clloby

I seem to remember that at Eclipse that some nibbles were provided - at least I hope they were otherwise I ate some random stuff and am now slightly alarmed! Organisation can be a bit lacking, but if you feel you have missed a guest or haven't had the same amount of time as other groups just speak to a crew member nicely and they will be happy to help. Trick is not to stand in the corner waiting for guest to be brought to you - sometime you just need to go and grab them figuratively speaking - don't actually grab them - that doesn't go down to well.

I love not having to rush and miss talks - at another event I missed an entire day of talks through queing for photoshoots. More time to sleep - or possibly drink - at a con it's never too early! Alternativley to pass time you can always bug members of the crew - one of my new favourtie activites!!! Can't wait for the event. Question for you Too Tall - It is my birthday a few days before the event any chance of special treatment???

Heads up people I will be cancelling my room for the Park Inn on Monday - it's a twin room - this is because the person I was going to share with isn't coming so I am going to be sharing with someone else. Not sure if the hotel has a waiting list, but if not, ring up about 11am and you may find yourself lucky. clloby

Yeah had to pay up front - the hotel (and company) changed the rules around the time of Eclipse 2. Not so bad though as my friend is paying for Bedford in Feb and I have paid for this one so we are even.

Hotel booked - just need a ticket Gold again for me I think

The reason why the hotel is probably already getting full is that the block booking by Massive only went into effect around the time of eclipse 2. As soon as the dates for Eclipse 3 were announced I booked a room via the Park Inn website at a cheaper rate than the typicaly con rate (although it does not include the fab Park Inn breakfast). Perhaps a few other people did that. Also at that time the old system was in place meaning that I don't have to pay for my room until I check out - which is a bonus for me.

Despite not being the biggest supporter of the guest encounter I did bid on the one with Alan, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and the price (£5) was a bargain. What a funny and interesting guy! It was also the only time over the weekend that I had a decent cup of coffee - I just couldn't get the coffee machine at breakfast to do black coffee. I do worry though that with the more A list characters (such as those announced for Chevron 7.2) that the prices could get a bit silly for the encoutners. However all in all however you can count me as another convert to the guest encounter concept.

What could be better than Stephen and his on screen daughter Kristen Bell for Eclipse 3!!!!!!

I have to agree with Lizzy on the point that these encounter things should have been announced further in advance than they were - even a few days would have been nice, just so extra money could have been arranged/saved. I did not go to either Lockdown or The Hub so have never heard of these guest encounters before, and had no idea of how these were organised. Thing is ME have opened themselves up to criticism by not being consistent in how these encounters are organised - Eclipse 2 is a very small event - admittedly larger than Lockdown, but undoubtedly smaller than The Hub - so at what attendance level therefore does ME's goodwill stop? Still think the raffle is the way to go if there is going to be a fee involved - fairer all way around. I'm sure most people wouldn't mind paying a few pounds for a raffle ticket to be in with a chance but will draw the line at paying c. £20 or so per encounter. I'm even confused about the group shots - free to Gold pass holders at Eclipse, but available to purchase for other ticket holders - no group photo at Chevron - and now apparently exclusive to Gold pass holders = this is one of ME's biggest problems lack of constency. I never win anything either - but would pay £10 for raffle tickets for the chance - to go to even one of these things. A raffle would bring excitment to the event as well! Clare - who really would like a raffle!

I do think that having to pay for this guest encounters thing is a bit of a cheek - especially as it was announced so close to the event. I have a gold ticket - which frankly isn't great value for money at this event and there is no way I could afford to pay around £20 for a 'guest encounter'. This sounds like a way for the organisers to make some more money out of an event which has had such poor ticket sales (in comparison to the previous Eclipse event) I think it would be fairer all round if this was done on a raffle ticket basis - either one standard price, e.g. £1 a ticket - or £1 for standard tickets, £0.75 for silver and £0.50 for gold - i realise that the second option may be a bit tricky to work out but would show some appreciation for the people who have bought the more expensive tickets. I would definatly buy a raffle ticket for all the guest encounters, but would not pay £20 for one, when there is a good chance you will bump into the guests at them somepoint over the course of the weekend, as happened with Chris Judge at Chevron 7.2, where a small group of us spent at least an hour or so chatting to him.

Gold Passes at Chevron got to go in first for the signings, but they still called groups for the different guests. I am totally sure about that because I was in the last group to be called for Chris Judge and had to wait quite a while. At Lockdown Gold Passes got a maybe 2 minute headstart and there were no groups being called. But Lockdown was significantly smaller than Chevron 7 or Eclipse, so it didn't matter that much. Well thats not how I remember it at Chevron as I went in first for the signings and the photos with my gold pass - there was no group called

That was what I was told at the end of Eclipse. The Gold Passes had priority at Chevron, and I thought that was the way they had decided to organise things. So now I am confused again.

Well I had a great time at this event. After attending Eclipse 1 and not being impressed with the cocktail party, as I only got to chat to two of the guests I was pleased to see that improvements had been made for this event. Whilst I still think the room is way to small, and far too hot I got to chat at least for a few minutes. This has to be the least I have queued at any convention - and the auto queues were amazing. All done and dusted in about 30 minutes! One things I hate however is having the photo shoots at the same time as talks are on stage. Im much preferred the organisation on the Saturday when the photo's were in the morning and the talks in the afternoon with no overlap. Ticket booked for Eclipse 2 and Chevron 7.2, and if I win the lottery The Hub.

EXCELLENT Whilst I have met him before I have never seen him at a convention, and can't wait to see him and Michael on stage.

Most Excellent That's what I love about Showmasters - they actually listen to what you have to say and if it is in their power, actually do something about it!

I hope its a bit better organised than Eclipse where I only got to meet 2 out of the 5 guests there! It wasn't so much the guests moving round as the same groups of people moving around with the guests. What was the meet and greet like at Lockdown?

Hi there, Can you change my vote to Jay Avacone, much as I love Colin I have seen him several times and would like the chance to meet someone new.