How things work!

[Too Tall]

Vouchers: Your registration pack will contain vouchers for your autographs (these autograph vouchers maybe on the back of your convention guide book). Your pack will also contain your photo shoot vouchers if you are a Silver or Gold pass holder or have ordered them in advance online. If you think any of your vouchers are missing please let us know immediately. You will be asked for them when you come to claim your autographs or photo shoots. If you forget to bring these vouchers or lose them, you will not be able to claim your autographs or photo shoots. These vouchers are YOUR responsibility, please treat them as if they are CASH. You WILL NOT be able to claim your photo shoots and autographs without these vouchers.

 

Guests: At all times but especially at the parties, please don't crowd them and start taking lots of photos. It is honestly the quickest way to get them to leave early. That doesn't mean you have to avoid them or not talk to them, just be aware of how many people there are around them already, and respect their space.

 

Badges: We don't want to have things spoilt by gate crashers so please make sure you have them on and visible at all times. Especially at the parties.

 

Groups: Everyone is in a group based on their ticket number. You are simply split into groups of 30. Please check the sticker on the back of your con badge for your group number as when we're calling people over the weekend for autographs and photo shoots we will be calling you by group number. If you find you and a friend are in different groups, then please just let us know and if possible we will sort it out so you can both go in the same group.

 

Child tickets: The child ticket numbers are not important. They do everything based on their parent/guardians ticket number and group.

 

Entering the main hall for talks: We load the hall once each day at the start of the main hall session i.e. Fri @ 7pm, Sat @ 2pm and Sun @ 2pm, NOT for each talk. This is only an estimate of times, please see the show schedule for the specific times that the main hall events will start.

 

Any disabled people and their carers will go in to the hall first. Then we will fill the hall in ticket number order by calling people in groups of 10. Gold passes have a dedicated area at the front and come in first. Then Silver, then Standard.

 

You do NOT have to enter as soon as you are called. If you have a friend with a higher ticket number you can wait for their number to be called and then go in together. You can stay back, but they can not jump forward.

 

Please be aware that with this system it does mean there is no need to arrive hours before the talks start. Getting to the main hall 20 minutes before is quite early enough. Around 15 minutes before the first talk/main hall event we will start letting people in, so as long as you are here when we call your number you will be in the same row as you would have been if you'd sat outside since the beginning of time!

 

We do not allow seat saving. The only exception is if you are attending a Guest Encounter then we will allow you to save your seat by leaving something on it. This applies from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the Guest Encounter. At any other time if you leave the hall for more than a 5 minute toilet break please take your belongings with you, definitely no saving seats for 4 or 5 friends.

 

Opening Ceremony: The organisers will appear on stage and explain what’s happening over the weekend and welcome you to the event. The guests will come on stage for just a few minutes to say a quick hello.

 

Gold Pass Drinks Reception: For gold pass holders only. There will be various wines and a selection of soft drinks on offer. The each guest will be accompanied around the reception by a member of crew to ensure everyone gets to meet them. If you find you are not getting to see the guests please talk to a crew member. All the crew are there to help you see the guests. If for instance by 8pm you’ve only seen one guest please let us know. If you say nothing it makes it very hard for us to help. Please never feel that you can’t ask, we will never think you’re being pushy or greedy for asking. We’d honestly much rather you tell us than you leave feeling bad that you have missed out.

 

Talk Questions: We have an MC that asks the guests questions and runs the talks. If you want to ask a question at one of the guest talks and have not already submitted your question online then you can fill in a question slip from your reg pack. You can ask for extra slips if you need them. The box to put them in and the extra slips will be at the reg desk.

 

Photos in talks: For the comfort of our guests we only allow flash photography for the first few minutes of the talks. Once you are asked to stop flash photography please do so. You can continue to take photos but only without flash.

 

Recording of talks: No filming or sound recordings of the talks are allowed. If you see someone doing so please alert the nearest crew member. Although it may not appear to be hurting anyone, having this uncontrolled material out there and sometimes loaded on to the web can jeopardise these events being allowed to continue. So please do not do it and do report anyone you see doing it. Thank you.

 

Schedules: You will see schedules up on the walls and in your reg packs. To make it as easy for everyone as possible they include an estimate of when your groups will be called for each guests autograph and photo shoot. Please be aware this is ONLY AN ESTIMATE and you maybe called before or after this time depending on how quickly or slowly a specific guests queue is going.

 

Photo shoots and Autographs: You are called for each guest separately in your groups. When your group is actually called the crew will call out your group number. Also the big sheets at the end of the autograph queues, outside the main hall and outside the photo shoots will be updated to let you know your group has been called.

 

Don’t worry, with both photo shoots and autographs you can never miss your turn. Once your group has been called for a guest you can join that guest’s queue any time after that, even wait until Sunday if necessary. But please don't miss the end of the session on Sunday!

 

We've done our best to sort out the schedule so you don't get called to be in two places at once, but ultimately it is impossible to get it 100% right due to different guests going at different speeds. So if you do find yourself being called for both an autograph and a photo shoot at the same time, go to the photo shoot first. If you find yourself being called for 2 photo shoots at the same time, please let the crew in the photo shoots know. They can then make sure the photographer and guest in your second shoot know you are still to come through.

 

Multiple people in a photo shoot: If you want two or more of you in a single shot you must let the photo session crew know in advance. You will likely be asked to wait until the end of the shoot. Please be aware that it is ONE PERSON ONE TICKET. So if you want two of you in a shot you will need TWO tickets. You will receive two photos though.

 

Extra Autographs: When your group is called to come down an autograph queue for the first time there is a limit of your one free autograph and two extra autographs. If you require more than 3 autographs from a single guest or buy an extra one autograph after having been down that guests queue, you must wait until the queue is open (i.e. all the groups have been called), before joining the queue a second time to get these extras.

 

Guest Encounters: These are a 45 minute chat (with coffee/tea/biscuits) with 12 attendees and one guest and can be won in one of two ways:

 

1: Raffle tickets: 2 places in each Guest Encounter will be raffled off. Tickets can be bought at the reg desk. The winners will be announced at the same time as the auction winners. There is no limit to the number of tickets you can buy or the number of Encounters or places you can win.

 

2: Auction sheets: 10 places in each Guest Encounter will the auctioned. This will work by bidding sheets being put up on the wall at the event. One sheet for each guest encounter. There is no limit to the number of Encounters you can win. If you have a winning bid on 2 sheets you will win both.

 

Attendees bid by putting their badge number and their bid on the sheet. At a specific time, which will be stated on the sheet (say 1pm), the sheets come down and the highest 10 bids win. But everyone pays the value of the 10th winning bid.

 

All bids are visible to people bidding later. You can come back and up your bid if you want. But if you want to up your bid you have to add a new one to the bottom of the list, not change your previous bid. That way we know the order that the bids were placed.

 

So let's say 20 people bid with some people changing their bids, the sheet could look like this…

 

NUMBER BID

ST150 £5

ST151 £5

G10 £200

S47 £5

G19 £5 – REBID BELOW

ST267 £5

ST301 £10

S159 £9

G59 £10

G88 £10

S111 £7

S1 £7 – REBID BELOW

G19 £7 – REBID BELOW

ST189 £10

G19 £10

ST23 £17

ST162 £9 – REBID BELOW

S75 £31

G45 £7

ST197 £8 – REBID BELOW

S96 £27

S97 £35

ST162 £20

ST197 £20

S1 £20

 

So once sorted into bid order (And ignoring previous bids from the same person) they look like this...

 

£200, £35, £31, £27, £20, £20, £20, £17, £10, £10, £10, £10, £10, £9, £7, £7 £5, £5, £5, £5.

 

As the 10th highest bid is £10, all 8 people with a bid higher than £10 win, but only pay £10. Even the person that bid £200. As you will see 5 people have bid £10. But there are only 2 places left. So the first 2 people to bid £10 win. In this case ST301 and G59.

 

This is the reason for re-adding your bid at the bottom and not just changing it. If G19 had just changed their bid on line 5 to £10 it would have appeared they were the first person to have bid £10 (i.e. before both ST301 and G59), where as in fact they were the last person to bid £10.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Too Tall

[Jewels1987]

Thank you for the information, I'll definitly be pointing my sister in the way of this post! Thank you. XD

[dr_is_in]

Thanks, this post is much appreciated as this is my first Hub,

[lams9999]

Thanks Stuart, very clear as usual

 

I've just learned today that I will be able to attend on friday night, excellent

[TurkFox]

Thanks for this!

 

Can we have the timetables in a slighly larger font this time please? I have great eyesight, but I still had to beat people out the way (not literally xD) to get close enough to see them at busy times.

[Tina]

Will the scheduel be in the packs as I know that the lack of them in the packs last time was an issue and everybody had to huddle round a number of them that were on the walls and in small print.

[BeatrixKiddo88]

Hell I'd pay £1 for a copy of the scheduel to keep on me, rather than huddle around the walls lol

[Galaxy-Song]

Hell I'd pay £1 for a copy of the scheduel to keep on me, rather than huddle around the walls lol

lmao I all of a sudden remember being drunk and trying to take a picture of the sheets with my camera so I would have a copy of it. Yeah didn't work.

[owlpost1992]

^^ I didthat sober and it didn't work.

 

Yeah I almost missed Naoko cos of the autographs, but it was nice I had 2 photos at the same time and most on one day :)

[Blackbird]

I second the requests both for a larger font for the schedules (especially), and for having copies of the schedules in the registration packets (although if the final schedule is posted here, as it was last time, those of us with laptops will already be in luck). A significantly larger font for the publicly displayed schedules would reduce both bottlenecks and attendee frustration. :)

[mjocovers]

 

Talks: ... there is no need to arrive hours before the talks start. Getting here 20 minutes before is quite early enough. Around 15 minutes before we will start letting people in, so as long as you are here when we call your number you will be in the same row as you would have been if you'd sat outside since the New Year.

 

I hope the problem of the restricted views from some of the seats at the last Hub has been rectified. If not then people will still have an incentive to queue to avoid those seats (people do, naturally, want to have seats with a good view!)

 

Oh, one other thing, would you be able to do something about the curtains on the stage? I was sitting on the very far right (just another 3 or 4 seats to the right of me) in the front row on Saturday and come the final group Q & A neither the 4 of us nor the person sitting directly on my left could see the last 3 guests seated on the right. A couple of crew members did try to tie back the curtains or do something when we mentioned our problem but to no avail. That was a real pain Paying for Gold meant I'd hope to get a good view of everyone and not a partially restricted view. The seating seemed to be a little bit more 'extended' here than at Eclipse. Such a shame! It was a great talk too.

 

I don't necessarily think it was just the curtains. The stage was short and the seating seemed to extend well beyond the stage. Maybe they could actually test the visibility with the same set up sometime. (Unless the refurbishment at the hotel will include a wider stage?!). The probable restricted views from the end seats was one of the points I raised in my recent emails (amongst other things)

 

I don't necessarily think it was just the curtains....

No, not just the curtains but they did play a major part. When they were lifted back it did make a difference (we could see nearly 2 more people!) but there was no way to keep them back

 

Unfortunately the seating did extend quite a bit beyond the stage, especially compared to Eclipse. Not too bad if you were further back but for those of us closer to the stage it was badly thought out....

Edited February 3, 2009 by mjocovers

[Too Tall]

Thanks for this!

 

Can we have the timetables in a slighly larger font this time please? I have great eyesight, but I still had to beat people out the way (not literally xD) to get close enough to see them at busy times.

We sorted this out at Eclipse 2. The Schedules were MUCH BIGGER and had the group numbers on them so it was all much clearer. We learn

 

I can't confirm if this WILL happen at Hub 2, but at Eclipse 2 there was a copy of the schedule in the reg packs.

 

 

I hope the problem of the restricted views from some of the seats at the last Hub has been rectified. If not then people will still have an incentive to queue to avoid those seats (people do, naturally, want to have seats with a good view!)

There have been a number of improvements to the stage area over the last couple of shows.

 

People get to chose which seat they sit in when they enter, they will hopefully not be any bad view seats but if there are people have the choice to not sit in them.

 

As everyone enters in ticket order, queuing will make no difference, so I don't understand why that it an incentive to queue?

[mjocovers]

 

I hope the problem of the restricted views from some of the seats at the last Hub has been rectified. If not then people will still have an incentive to queue to avoid those seats (people do, naturally, want to have seats with a good view!)

There have been a number of improvements to the stage area over the last couple of shows.

 

People get to chose which seat they sit in when they enter, they will hopefully not be any bad view seats but if there are people have the choice to not sit in them.

 

As everyone enters in ticket order, queuing will make no difference, so I don't understand why that it an incentive to queue?

 

 

People go in in batches of 30, so I assume there will be 30 seats per row? In theory this would mean gold 1-30 sitting in row 1, gold 31-60 sitting in row 2, etc. (that is what you are assuming?)

 

If all the seats in a row have good views, then there would be no reason to queue. BUT if the views from some seats (even seats in the same row) are poorer than others (or are perceived to be poorer), then people will want to queue so that they get a 'good' seat in their row.

 

For example if numbers 1- 30 are called, the first 20 might get the good seats, then the next 10 might be faced with the choice of either sitting in a 'poorer view' seat at the end of 'their' row, or sitting in a row further back in a seat with a better view (as you said, they would have the choice not to sit in their row if the view wasn't as good as expected).

 

This applies not just to the first batch of people but the following ones as well (if some of the first group that enter end up sitting in seats in row 2, then this reduces the choice of seating for the row 2 ticket holders, some of whom who may end up sitting in row 3, etc, etc ).

 

The problem is that people will always want to be as close to the stage as possible (certainly as close as their ticket number allows). In the above example this would mean queuing to ensure getting a 'good' seat in their row, so they don't end up having to move back a row to find a good seat!

 

If there have been improvements to the stage since last time, then hopefully people won't find it necessary to queue like last time. But if people think some seats will give them a better view than others, then they will still queue to get to those seats before the next person!

[Too Tall]

Firstly any new attendees please don't be worried by this, you really do not NEED to be there early to get a good seat. Our system does work.

 

There is no getting away from the fact that some people are going to think that a middle seat in row 2 is better than an end seat in row 1. It doesn't matter if they have a prefect view at the end or not. Some people will still feel that they are looking at the side of the guests and not straight at them and so will go for the middle row 2 seat. That's a fact that we can not get away from. We see it when the hall fills. It always fills from the front middle. It always will.

 

No system is prefect, but we picked this one as we feel it's the best for us and our attendees. Some people will decide they HAVE to be at the front of their group of 30 to get the VERY best seat they can. We can't stop them. But the point is that our system means you DON'T HAVE to queue up as you will still get a similar (obviously not always exactly the same, but similar) seat to the other 30 people in your group.

 

Maybe we need to look at changing it to letting people in to the hall in groups of 10 (or even 5) to make sure it's pointless to queue. If that's what it takes we'll do it.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Too Tall

[TRUKid]

 

I hope the problem of the restricted views from some of the seats at the last Hub has been rectified. If not then people will still have an incentive to queue to avoid those seats (people do, naturally, want to have seats with a good view!)

There have been a number of improvements to the stage area over the last couple of shows.

 

People get to chose which seat they sit in when they enter, they will hopefully not be any bad view seats but if there are people have the choice to not sit in them.

 

As everyone enters in ticket order, queuing will make no difference, so I don't understand why that it an incentive to queue?

 

 

People go in in batches of 30, so I assume there will be 30 seats per row? In theory this would mean gold 1-30 sitting in row 1, gold 31-60 sitting in row 2, etc. (that is what you are assuming?)

 

If all the seats in a row have good views, then there would be no reason to queue. BUT if the views from some seats (even seats in the same row) are poorer than others (or are perceived to be poorer), then people will want to queue so that they get a 'good' seat in their row.

 

For example if numbers 1- 30 are called, the first 20 might get the good seats, then the next 10 might be faced with the choice of either sitting in a 'poorer view' seat at the end of 'their' row, or sitting in a row further back in a seat with a better view (as you said, they would have the choice not to sit in their row if the view wasn't as good as expected).

 

This applies not just to the first batch of people but the following ones as well (if some of the first group that enter end up sitting in seats in row 2, then this reduces the choice of seating for the row 2 ticket holders, some of whom who may end up sitting in row 3, etc, etc ).

 

The problem is that people will always want to be as close to the stage as possible (certainly as close as their ticket number allows). In the above example this would mean queuing to ensure getting a 'good' seat in their row, so they don't end up having to move back a row to find a good seat!

 

If there have been improvements to the stage since last time, then hopefully people won't find it necessary to queue like last time. But if people think some seats will give them a better view than others, then they will still queue to get to those seats before the next person!

 

 

Unfortunately it is difficult to work like that as disabled people are invited into the hall first so they can avoid pushing and running, meaning they can choose where to sit first

Edited February 3, 2009 by PlayfulHeartMonkey

[Too Tall]

Unfortunately it is difficult to work like that as disabled people are invited into the hall first so they can avoid pushing and running, meaning they can choose where to sit first

This is true, but thankfully up until now all the disabled people we have let it early have all been very reasonable about it and have usually sat in a seat to one side (for easy access) and so have no taken what would be considered "prime" seats.

[mjocovers]

In theory this would mean gold 1-30 sitting in row 1, gold 31-60 sitting in row 2, etc.

 

 

Unfortunately it is difficult to work like that as disabled people are invited into the hall first so they can avoid pushing and running, meaning they can choose where to sit first

 

If you are saying that a disabled person who doesn't have a front row ticket might end up sitting in the front row, then that's not how I envisaged the system working!

 

It was me who made the suggestion about the disabled going into the hall first (as I have a disability), and when I suggested it I specifically said that people with disabilities should only be shown to the row which corresponded to their ticket number. I said that because I didn't think it would be fair to others for people with disabilities to 'grab' the front row seats (if they didn't have front row tickets!). I mean if I had, for example, standard 32, I would go to the 2nd row of the standard seating when I got into the hall. That just seemed the fairest way of doing it.

 

I haven't been to a SM convention where the disabled went in first yet, so I just assumed that that was the way it was being done?

Edited February 3, 2009 by mjocovers

[mjocovers]

Maybe we need to look at changing it to letting people in to the hall in groups of 10 (or even 5) to make sure it's pointless to queue. If that's what it takes we'll do it.

 

It won't affect me this time (fortunately), but based on last years experience (which was a bit manic at times with the amount of people crowded around the doors), maybe you could graduate the number of people let into the hall. Maybe have smaller groups for the first few rows (I mean smaller than 30), then gradually increase the group size as the hall fills. Just a suggestion.

Edited February 3, 2009 by mjocovers

[Too Tall]

In theory this would mean gold 1-30 sitting in row 1, gold 31-60 sitting in row 2, etc.

 

 

Unfortunately it is difficult to work like that as disabled people are invited into the hall first so they can avoid pushing and running, meaning they can choose where to sit first

 

If you are saying that a disabled person who doesn't have a front row ticket might end up sitting in the front row, then that's not how I envisaged the system working!

 

It was me who made the suggestion about the disabled going into the hall first (as I have a disability), and when I suggested it I specifically said that people with disabilities should only be shown to the row which corresponded to their ticket number. I said that because I didn't think it would be fair to others for people with disabilities to 'grab' the front row seats (if they didn't have front row tickets!). I mean if I had, for example, standard 32, I would go to the 2nd row of the standard seating when I got into the hall. That just seemed the fairest way of doing it.

 

I haven't been to a SM convention where the disabled went in first yet, so I just assumed that that was the way it was being done?

We hadn't been THAT specific about it. We usually only have 2 or 3 disabled people plus helpers so normally around 6 people. We made sure they didn't go and sit right at the front in the middle, but as they all were reasonable about it we didn't enforce any set "You will go to this row!" rule.

 

Maybe we need to look at changing it to letting people in to the hall in groups of 10 (or even 5) to make sure it's pointless to queue. If that's what it takes we'll do it.

 

It won't affect me this time (fortunately), but based on last years experience (which was a bit manic at times with the amount of people crowded around the doors), maybe you could graduate the number of people let into the hall. Maybe have smaller groups for the first few rows (I mean smaller than 30), then gradually increase the group size as the hall fills. Just a suggestion.

I'll have a think about that. But it's not a bad idea.

Edited February 4, 2009 by Too Tall

[mjocovers]

 

We hadn't been THAT specific about it. We usually only have 2 or 3 disabled people plus helpers so normally around 6 people. We made sure they didn't go and sit right at the front in the middle, but as they all were reasonable about it we didn't enforce any set "You will go to this row!" rule.

 

 

OK!, As I said when I originally suggested it, I was only basing it on what happened at a non SM convention where I was escorted (politely) to an appropriate seat, but I guess whatever works best for you!. And I suppose common sense applies, that unless someone actually has a ticket that entitles them to sit in the middle of the front row then they would sit somewhere else!

[Too Tall]

Indeed. We have crew in the room and we trust them to guide if guiding is needed

[KrazyKid197]

Indeed. We have crew in the room and we trust them to guide if guiding is needed

 

You trust us? Is that wise TT?

[murasaki]

I still have a little question.

I will only be able to arrive around 10 on Saturday but I just discovered the HUB1 shedule for noticing that some photoshoots already started at 8.30.

So does it means that when we don't arrive at time in the morning that our photo ticket is no worth anymore?

Sadly since I come from France there's no shedule sooner for me to get there.

[sazzra]

If the shoot is only on Saturday and you miss it, I'm afraid that's it, you miss it. However, at the Hub 1 some of the guests had them on both days, so speak to one of the crew if you miss one and there's another on Sunday, you may be able to get into that one. Stuart (Too Tall) is the man to see, and the easiest to spot!

 

It started early at Hub 1 because there were so many guests. If there are less guests this time, there shouldn't be so much of a problem, but of course none of us know until the Friday when the schedule is out! Also, there's no group shot this time, so that should help the timing too

[DavidB]

I think it was more to do with John's limited schedule if I remember correctly.