laird

So is it now confirmed that the Hallowhedon 2 ticket purchasers will get the free gifts at registration? Certainly nothing in the letter that arrived today confirming the ticket number.

I enjoyed the event, the hotel worked well for me each and every contact I had with the hotel staff was efficient and effective. Massive Events staff were cheerful and doing their best throughout and do in general deserve commendation for their efforts. I was impressed with all actor and actresses performances. The talks are of course given by the guests in response to questions the quality of the given questions is variable but remain the differentiating factor between a convention and a mere signing event and are something I find particularly enjoyable. In this case and at all the previous Massive Events I have attended this is in spite of the inability of the compère to deliver questions in a timely manner or to string together a sequence of questions to lead the guest. At points I felt sorry for Paul the compère, he has valiantly tried and tried over many conventions but clearly is not suited to the job; indeed his inability to keep his notes in order and talk in to the microphone at the same time was cringe-worthy. Please can someone put him out of his misery and find him a role within Massive Events which better fits his skill level. Another area of staffing that needs attention is security I am sure we all know a Close Protection licence is required when guarding one or more individuals against assault or against injuries that might be suffered in consequence of the unlawful conduct of others. But beyond just being licensed the art comes in being able to protect the actor without being intrusive; sadly we were treated to a security guard that seemed remarkably visible standing so close to the stage he might as well have taken a seat on stage (indeed had he sat on stage it would probably have meant he ended up blocking fewer photographs). The one time I saw him intervene it was actually rather hilarious in that having been asked not to hug one particular guest the guest was actively placing their arm around attendees as can be seen in the photograph http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5452/h308.jpg . At that point the security chap charged forward when customers responded in kind delivering a disproportionate response.

I take it you mean one person on the 12th July 2009, the one being Jason, when he wrote: "we have a short list of guest we are going for and we will have some more guest for you soon , but we are also trying to book one or two guest that have not been to the UK before , so we are trying for them first and thats were our budget will go if we can get them and if not its going to be very easy to get some great guest that will have a great time with us over the weekend. So now you know what we are doing , and we will keep you in the loop as it happens" Whilst I would never personally worry about such things, assurance is nice and I'm sure others do tend to become concerned when progress appears slower than the quoted "soon". I have certainly no desire to receive tweets the second a guest is announced, merely a formal announcement via the website.

DavidB I hope you won't mind me using your post ot make a point, but as moderating staff I'm sure you will be willing to carry the points I raise back (and perhaps have more of an ear to call SM/ME from their silence :-) )

I think it is generally disappointing that further announcements have not been made, whilst the two guests announced to date have primary roles in one of the Wheedonverse shows this barely scratches the surface of his works. Looking at the content of contracts with actors attending conventions the contracts permit advertising of the guest with "subject to work commitments" thus any guest being willing to attend can sign the contract in the knowledge that they can withdraw their agreement to attend with little or no notice - there is no disadvantage to a guest's career in agreeing to attend. SM/ME must have an estimate of what they are willing to pay for big and small guests and therefore should be able to negotiate with both at the same time, certainly leaving negotiations with 'smaller' guests until after conclusion of negotiations with 'bigger' guests is most likely to leave the event short of guest attendance as like all of us we take on other commitments as the weekend grows nearer. I also find it slightly strange that SM/ME do appear to be rather slow at formally responding to what is a legitimate and justifiable customer concern. Instead as I note with other threads we are given reiterations of a SM/ME position from a general board user - perhaps if we as users of the board stop this SM/ME will have no option but to respond to genuine concerns?

Forum Name – Laird Real Name - David Age/Location – 30, Reading What Ticket have you got/getting? Standard Most wanted guest for Hallowhedon?? Gina Torres Hotel? - Thistle Facebook/MySpace etc – Facebook, but not an active user Chat Email (MSN, Yahoo, AIM etc) – MSN – feel free to ask Favourite Movie? Oh, Mr. Porter! Favourite Other TV Show? Father Ted (Grosse Pointe, Alias and Heroes) Favourite Music? Happy with almost anything Anything else we need to know? I’ve probably attended far too many conventions and events!

Is parking space affected at all? A very few spaces taken up for workers parking and storage - nothing worth worrying about

I'm already resident in the hotel - ok for another reason but will be nice to meet you when you arrive.

At lunch time today works were going on in the seating area adjacent to reception (minor cosmetics), scaffolding and external works appear limited to one end of the building and don't appear to affect any rooms. My room seems pleasant, if I had to gripe about anything hotter water would be nice for my morning shower and a soapdish for the shower is an obvious omission