41 replies to this topic

[showmasters]

This was the biggest LFCC we have ever had and an amazing success so thank you all for supporting us and giving us this chance to make LFCC what it was this weekend and for us to make it so much more in the future

we are all dead on our feet here so we are going to take a few days rest

we know there are things that did not work 100% but this was mostly down to the pure numbers of people attending this years event which were incredible

as we do after every event the main  crew will meet up go over what worked and what did not work and what needs to be improved and we will fix it so the next event worked even better

i must say i am so happy that LFCC is growing so fast we will be able to bring you all so much more in the future because of this , and over the next few years i can see what this events is going to turn into and its going to be lots of fun , and this is all down to you the fans

so thank you all for being apart of all this and being here with us for the journey , we will not let you down

jason  

[the dude]

the thanks should go to you and your crew for putting together a great show

your task now is to put on a even better show next time - not going to be easy

thanks

the dude

[Locutus]

the dude, on Jul 20 2009, 10:07 PM, said:

the thanks should go to you and your crew for putting together a great show

your task now is to put on a even better show next time - not going to be easy

I concur, you put on a spectacular event this year!

[lizzy88]

Locutus, on Jul 20 2009, 10:11 PM, said:

I concur, you put on a spectacular event this year!

definitely, you did a wonderful job! If it hadn't been for all the crew and the great organisation of the event on the whole it wouldn't have been as good, so thank you!
I look forward to seeing how it grows in the future

[jos]

I loved every minute of the weekend! So THANKS showmasters! I already booked the rooms for next year..

[Dellefyne]

I second everything that has just been said!

[kolo]

It was brilliant, thanks for all the hard work you guys put in over the weekend.

[gazznewbie]

I had an early entry ticket on Saturday and was surprised how long the queue was when I got there

there was obviously a lot of people about, what happened to the Credit Crunch ?

Yes it was a great event and dont want to be negative but these are my suggestions for a few tweaks to the proceedings.

space - there was a big area behind curtain not used this could have been used to cut congestion a bit around guests.

how about a display board saying when photo shoots coming up or when one has changed times
or any other notices.

Early entrance did we all need to go through one door
early entry was 9.00 I got in about 9.25, was the Tardis parked around the back of the centre, there seemed to be a never ending stream of people coming when the doors opened.

photo ticket queue I got in early Saturday but spent an hour of my two hours "early time" queuing for photo tickets, how about a few more staff taking orders to make this queue faster this was after not actually being able to get in till 9.25 anyway, yes I could have booked in advance but this was a last minute decision as never had them at showmasters event before.

Talking of Photo Queue how about making Credit Card / Cash Queue a bit clearer
I was intending to pay cash but then had to pay by CC as didn't know I was in the CC queue

good job I had my CC else I would have had to join the cash queue at the back.

It would be nice to keep posed photo tickets, why not stamp them when picture taken
rather than take them off people

Option for two copies of posed photos would be great please.

Some photos for signings were a bit grainy  

How about some Unique double photo events ie

for example at this event one available with Dave Prowse and Jake Lloyd (Young Darth and Darth)

or all three Red Dwarf stars.

[chimmykins]

I had an amazing two days! Thank you so much

[Purple_Vamp]

Fantastic weekend - just wish I had more pennies.

[showmasters]

Q

space - there was a big area behind curtain not used this could have been used to cut congestion a bit around guests.


A
to rent this space will cost the same again as we have to pay for the part we use , nothing is free in London so we have to build the event up to were we can rent more space or charge more to get in " which we are not going to do "  but after this weekend we can see we need more space so we will be taking more space for next years event


Q
how about a display board saying when photo shoots coming up or when one has changed times
or any other notices.

A
Yep thats something that would work well and i think we did talk about this here in the past and the next big event i think will be in play  thanks good point

Q
Early entrance did we all need to go through one door


A
yes you do as people have been in ques for a very long time and if we have 3 doors some may be faster than others and this is not fair really , and the doors came in quite fast once they got going

Q
photo ticket queue I got in early Saturday but spent an hour of my two hours "early time" queuing for photo tickets, how about a few more staff taking orders to make this queue faster this was after not actually being able to get in till 9.25 anyway

A
well last year we have 1 credit card machine for this and 1 for credit card vouchers , this year we put on 2  credit card machine and 2 for credit card vouchers as it was going to be busy , but we underestimated by a 30% the increase in people at this years events so it did take more time than we had thought it would , we will get it right for next years events

Q
Talking of Photo Queue how about making Credit Card / Cash Queue a bit clearer
I was intending to pay cash but then had to pay by CC as didn't know I was in the CC queue

A
will do

Q
Option for two copies of posed photos would be great please.

A
sorry this would be very hard to get right every time and there are lots of places to get copies made

Q
Some photos for signings were a bit grainy

A
they are free we do our best to find images and some are very hard to find indeed and in some cases the guests them selfs ask us if they can keep one for them self as they do not have the image so all i can say is if you really want an image then find one and bring it along to be safe


Q
How about some Unique double photo events ie
for example at this event one available with Dave Prowse and Jake Lloyd (Young Darth and Darth)
or all three Red Dwarf stars.

A
well we did not have time to offer every guest a pro photo shoot this time as there are so many and adding some like it would talk up more time and mean less guest doing a shoot , also when we have done this it would cost twice as much as both guest need to get paid from this and also most people do not want to buy these photo shoot tickets


well i hope this helps

thanks for coming to the event and we do take all what people say on board

jason  

[ARATZAT]

Absolutly fantastic time had.

I really could have spent lots more money sunday.

Scott was a brill guy and so friendly (glad i managed to swap weekend shifts to go)

Peter was lovely even tho he was mega busy.

Phelps twins were so friendly and chatty, and down to earth.

Micheal Keating was very sweet......it was 20 years ago i watched Blakes 7 so I couldnt really chat to him about it as forgot alot of it, otherwise he would have spoken more.

Everyone was so nice and polite.

JASON as i said sun, love the shirt it was fab.

C U at Hallowhedon.

x Taz

[nikstar1989]

Im not going to complain, it was a great day for me, as i only met the phelps twins and thomas sangstar and had no problems bar the long que for the phelps twins (but that was obviously down to the fact that you didnt expect them to be so busy) this was soon resolved in the afternoon.

the accoustics i admit were bad but not alot you can do about that.

was a little gutted that any decent 8x10's of the phelps twins were gone by the time i got in at 11am luckily my friend gave me his as i couldnt find any on the stalls (came across one later that had a few, but like you say there free i can hardly complain)

obviously that and the fact all the lfacc brouchures were gone, was just down to the fact you didn't expect record numbers of people which is fair enough.

apart from that i enjoyed the stalls, enjoyed the guests i met so bravo.

lets hope for a lost guest next year  

[Edward]

I see that your answering questions here, so ill input some in my response. Firstly I would like to say thank you for an incredible time, it was my first ever convention in my life, and I met so many people I wanted too and I really had an amazing day.

As for things that could be improved, im not saying that you didnt do your job well, because I had an amazing time, but for next time...

* The queues need to be more organised, maybe put up some railings or some tape so that the lines are more organised. (this is mainly needed for the latter part of the queues where things get crowded)

* The information about the guests at the end of the lines need to be bigger and more clearer (some didnt have the price on, some were really hard to read)

* I saw that the likes of Hugh Quashire were on the end of the singing table, I think it would of been better is someone like Peter Facinelli (in other words, one of the more poplar guests) was by here as there was loads of free space in that area and queueing would of been easier (He was right in the middle and the crowds around his queue were crazy hard to navigate around)

* More areas to sit, the chill zone was a piece of carpet no bigger than my lounge, maybe get some cheap seats/benches/cushions for people to sit on.

* I couldnt hear/understand any of the announcements at all, they need to be lounder and clearer and repeated more!

[timelord81r]

brilliant event, im a long time die hard fan of many films and shows but this is the first con ive been to properly, the amount of ppl and the prices have meant in the past ive just browsed the mk colectormania which was free entry, plus I dont have many scfi type friends who would go with me so id be on my own :-( but now ive got the bug, Im looking at all the events thinking can I afford it, who will I go with, can I get the time off work, looking forward to the london one end of november.

I thought michael shanks was just brilliant, amazing how nice, fun, talkative, enthusiastic and friendly he was, I just did a photo shoot with him as im more into getting my pic taken than an autograph but I was at the venue both days and was hanging around the signing area alot, he was just so good to the fans and when i met him briefly in the photo shoot he was so nice and even put on a few poses prior whilst the cameraman took warm up shots, even in the strict no talking photo area A he said hello how are you to me and thanked me, he made my day he really did especially after I had not a bad but an upsetting experience just before getting fraizer hines autograph.

I must say almost all the guests looked to be in similar form to michael but he was just brilliant, would love to see him at one of these things again!

A few questions and thoughts

why was fraizer hines auto free to every entry on sunday and was there a policy with him for no photos if u got his auto with this ticket?

what the hell is cosplay? lol

theatre area B was to close to the signing area and I thought with some of the guests it badly intruded in the fans talking to the stars, I know space wise its difficult but perhaps a little closer towards the cloakroom would of been better?

more displays would of been nice rather than so many photo stalls, the terminator props bit was a bit of a sorry state lol

the crew member (male, quite tall) who was organizing the photo area A on sunday around the time eve, michael and paul had shoots was brilliant, informative and organized,

when u say u will get more space for next time as the attendance was so good this year do you mean another venue or will you be renting into ec2 north hall to extend the space?

once again, great show, great guests, I was there mainly for the doctor who guests but having the us stars there made it special, scott was a big draw even at his higher price tag, and although Ill never get it, the twighlight guys attracted a boat load of fans (teenage girls lol) think the 2 main us stars and the twighlight/potter guests are what brought in more fans, would be interesting to see the numbers on who was the most popular?

oh and danny turning up on the sunday as well, what a treat, if I had more funds id of seen him aswell but what a treat!  and he mingled alot also, came through the main doors, brilliant, when u say this show will get better I get goosebumps at the prospect. cant wait for the next one

thanks

R

[leana]

Great event, thanks Showmasters!
I think you did your best with the 'Facinelli case' and it was great to be able to do the 1st photoshoot early on sunday morning. Toooo bad we had to wait until 2pm to get those pictures back! Half of the advance taken by that early photoshoot was wasted by then...
About getting the photos back, why not let the staff write down the names of the said photoshoots when they are available on a big poster ? That way, it would prevent people that are waiting for a specific photoshoot print to push the others  to have a look at the table displays, only to find 'their' guest pictures are not there yet.
Just writing down somewhere the names of the guests' pictures available at the table when opening the enveloppes would have saved a lot of stress and pushing and waiting for nothing. Obviously, it's impossible to keep the 2 hours pace.
Michael Ironside was gone when I got my picture with him: it was 6 pm on saturday! And the photo was taken at 2.45 pm!! Facinelli 9.30 AM: getting the photo at 2.30 PM! And , like others, I like to have those photoshoots signed.
I couldn't afford that with the twin Phelps photoshoot on Sunday because I knew by experience I'd be at the airport when the photos 'd be back. So I asked it to be sent.
I really think the main thing is writing down as many stuff you can, as it's fast and updated information that people need to rely on. Write on a big screen the changings, all the different schedules, the available photoshoots that are printed etc...Maybe one or two people can do only that job: updating infos on the different boards asap...
Write precisely the lines (I saw a poor woman who queued for 1 hour on saturday to buy a photoshoot only to get at the desk at last and beeing said that she had to do the other queue to pay with a credit card!! She was almost crying the poor thing)
really: write, write, write :)
And I'm not the only one to think you slightly underestimated the Phelps twins popularity
And it's an understatement I guess...
I personally have enjoyed myself the best I could!
It was a great event and you guys are great, thanks!

[timelord81r]

leana, on Jul 20 2009, 11:40 PM, said:

Great event, thanks Showmasters!
I think you did your best with the 'Facinelli case' and it was great to be able to do the 1st photoshoot early on sunday morning. Toooo bad we had to wait until 2pm to get those pictures back! Half of the advance taken by that early photoshoot was wasted by then...
About getting the photos back, why not let the staff write down the names of the said photoshoots when they are available on a big poster ? That way, it would prevent people that are waiting for a specific photoshoot print to push the others  to have a look at the table displays, only to find 'their' guest pictures are not there yet.
Just writing down somewhere the names of the guests' pictures available at the table when opening the enveloppes would have saved a lot of stress and pushing and waiting for nothing. Obviously, it's impossible to keep the 2 hours pace.
Michael Ironside was gone when I got my picture with him: it was 6 pm on saturday! And the photo was taken at 2.45 pm!! Facinelli 9.30 AM: getting the photo at 2.30 PM! And , like others, I like to have those photoshoots signed.
I couldn't afford that with the twin Phelps photoshoot on Sunday because I knew by experience I'd be at the airport when the photos 'd be back. So I asked it to be sent.
I really think the main thing is writing down as many stuff you can, as it's fast and updated information that people need to rely on. Write on a big screen the changings, all the different schedules, the available photoshoots that are printed etc...Maybe one or two people can do only that job: updating infos on the different boards asap...
Write precisely the lines (I saw a poor woman who queued for 1 hour on saturday to buy a photoshoot only to get at the desk at last and beeing said that she had to do the other queue to pay with a credit card!! She was almost crying the poor thing)
really: write, write, write :)
And I'm not the only one to think you slightly underestimated the Phelps twins popularity
And it's an understatement I guess...
I personally have enjoyed myself the best I could!
It was a great event and you guys are great, thanks!

I think everybody who isnt a die hard potter fan was surprised at the phelps twins popularity lol, I was. but were they a late addition? might be why they were there and not in the main bit, as the guy on the end of the main bit both days near the expresso bar had almost no one see him at all, I felt sorry for him so that space would of been better used for them perhaps, though it may of made the area even more congested so who knows

[Rhianydd]

Hi Guys!



I have never been to a con before, so not experienced enough to comment,

but......................

We had an incredible time!

Everyone was so friendly!  Attendees, guests and staff!

I agree, that more signs for things would have been helpful, a bit of skitting around trying to find out bits and pieces, but we went prepared anyway, printed out all the notices that had been posted on the forum in the last few days before the show, so we had the main times (not including any changes)

I know people have said they couldn't see which queue was which for the guests, and what ticket numbers were being called, this may sound weird, but what about a flagpole for the signs?  Instead of the sign being head height, have it on a taller flagpole with a pulley so it could winched down to write on, then be winched up higher for people to see over heads.

That said, I have to say, I enjoyed skipping up and down the autograph line to see what was going on when I needed to check Peters VT number

ps The crew organising the autograph queues were awesome!!!  Really helpful

Perhaps a queue system and signs for people to walk around the table to collect photo shoots?  People seemed to just stand put despite being asked to move around the table, perhaps if there was a barrier that people had to queue through, they might have behaved better and it would have made the staff's job easier to get all the photos out.

We will definitely be there next year!

Edited by dragonsanddaffodils, 21 July 2009 - 10:11 AM.

[timelord81r]

oh and tom baker giving out jelly babies whith his autograph, priceless! Brilliant stuff

[Count Fooku]

I'd say that aside from a bit of confusion for the first half hour of the where some of the guests didn't have VTs it was a very well organised show.

When what was obviously a very busy event didn't feel busy then I think you can call that a success. I was at a non SM event recently with about a quarter of the number of guests and it was sheer pandemonium from start to finish, I couldn't wait to get out. At LFACC I was quite happy to stay late into the afternoon and had my bank balance been more healthy may have stayed even later!