93 replies to this topic

[SugarSpunSister]

I have just copied this thread from DavidB's original thread in the Eternal Twilight forum...

(and where was DavidB?  Notably absent from London - perhaps in Brum?)

__________________________________________________________________________

It'll be easier for the organisers to take your feedback on board if it's organised in this topic. I know there'll be plenty of individual topics about the con, but if we could keep this topic just for your feedback then that'll be
very helpful.

Stuff like:

What worked well?
What could have been improved?
What you would like to see added to the next con?

Try and keep all comments constructive. Massive Events are always looking to improve on their conventions, and while TWI PROMS were obviously a huge success with loads of people enjoying their weekend, there's always room to make things better!

Edited by SugarSpunSister, 21 September 2009 - 10:34 PM.

[nicola]

Hi,

Well I think I opened a can of worms when I opened my topic "priceless".
I havent been on the forum before and I appreciate a lot of the fans have managed to become friends over this site which is great but I just havent had the time to do that. So before I begin my constructive criticism please let me say these are only things I noticed and in no way lessened my enjoyment of the event.

The hotel is realy nice and the staff there are great, as far as I am aware all convention goers were well behaved and polite, but I was aware non event guests were at the hotel also and think it may have been a much better idea to have opened one of the conference area rooms for registration and waiting area so the fans were not milling around the lobby, especially on the Sunday when nearly all of us had checked out at midday. Just a thought seeing as we had pretty much all of the conference rooms open for us., which leads me onto my next comment.

There didnt seem to be as many fans at the event as the organisers had anticipated and therefore dont feel we required as many of the conference rooms that we did. AS I previously stated registration/waiting could have been in a seperate room to non event goers and I feel the VIP area, with a barrier, and the bar could have been i the main hall, enabling guests and fans to mingle more freely and VIPS be more involved with the party as they were slightly set back. THe casino could have also been in the main area.

When you receive your pack it does instruct you to not take photos and hassle the guests at the prom as this is what the shoots are for. I know that this didnt happen and the guests were obliging but do think that a little reminder prior to the guests arriving at the Prom would possibly have prevented them from being ambushed by us all night and relax a little more. I also think when you purchase a certain package that you should only get what you pay for. I am aware the VIP area wasnt as full as it could have been but that shouldn't have allowed the some of the standard guests to be hand picked to go into that area when they hadnt paid the money for that privilege. This is unfair to those standards who were not invited into the area and the guests who had paid for the VIP area. I am in no doubt the cosplay fans looked great and maybe a it would have been more appropraite for the guests to have their photograph taken with them all at once rather than them getiting more than what they had purchased. Please don't take offence but I think if you were to go to a concert or a football match and pay for a box then you are entitled to the box, if you pay for a seat in the stands then thats what you get.

My last comment is regarding the Sunday daytime schedule. Once again I know autographs and photos were going on but once you had done that there wasnt really much going on until 3.45, so there was a stagnant amount of time.
Maybe one of the rooms could of been used to play the Twilight DVD along with some interviews from the cast which are fully available on web sites. Or maybe some clips of previous events the guests had attended?

[kegan5]

What worked well?
The event as a whole worked well in my opinion, I enjoyed the decor that had been put in place for us, the casino and so forth. The queues for autos, photos etc seemed to go down in a nice speedy yet not rushed fashion.


What could have been improved?
I suppose a few things if you had to be picky, first of all from the guests point of view I think from reviews in comparison to London the guys were a lot more 'energetic' the first night, understandable but a little unfair on those who had paid good money to see them in Birmingham only to find them pretty tired etc... work not play and all that :)

The Gold section, I think some may disagree with me here but myself and everyone else in Gold had paid extra money for extra priviledges if you like so to find people who had paid almost half what Gold had in the so called Gold only section was a little irritating... Not trying to be picky here just don't see why we should have paid so much more to just have people taking the mickey.

I agree with above about the timing, it did seem at times like there were huge gaps of time inbetween things to do but that comes with new events I suppose and now SM have had a chance to see how things run they'll be prepared next time :0

What you would like to see added to the next con?
Hotel wise, as much as the hilton is a nice hotel... the food is hideously expensive and if you haven't got a car with you it's not really the easiest of places to go hunting for food, especially not if it were a bigger 3 day event with things happening all day.

Other than that I jut think the improvements are based on just knowing what to expect at the next prom event :)

[laurendel]

nicola, on Sep 22 2009, 09:08 AM, said:

Hi,

Well I think I opened a can of worms when I opened my topic "priceless".
I havent been on the forum before and I appreciate a lot of the fans have managed to become friends over this site which is great but I just havent had the time to do that. So before I begin my constructive criticism please let me say these are only things I noticed and in no way lessened my enjoyment of the event.

The hotel is realy nice and the staff there are great, as far as I am aware all convention goers were well behaved and polite, but I was aware non event guests were at the hotel also and think it may have been a much better idea to have opened one of the conference area rooms for registration and waiting area so the fans were not milling around the lobby, especially on the Sunday when nearly all of us had checked out at midday. Just a thought seeing as we had pretty much all of the conference rooms open for us., which leads me onto my next comment.

There didnt seem to be as many fans at the event as the organisers had anticipated and therefore dont feel we required as many of the conference rooms that we did. AS I previously stated registration/waiting could have been in a seperate room to non event goers and I feel the VIP area, with a barrier, and the bar could have been i the main hall, enabling guests and fans to mingle more freely and VIPS be more involved with the party as they were slightly set back. THe casino could have also been in the main area.

When you receive your pack it does instruct you to not take photos and hassle the guests at the prom as this is what the shoots are for. I know that this didnt happen and the guests were obliging but do think that a little reminder prior to the guests arriving at the Prom would possibly have prevented them from being ambushed by us all night and relax a little more. I also think when you purchase a certain package that you should only get what you pay for. I am aware the VIP area wasnt as full as it could have been but that shouldn't have allowed the some of the standard guests to be hand picked to go into that area when they hadnt paid the money for that privilege. This is unfair to those standards who were not invited into the area and the guests who had paid for the VIP area. I am in no doubt the cosplay fans looked great and maybe a it would have been more appropraite for the guests to have their photograph taken with them all at once rather than them getiting more than what they had purchased. Please don't take offence but I think if you were to go to a concert or a football match and pay for a box then you are entitled to the box, if you pay for a seat in the stands then thats what you get.

My last comment is regarding the Sunday daytime schedule. Once again I know autographs and photos were going on but once you had done that there wasnt really much going on until 3.45, so there was a stagnant amount of time.
Maybe one of the rooms could of been used to play the Twilight DVD along with some interviews from the cast which are fully available on web sites. Or maybe some clips of previous events the guests had attended?

I was one of the gold ticket holders and to be perfectly honest I didn't mind at all that some standard ticket holders came to our side, only because gold ticket holders were swapping their badges with standard so other people could get a chance to have a chat etc.
I don't think MS were allowing them in, but at the end of the day if the boot was on the other foot and you got the opportunity to go in, you would!!
When speaking to the actors in the VIP room they absolutly loved having their pictures taken that night, if they did'nt  they would of spoke to the MS Crew and we would of been told to stop simplez!!!

I do agree with the waiting around bit on sunday, prehaps MS could next time put a DVD on of Twilight : ).

lauren x

[kegan5]

Yeah, don't get me wrong I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to spend time with the guests... we're all there for the same reasons but my point was more about Gold paying for something Standard had anyway :)

[nicola]

I agree with Kegan,

Completely unfair and to be honest when you buy a standard ticket you shoud expect you may not get the chance to sit and talk with the guests.

I am not rolling with cash as a single parent and I struggled to pay for the gold ticket, but did so because it was the first time in a long time I could do something for myself and had I of known that if I dressed as a character or stood at the barrier all night on a standard ticket to be allowed in then I would have paid half the money and not felt as guilty.

[Too Tall]

Let me answer a couple of points here.

Picture with the guests

They started to get requests in the gold area at London. We discussed it with the guests and they said they were happy to do it and actually WANTED to do it. So we allowed it. At any time if they had wanted it to stop they could have just said "no" or asked us to stop it. They didn't, they loved it! They also had a guests only area that they could leave to at anytime if it got too much.

At Birmingham we allowed it again as we didn't feel it was fair it London got something Birmingham didn't. Again the guests were happy with it.

Guests being crowded

Without us being very very aggressive about it, it's very hard to keep the attendees back. What we did was, we kept an eye on the situation and if at any point it looked like a guest was in an uncomfortable position we would come in and removed them from that situation.

We felt that was the most attendee and guest friendly way of doing it.

Standard people in the Gold Area

This didn't happen that much, it was maybe 5 or 6 people at each event.

The crew on the door did an amazing (and thankless) job of only allowing gold pass holders in. Did some sneak past? Yes, but then there were crew like myself IN the area also checking for passes. I only ever saw 2 or 3 in there and they were asked to leave.

I know that one of our agents let Sam in and at the end of the day the agent is a VIP at our events and has every right to invite others into the VIP area for whatever reason.

So there were over 150 standard ticket holders and about 5 got in. If you feel that getting a standard ticket for a 1 in 30 chance of either being asked or sneaking in is worth it, then fine, but getting a Gold pass guarantees it.

Edited by Too Tall, 22 September 2009 - 09:39 AM.

[Twilightmum49]

laurendel, on Sep 22 2009, 09:52 AM, said:

I was one of the gold ticket holders and to be perfectly honest I didn't mind at all that some standard ticket holders came to our side, only because gold ticket holders were swapping their badges with standard so other people could get a chance to have a chat etc.
I don't think MS were allowing them in, but at the end of the day if the boot was on the other foot and you got the opportunity to go in, you would!!
When speaking to the actors in the VIP room they absolutly loved having their pictures taken that night, if they did'nt  they would of spoke to the MS Crew and we would of been told to stop simplez!!!

I do agree with the waiting around bit on sunday, prehaps MS could next time put a DVD on of Twilight : ).

lauren x

I will totally agree with you Lauren I was a Gold ticket holder too.  The guests were quite happy having pics taken and Jose was just so nice.

Good idea about the DVD there was a long quite period but I took advantage of sitting down due to wearing high heels lol

On the subject of the price of food at the hotel when ET3 is held there in February I'm bringing a cool bag stuffed with 3 days supply of food. I will have my car with me but who want to start driving around looking for food - so I hope the hotel won't mind as well but I'm bringing my own drinks as well.

[kegan5]

Twilightmum49, on Sep 22 2009, 10:44 AM, said:

On the subject of the price of food at the hotel when ET3 is held there in February I'm bringing a cool bag stuffed with 3 days supply of food. I will have my car with me but who want to start driving around looking for food - so I hope the hotel won't mind as well but I'm bringing my own drinks as well.

That's a good idea :) lol shame its a fire hazard to bring a mini grill, BBQ etc lol we could have had our own little kitchen going heee x

[nicola]

@ Too Tall, I noticed you were checking out the badges of some of the guests, however should a company advertise different packages at extra prices and stipulate rules in the t&c's then this should be adhered too.

In which case just dont offer the gold package at all and then this would not be an issue, nor would the thankless job of the volunteers who seemed to enjoy themselves.

[kegan5]

Too Tall, on Sep 22 2009, 10:33 AM, said:

Let me answer a couple of points here.

Standard people in the Gold Area

This didn't happen that much, it was maybe 5 or 6 people at each event.

The crew on the door did an amazing (and thankless) job of only allowing gold pass holders in. Did some sneak past? Yes, but then there were crew like myself IN the area also checking for passes. I only ever saw 2 or 3 in there and they were asked to leave.

I know that one of our agents let Sam in and at the end of the day the agent is a VIP at our events and has every right to invite others into the VIP area for whatever reason.

So there were over 150 standard ticket holders and about 5 got in. If you feel that getting a standard ticket for a 1 in 30 chance of either being asked or sneaking in is worth it, then fine, but getting a Gold pass guarantees it.

Can I just add to that, I did see a few people thanking some of the crew who were being attentive to the whole standard in Gold section :)

but as you know we  didn't get a seat at a table where the guests were talking... no blame here, but we held back spoke to security just to see if the guests would be coming around to those (not just us) who hadn't spoken to the guests yet.  We were told yes so we just tried to hung back as delightfully enticing the guests were !

Anyway 2 hours later and we're still holding back, in the meantime there were a handfun (edit... handful) of standards in the gold area who were confidently just getting in on conversations.

I guess you can look at it both ways, we could have been equally as upfront although it's not in my character so unless I get a random burst of confidence I won't interrupt someone intentionally.  We did eventally get our time, so all was well in the end.

As for only 5 getting in, in fairness there shouldn't have been any that got in... no heads blamed, I don't live in la la land I do understand that it's not always possible to work like hawks and memorise every Gold and Standard face but you must see our point ? If someone was a VIP paying £3k and then we just ambled on in I'm pretty sure it would be a different case altogether.

Anyway all that said, this is only feedback after all rather than a 'complaint'.

xx

Edited by kegan5, 22 September 2009 - 10:22 AM.

[Lisa090982]

I really enjoyed the event overall - It was my first event and I will definately be looking to go to more....

The staff were friendly and helpful when I had questions and everyone I saw, had a great time and the cast members were fab :) A big thankyou to all :)

Only downside really for me was that there seemed to be quite a big gap in the Sunday schedule - obviously if it had been a sold out event, the signings etc would have taken longer - but I said the same at the event as someone else has said in this topic, I think Twilight should have been played on a big screen somewhere or something..... there needed to be other things to do really whilst you were waiting for your next event!

[Mandelina]

I actually thought it was a good thing we had "the gap" in the schedule. Then you could go eat lunch and stuff, and for those who thought it was too expensive at the Hilton could go somewhere else without missing out on something.

Edited by Mandelina, 22 September 2009 - 10:33 AM.

[nicola]

@kegan, thanks for being so honest and seeing both sides :0))). I wish our tickets were 3k haha, they were £149 but still if you have a budget its a lot of money.

I agree they cant watch like hawks but I also think if the fans hadnt asked for photos knowing they were not meant to, then the gold and standard passes wouldnt need to be checked.

Also heard the guests got to relax a lot more in London and so they were too tired to relax and party in Birmingham, maybe if the event was held again the second day itinerary in 1st hotel could be the first day in the 2nd hotel and have the party with the guests the following day, therefore giving them the chance to re-coup.

[scruffy]

Well more shame on those standard who went to the VIP area , and also shame on the gold ticket holders who swapped theirs .

And TT was not saying the odd few who sneaked over was acceptable but that they managed to control it to such a low level

Edited by scruffy, 22 September 2009 - 11:22 AM.

[Talie]

A quick response to what people have said

@The Gold Area situation, fair enough some standards went in (I didn't) but in all fairness it kinda looked a bit drab lol, sure the guests spent more time in there (Daniel anyway) but I chatted and played Black Jack with Charlie and spent time with Jose away from the gold area. At the end of the day it's JUST an area, yeah you got it with your ticket but it's not like the only extra you had. And I for one second would not begrudge another twilight fan the same experience as me.

@Photos, like TT said they were enjoying it, at one point I was speaking to charlie about the website and stuff and he joked about doing a publicity shot, so I'd asked would he be kind enough to do a sign and he was like HELL YEAH.

@Food in Brum, I understand if you don't know the are you wouldn't have realised this maybe, but during that big gap of time myself and terri managed to get into town and have Nandos and shop. Outside the hilton they run a shuttle which takes u into international and you can get a train into the city centre from there, we were there and back in two hours.

nicola, on Sep 22 2009, 11:37 AM, said:

Also heard the guests got to relax a lot more in London and so they were too tired to relax and party in Birmingham, maybe if the event was held again the second day itinerary in 1st hotel could be the first day in the 2nd hotel and have the party with the guests the following day, therefore giving them the chance to re-coup.

@ this quote. Charlie said he preferred Birmingham, I'm NOT trying to make it into a competion or anything, and he may have only said it cus he felt like he should've but when the DJ said he preferred London cus it was better, Charlie seemed really put out and said this wasn't the case

And what I heard from some crew were at Brum they might not have seemingly mingled as much but this was because they weren't as hassled as much as in London so they were left to do their own thing without people continually trailing after them

Edited by Crépuscule, 22 September 2009 - 11:12 AM.

[scruffy]

On the food prices, was there not special prices available for attendees like they did  for Autographica and when CM Midlands was there??
Might be something they can look in to for next one.

[Too Tall]

nicola, on Sep 22 2009, 11:16 AM, said:

@ Too Tall, I noticed you were checking out the badges of some of the guests, however should a company advertise different packages at extra prices and stipulate rules in the t&c's then this should be adhered too.

In which case just dont offer the gold package at all and then this would not be an issue, nor would the thankless job of the volunteers who seemed to enjoy themselves.

I agree rules should be adhere'd to, I'm just explaining that we did try very hard with the gold area. And that as only very few people did get in I don't think it was a huge issue.

Without having a turn style it's very hard to police 100%.

I think the gold area worked really well or we could have had the ET1 situation all over again, were 200+ attendees all try and get to the guests all at once and then they leave after 30 minutes.

The photos with the guests, they made that decision. I don't think we could have stopped them

[kegan5]

Thanks Crépuscule :) Especially for the train advice I hadn't even thought of that xx

[bewarethepossums]

Quote

I agree they cant watch like hawks but I also think if the fans hadnt asked for photos knowing they were not meant to, then the gold and standard passes wouldnt need to be checked.

But it was announced before the party that people were quite welcome to take photos if the guests were willing    - I remember that beacuse I was surprised...since at ET the guests were swamped with people taking photos even though it was expressedly forbidden at that con.