erykah

Oh hon, I know exactly how you feel. Lots of people that I normally go with aren't coming either but this sounds as if it's going to be a fairly small con, so I don't think you'll be stuck on your own as huge crowds mill past you. I think we all probably need to be making new friends at this one so that we can give these cons the send off they truly deserve. We're gonna party! If you need someone to hang out with then you can join us if you like. Buffy2k and I will be at the hotel from around 3pm tomorrow. I have long curly brown hair. I'll be wearing a long purple net skirt and a big silver locket with an E on it. We'll probably settle in the bar or I'm quite likely to be found out front having a smoke.

Oh yeah! Can we just have the "ultimate party con" as the plan for the next one?

I do believe that this is the first con I've ever been to where I don't have a single real complaint. It really was all utterly brilliant. The guests were all great - especially Daniele: instant convention legend! The organization was smooth. We were kept very well informed when the group shots were later than planned because of John's signing running over time. The new con DJ is great; generally a very nice mixture of stuff. Little too much repetition of the same con songs... there are more of them which could be played instead of repeating! Even the staff at the Rad were astonishingly lovely. We've had some pretty bad experiences there at other cons this year, so we were pleasantly surprised. They were especially great on Sunday night; letting us hang out in the event room and in the foyer after the disco was over. They kept asking us whether we were okay with the bar shutting, and then keeping it open just a little bit longer.

Tip for anyone coming in by car: Your maps are probably telling you to come in via M25 Junction 15, but do yourself a favour and check out the route via Junction 14 as well. It's a tad longer but, if the M4 junction's snarled up, it's much less headache enducing.

Thats fine by me, but i have no idea where it is, why dont we meet in the foyer of the hotel and walk down or whatever? Here's a map to help: http://g.co/maps/5q22w

I totally understand how frustrating that must be, but this is exactly why a better comms strategy would actually help. People will always ask but right now all you personally can do is keep repeating that we need to trust them. If there were regular updates, even just saying hi, we're still here and then tease us a little about the awesome planned, you'd have something new to point to all the time. The request threads and the questions would still be there but they'd be less negative and depressing for you, for the organisers and for all of us.

David, the thing is that even saying THAT is better than silence. Yeah, it's kind of meaningless but, when you've paid a lot of money a year in advance, to feel as if you're hearing nothing at all is a disturbing experience. What feels like a given to people who attend cons a lot, doesn't always feel like a given to people who don't. Paying for a con that far in advance means you have to trust the organisers and it's not enough to just say "trust us". That's not helped when they promise 6 guests and we end up with 5, with one only announced the week before. Everything you've said here David sounds like con staff/regulars living in a bubble where they're earnestly and genuinely wrapped up in the business of the con, but have forgotten what's it's like to be an attendee, to be a nervous newbie putting your money down for the first time. Everything you're saying is right, it's spot on. But if a lot of people are asking for it, then it's a sign that something is going wrong. Just because you're absolutely right about the issues from the organisers end, the constant requests are still a canary in the mine. I love massive events cons. I've been to loads and they've always been well organized on the day; the guests they get are cool, the staff are great and the organisers are obviously so open to trying to improve things, but I'm still - despite all that positive energy - now wary of buying a gold ticket for Hallowhedon cons because I'm concerned that I might get less value for money than if I just buy a standard ticket. This isn't me just wanting more and more stuff here or being unreasonably demanding. They used to deliver a wonderful customer service outside of the cons too and, from out here, it feels like that's disappearing. I know how this works and how good they can be, and my level of trust still isn't high enough to just buy a gold at the con again. There's an issue here... and it's an easily fixed one at that. We need someone official to talk to us sometimes, especially if there are big gaps between guest announcements. You say it's not about communication but it's totally about communication. Communication builds trust and you need trust to sell tickets to these types of events, especially if you operate a policy of saying that guests can be announced up until the last day. That's a scary thing for people who've paid nearly £200 a year in advance and then not really had any feedback about what's going on. That's asking for a lot of trust. This con itself was great. The guests we had were utterly lovely. Robin and Tony are always awesome and Stephanie was a bizarre delight. Of course, Jewel and Alan were lovely and cool too. There were a few issues, as other people have pointed out: meet and greet didn't quite work out, closing ceremony non-existent, quiz a little bit weird, DJ playing music in an apparently scatter-shot fashion. As travels hopefully suggested, a more structured playlist might improve that. The PJ party on Sunday worked out really well (I didn't join in because it was Halloween) and it would be cool to do that again at other cons (where I will join in).

I've voted yes, because I will definitely be coming but I'm holding off on deciding what ticket to buy because frankly I want to see what guests there are first. Whether or not I plump for a gold ticket again is really going to depend on what guests we get and how fast I buy a ticket will depend on when we start finding out who they are. I know SM need to balance guests against ticket sales, but I also need to manage my money with silly stuff like eating and keeping a roof over my head. I want to support the con because I do want them to keep going - I really do - and that's why I bought a gold for HW2 (at HW1) but I can't just trust them with my money right now when I'm - sadly - having doubts about getting value for it. I'm really sorry guys. I need to see more feedback happening over the course of this year. The con was great fun and I already know you're good at delivering on the day and that I'll have a great time but it's a lot of money you're asking for and I'm afraid I need more visible reassurance at other times as well. I will be coming to HW3. So reassure me, please... bring it on! I wanna buy a gold! Give me a reason to!

This actually used to happen a lot at the Thistle. You do have to make sure you say no to them pre-authorizing for room service at a lot of hotels these days. It does normally take a week before it gets unlocked back to you. I can only advise you to go see your bank manager and explain the situation. You may be able to agree for certain things to still get paid out of your account without getting charged overdraft fees or, at least, reduced ones. I've managed to do that before.

Snazzaroo do a product called Cake Blood. It comes as a solid but it's water soluable, so if you mix it with a little water you can do a blood spatter by flicking with a paint brush. It comes off easily with soap and water or a cleanser. http://www.snazaroo.com/products/special-f...-materials/283/ Snazaroo do next day delivery but charge a fortune for it. Fancy dress shops at this time of year should sell it. I've also seen it in craft shops.

I made a custom google map for friends last year. Here's the link in case it's useful for anyone. Thistle Heathrow Google Map

I don't know if it's still there but there used to be a small cafe in the health centre directly opposite the Thistle. They did breakfasts and, slightly oddly, chinese food. It's not the most promising looking place but I've certainly had a nice cup of tea and some toast there before.

lol, I refuse to wear sweats or chill out on any night of a convention! There's any other night of the year available for doing that.

Shared the lift after the skit with some girls who were boasting about how they'd filmed it, and they actually said that they believed that it was okay because there hadn't been any announcement before the skit itself saying that they couldn't. I (as politely as I could) joined their conversation to tell them that the no filming rule applies all the time and to ask them to not put it up anywhere. So unfortunately it seems that it needs to be emphasized even more than it was.

My friends and I will be in our party dresses, so you won't be the only one if you want to dress up.