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General
Tickets – Though I still think having ticket numbers by ticket is a better idea, I didn’t really have any problems with having ticket numbers by group. However since there is no record of your number on the ticket it made me worry that I had the correct ticket, as I’m sure it did to many others. It’s not a knock on the people who organised the packs, because I found them to be well handled with all my extras present and correct, but some people like a little reassurance when something isn’t obvious, especially regular con attendees.
Solution - I’d suggest next time perhaps having a chart on the wall indicating that Ando=1-25, Charlie=25-50 etc to assure people that they have the right ticket. A white board or poster with this information on behind registration would quickly relive any concerns people may have.
Luggage Drop-Off – I think this one hit everyone unaware, but the hotel does not have the capacity to hold many people’s suitcases. Not everyone drives or leaves on Monday morning, which means that there has to be someplace where attendees can store their luggage on the Sunday. We ended up having to take ours into the main hall for the Sunday morning, which wasn’t ideal at all (I saw others doing the same thing too). Eventually after speaking to the hotel again, they finally allowed us to store it in our old room (now ready for the next guest). The whole thing was a huge pain and shouldn’t be necessary.
Solution – given that other Massive conventions are to be held in this hotel, I’d suggest trying to work something out with them regarding extra storage, or even handling looking after the extra luggage yourselves via a ticketing system if no arrangement can be made. Perhaps the Ibis across the road can accommodate the extra suitcases?
Photoshoots
Bag Checking – Though I know that all bags/coats etc are to be checked before a photo shoot, there were no signs indicating where to do this. At all other conventions and signing events the baggage drop-off is either in the photo shoot room or just before it. I along with many others had been in the queue for a good twenty minutes before someone came round with a sign saying that no bags were allowed in. Even after being show this sign I still had to actually ask were I should leave them, rather than being informed.
Solution – Signs. It’s as simple as that. Placing some by the big photoshoot time/ticket list and around the general convention area would be a huge help, and very easy to do. If not, having the stewards working in the area regularly checking and keeping an eye on people in the queue and informing them.
Photoshoot Lighting – I’m not sure why all the lights in the photoshoot room were kept off, but all my photos suffered for it. There was visible noise on my photos (taking both days) and looked to have been adjusted afterwards because the photos looked to have been brightened and the blue levels fiddled with. Rather easy to tell when my black jacket turned grey and my top changed colour! I’d suggest this gets looked at for next time, since though I liked my photos well enough, they would have looked so much better if the room had been better lit.
Guest Talks
Moderator – Though I can see the usage of a moderator with a set of questions ready if things get quiet, I felt that having one throughout the whole talk left things flat. One of the great parts of the talks is the guest/audience interaction and I felt this was affected as a result. Things just didn’t have the same energy as they normally do.
Like I said, I overall enjoyed myself, even though I had to miss the last guest talk due to the British transport system.
it wasn't laminated (so after about two minutes was squished) and © didn't have a pin or something more useful than that chafing bit of green string. Hardly classy. Although to be fair, with the attention to detail elsewhere I think it's likely it was just something overlooked which won't be again.
