90 replies to this topic

[colonelbluehands]

I see someone has already commented on the DJ.  I did not like the DJing at both parties...actually it was pretty much the same set played over both nights.  I can only assume that he was not in the mood for it - I've been at SM parties where he,s done a good job.  Just not this weekend.

[mousybrown]

The DJ was mean to me when he asked if anyone wanted bob the builder
and didnt play my other (reasonable) requests.

[JennJenn]

emmangel, on Mar 17 2008, 11:01 AM, said:

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.

I do agree that there was something here, as the contrast of my Santiago picture is terrible.

samuel, on Mar 17 2008, 03:22 PM, said:

Moderator
Having a question bank for when the room goes quiet is a good idea, maybe those shy people can post questions on the forum, so the moderator can use them when questions from the crowd die down.

It would be good to have some additional 'filler events' whilst certain groups are collecting autographs etc.. If we have been put in to groups, lets use it for some competition or some fun games...or even watch some episodes of heroes!

Still enjoyed myself and met some really good people.  

Why post questions on the forum when you can post them into the question box? I thought it was very well handled.
And I agree other things like the quiz would be a good idea. But Heroes episodes wouldn't be possible because of the broadcasting licences theyd need.

thefreckles, on Mar 17 2008, 03:34 PM, said:

I had a good time but just a couple of minor things that I felt didn't quite go so well.

First of all, on the website it it clearly states that flash photography would be allowed for the first 15 minutes and then no flash.  But I was incredibly disappointed when they said it would be allowed for a minute or two only on Friday once there. On one occasion, I got just one shot during the flash allowed part. If flash is only going to be allowed for less than a couple of minutes (literally), then it should be stated on Massive Events website.

I only saw 1 crew member ask someone not to do so.  I cam across seat holding 4 times over the weekend and that is just plain selfish.

Guest talks were too short on Sunday!  I know CMT (con mean time) struck but I do think a bit of re-jiggling could have been done seeing how swimmingly Saturday went in the end.  And I kind of missed having some talks with guests on their own.  I like that.  I would have given anything for Christine to have had an hour with us on stage on her own.

I always thought saying 15 minutes would be a little too ambitious, and I always expected it to be that short. The guests will be blinded by so many cameras, and it can get distracting.

And the security is important to have as a clear presence. You don't need a criminal record check, or some form of Heroes fan licence *g* to go to an event, so anyone could buy a ticket, whatever their intentions.

I preferred the talks with the actors interacting with eachother. It made more fun than just listening to one person talk constantly for an hour on their own, as they feed off of eachother, and people such as Jessalyn, who was very shy, would find it so difficult.

I didn't like the Saturday night party at all though. Dull entertainment, and the same set as the previous night, which is why I only stayed for an hour, and even then I had to force myself to stay that long. Also, more arrangements could be made for the chill-out party on the Sunday night, as at first it was literally no music, nothing arranged.

[Evie_Nitram]

I had a great weekend overall, and really enjoyed myself!! It was my husband's first ever con, and he enjoyed it as well, so obviously a lot of it was right!! These are some of the things I noticed over the weekend!

CREW
Firstly - I think the crew did an outstanding job!! The way that things got chopped and changed to iron out issues over the weekend, the crew must have been run off their feet with implimenting the changes, so a big KUDOS to all of them!!

TALKS
Secondly, I agree that the stage was too low, and that almost ruined the talks - thank goodness for the screen that enabled everyone to see the guests quite clearly! The MC did a great job, and I really enjoyed all the talks I went to - How grown up does Noah actually sound?! Amazing!!

SPOILERS
I had a gripe over the OBVIOUS spoilers, and felt really bad for those people that hadn't seen season 2... I know that David was a season 2 character, so he could only answer questions about it, but I think some of the questions were really mean to be asked - e.g. the first one on Saturday to David!!
Even Massive Events made a mistake by labelling one of the groups 'Adam's' as that isn't discovered until Episode 7 of season 2!! He should only have been called Kensei!!

PHOTOS
The individual photos were great, and I really enjoyed them. I know the photographer gets agitated when he is being rushed to take good pictures, and really think he does a great job, and mostly pays close attention to detail to ensure that everyone gets a good photo... He went out of his way to help a friend sort out a bad photo as well.
However, the group photo (whilst being a bargain price) was done terribly. I hated standing way in front of the guests as it made me really self-conscious. It also made me look HUGE in the photo, and kinda resembled being photo-shopped into the picture really badly. Would it really have made much difference for that cross to have been in the middle of the guests on the first row? And for the really tall people, so maybe have David stand in front so he could actually be seen??
I really do think that needs addressing before Eclipse 2, as I heard so many people complain about that experience and the photo at the end of it looking weird. £40 is still a lot of money to many people!!

PARTIES
The friday night party was the best con party I've EVER attended! Great music, decent band (though the lead singer's mic needed adjusted as it was hard to hear the lyrics) and an all-round brilliant atmosphere. I missed the opening bit with the guests at the start, and was disappointed that they didn't stick around for longer, but that's also understandable.
Saturday's party was the weaker in my opinion, as it's hard to really relax in all that formal wear. The music wasn't AS good overall (in my opinion) and I didn't dance because of it. More seats should have been available to those people who needed/wanted to sit down.
I'd also be in favour of a range of Non-Alcohol Heroes Punches... I can't drink as a) I was driving, I'm pregnant, so would have loved to have been able to have some punch... thought it was supposed to be 'alcohol free' anyway ;-)

ECLIPSE 2
I'm really hoping I'll be at Eclipse 2, but it's still a long way off, and I can't afford the tickets right now, so I guess we'll have to see nearer the time. I'm really hoping Massive Events are able to get equally great guests for the 2nd time around, as all the guests at Eclipse 1 exceeded my expectations!!


Lizzi xx

[Persephone1]

Quote

Saturday's party was the weaker in my opinion, as it's hard to really relax in all that formal wear

Saturday's set was identical to Friday's set! I confess the band did nothing for me on the Friday night I thought they were pretty awful and the Michael Jackson impersonator was... well....different but the DJ played the same music on both the Friday and saturday nights. I wasn't overly impressed with the DJ - his song selection was extremely limited and he played far too many songs that it was impossible to dance too. I appreciate that newbies may not care for a set made up entirely of con songs but he could have played a wider selection of dance music and pop. Instead of filling the dance floor he kept clearing it !

Also nooone wants to really hear the DJ speak. Speak through your music and your set - don't keep switching the music off in order to be obnoxious about people's requests (90% of which he didn't have anyway!)

[mousybrown]

Some of the spoilers made me go and look around as well.
I know someone who was prepared for a few minor ones but some of the ones she did hear made her slightly annoyed as she hasnt yet seen it.

I missed the beginning of the first party as well. The guests were there? I had no idea haha, damn taxies.


[quote name='Persephone1' date='Mar 17 2008, 06:03 PM' post='1170099']
[quote]
Also nooone wants to really hear the DJ speak. Speak through your music and your set - don't keep switching the music off in order to be obnoxious about people's requests (90% of which he didn't have anyway!)
[/quote]

I know, he didnt have to announce mine.

Edited by mousybrown, 17 March 2008 - 06:07 PM.

[Lizzy]

my gripe about the punches was that they were 90% ice! My friends found me amusing trying to drink it I think!


Oh yea, the band Fri was amazing! Who were they? I saw the singer before hand and said I loved his shirt! (Big blink fan lol)

Edited by Lizzy, 17 March 2008 - 06:07 PM.

[mousybrown]

You couldn't down them punches if you tried : )

I think they were 'The Version'

[Agent Bristow]

I had a brilliant time and I'd like to say a massive thank you to Showmasters and the crew who did a terrific job.
I don't think there were many bad points that the orgainisers could improve on, Saturday morning was a little chaotic, I think it would be a good idea next time to put the order the groups would be called on the schedule so everyone knew what they were supposed to do.

I really liked all the little surprises at the con, the band on Friday were very good and I was hoping that Cristine would open the Petrelli ball, I also think the hall looked great and the Michael Jackson impersonater was brilliant. I wasn't to keen on the DJ's choice of music but I did join in on the token 'con dances' I also really enjoyed the Petrelli punch!  

Kudos to the girls who put the timeline room together, it must've taken ages and it looked terrific!  

I thought both the photographers did a wonderful job, they seemed to really take the time to make sure I got a good picture.

I was so disapointed on Saturday when the guests arrived and got mobbed by people asking for photos, I would've liked to go and talk to some of them but I had no chance, although I can't blame them for leaving so soon.

Overall it was a terrific event and I hope I can come to Eclipse 2!

[such_jaunt]

I thought the parties were fab and the Petrelli theme was awesome and that a lot of effort had been put into it so I’m surprised to read people didn't think much of it...the Michael Jackson impersonator on the other hand was not entirely to my taste - it was fun and i respected her efforts performing for maybe 2 or 3 songs but 15 songs or whatever it was were a tad too much...)
Also I did feel bad for the guests getting mobbed at the parties, so I left them alone! (I didn't even see David or Santiago there though bless them) Cristine was amazing (as she was all weekend)

The photo shoots seemed to be hit and miss for me - all my photo shoots with the lady photographer are really good and I like them – but all except my Sendhil picture (which was lovely) are pretty bad - the Group picture/ David picture/ Santiago picture.
David's picture was particularly disappointing for me as it was the picture I was most looking forward to and it’s my worst one! I felt it has too much background (I don't know why we didn't stand closer to the armour?) The lighting makes David look very red, as does Santiago because the room was black with constant flashbulbs - Day two lighting was SO much better...but the group photo didn't work as we were made to stand forward of all the guests and it looked and felt like we have been blown up & photoshopped next to a cut-out picture rather than getting the usual interaction. I don't mean to sound ungrateful by the way I just feel that it would be so much better if not done this way next time (my sister who got to stand back with the guest’s picture looked amazing)

The talks were brilliant, and I loved the question box idea - it made it great for shy people like me to ask questions, to avoid any really inappropriate things being asked and to move things along well - I have to say though the MC did a great job on the whole (it's not something I could ever do) but I think it would be better to change around the person asking questions a bit over the weekend so he didn't sound so tired by the end of it.

ooh and my one and final “compliant” was there needs to be some sort of way to queue better - gold tickets and standard were all mixed up to begin with - which was frustrating for both, as gold people felt they weren't getting the priority they paid for, and standard people felt like they were being pushed out of their spaces in the queues etc
This got better for photo queuing as the weekend progressed, but not for waiting to enter the talks (there needs to be 2 queues) For me it was a minor thing though as I got everything I wanted to and didn't queue for too long - but I noticed it did annoy other people.

On the whole as I have said elsewhere I had a fantastic weekend, probably the best con I have ever been to, I made lots of new fantastic friends and I have bought my tickets for Eclipse 2!

[chris_mk]

Persephone1, on Mar 17 2008, 04:13 PM, said:

I was in the first 50 and yet only got 1 autograph on the Saturday as my group wasn't called for the other guests (it wasn't clear whether this was intentional or an oversight). This meant that although I had supported the convention from the beginning and along with the other early bookers provided the capital to get the guests in those who booked months later got most of their autographs before I did. That really didn't seem all that appropriate.

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day. In truth, Christine aside, if you got your auto at the start of the signing session on the second day (like I did), you got more time to chat with the guests :)

mousybrown, on Mar 17 2008, 04:54 PM, said:

Did anyone notice that the main body guy looked like one of the gentlemen from the Buffy episode 'Hush' or was that just me : )

I think he looks more like the Italian referee, Pierluigi Colina (though someone told me today that he's dating/married to one of the crew!)  

mousybrown, on Mar 17 2008, 05:27 PM, said:

The DJ was mean to me when he asked if anyone wanted bob the builder
and didnt play my other (reasonable) requests.

We were ALL mean to you when you asked for Bob the Builder!!!  

I thought Davey (it was Davey, right?) did a great job and got the balance between con dances and 'normal' music just right. On saturday there were one of two songs that I thought were really hard to dance to (but I guess they might have been requests). Second night was really great!

[mousybrown]

yeah i got 2 autos i think saturday but then like 3/4 photoshoots so i guess what it really depends on is if you have photoshoots or not. I was happy getting my autos yesterday as i had more time to talk with the guests.

[Psychosis]

Yes, I do think for next time they need to arrange the group photo better. I appreciate it for the last minute job that it was, but it made most people look massive.

[Persephone1]

Quote

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day.

I think you're misunderstanding me. I've been to enough cons to know that you can't expect to get EVERYTHING on the Saturday. But as an early booker I certainly would have expected to be able to get more than 1 autograph on the first day, especially when someone who booked a week before the event probably got 3/4 autographs on the Saturday. Generally it's quite nice to be able to get at least half of the autographs done on the first day. At other cons where things are done in number order the benefit of booking early is that you can get your autographs (or most of them anyway) done on the Saturday and have Sunday to relax, enjoy the ambience, book additional photo sessions etc.

To me with the exception of being able to sit nearer to the front of the hall (a system which was a bit muddled and which many ignored) there was absolutely no benefit that I could see to booking early. Which means that there is no incentive in the future for me to give Massive Events my money until a couple of weeks before the event.

[mousybrown]

I have to agree partially with that. I booked the night they came out i think so had a nice early number but that didn't really count for much apart from seat talks.
Also the photoshoot tickets i thought may of worked better in some sort of ticket order (like the numbers on the tickets) instead of everyone queuing at once as it might cut down on the standing around.

[chris_mk]

Persephone1, on Mar 17 2008, 07:12 PM, said:

Quote

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day.

I think you're misunderstanding me. I've been to enough cons to know that you can't expect to get EVERYTHING on the Saturday. But as an early booker I certainly would have expected to be able to get more than 1 autograph on the first day, especially when someone who booked a week before the event probably got 3/4 autographs on the Saturday. Generally it's quite nice to be able to get at least half of the autographs done on the first day. At other cons where things are done in number order the benefit of booking early is that you can get your autographs (or most of them anyway) done on the Saturday and have Sunday to relax, enjoy the ambience, book additional photo sessions etc.

To me with the exception of being able to sit nearer to the front of the hall (a system which was a bit muddled and which many ignored) there was absolutely no benefit that I could see to booking early. Which means that there is no incentive in the future for me to give Massive Events my money until a couple of weeks before the event.

I don't know how they decided which group was getting what, when... but if you leav eit to the last minute to book tickets, you run the risk of it being sold out (like this event was and I suspect Eclipse 2 will be).

mousybrown, on Mar 17 2008, 07:16 PM, said:

I have to agree partially with that. I booked the night they came out i think so had a nice early number but that didn't really count for much apart from seat talks.
Also the photoshoot tickets i thought may of worked better in some sort of ticket order (like the numbers on the tickets) instead of everyone queuing at once as it might cut down on the standing around.

Because the photo queues were moving quite quickly, I don't think it would have made a difference. They called 10-12 of the groups (seemingly randomly) for each photo session and if the tickets had of been numbered, they would have just called 400-500 tickets and the queue would have been the same size. I guess They wanted to avoid the guests (and photographer) standing around waiting for people.

[angiepie02]

Make the Q's for gold better. I wasent sure where i was supposed to go (not for the talks). I had to Q in the autos and acouple of times in the photos. Im spending money for perks so it should be abit better.
Meet and greet was quite frankly crap. I met 2 guests, alot of people were crouding around one guest and moving on etc it was the same people so alot of us dident get alook in. I'd like a sit down and they go around the tables?

But everything else was really good.

[paul]

I agree with all the compliments and some of the gripes!

Saturday was great because everyone started to get what they wanted (with the promise that they'll get the rest the next day - which was fulfulled:  Kudos SM) but everyone ended up in the afternoon waiting for the talks to begin.... and that space isnt big enough or air-conditioned enough (or at all) to handle a group of people that big waiting to get into a main hall!

On the Sunday, although some things had to clash, at least people could make decision about what they wanted to do and make priorities!   The area outside the hall was still busy but much clearer for queuing for photos etc

I loved the weekend though!  Well done SM on making this a success!!  We love ya!  

[ShortyAZK]

The one thing I didn't like was how everybody crowded round the doors to the main hall before the talks so you could barely hear which groups were being called in and then once you heard you had to fight your way through a bunch of attendees in later groups who were unwilling to move (and quite often while battling another group had been called so you ended up further back anyway)!!
It was less of an issue on Sunday as there was crew inside the hall telling you where to sit, but Saturday I was sat further back than I probably should have been which was disappointing!!

Oh and another thing I did notice was that there wasn't enough people stopping videoing in the main hall during Q&As.....one guy was handed a mic to ask his question and asked it while holding a camcorder up in his other hand, and then after his question was answered, the mic was taken and that was that.....seemed a bit weird that nobody mentioned no videoing to him then!!!

But overall I thought it was a great event and the first one that i'd been to where I was able to do EVERYTHING (as nothing was scheduled while something else was happening, ie photo sessions during talks), I saw nearly every guest talk, all photo sessions, all autographs and still had time to relax and get some proper food as usually you don't get time to do that at events as the timing doesn't work!!!

Thumbs up from me! :)

Edited by ShortyAZK, 17 March 2008 - 08:18 PM.

[Daniel]

I have been going to conventions for nearly six years. I have had some of the best times of my life at some of them and I have been to some that were awful.

This one I found to be fantastic, especially as a debut con for Massive Events. I don't feel the event was overpriced for what we got and the orgainisation was good considering the fairly large attendance. The autographs were also well organised and thank you for the free pictures.  

I really enjoyed the parties, especially that Michael Jackson impersonater (I was the one dancing near the stage for much of the show) I have seen Michael live twice and never got that close   . I was also glad that the traditional convention tunes got played and dances danced   .

The talks were also entertaining, I felt it a good idea to have questions already put forward by people as I have seen talks that were a little slow because they weren't enough quesions from the audience, provided there is a fair balance for attendees wishing to ask a question. A suggestion for next time might be to have a mic at the side of the stage so any attendees can que to ask questions so the organisers can keep an eye on how many attendees are wishing to ask a question.

I have a couple of complaints though. I though the stage was abit low which made it hard for shorter people to see the guests. I know that the stage is the hotel's property so not the orgainsers fault, but maybe if possible the set could be raised a ltttle, if safe to do so ofcourse.

Also no proper party on Sunday I was very dissapointed about. As much as I enjoy a drink and a chat with my friends I did miss the usual Sunday night party where we all did the con dances for the final time. It was annoying to my girlfriend and friends who had spent quite abit of time getting ready for what they thought would be a proper party. At Eclipse 2 it would be very useful to know in advance whether there will be a large Sunday night party, as I may not stay Sunday if there is not.

One final thing is a luggage area at the Park Inn. We stayed at the Ibis, but will stay at the Park Inn for Eclipse 2 and might well need an area to keep the luggage as we really don't want to have to carry it with us all Sunday, it would be annoying to alot of people.

Thanks for an awesome weekend! See you in November.