Naboo79

Yesterday I also bought a boiler room photo for Saturday, but I wasn’t able to select a batch. And there’s no batch number on my ticket. So not sure what time it is?

Thanks for the reply :) I’ve been to a lot of conventions (some of which are bigger than LFCC), and they all printed the photo ops in 8x10. But you’re right I can print a larger version if I have the digital file.

I just filled out the survey, but there wasn't a "free text" field to add additional comments, so I hope it's okay to share feedback about my experience here. The pros: - Great guests, including at least one legend (Martin Sheen), and some rare signers. Thanks to Showmasters for bringing over people like Martin Sheen, Bob Gale, Brendan Fraser, Val Kilmer, and William Zabka. - I really enjoyed all the panels I attended. Especially William Shatner's was quite entertaining, and I loved "An Evening With" the Sheens, even though it was half an hour shorter than advertised (more on that later) - There was a lot of seats at the main stage (aka super stage) which was nice - Having a separate entry for YALC is really nice - Lots of good stalls - The app is brilliant. Makes it so much easier to see the schedule and plan your own days - Not many cancellations this year! Especially compared to Collectormania. - Olympia is central in London and easy to get to, and there are hotels nearby, etc. The cons: - The “Evening” with the Sheens started half an hour late, and was cut by half an hour. In addition, there was no information about where to queue and crew didn't know where to go. - The photo op areas are chaotic at best (see this pic from Sunday: https://imgur.com/HxDY906). For starters, why not put the current batch number on a board, like you do with the current VQ number in the guest area? Or, even better, for the popular shoots with many batches, make it easy to find out what the current batch is, for example by making the info available in your new app. Having a crew member shout out batch numbers amongst a sea of hundreds of people all stood cramped together in the photo op area is not the best approach, in my opinion. - The big screen by the main stage was not particularly useful, due to the way they had placed the camera. It would be better if the camera was placed in the middle of the room and only filmed the guests instead of filming half the big screen itself, or the top of the heads of the people in the first several rows... - The photo op prints are very small. I wish they were 8x10 like the autographs, and like at other cons - I loved the panels/talks and they are my favorite thing. Kudos for having so many of them, and for having many free ones. However, I think they should all be free like at other cons - There wasn't really a place to sit and chill inside the venue, except for the seating by the stages - Digital photo ops should ideally be free (or cost less, like £1) and be available for download sooner than 2-3 months after the event. At some other cons, they automatically email you the digital version seconds after the photo has been taken. - The photographer in A was ... loud! With every single photo she shot, she would shout “Ready and lovely thank you next please” all day, lol

The talk itself was wonderful. I think the Sheens were both great and seemed to be in a good mood and enjoying themselves. I thought the interviewer/moderator was great as well. However, as others said, we paid for a 90 minute event and only got 60 mins. There was no info about where to queue and the staff had no clue. I finally found it after walking all the way around the building. I can deal with standing outside waiting for over an hour, but like I said, I think it’s a real shame these two legends only got an hour on stage. Who knows if they will ever do a live talk together again. Thanks Showmasters for bringing them over at least.

So much easier to use the schedule now. This app is great. Thank you!

This is still happening Saturday night, right? In the app it says Sunday..

Hey, I like ms Ricci! Hehe. Just saying that one of her two spots could be used for one of the other headliners :)

Are there more talks tbc? I’m wondering why many of the headline guests aren’t doing one. Like Hayden Christensen, Zachary Quinto, Jason Momoa, Bob Gale, Val Kilmer, Ian McDiarmid etc. Having two talks with Christina Ricci instead doesn’t make much sense.

She is such a great guest. I’ve enjoyed meeting her twice at LFCC. I hope you can get Jack O’Halloran too so that the 3 Superman 2 villains are reunited

And yet Tennant sold out within minutes of him being announced :) You’re right that the Wi-Fi at the Olympia was not consistent. But it worked for the most part for me, and my phone signal was fine throughout the weekend.

What extra staff? There’s already a crew member at each guest table updating the VQ sign. Whether that person types on a physical board or on a digital device (say a phone or tablet) makes no difference. If anything a digital update would be faster to make. If they don’t want to make the investment, updating a Twitter account as someone suggest, or even this very forum with the latest guest info (VQ number, “on break”, “at shoot”) would require minimal effort. Indeed, if one person had to update this info on all guests it would be impossible. But as I said, there is already crew at each guest table and each photo session doing this exact job, just in a very old fashioned and somewhat ineffecient way. The potential for a mistake is the exact same regardless of transmission medium and can be quickly rectified.

Thank you to Showmasters for booking so many great guests, not to mention legends like James Caan and Meat Loaf

A million times YES. LED signs for photo shoots and especially VQ info would be brilliant. The current VQ signs are small, difficult to read sometimes and not always updated. It must be possible to do something more modern, without a huge investment. Even if it is a huge investment, it’s something SM could utilize at all their shows for years to come.

Highs: - The guests. I enjoyed meeting all of them and I have no disappointing encounters. Even James Caan said hi and extended his hand for a shake. My fav guest was Sarah Douglas. She is the most lovely person. Ivana Milicevic was also lovely. I’m also super happy they booked Jack O’Halloran again after he had to cancel last year. - Rare guests. I love the fact that LFCC books guests that no other con can pull off, like Meatloaf, Seagal and Sam Neill. Kudos. - Aircon worked well except in the guest area where it was needed the most, but I understand it was broken there. - Second stage. Nice and quiet there and well managed. - Staff. Everyone was super nice and professional. - Entry. Quick and easy to pick up diamond pass and get a wristband - Layout. Good to have stalls downstairs (with good space to move about) and photos and guests upstairs - Signage. Decent signage; schedule was placed in a lot of places. - Cosplayers. Lots of funny and creative cosplayers. Lows: - Main stage: Due to its placement, there is a lot of noise from the adjacent photo area. It was also rather dark there, but that was mostly an issue Friday. - Pricing is too high. As much as £95 for a single auto or photo is too much. I appreciate that its probably the consequence of attracting big names like Momoa though. - Dealers. Why are they even allowed? At least put a cap of, say, max 3 autos per guest. - Food and drink pricing. £2.50 for a small can of coke? Really? The variety of food was also limited. Why not have small stalls scattered throughout with various snacks, drinks and food on offer? - Digital photo. Should be included in the already large cost we pay for the photo op. £5 per digital photo is naughty. - VQ signage. I don’t understand why there is only a small, difficult to see sign that indicates what VQ numbers the guest is seeing. For the most part you couldn’t read them, and even if you could they were not up to date sometimes. It’s 2018 folks! A more modern system is possible! Maybe have an electronic panel that everyone can see and that is updated regularly, and then have an app or website with VQ info so you don’t have to physically visit the queue to get updated. - Photo op batches. The above applies to photo op queues as well. Having a guy shout out batch numbers can’t possibly be the most effective way to keep the hundreds of people in the photo area updated on what batch they are up to. Come on. Despite the lows, overall a great con with a lot of great guests. I really enjoyed it. I really liked the talks also, and wish more guests had done talks. As much as I like John Schneider, having 3 talks with him while dozens of guests didn’t have a talk session was a bit unfortunate. One more thing. I must say I’m curious why SM booked so many wrestlers and Star Wars extras. They sat around with nobody visting them almost every time I passed by them. It can’t be good business for anyone if they get so little attention from the attendees. I felt bad for these guests that they sat with noone visiting them most of the time. p.s. Great to see that some of the guests that cancelled are coming for the Spring event instead.

Tom Wilson was probably the highlight for me. Great guy with a lot of energy and he was so pleasant. I also loved Dean Cain and Michael Rosenbaum. They were just great!