dawninglight

As the one in the wheelchair I was so grateful. Captain America is a real gentleman! Thank you :)

I'm still ok atm, but I know it will come. We don't travel home until later today, but I am sure at some point the realisation that I am on my way back to 'real life' will hit and I will come down with a bump. Mind you...that just shows what an amazing weekend it was

The crew rock!! As usual, the experienced crew were great. Helpful, huggable and damn hard working. I wont name individuals, but there were the same few who were as always outstanding. The new crew members could be seen to be trying so hard and it is not an easy job, as anyone who has ever crewed any event, not just an SM one will tell you. Some of them may have got a little tired and stressed, but they were fantastic in their efforts and I hope many of the new crew will crew again and not be put off by the negativity they read. Thank you for all you did for us over the weekend, for solving our problems, for making us smile, and for working so damn hard!

I have just been reading the amazing number of complaints here and have to say I agree with sadfan99, we had an amazing weekend!! I cannot thank the showmasters crew enough for giving us so many hours of fun. There were a few glitches at times, but the crew were helpful and polite and did everything they could to assist us. There were new crew members, and perhaps there could have been more, but remember Showmasters is dependant on people actually wanting to crew. It is not an easy job and even less so at such a busy event and they are human beings after all not robots. The rest of my post is not directed at those who had a genuine problem, and went to SM staff, and spoke to them about it at the time. Nor is it directed at those making genuine helpful suggestions or offering thoughts on how things might be made even better (and, yes, I do like some of them and hope SM implement them). SO if this is you, please don't take offence. We were there from Friday night right through until close on Sunday, and every interaction we had with crew members was a positive one. If a crew member didn't know something they would be upfront and say so, sometimes they could tell us who might be able to help, othertimes when they couldn't we used our own initiative and went and found someone else. Perhaps some complainers would have had a better time if they had followed suit. After all I doubt anyone of the crew members (except perhaps for TooTall) knows everything, nor should they be expected too. I have no doubt that some of the new crew members felt overwhelmed at times, but is it any wonder with the number of attendees there were ( and some of the ridiculous requests and questions we heard being asked). Their experience will only grow over time. With regard to those people who are saying there is a need for better crew briefings and communication, I have no doubt each one was told what to do in their own area, BUT you have to remember that often a crew member is moved to another area to deal with queue surges and and the like and then has to just do the best they can in that situation. With regard to communication, that too is not easy in this situation, and I watched many a crew member running to deliver a message or find something out....To be honest and to sum up how I feel...Give them a break guys!! They are human beings, no one is perfect and no one can be expected to know how to deal with or how to react to the 1001 things that can crop up over a weekend like this. I did have complaints myself about the weekend. These complaints though had nothing to do with Showmasters themselves, crew members, photographers, picture quality, queue management, event size or anything else. They are all about attendees! I saw people verbally abuse crew members (to the point where if one man had not decided to walk when he did I was about to step in as the poor crew member did not know how to deal with the tirade of verbal abuse she was recieving and looked close to to tears). People in auto lines arguing when they were told no posed photos and holding the queue up for a considerable length of time, despite being asked to move on by a crew member. At the end of the day does it really matter who makes the decision of no posed photos, be it guest, their managment, or the SM crew. Why can people not just accept that the decision has been made at that time to not allow posed pics and just move on... live with it...some you win some you loose. Yes, I know that sometimes they may have been allowed earlier in the day or later in the day, but you have to accept that LFCC is not a static show, it is live and changing all throughout the day, because it is composed of people and those changes occur because it is decided by people who know far more than attendees, that, that is the best thing to do at the time, whatever the reason! The chaos that ensued around the photo collection table had nothing to do with SM crew. That was caused by attendees who would not wait in turn to look at the pics and find theirs. They pushed and shoved and although the pics were laid out well so you could see them, they still manhandled other peoples pics! They refused to move back, to stop touching, to wait until all the pics were laid out. There was one point when crew were laying out pics as quicly as possible and another crew member was opening pacs and going through them one by one so we could shout when we saw ourseles. They could not have done more. Where as attendees could have been politer, waited in line more, stopped the pushing and shoving and been a little quieter so that the crew member working so hard to makes sure people got their pics could here people shout! At one point a rather large person elbowed my daughter out of the way and right out of the group, thus separating us. This was not the fault of SM though, just a rude, ignorant *** who could not wait. If people had showed manners and consideration, there would be no need for people to be making the comments they have been. The pics are sent out to be processed, because after many, many events SM know that is the easiest and best way of handling it. They should not be expected to have to justify this to attendees. The times given for pic collection are always approx' so you cannot stress when that time overruns. S*** happens as they say! Put on your big girl pants and trust that when they say if you can't wait it will be posted to you, that this will actually happen. I had to leave without my Robert Knepper pic as I couldn't find it before close, and the crew member that was around at the time didn't have any of the little slips for me to fill in. I am sad, and I know it will take awhile for me to receive it, given the vast number of pics SM staff have to match up and send out, but I know that once I contact them, and explain, and give them my details, my pic will eventally arrive. I have had to leave pics before and SM have never let me down on this. Accidents do happen and problems do occcur, but to complain about how long it might take to reach you, or that you might not get the right one, before it even happens is ridiculous! The photographers themselves do a great job to get through everyone as it is, and as for some people not being happy with their pics, well no one ever likes every photo of themselves, I dont always like mine, but most times it is not down to the job the photographer has done. One last note on this...If you go to a studio, you take whatever photograher the studio allocates to your shoot (unless you have paid an exhorbitant price) and you don't get offered a choice of backgrounds! You take what you get! Why do people expect SM (who charge a hell of a lot less than a studio, when you take into account you get the guest in your pic too) to be any different. I would also say that it is made very clear that your photo op is not a guest encounter. It is clear that it is a pic, not time for a chat. Everyone in that queue wants their pic as well. To try and turn it into anything else is unfair. If a guest does not want to hug you or to sit or stand or whatever then that is their choice. Accept it and you will have a much better experience. So many of the complaints floating around could have been dealt with at the time. You may not have had the response from the 1st crew member you wanted, but how many of you followed it up at the time? If you have an issue with a shop assistant do you walk out of the shop chuntering loudly and rudely or do you ask to speak to a member of management, who may be able to help you? I know which option I take. SM cannot help you if you do not speak up at the time, and if you feel a crew member has been rude to you or your problem has not been dealt with then ask for or go find someone else who can deal with it. If a rule, such as no posed pics, no photos at all, or no personalisations are in force then just accept it. You may not like it, but you can be sure it has been done for a reason. Just go with the flow and you will have a much better time. No one would ever say that any event is perfect in it's people or organisation, it can't be, not when so many members of the public are involved. They are after all the unknown factor. However I do know that SM will do all they can to help you and to make your event an enjoyable one, if you speak up at the time! Helpful feedback and suggestions are great to anyone. The negativity, and rudeness in some cases I have seen expressed since I picked up the laptop are the opposite. They offer nothing and deserve to recieve nothing. Those who politely offer helpful suggestions and comments will be the ones listened too and rightly so (wtg mods who have quickly marked invis or edited some of them). Events like this are so much of what you make them. Reading the forum gives you and idea of what to expect, so does the LFCC webpage. Follow the rules, guidelines, and take advice from experienced con goers if you are new....as they say...It's not rocket science. SO often I feel SM are put into a no win situation by people, and I hope that Jason and all the crew realise that many of us had a fantastic time Thank you guys, you are fantastic and I cant wait for the next time.

This is making the pain in my purse worse :)

Just want to add my thanks for giving us another fantastic weekend. I loved it. The crew as usual were outstanding. Thank you guys, you rock! The guests were great, and so much fun. My only complaint...as usual, it all seemed to end far to quickly.

We got ours too, and were amused to find out we have exactly the same numbers as we got for 7.3

As always you guys were all fantastic. Thank you Have to give a special mention though to Bellatrix72. She helped to make my daughters weekend perfect. Whilst coping with a long queue waiting to see Eve Miles, she still found time to do more. Thank you sooooo much.

Huge thanks to all the crew, who were all great as usual. Special thanks to Chris though, who constantly answered all my questions with a smile. and also to Claire, who now has her own fan club, with one member, my daughter. She went above and beyond in taking time with her over Friday and Sat', chatting to her, answering her questions and making her laugh every time she saw her. I hope you enjoyed your concert on Sunday Claire, you really deserve to. That sort of customer care deserves a special mention .

Your very welcome

Here you go... and found an extra few minutes to upload this one too... I will upload the rest to tomorrow

I've only made it as far as Bristol, but when I get home I will upload a pic of you on your Wraith costume. Thought it looked great :)

Likewise - I hadn't planned on getting the ticket yet - but rather pleased that I did! Typical. We went online to get ours this morning after frantically gathering the moneyand they were all gone. We had to settle for silvers. Soooo disapointed. One day made a huge differance

Hi Guys, just wanted to pop on and say thank you for giving me such a fun weekend . I realise you must have had qualms about going ahead when you knew Michael had to leave early, but you went ahead and we had a blast. His leaving early did not detract from the weeked at all, as every effort was made to ensure we all got time with him before leaving, be it at the cocktail party (which I was not at , gold ticket for me next time), at the photo sessions, or at the signings. The other guests were great, although of course every one is going to have their favourites, and have those they wish they could have heard more from, that's just human nature. This was my first weekend con, and thanks to you guys will not be my last. I really enjoyed myself. In the quieter moments, we made some fantastic new friends, whom we will be keeping in touch with, and we also used those times for the boring essentials of life such as food. The closing session was so much fun, and although this is a post to congratulate you guys on an amazing weekend, I feel mention must be made of JCB. She was a star in her own right. I have met her before, and although I know others may not agree, I have never found her anything but a true professional. This weekend however I did get to speak to her again, and as usual, she was polite, friendly and charming, and the effort she put into the 'audition segment' gave so many of us the best laugh we have had in a long time. I do hope that we get to see more of her in the future, and not just in the capacity we normally see her, doing the fantastic job she does with the stars. I do know there were things that could have been done in other ways, that may have suited some others better. However we all know you are never going to please all of the people all of the time, and life is a learning process, and you may in the future decide to do some thing in other ways. Be in no doubt though that there are lots of us out here to whom you gave a truely great weekend that we will remember for a lifetime, and we can't wait for 7.2

I did in mine this time. Massive rambling post, but I know I can look back and it will remind me of things I might otherwise forget.