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Honest opinions of the event


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I was able to get both George and Wil's on Saturday (one of the advantages of getting the VQs straight away).

 

It's not really showmasters fault - it's down the guest about how much time they spent talking to the attendees and some were very slow signers.

 

The longest I had to wait in a queue for an auto was Max Grodenchik who talked to everyone, not that I'm complaining - he is a lovely man.

Think it was Maz doing the bridge shots on TNG. They weren't whizzing through them like with Bill Shatner, as he was putting on a show. Longer wait (but shorter queues). I would never mind waiting longer when the experience was that memorable.

 

Like I said earlier, if I go again, I'll get shots with Gowron , Max and a double with George and Walter as they looked like they were all having lots of fun. I don;t regret getting up close for my photo-shoot with Bill though.

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A man basically asked her whether she'd enjoyed kissing her wife on DS9. I suspect the issue was more with the leering way in which he asked it, than with the question itself!

 

 

I think it would have been a good idea to get people in advance to pose their questions to stewards so that nothing was duplicated and no awkward ones were asked. That way you would know who was going to ask the questions (they seemed to get a bit confused where the mike was going).

 

Is that not the way these things are normally done?

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It was awfully awfully organised.

 

Got there, and asked three people where to go before getting the correct answer, apparently everything was at hall 4, glad i trusted the con goers and not the staff.

 

9am saturday.... three people total dealing with entrance. That was it. Waited about 40 mins in the line, then another 20 to get a wristband because they'd 'run out'....... and a guy came back with an emergency handful while they went and 'found' the rest. Then spent more time queuing to get in.....
Wristbands shouldn't be anywhere but where they are going to be putting them on people. Simple.

Huge lack of stands, although you were okay if you wanted star wars t shirts, bags, or even a huge variety of sunglasses......

No gaming area. At all. None existent, and a giant shame because the last one was wonderful.

The tv / chill out area was 6 bean bags and adverts, no trek at all...... The last one was showing episodes, and had two screens with much more space. It was genuinely relaxing.

Klingon zone..... some banners and picnic tables. Utter let down.

Talks were okay, only if you were seated in the middle. Otherwise there was a huge amount of sound problems, and that continued into the party.


I won't go to any more organised by the company..... which is a huge shame because the people were amazing. I had a good time, unfortunately despite all the issues. I love trek. I love seeing the stars and getting pictures. If this is the only option we have in the UK?..... I'm not going to another one.

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Yep, I can see how that could be a creepy question, from what I saw of her over the weekend, he clearly misjudged what sort of person she is!

 

The guy asked her if she felt comfortable about kissing another woman which many in the audience found to be rather insulting. Imagine someone asking William Shatner today if he felt comfortable kissing a black woman. Terry's answer was incredible. She was asked twice not to answer the question, but she stood up and demanded to answer it. She spoke from the heart and her voice was almost breaking with emotion. The audience cheered and I found a new respect for Terry. She is a strong person in body, mind, and emotion. I later thanked her when I got her autograph. It was hilarious during the DS9 talk because she dropped the F-bomb and when Garrett Wang told her off, she looked at us, and looked at him, and just said a string of F-bombs one after the other and the audience roared with laughter. Fantastic guest. Terry was the best.

Edited by Aaron2029
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Overall I managed to get a lot more than I expected autograph wise. All the guests were fabulous!!

 

My main issues:

1) my package said that I would get auto priority and put as near to the front as possible, which seemed to be the back of the queue - also the included prop shoot with the package wasn't very mobility accessible - I needed someone to help me on and off the set and my mum(who is in a wheelchair) could not have the shoot at all

2) as I have mobility problems the lack of chairs anywhere in the hall was a big problem as the fact that with the mobility form I was told I wouldn't need to queue for more than 5 minutes which again wasn't the case - I struggled especially on saturday will the length of queues and standing due to the lack of chairs. I must admit the staff did their best to find me a seat but it wasn't always possible

3) the lack of eating/drinking facilities without having to exit the hall was a problem.

4) the distance between some of the prop shoots meant that trying to get a wheelchair anywhere near was almost impossible

 

This being said I did have a great time !

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Despite the criticisms in my previous post, I must say that overall I really did enjoy the event and was sad when it finished.

 

The photoshoots all ran well for me, despite people crowding round unnecessarily, although it probably helped that all but one of my tickets were batch 1.

 

I thought the queueing for the Enterprise stage worked well and the staff managing the queues were friendly and efficient.

 

The crew member with pink hair who was at Terry Farrell's autograph table on Sunday was delightful!

 

I loved the Rat Pack on Saturday, but was forced to leave an hour into their set because my feet couldn't cope with standing anymore - more chairs were definitely needed!

 

And I think that's about it!

Edited by ruth76
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My thoughts and feedback to SM/ME:


The Good

Guests: all were absolutely fantastic, I can't particularly say I have a bad word about any of them. They were so enthusiastic when ever I came anywhere near them, patient with me in the photo shoots as I had to reverse my chair and chatty in the autograph area too.


Staff: whilst there were a few oddballs, 98% of those I came across had boundless energy and really helpful whenever I need them to be. Almost every time my extra help form took me to the front of the queues as needed. However I must point out there were some visitors with extra help forms without wheelchairs (i.e. hidden disabilities) who were not given such preferential treatment when they should've been. All SM/ME staff should have sufficient disability awareness training to know anyone with one of those forms need to be treated exactly the same as anyone else with this pass, to do so differently is unfair discrimination. By all means be stringent with your vetting process for who gets these forms in the first place, so staff know anyone carrying one at the event absolutely deserves the extra help they need.


Talks: this time around I paid for the TNG and DS9 talks, both of which were utterly fantastic and excellent value. I was pleased to see that you have learned from the previous event and reduced the prices on these, it entices more people to think about buying them and thinking they are good value for a sneak of exclusivity and not just yet another money making exercise. The free talks were a little more haphazard if I'm being honest. In 2014 there was a greater consistency to them across the whole weekend, this time I really enjoyed the Two Daxes and Next 50 years sessions on the Voyager stage.


Photo shoots: a great improvement on last time in my opinion. There was some disorganisation initially in the queueing areas, but once everyone got into a rhythm, from what I could see they ran much better. The process of going through felt better as well. I appreciated this time round staff taking photos off the printers were quality checking them to make sure we as the paying customers were happy with them. If they were not sure they were asking each of us to double-check and/or suggesting we go back round for a reshoot. The quality of all of my prints was far better, no missing edges on the backgrounds, poor lighting or anything else that affected shots in 2014.


The Not So Good

Dealer Stalls/Museum: For the size of the hall available, the Ferengi Zone was tiny. It was easy to walk around in 10 minutes, and if you were there for all three days you would very quickly become bored of it. There was room for double the amount, I see no reason why there couldn't have been more in attendance, unless there was something going on behind the scenes we are not aware of.


Lack of Seating: Whilst this wasn't an issue for me with my wheelchair, it's obviously something I'm acutely aware of. My poor PA had to run around all weekend after me, so can certainly sympathise with anyone else on here complaining there was insufficient seating around the hall for general use. This seriously needs to be planned for at future events, you are inviting people of all ages to attend these. Old and young may need somewhere to rest briefly, or those with families.


Chillout Zone: Blink and you missed it. When I went past this on the first day I thought "4 beanbags and a TV maketh not a chillout zone". Even by Saturday they were only double the number of beanbags, woefully insufficient for the number of visitors. No I am not expecting 10,000, but a similar size chillout zone to the one in 2014 would have been more than acceptable.


The Ugly


Event Planning/Build Up: it seems the organisation of this event was very much last minute. Many of us were left in the dark for weeks or months on end with no updates or communications from SM/ME. This has all been said before on here and I'm not going to go on about it in detail again. But for each event there has to be a dedicated contact and a strategic plan for releasing information leading up to event on a far more regular basis so that general excitement levels can be maintained and built on leading up to the event and fewer people disappointed or even not bothering attending at all.


No Gaming Zone: This was advertised on the website as being there, but when we arrived there was nothing, not even an explanation. The rumour quickly went around no-one was willing to pay the high fee for a stall. If that is anywhere near true then SM/ME seriously need to think about why they are doing this and whether they really have the fans interest at heart, particularly on the 50th birthday of such an iconic series.


Sales Desk: On the busiest day of the weekend, this was an absolute joke. There was only one card machine for 10,000 potential customers and it took you until the following day to get two more card readers. There were still queues with three current machines but at least they were moving far quicker. I had to spend 90 minutes on the Saturday waiting to get autograph vouchers as I had been informed beforehand the card payments would be accepted at the autograph tables when in fact it turned out that they would not and we'd need vouchers first or cash. Please make this information transparent on your website well in advance next time please.


Goody Bags: If you know how many package tickets you have sold, it is an absolute crime not to have sufficient numbers of bags there on the very first day. Making people wait even for a day is not on, saying things either were not ready or fell out is unacceptable and should be prepared in advance for the numbers you are expecting to turn up at the beginning of the event.


Borg Chamber/Klingon Sets: Their positioning made it look as though they had been stuck there as the biggest afterthought in the history of afterthoughts. The Borg chamber might as well have been stuck right next to a urinal it looked that out of place. For such a celebration of the series you could've at least try to dress up the surrounding area and included some external lighting around them to give it more of an atmospheric effect irrespective of whether SM/ME have tasked another company to provide the sets or not.


Admiral Packages: I didn't realise this but apparently the Admiral packages, despite already paying £3000 each, STILL have to pay for any special photo combos they want on top of that - how can that be right? Even adding up all of the individual items within an Admiral package, I cannot understand the business case made behind charging in addition to what is ordered already an extremely high fee. If SM/ME are treating them like royalty, treat them like royalty - don't milk them even further at the same time.


Conclusion


If you had a package deal or knew exactly what you were going in for like I did with a plan for the whole weekend, the event was a success. I have been planning for ages, I knew exactly which talks I wanted to go to, which autographs and photos I wanted to get, which guests I wanted to meet etc. I got all of that I am thoroughly happy with my experience and the amount I paid for it.


However, I don't feel I would've got my value for money from the event if I was just there for either one day or a general three day admission without paying for extras. For all of the reasons above SM/ME seriously need to look at anything after the good points and improve on them dramatically.


There was a hell of a lot of good at this event, but also a lot of not so good which is why I can understand why some people have some serious complaints they are making, particularly if you look a SM/ME's business accounts and query behind-the-scenes practices. This can often lead many individuals we are well aware of to wonder if these events really are FOR the fans or not. I won't detail as it's not my place and I don't want to get in trouble.


But it is an issue of perception. If SM/ME are willing to take on board all feedback (recognising I have acknowledged much good about the event too) and improve where needed, there will be far more people willing to pay the prices charged, and fewer will complain about it if everyone really is getting true value for money.


My thanks to everyone who has put their efforts into the event.


Here endeth my sermon.

Edited by robmoriarty
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Sales Desk: On the busiest day of the weekend, this was an absolute joke. There was only one card machine for 10,000 potential customers and it took you until the following day to get two more card readers. There were still queues with three current machines but at least they were moving far quicker. I had to spend 90 minutes on the Saturday waiting to get autograph vouchers as I had been informed beforehand the card payments would be accepted at the autograph tables when in fact it turned out that they would not and we'd need vouchers first or cash. Please make this information transparent on your website well in advance next time please.

 

Sorry about the negative stuff Rob, but I am curious about the auto thing: we did say in a thread specifically about paying for the auto's, that you commented on, that was raised before the event, that if you wanted to pay with a card, you had to do it at the sales desk and were given vouchers to use in the queue. Don't know who told you otherwise but it must of sounded more official :smile:

 

You are correct though that the FAQ doesn't have anything about it and it probably would be helpful to list that next time.

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Sales Desk: On the busiest day of the weekend, this was an absolute joke. There was only one card machine for 10,000 potential customers and it took you until the following day to get two more card readers. There were still queues with three current machines but at least they were moving far quicker. I had to spend 90 minutes on the Saturday waiting to get autograph vouchers as I had been informed beforehand the card payments would be accepted at the autograph tables when in fact it turned out that they would not and we'd need vouchers first or cash. Please make this information transparent on your website well in advance next time please.

 

Sorry about the negative stuff Rob, but I am curious about the auto thing: we did say in a thread specifically about paying for the auto's, that you commented on, that was raised before the event, that if you wanted to pay with a card, you had to do it at the sales desk and were given vouchers to use in the queue. Don't know who told you otherwise but it must of sounded more official :smile:

 

You are correct though that the FAQ doesn't have anything about it and it probably would be helpful to list that next time.

 

Hmmmm, maybe my memory was wrong. Still the transparency of info in the FAQ is key. Had I known it was going to work this way around I'd have purchased all my photos on my credit card and saved my cash savings for the autographs instead.
Other negative stuff is largely what I've picked up from others too - as I said I was more than busy enough with my wishlist to enjoy the event, but I want everyone to enjoy it. I'm hoping it's taken as constructive nitpicking by SM/ME, not an outright complaint. I feel I got absolute value for my money.
My only other point goes back to the build up. It would be preferable if we as customers had the option to upgrade photos etc if we wished as we've been able to at previous events. I don't quite get why this wasn't allowed this time, but surely if you had a cut off date X days after all shoots have been announced or some such specifically for swaps, you're actually increasing your chances of taking in more money than simply restricting everyone to their first choice, particularly if the Eventbrite platform is handling orders? Just an idea.
Edited by robmoriarty
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However, I don't feel I would've got my value for money from the event if I was just there for either one day or a general three day admission without paying for extras. For all of the reasons above SM/ME seriously need to look at anything after the good points and improve on them dramatically true value for money.

 

I agree that if you just paid for convention entry and nothing else then it was poor value for money. Unless you watched the talks on the two free stages then there was really nothing else to do. You could walk round the rest of the convention area in half an hour because there was hardly anything in it.

There are lots of angry posts on the Facebook page from people who fall into this category.

 

This was definitely a show where you needed to plan in advance exactly what you wanted to do and then pay for those options. The problem was that the lack of any real information until a week before the event made it very hard to do this.

 

I bought my tickets a week before the event as soon as the talk tickets went on sale. So I was happy with it as a day out because I got exactly what I paid for.

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However, I don't feel I would've got my value for money from the event if I was just there for either one day or a general three day admission without paying for extras. For all of the reasons above SM/ME seriously need to look at anything after the good points and improve on them dramatically true value for money.

 

I agree that if you just paid for convention entry and nothing else then it was poor value for money. Unless you watched the talks on the two free stages then there was really nothing else to do. You could walk round the rest of the convention area in half an hour because there was hardly anything in it.

There are lots of angry posts on the Facebook page from people who fall into this category.

 

This was definitely a show where you needed to plan in advance exactly what you wanted to do and then pay for those options. The problem was that the lack of any real information until a week before the event made it very hard to do this.

 

I bought my tickets a week before the event as soon as the talk tickets went on sale. So I was happy with it as a day out because I got exactly what I paid for.

 

Precisely, for a 3 day entry, separate day entry for a friend, 5 talks, 15 Photos and 15 Autographs I got a lot out of my money - But boy did it take some planning/converting the timetable to a spreadsheet format for clashes etc.
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Agreed. If I did not plan ahead I doubt I could have achieved half the things I managed to get done. Incredible how fast the day went. I knew where the guests would be and the best times to queue and allowed extra time to get in the queues for the talks. There was little opportunity to actually explore and take note of the surroundings and other exhibits, but I think other people came with no plans at all, so everyone got the best of the both I think.

 

This event was supposed to celebrate the 50th anniversary and yes I really enjoyed it, but honestly it felt like any other convention, and the huge open spaces inside the hall were a mystery and could have made a great seating area as I heard people complaining that their feet hurt on the hard flooring. This convention was very good, but it could have been greater, but to what extent I don't know, but since this was set up to celebrate the 50th anniversary I kind of was hoping for balloons to drop, or ticker tape, mascots, a cake competition etc.

Edited by Aaron2029
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Disappointed at the lack of dealers.As my photoshoots were early morning and then late afternoon there was little to do in the meantime and the lack of food outlets was poor. Even by mid morning there were long queues and little choice. i know thats down to the venue but showmasters agreed to the set up.Also staff seemed intent on people not taking photos of the guests even when far away. why? never had this at any previous events like Olympia or Milton Keynes before as long as you don't get in anyones way or make it obvious, not asking for selfies or anything just long range photos and it didn't bother the guests just the staff. Seems its become a way of pushing people into photoshoots and autograph queues. When asked not too i did when the request was polite but sometimes the staff seemed to have no experiance of speaking to people properly or explain . For an event of this size you need more proper staff not volunteers.

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Also staff seemed intent on people not taking photos of the guests even when far away. why? never had this at any previous events like Olympia or Milton Keynes before as long as you don't get in anyones way or make it obvious, not asking for selfies or anything just long range photos and it didn't bother the guests just the staff. Seems its become a way of pushing people into photoshoots and autograph queues. When asked not too i did when the request was polite but sometimes the staff seemed to have no experiance of speaking to people properly or explain . For an event of this size you need more proper staff not volunteers.

 

This is really up to the guest. Not everyone wants to have cameras going off all day at them. Noticed the signs going up quite a few times at London's con this year. :smile:

Edited by wjbleming
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I agree, the no photos of any type has been a common thing at lots of events, some guests just don't like to be photographed at any distances and if that is their choice then it should be respected. I'll be honest here, I tend to turn away when I see official photographers taking photos of queues etc because I have no idea where those photos are going to end up being published so I can imagine that could easily be the case for someone who has to rely on a certain public image as part of their income.

 

I think to be fair to the crew its often a situation they have to deal with quickly and something they are having to do a lot of because so many attendees seem to think the rule doesn't apply to them. If they are a bit short sometimes, I think its reasonably understandable.

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From my experience at other events and shops etc - "proper" staff doesn't guarantee they're nice to you either!

 

Personally on the whole I think our crew does a fantastic job at these events, and the feedback usually reflects this.

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I attended DST 3 in London at the Excel a few years back, and it’s been my favourite con (mainly for the layout, guests, things to do and air con), followed closely by last year’s LFCC.

 

I was hoping this would of eventually got a similar line up as the previous DST with a few captains attending the event, but I was happy enough with George Takei, Walter and Christopher Lloyd attending (esp with failing to get Christopher Lloyds autograph at LFCC because I didn’t have a diamond/gold pass).

 

My main goal was to get 3 those autographs and have my photos with George and Walter (separately) .

I was a bit worried about the photoshoots as they clashed and from my experience of previous SM events sometimes the photo line organisation is a mess.

 

Anyway got to the venue at around 8am as the car park book emailed stated it opened at 8am.

Went into the NEC and saw a queue of people in Star Trek costumes, went to join it and the steward told us to go back to the other hall to get our hand stamped.

Then we went back to join the queue outside of Hall 4. Stood in the queue for about 20 minutes then the steward made another queue next to ours, so people that had just turned up were next to people that had been queuing for hours.

 

It was a bit odd that they had the banner up with all the captains on but only 1 was attending.

 

It came 9am the doors opened and every one moved forwards and similar to LFCC they had 1 or 2 people to check peoples hand stamps and quite a lot of people just walked past them without showing. So people could of got in for free.

 

It was my 11st SM Con, so I went to straight to get the VQ tickets. I have to say even though I was possibly around the 300th person I the queue outside.

I managed to get all under 50 VQ tickets for Walter, George and Christopher Lloyd.

 

Then I went to get the photos for George and Walter to sign from the store.

There was only 2 people serving with around 50 people trying to buy photos it was a bit manic

 

Got both of the photos I wanted & joined the Walter autograph line.

What a lovely guy, very kind and friendly.

Joined the Christopher Lloyd line and got him to sign my Back to the Future picture, he shook my hand and said thank you.

Joined the George Takei line which wasn’t moving much, but eventually I got my autograph off George Takei.

 

Now it was around 10am and my photo shoot was around 4pm.

There wasn’t a lot to do at the convention, compared to the last DST in London.

There wasn’t many stalls and the museum had been cut down.

The Chill out area was just playing some Star Trek promo on repeat, last time they showed Star Trek episodes.

 

So skip ahead after 5 hours of wondering round inside and outside the NEC to pass the time.

It was a pain having to get past the crowd of people that were taking photos of guests on the bridge, maybe have it not in the entrance next time?

 

I went to the Walter photoshoot early, told the crew member and showed him my George Takei ticket and he put me in line behind the VIP/fast pass ticket holders with the other people that had clashed photoshoots.

It went smoothly. I had my photo with Walter and headed over to the George Takei photoshoot

 

There was a big crowd for his photoshoot, but the crew handled it perfectly.

He kept the queuing area empty and called people in batches and only called the next batch number when the previous queue batch had gone down. Perfect.

 

Overall a good con experience.

 

TLDR:

Pros:

Good photoshoot queue management.

It wasn't stupidly hot inside (possibly due to the weather or aircon).

 

Cons:

Lack of entrance ticket checking (same thing happened at LFCC)

Stalls/shops

Bridge crowds near the entrance.

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This might not be a popular comment, so please bear with me and read to the end before you reply...

 

One of the main issues I'm reading about seems to be down to the behaviour of other attendees. No, I'm probably not pointing the finger at you. It's the others.

 

The ones who don't believe the rules apply to them and are themselves the need for the crew to prevent photographs from afar when there are clearly signs up.

The ones who won't move out of the way to accomodate those with ticket numbers lower than theirs.

Hell, the ones who blatantly go out of their way to get what they want at the expense of other attendees experience.

 

I have to admit (as Photo B Queue Shouty Fella on Saturday) that the above were by far a minority and almost every attendee I dealt with was awesome. Y'all listened to requests and helped the weekend go smoothly - but how can we, as crew, help against those who will actively ignore us?

 

That's why sometimes the crew memeber who might not be used to dealing with conflict resolution (no fingers being pointed, imaginary crew member being created here) might bark what seem like orders out - when it seems like everyone is ignoring you, it's easier to shout than ask nicely. You get more results that way.

 

Not an excuse, just an observation.

 

The other thing is, how can Showmasters / Massive events have any say in the number of stalls which book their place? If stallholders (once again, no fingers being pointed) don't feel like attending, how can anyone make them? I see the point in mentioning this, but I see it as a non-point as it's under no-one's control.

 

Maybe there's potential for improvement for moving certain parts of the event around - but you have to admit... How impressive did the TNG bridge look when you first walked in? :)

 

As far as the queues for the sales desk goes - y'all know you can buy tickets through the eventbrite app on the day, right? No queueing needed for that.

 

Hopefully this doesn't come across as negative, I'm hoping to just present alternate viewpoints on some of the issues that keep getting raised :)

 

 

 

 

B.

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The other thing is, how can Showmasters / Massive events have any say in the number of stalls which book their place? If stallholders (once again, no fingers being pointed) don't feel like attending, how can anyone make them?

I wasn't making a comment suggesting they should be MADE to attend. The rumour went around quickly on the day they were priced out of attending by the fee being charged by SM for a stall.

 

As far as the queues for the sales desk goes - y'all know you can buy tickets through the eventbrite app on the day, right? No queueing needed for that.

Yes, this point was repeatedly mentioned by the staff on the day. When I needed to buy photo shoots that is exactly what I did. However many were queueing to purchase autograph vouchers which could only be done on the one credit card machine in operation on the busiest day of the three. 90 minutes that took out of my day.

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The other thing is, how can Showmasters / Massive events have any say in the number of stalls which book their place? If stallholders (once again, no fingers being pointed) don't feel like attending, how can anyone make them?

I wasn't making a comment suggesting they should be MADE to attend. The rumour went around quickly on the day they were priced out of attending by the fee being charged by SM for a stall.

 

As far as the queues for the sales desk goes - y'all know you can buy tickets through the eventbrite app on the day, right? No queueing needed for that.

Yes, this point was repeatedly mentioned by the staff on the day. When I needed to buy photo shoots that is exactly what I did. However many were queueing to purchase autograph vouchers which could only be done on the one credit card machine in operation on the busiest day of the three. 90 minutes that took out of my day.

 

 

Unfortunately, any event like this will be subject to a rumor-mill of epic proportions. I heard people talking very confidently and reliably about a whole manner of absurd "facts" about the event. Not saying the pricing issue was, just that it's best to take most things with a pinch of salt unless it comes from the horse's mouth.

 

I didn't mean to appear to be challenging your stance or position in particular, just wanted to offer up an alternate viewpoint :)

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The other thing is, how can Showmasters / Massive events have any say in the number of stalls which book their place? If stallholders (once again, no fingers being pointed) don't feel like attending, how can anyone make them?

I wasn't making a comment suggesting they should be MADE to attend. The rumour went around quickly on the day they were priced out of attending by the fee being charged by SM for a stall.

 

As far as the queues for the sales desk goes - y'all know you can buy tickets through the eventbrite app on the day, right? No queueing needed for that.

Yes, this point was repeatedly mentioned by the staff on the day. When I needed to buy photo shoots that is exactly what I did. However many were queueing to purchase autograph vouchers which could only be done on the one credit card machine in operation on the busiest day of the three. 90 minutes that took out of my day.

 

 

Unfortunately, any event like this will be subject to a rumor-mill of epic proportions. I heard people talking very confidently and reliably about a whole manner of absurd "facts" about the event. Not saying the pricing issue was, just that it's best to take most things with a pinch of salt unless it comes from the horse's mouth.

 

I didn't mean to appear to be challenging your stance or position in particular, just wanted to offer up an alternate viewpoint :)

 

Quite alright, I did say at the time it was only a rumour I heard. But for there to be nothing there in the slightest and for it to still be on the website even now suggests something behind the scenes has occurred.

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I had an incredible time. The only thing needed to be improved on next time was the lack of seating. My poor feet and especially back were very painful after each day due to this. Guests were amazing, Favourites were Gowron on the klingon bridge, Wil Wheaton (I was too shy to ask him to pose for my pic but got a lovely smile from him) , Alice Krige, Marina,Terry,George and Walter. Got all autographs and photos I wanted. Can't wait for next event xxx

Edited by gwynatlarche
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I only went Friday and Saturday just to meet Christopher Lloyd. I've only seen the JJ Abrams Star Trek films and maybe one episode of Next Generation but Back To The Future is my favourite film so didn't want to miss the chance to meet him. I'm glad I decided to go and I had a great time seeing him. I was quite surprised when I collected a VQ ticket for him on the Friday as it was only No.6 so managed to get my autos with no hassle and the crew I spoke to were all very helpful and friendly so thank you to those guys! :D Hope SM can get Christopher to another event soon.

 

I also wanted to thank the very VERY small number of people on the Friday who recognised my Nostalgia Critic cosplay. I was the guy carrying the picture of Christopher Lloyds character from the film Suburban Commando with the caption "I Was Frozen Today" on it just to see what Christopher would think of it during the photoshoot (he seemed quite amused by it even as I was leaving and I got to speak to him briefly about it at his auto desk) and it was great talking to the attendees who fully understood what I was referencing. :D

 

Oh yeah and the Kirkeoke on the Friday was funny to watch. :D

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I agree that having the bridges out in the open looked very cool indeed. And if they'd been hidden from view it would have been a great shame.

 

Again going back to guests I was really happy with those who attended. Tbh I rather just have those who really want to be there, and they all seemed that way,

 

And I agree on the 'chill out' zone - it seemed to be showing a 2 minute advert on loop. Would it have been that dificult to have had a few episodes of ST showing instead?

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