uninspiring day

[RainbowDisney]

Ok, lets see if i can help clear up a few issues you guys may have had over the weekend. i was dealing with Ursulas queue and tickets yesterday.

 

1) No photo's rule for Ursula & General Stafford - Ursula suffers with cateracts.. the flash aggitates these hence no flash. General Stafford is also suffering now with poor eyesight..and wearing glasses, flash also affects him! And for gods sake WHY do you need proof that he signed your pic ?? YOU obtained it in person.. is that not proof enough for you.. unless you plan to sell it on! (in which case yes i agree you may want proof)

 

2) Price of G. Staffords sig - firstly it is a once only opportunity to get this.. secondly, you will find the tariff/price is set by the Astronaughts scholarship foundation.. NOT Dave or Jason.

 

3) Staff Ego trip - Err hello.. were you at the same show as the rest of us?!? We were enforcing a request laid down by G.Staffords associates and the ASF. Everyone was asked..(and politely i may add) to not use flash, or shove a camera 3 inches from his face (you have a zoom feature.. please stand back a little and learn to use it!) Photo's were more than welcome as he signed.. without the flash.. and if you stood to the side along with everyone else.

[swan]

And for gods sake WHY do you need proof that he signed your pic ?? YOU obtained it in person.. is that not proof enough for you..

 

A tiny little photo of the guest signing is not a lot to ask for. I like to have pics in case one day I lose my memory, then I can look at the photo and think oh yeah... why do you think we would like a pic of the person signing.!

 

What a stupid statement!

 

Photo's were more than welcome as he signed.. without the flash..

 

All I was aware of was the 'no photos' sign. Which actually meant, yes, you can take photos without a flash. Darn... I just didn't see that extra bit written on the sign!

 

Too late now, opportunity lost forever.

 

Thanks for misleading me!

 

(still next time, must remember that 'no photos' actually does mean... yes you can take photos!)

 

[momo15]

I am now thinking for God's sake why do I need photos of my family? I have proof they are my family so why do I need a photo?

 

Think I'll throw my camera away as supporting events and spending up to £300 on an autograph still makes me an irritant to Showmasters.

[swan]

I am now thinking for God's sake why do I need photos of my family? I have proof they are my family so why do I need a photo?

 

Thank you... you have summed this up so well! I'm going to burn all my photos albums tomorrow!

Edited September 13, 2009 by swan

[fluffybunny]

1) No photo's rule for Ursula & General Stafford - Ursula suffers with cateracts.. the flash aggitates these hence no flash. General Stafford is also suffering now with poor eyesight..and wearing glasses, flash also affects him! And for gods sake WHY do you need proof that he signed your pic ?? YOU obtained it in person.. is that not proof enough for you.. unless you plan to sell it on! (in which case yes i agree you may want proof)

 

I think its this attitude that has caused the problem in the first place!.

 

Of course there are a variety of reasons why people should wish to have a photograph; this is such a stupid argument.

 

Why therefore if both suffer reactions to FLASH photography, didn’t the rules, and signage reflect that?.

 

I have no idea where you got your version of events from. But I saw management purposely putting people in the way to block shots, and at least 3/4 people jumping on anybody who raised a camera flash / or no flash.

 

A world away from your account of “politely asking people to turn off their flashâ€.

 

As I said, it seemed a great ‘buzz’ for those staff involved, but clearly dampened the spirit, and atmosphere of the event.

[Chiandra]

So judging by the comments of his pleasant post this DisneyDude78 fella was a member of staff at this event? - Christ, sounds as if it was more like visiting a prison than a convention!

[nosfer2]

1) No photo's rule for Ursula & General Stafford - Ursula suffers with cateracts.. the flash aggitates these hence no flash. General Stafford is also suffering now with poor eyesight..and wearing glasses, flash also affects him! And for gods sake WHY do you need proof that he signed your pic ?? YOU obtained it in person.. is that not proof enough for you.. unless you plan to sell it on! (in which case yes i agree you may want proof)

 

For me, I like to take photos of the guests because photography is one of my hobbies. At signing events I get to practice taking portraits. Actors are generally more relaxed because they are used to having their photo taken (for headshots, etc.). It also gives me a souvenir I can show to my friends more easily than my autographs (on Facebook, etc.).

[Count Fooku]

sounds as if it was more like visiting a prison than a convention!

 

Which it really wasn't, I have to say I'm really surprised at the reaction this has caused. I didn't hear a single person complaining about it over the weekend or see anyone getting treated rudely by any members of the crew team. I think we should also remember we are only talking about 2 guests out of about 25 or so which had restrictions on photos. There's not many events where that is the case.

 

I have to say on a number of occasions I saw Tom Stafford's representative really going out of his way to accomodate peoples requests to make sure they get what they wanted.

 

I think the key thing here is where Autographica is concerned the best thing to do if you want to do something that may appear to be outside the 'rules' is to speak to one of the crew in charge such as TooTall or the guests representative. Being a quieter, more relaxed event, it is usually easier to get access to people like this as they are not having to manage the crowds that they get at other events and therefore you probably have a better chance of having your request accomodated or at least they can probably give you a more detailed reason why not.

 

It does also come down to that other aspect of any signing event which SM have often mentioned, the fee is per signature and doesn't automatically entitle you to a picture or anything else no matter how much you have paid for it (and this is speaking as one who paid out for all of the most expensive guests this weekend!)

[Too Tall]

This is the issue we have.

 

There are 2 reasons why no photo or no posed photo signs are put up.

 

1: For reasons of speed. At a show like LFCC where in some cases we need to get 1000+ people through a queue in a day, because a guests fee is so large we need to do this number or have to charge more then normal .

 

2: At the guests quest.

 

In this case for whatever reason...

I don't feel pretty today.

I don't like the flash.

I don't feel well.

I don't want picture's of me signing going up on the web.

There are a 1001 reasons why a guest may ask not to have photos taken of them.

 

When they do ask this we put up the signs and we ask people not to take photos. WE enforce the request of the guest. Some people either miss or ignore the signs and ask anyway. It this situation if the crew member can, they will be the bad guy and say no for the guest. That's what we are there for. We are there to be the bad guy for the guest. They don't want to have to say no and look bad so we do it for them. Our crew are not there on a power trip, they are doing their job, which is to enforce the rules of the show and the requests of the guest. You may not like those rule or requests but that doesn't make the crew member or Showmasters evil for enforcing them.

 

In some cases the request gets past the crew member and the guest out of politness says yes. There is nothing we can do once the guest themselves has said yes.

 

But sometimes we have the situation (which happened this weekend) where the guest themselves legitimately changes their minds. First thing is the morning they say no photos at all and then in the afternoon once it gets quiet and they've had a good day they then agree to it. We then info the attendees of this and allow it. I understand that it's annoying if you bought your autograph when the guest didn't want photos, but what we can't have is a long line of people JUST wanting a photo because they didn't get one earlier.

 

Sometimes it can change so quickly we don't have time to change the signage. They agree to photos, but then after a couple they don't like a flashes (or what ever) and we're back to no photos.

 

At the end of the day they are their to sign autographs and not have photos taken of them. I understand people like proof or whatever. But they are people and do have the right to say what they do and don't want. We are only enforcing that wish.

 

Stuart.

Edited September 14, 2009 by showmasters

[fluffybunny]

2: At the guests quest.

 

In this case for whatever reason...

I don't feel pretty today.

I don't like the flash.

I don't feel well.

I don't want picture's of me signing going up on the web.

There are a 1001 reasons why a guest may ask not to have photos taken of them.

 

Can you be a little bit more specific as to why Ursula had the sign?.

 

One of your staff, and I’m not sure if he has made it up or not – has said it was because of health reason they didn’t like the flash?.

 

If this was the case, I feel the atmosphere would have been improved, if you’d conveyed this information, and provided the use of discretion was observed, allowed photographs without flash from a distance to be taken.

 

Instead we had staff often walking almost 10 metres to enforce the rules, and staff instructed to stand in the way of peoples shots.

[Count Fooku]

Be fair though, not everyone wants personal information about their health etc being made public knowledge.

[Too Tall]

2: At the guests quest.

 

In this case for whatever reason...

I don't feel pretty today.

I don't like the flash.

I don't feel well.

I don't want picture's of me signing going up on the web.

There are a 1001 reasons why a guest may ask not to have photos taken of them.

 

Can you be a little bit more specific as to why Ursula had the sign?.

 

One of your staff, and I’m not sure if he has made it up or not – has said it was because of health reason they didn’t like the flash?.

 

If this was the case, I feel the atmosphere would have been improved, if you’d conveyed this information, and provided the use of discretion was observed, allowed photographs without flash from a distance to be taken.

 

Instead we had staff often walking almost 10 metres to enforce the rules, and staff instructed to stand in the way of peoples shots.

There were different reasons for different situations. I ask you to respect that they had their reasons and to trust that we were only enforcing their wishes.

[Too Tall]

and just to clarify the no photo rule was only in and around Tom and Ursulla. The rest of the event was as usual and if the guest was happy to do photos then they did.

 

Both Edward Fox and Sterling Moss did a number of pictures through out the day. And the other room did them all day too.

 

So the suggestion of there being a blank ban is complete rubbish.

Edited September 14, 2009 by Too Tall

[TerraHawk]

But they are people and do have the right to say what they do and don't want. We are only enforcing that wish.

 

Part of the problem with that ideal, is you have plenty of time to kill whilst you are queuing, directly in front each person. And many of us have decent zooms too. Short of confiscating cameras and phones there are going to be photos, unless you hid them behind screens and just called up queuers one at a time. Which might be more relaxed.

 

Of course when person #1 follows the rules they might be unhappy but understanding. Then person #2 comes along and says how easy it was to get one. That's a kick in the teeth to person #1

Edited September 14, 2009 by TerraHawk

[Too Tall]

But they are people and do have the right to say what they do and don't want. We are only enforcing that wish.

 

Part of the problem with that ideal, is you have plenty of time to kill whilst you are queuing, directly in front each person. And many of us have decent zooms too. Short of confiscating cameras and phones there are going to be photos, unless you hid them behind screens and just called up queuers one at a time. Which might be more relaxed.

 

Of course when person #1 follows the rules they might be unhappy but understanding. Then person #2 comes along and says how easy it was to get one. That's a kick in the teeth to person #1

I understand that. But we don't want to rule the situation with an iron glove to cover the <5% that don't repect the wishes of the guests. We don't want to have to cover them up or hide them. That WOULD be completely unfair on the 95% that do adhear to the rules.

[thedogsbits]

I got there late in the afternoon and was surprised how quite it was. After getting the autograph I wanted I spent some time looking through the stalls and was shocked by the prices that were being charged.

 

One trader was selling signed photo's of Bob Champion and Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards for £50. Both of these sports personalities were guests at recent SM events where collectors were charged £5 to get their autographs in person.

I realise the traders need to mark up prices so they can make a profit, but selling items for 10 times the price they bought them for makes you wonder how daft some traders think we are?

 

While I enjoyed Autographica I have to ask by what justification it can be called "The Worlds Largest Autograph Show"? I am by no means 'having a go at SM', and while SM keep attracting the guests I want to meet then I'll keep attending the events.

But the company runs bigger shows all year long (for example Collectormania). So why call this one "The Worlds Largest Autograph Show"?

 

Can I add my thoughts to this thread please.

 

I have attended the last 5 shows as a dealer and was the 1st to book my stand, even when the moaners were having a rant about the event, possibly not going to go ahead. I wrote at the time that we should get behind the show and support the people who put this and other SM events together.

 

When you say do you think that the traders think the buyers are daft, just think for a minute that without the dealers, the show would not be what it is today.

 

I spent between £400 - £500 on the cost of the stand and a further £150 to hire a van to bring stock along.

 

Dealers play a very important role in the show and without us, in my opinion, it would amount to either fewer guests or higher prices for their signatures.

 

I suggest that you consider that the dealers need to price their items accordingly with the above costs in mind. Again, this is only my opinion, but there did not seem to be the amount of people in the hall over the weekend. With comments like yours, would it suit you not to bother with the stands and we make it a car boot ?

[Hannerzzz09]

OK,I think it's about time I gave my personal run down on the events of the past couple of days..

 

This was my very first Autographica (or autograph show like this at all for that matter) & I have to say it was simply wonderful.

 

My Dad & I got a very early flight over from Dublin to Birmingham on Saturday morning & once we arrived at the hotel & got settled into our room,we headed down into the show at approx 09.15 with our Early Bird tickets.

 

I was mainly interested in the space guests & so I got all my autographs from the astronauts & one military veteran. The autographs took about an hour & a half to get altogether (not due to any queues but I simply took it easy!)

 

I first went over to Dave Scott's signing table where I got him to sign two items for me (An Apollo 9 cover that's now completed by the crew & a photo they provided of him on the moon.)

For the photo on the moon I asked him to write down his 'Man Must Explore..And this is Exploration at its greatest' quote but he politely declined.I thought this was odd since I was paying £95 for the signature,but hey that's his choice. (The signature & personalization still look great!!) I overheard him talking to his assistant saying that he should stop posing for photos at the table because he would be doing the photoshoot,but he did so anyway,& I got a photo with Col.Scott at the signing table which looks just great!

Col.Scott was extremely polite & looks great for his 77 years I must say,& was well fit to walk around the hotel unassisted.

 

I then chatted to a couple of guys I knew & headed over to Scott Carpenter's table. He graciously signed & personalized to me the colour business suit portrait litho I provided. I didn't want to bother asking him for a photo at the table - even though I know he would have obliged I still got one at the photoshoot. I then asked him was it true that after his Mercury-Aurora 7 mission when the helicopter picked him up out of his raft he was sitting calmly eating a candy bar (I had read about this in Gene Kranz's autobiography 'Failure is not an Opttion just a couple of weeks ago.) He found it hard to hear/understand my Irish accent,but then he said that he didn't remember that,& that it was probably when he was actually in the helicopter that he did so which we laughed about

 

I had a Jim Irwin on the moon signed litho in my folder with me also,& with a bit of persuasion I decided to get it completed. I walked up again to Dave Scott's table & he happily signed it for me. The first time I went to his table I was afraid to ask him anything (a bit starstruck I'll admit since it was the first moonwalker I've met) - but the second time I plucked up the courage to ask him whatever happened to the feather he had with him on the moon for the Galileo experiment (fully knowing the answer but just wanted to hear what he had to say!)

He said that it was still up there until someone else brought it back down again when people return to the moon. He then said that maybe I could get it one day & I replied 'If I study hard at school then,maybe I will' to which he had a good chuckle

 

I then proceeded immediately to Al Worden's table where he graciously signed & personalized my WSS portait litho as well as completed my Apollo 15 litho (he signed in the black sky in silver where he was at the time whilst Scott & Irwin have signed in black on the surface which makes it even more special to me!)

Col.Worden also posed happily for a photo with me at the table & Dad got a photo of him signing one of my items as well.

 

We then had a quick look at the stalls around the room & headed out for the photoshoots. I did the photoshoots with the four astronauts,& they all turned out great (big thanks to the photographer Malcolm who did a great job.)

 

We then headed down to the food hall (I think it was in the King's suite where we got a burger & coke) & headed up to the room for a quick rest. I then attended the Scott Carpenter lecture at 2 o'clock. I thought this was just amazing & an experience I'll not forget in a hurry. He talked about his days of the Sealab project as well as the traumas of spaceflight & happily answered questions. I agree that a microphone for the questions part would be extremely helpful as Scott did fing it quite hard to hear a few of the questions,but all in all it was amazing & he deservedly got a standing ovation at the end.

 

I then got another quick rest up in our room before going into the show where I got Billy Drake to sign a photo of a Spitfire. I then headed to the Al Worden lecture at 4 o'clock & this was another wonderful experience. He talked about Jim Irwin's heart problems,Apollo 15,the Apollo 12 launch,not feeling tired during spaceflight,how all the CMP's were disappointed at not getting the chance to command a later mission due to the cutbacks,his test pilot traning at Farnborough,his geology training with Farouk El-Baz (an Egyptian with an Irish wife funnily enough) & plenty of other interesting things about his life. I thought he was very funny & a pleasure to listen to.

 

Dad & I then watched the Man United match in the bar & got some food which we were allowed to take up to our room thankfully.We went for a walk while the dinner was on (We didn't attend this time unfortnately) but the fresh air did us good,before heading to sleep when we got into the room.

 

On Sunday morning we went into the show at 11.15 & picked up a couple of things at the stalls,before getting an item signed by Tom Stafford & then we walked to the airport at 3 0'clock to catch our flight home.

 

The astronauts were just great:Dave Scott looked great & was a pleasure to talk (the same can be said for Al Worden.)

Scott Carpenter is doing fantastically well for his age (we have to remember that he is 7 whole years older than both Worden & Scott!)

Tom Stafford did look quite frail but then again the man is 79 & I'm just glad I got the chance to meet him in person.

 

All in all,I'd give the show 10/10 - the venue was first class & I hope it stays in Birmingham for the April event. Roll on Autographica 15 is all I can say!

 

Best Regards,Shane from Ireland!

[showmasters]

i mainly go for the stalls,if there isnt any one who i want to get

why is everyone saying why didi i go if i knew who was there etc

 

I WENT BECAUSE I WANTED TO,AND IF I WANT TO SAY WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT I WILL.SORRY TO BE NEGATIVE.

 

AND I TOTALLY AGREE THAT IF YOU PAY A LOT OF MONEY FOR AN AUTOGRAPH THEN YOU SHOULD BE ENTITLED A PHOTO FOR PROOF ETC.

 

 

well can i say what i want to you as well then ?

 

just because i want to ?

 

mate maybe this event is not for you ?

 

Dave Paul and my self lost money running this event , this was due to the economy and us not getting as many gusts we needed to to bring the numbers in , this happens we tried to get more classic TV and Film guest but were unlucky this time , in the past we pull it of this time we did not , the WW II guest were great and the Nasa guys were amazing , so maybe the event was not for everyone ?

 

but i will say this to you none of us here regret running this event , even though we lost money i meet General Stafford and Edward Fox , two people i so wanted to meet and that is worth more to me than any money and i think we just proved this

 

if you wanted to meet ether of the above this was the event to meet them at as i really doubt they will be attending any other event in the UK so this was your chance .

 

anyway the event is special and there is nothing like this in the world and as i have been to all the auto events in the world i can say with out any doubt it is the biggest autograph event in the world

 

we will be back next year with two event one in London and the other in Birmingham with lots of rare and great guests .

 

thanks to everyone that came to the event and enjoyed it

 

jason

 

ps one last thing General Stafford said we were a real pro outfit better than anything else he has been to and he offered contacting other Nasa guest we have been trying to have as guest at our events to tell them to trust us and encourage them to attend , and thats going to go a very long way with others from Nasa

[Count Fooku]

I'm sorry to hear that you lost money on this event, but I'm glad it's not going to deter you, Dave and Paul for next year. Speaking personally if you can do next year what you have managed across the two shows this year, I'm sure you'll have two very succesfull shows.

[nosfer2]

I'm not surprised that the show made a loss. I went in at 11am and by 11.20 I had all the autographs I wanted. I was on the train home at 11.40. At most of the shows I spend some time (and money!) at the dealers tables, but the only thing I bought this time was a picture for Ursula to sign. There just wasn't anything of interest to me personally (e.g. CDs, DVDs and trading cards). Still, I'm grateful to Showmasters for putting on the event and giving me the opportunity to meet stars from my favourite films and shows, and glad that you are planning to continue with it.

[showmasters]

 

One trader was selling signed photo's of Bob Champion and Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards for £50. Both of these sports personalities were guests at recent SM events where collectors were charged £5 to get their autographs in person.

I realise the traders need to mark up prices so they can make a profit, but selling items for 10 times the price they bought them for makes you wonder how daft some traders think we are?

 

 

 

 

its these people that make it worse for the collectors to get autographs off people. Also the ones who put everything they get signed on ebay.

 

You go up to people now and they say...this isnt for ebay is it?

 

They have spoilt it for the genuine people!

 

and sorry to go off topic

 

why dose it spoilt it for the genuine people ? why dose it matter if a dealer buys autos or not ? in fact when we have to guarantee a amount of money to attend the event some times the dealers help get the numbers up which helps so much , also we sometimes rely on dealer numbers when making the offers in the first place so i think having a go at the people that also help us make the guests posable is a little wrong

 

also they payout for autos and invest its then up to them to sell it for what ever people will pay its up to them and no one is making anyone buy what they sell, and yes an auto may not be worth a lot right not but some dealers but items to sell on later or over a long time

 

jason

[showmasters]

I'm not surprised that the show made a loss. I went in at 11am and by 11.20 I had all the autographs I wanted. I was on the train home at 11.40. At most of the shows I spend some time (and money!) at the dealers tables, but the only thing I bought this time was a picture for Ursula to sign. There just wasn't anything of interest to me personally (e.g. CDs, DVDs and trading cards). Still, I'm grateful to Showmasters for putting on the event and giving me the opportunity to meet stars from my favourite films and shows, and glad that you are planning to continue with it.

 

thanks for that we well continue with this event

 

Autographica has never been a money making thing , its just a place were we can get guests that would never go to a signing event ever so putting it into a 5 star hotel and give them all the trimmings some really big names do think well maybe i will do this event , some guest only ever do Autographica , so we run this to meet them.

 

 

Paul is the newest person on the team behind Autographica and when he was brought in we told him that there was a good risk he would lose some money but not lots and the odd event makes a little which helps cover the odd big losses , he was happy to take this on as are we all , some people forget we are also fans and we do not do this for the money we do it to make events like this happen

 

i am glad some of you like what we do and we will keep doing this

 

jason

[spocks-brain]

we will be back next year with two event one in London and the other in Birmingham with lots of rare and great guests .

 

thanks to everyone that came to the event and enjoyed it

 

jason

 

ps one last thing General Stafford said we were a real pro outfit better than anything else he has been to and he offered contacting other Nasa guest we have been trying to have as guest at our events to tell them to trust us and encourage them to attend , and thats going to go a very long way with others from Nasa

Sorry to hear you lost money on the show Jason. So an even bigger thanks for giving those of us who attended the chance to meet these legends.

 

And great news about General Stafford/Nasa. I'm sure that having such help from him can only enhance future shows. And I'm sure we'd all like to pass on our thanks to the General, through you, for him attending. The effort he must have made to come is really appreciated.

 

See you at the next one Jason.

[rich5wolves]

I agree with what Jason says about the low numbers being because there were not enough guests attending and the economy.

 

I was always going to come once Stirling Moss was announced but other shows where we had Buzz, Ursula, Blessed and other rarer guests like Harvey Stevens attend had that something extra.

 

I normally do enjoy the autographica shows far more than the other events but this time for me I treated it like Collectormania in the way I turned up, got my autos and left. The dealer tables didnt interest me. Still I have 4 autographs, 3 from striling, 1 from Ursula, and that was worth coming for.

 

People have to understand the current climate is difficult. I booked Keith Floyd for an event and sold out up in Wolverhampton but he fell ill and had to cancel. I can understand the frustration SM go through when people cancel, it didnt effect this event in particular but has with others in the past. The whole game isnt easy and just because people may have been disappointed at the lack of guests doesnt mean the next line-up wont be super!

 

Keep up the good work

[mcgill]

...I booked Keith Floyd for an event and sold out up in Wolverhampton but he fell ill and had to cancel...

 

 

Sadly Keith's death was announced this morning.