickly because of how many people showed up.

Loved everything about the this addition. The process was smooth

As a new Melon who didn't know if I could attend BM at all due to my job I only got a cursory overview, but it seemed to work well.

Our 4 hour shift only took about 2 1/2 hours, I thought it went really well.

Seemed to go well. Got the things I applied for. I'm excited about the system and looking forward to it being used more.

Way better than previous years I think.

I don't think I ever saw the end results of the process sent out...

Nope. This was perfectly organized!

Great idea. We should continue and also encourage fellow melons to bring their ideas out.

Felt a lot of people quit at 2pm

Could have been done earlier. I wish more people would have submitted proposals. We intended to have a 2nd round of funding, but we ran out of time.

Mostly ok - the logistics around striking the kitchen while people are trying to still cook were difficult. Suggest more structure around this - eg, kitchen will cease being used after last dinner or something

I liked the results. How much to beef up our speakers? I wanna feel the melon song rattling my bones!

pretty good

Take down was great, although for first timers felt like a fair amount of running around just trying to figure out where things were supposed to go. Also ended up jumping between tasks when one seemed to have enough help. Each task having a focused sub-leader that could direct that might be helpful, even if the questions/instructions get repetitive (e.g. shade structure take down reiterating specific locations of things, or which ones to take down or not, etc...). Due to the aforementioned jumping around, often no one doing a specific task had all the answers. Also, turn down the heat next time! That's just rude

Seemed fair on all fronts.

Volunteering at Burning Man

I was a unorganized and did not participate.

I thought it went so well! I was super excited to be able to vote to allocate money for art projects.

It went well even though it was really difficult in the heat. I think it was our best tear down so far over the last three years. Having people cook all day and hand out food really helps keep the grunt work moving.

I don't have an opinion because this was my first burn.

It wasn't really clear to me how the funds were distributed and what were the outcomes, but that's probably my fault for not reading the emails enough.

Packing Cali truck was a little haphazard with furniture and slats. More ratchet straps and #3 spring clips would have opened up more space

I don't have opinions about how the resources should go -- I trust y'all to do what you think is important

I think the Saturday shift was very efficient. Wouldn't make changes.

Good; melon happy hour was dope

Take down at an earlier time. Was so hot I felt dizzy and overheated.

What exactly did the bar budget go to? Honest question could not figure out where that money went. I saw no change from last year and I know money was alotted.

I thought it went great, it was great to have it in a few shifts where people could work together as a large team

I don't have a good sense of what the fruits of this project were.

Well supported this year

Would be good to maybe initiate this with more time for folks to think thoughtfully abt this

Loved strike this year, I just would prefer that if people were leaving early(before Saturday) that they helped take down camp in someway.

Great!

take down seemed to go smooth to me

I did not pay much attention to the process, since, as a virgin Burner, I had no context for any of the decisions. I will pay more attention next year!

I thought take down went much better than last year. Everyone felt obligated to participate and tried to help out. We ran into a bottleneck when we had more hands than leaders. We forgot to plan on an easy water distribution system once the San Diego truck was retired from water duty. Speaking of that San Diego truck... me thinks it was still empty Sunday morning. That bad boy should have been mostly packed on Saturday. Not sure what happened there.

I'm excited to think of an idea for next year.

Went great!

The takedown process was efficient. I was impressed.

Overall fine - the Melon Dome interior is a pretty laborious process that might need some refinement.

Saturday went smoothly, I thought. I was on both strike and dinner on Saturday, so I started my shift early and ended early so I could help with dinner. I thought it was super productive, actually. Working together was nice and uneventful.