Smythe R.
Yelp
I've been to two annual events at the DCC. There are a lot of moving parts to attending a convention. There's the mandatory food service the convention can negotiate with the food service vendor. There's the staff that keep restrooms clean and water jugs full and trash cans emptied. There's the hotel staff that are in the lobby serving food and drink to convention goers who want to eat and drink outside the event schedule. There's the upkeep of the rooms (tables, linens, trash removal, etc.) that happens during the event. The two events I attended, while booked by the same party, were a year apart, and reflected a growing desire of the DCC to cater to the expressed needs of the hiring public. I see this as a good thing. A year ago, the food options were very basic, almost bar-food quality, and only served during strict hours. This year, there were more options, but, over a four-day convention, they didn't change. So, nice that they have a better variety of food beyond chicken sandwiches and fries, but boo, they had the same 2-3 entries available for all three meals all four days.
For the most part, the cleaning staff was able to keep up with one group of users, but then another group had a meeting in the main ballroom, and the restrooms and trash cans started to take longer to be refreshed. I get it - more folks means more workers needed, and times are hard. But all convention-goers expect a level of service that should be equal, no matter the number of concurrent events happening in the space. If there's another group, you need to hire/call in more staff. Points all-round for the friendliness and courtesy of the staff of both the porters keeping things cleaned and stocked and the food service folks serving meals and snacks to the groups. There were some outages (better beer, more wine, maybe some canned cocktails?), and the prices are, of course, far higher than normal C-Store prices for chips, popcorn, and pretzels. But having carts circulating through the event helped prevent us from sneaking in food and drink. (Or, maybe, you allow hotel food to be brought into the convention area? What's the big harm in that?)
As the main large-event venue in downtown Durham, DCC is doing us a solid service, but there are ways they can improve. We want you to be here, and to succeed. But you folks can work with various groups to be a little more creative and flexible with food and beverage options without gouging or just feeding us cheap junk. It's a two-way street.
