BACYLON

Or you could go down the route often used in the USA or at proper weekend conventions - no photos in signing room. Or if you want a table photo, then you pay for it. Not a bad idea. Does it work in USA though? The times i've seen it, yes it works. For example, you could meet say Wil Wheaton who might charge say $20 for an autograph, $15 for a photo or $25 for both. It also means that people who just want a photo & are not an autograph hunter can have a quick chat to the guest, pay them their 'photo fee' and get what they want...which is something that doesn;t happen in most photoshoots. Also beacuse you are paying fo rthe table picture, the guest will make a point of standing up for a proper pose rather than the often seen lean over desk issue. Some might say this wouldn;t work due to being busy, but it does.

It's clear that everyone had different experiences with VT's this weekend, much the same as people had different experiences with getting a parking space etc. Best for us to accept that there were intermitent issues with virtual tickets and that needs to be looked into. Lets hope that SM's respond to all the major 'issues' in this whole topic.

Or you could go down the route often used in the USA or at proper weekend conventions - no photos in signing room. Or if you want a table photo, then you pay for it. But i think many actors enjoy meeting fans and they appreciate that having a quick photo on meeting them is a perfect memory of the meet & greet.

Brandon did posed photos late on Saturday when there were only a couple of people in queue, dunno about Sunday.

No. Scott and Anthony have not attended Collectormania. They used tickets from future or past events as an emergency , those two actors were not there.

Only one VT was taken off me all weekend & only 3 checked!! And I saw Lena & Tom twice (2nd time for a friend who had to leave) Here are all the tickets i used and still had at end of Saturday. As an experienced showmasters attendee I can assure you that the majority of VT queues I used did not function in the controlled normal way they do at MK, LF&CC or EMS http://i782.photobuc...cylon/042-1.jpg Scott Bakula???? Where was he Sunday then??? I didnt even know he was going to be there??? I know exactly where Scott was but cant say they used Scott's tickets for Jake La Motta presumably as his own supply had run out or were missing & Brian Blessed used high numbers for Anthony Michael Hall at some point!!!!

Only one VT was taken off me all weekend & only 3 checked!! And I saw Lena & Tom twice (2nd time for a friend who had to leave) Here are all the tickets i used and still had at end of Saturday. As an experienced showmasters attendee I can assure you that the majority of VT queues I used did not function in the controlled normal way they do at MK, LF&CC or EMS http://i782.photobuc...cylon/042-1.jpg

I went all day Saturday & Sunday, I had a good time, all the guests were great etc and a lot of things went perfectly & exceeded expectations, (like letting people into 'holding pens' before opening to try to keep at least some people out of the rain). Here are comments on a few things that didn't work so well: Virtual Tickets #1 I got about 25 autographs over the weekend for myself & friends, nearly all of which were for guests who were on virtual ticket queues. I went up when my number being seen BUT only 3 times did anyone check my VT number and only ONCE did they take the ticket away! I wasn't alone either, as by the end of the day we all had wads of 'unused' Virtual tickets. People around me in very busy queues had VT's out of range to be seen or even no VT at all! Virtual Tickets #2 Went in Sunday morning at 9am, went straight to Primeval section, asked for a Virtual Queue ticket and was told 'They haven't arrived yet', so I turned around and went to Lena Headey line asked for Virtual Queue ticket and was told 'We are still waiting for them to be given to us'. Losing the will to live, I spotted TooTall, told him about it, after an expletive, he cracked some skulls and someone ran over with the VT's! Photoshoot queue #1 The line to buy these on saturday stretched around half the stadium to the dealers room within 20 minutes of opening. Perhaps the postal fee is too high to encourage preorders or slow refund of cancelled guests is discouraging preorders? Photoshoot queue #2 As many have mentioned, there was no organisation of queues for taking photo shoots, normally for bigger events SM's do this well and get groups in using number order, not this time, so you just had 200 odd people snaking everywhere with those who had paid £3 to preorder to get a 'low' photo number, forced to queue in order of arriving for the shoot. Photoshoot distribution #1 With some photo shoots still going at 3.40 on sunday and the venue being shut at 5pm it was always going to be tight, to be fair most seemed to arrive back in time. However, approx 50 ever more despairing people (who had photo shoots from 1.40pm!) were forced to leave their details and leave without their paid for photos at 5pm. Photo distribution is a known risk issue so late in the day, and a few of us were dismayed that Jason was not around to explain issues/deal with concerned customers who had to leave without their photos at 5pm. Photo Distribution #2 Half the crew had gloves to use when handling photo distributions, the other half were using their greasy paws. The Venue Nothing you can do about the weather, but we can all confirm, (ignoring the dealers room) despite approx 20 laps of the stadium, we couldnt find anywhere which could form part of the much mentioned '80% enclosed section' Just a few issues above, but as I said earlier a lot did work very well.

So will people who don't need Virtual tickets for John Barrowman, have a seperate line that can enter in gate 4 too? (Reason I ask is that TT mentioned that the bigger guests are on the right of gate 4 entrance)

Should find out soon as there are only 4 months until this event, so guest announcements will start very soon.

Frakkin' disappointed at this. Oh well, guess that saves £60 I suppose

Ta mate

Whats the policy should one of the 5 cancel?...will you have option of a full refund?

Why always change the dates for this show.(sure it happened last year too) ..if they are not 'definate' then dont announce it at all. Luckily (and it is pure luck) I deliberqately avoided the 29/30th sept dates which had been advertised for so long and booked flights to visit friends overseas for the week before...could easily of been the week after when the event is now actually being held. Feel sorry for those whose plans are now ruined (i know of someone already!)

Psycho 2, Caprica, The Big Chill IMDB

Been saying online for a while, she will be really popular at a signing event rather than a themed convention, where some people would miss out on missing Leven by being unwilling to fork out for an event they are not into, just to meet one guest. Pleased she's coming to MK

Finally someone that Timelord wont have to crouch to have a photo with

Met Josef yesterday, a real nice guy. He said he was looking forward to Milton Keynes in June.

Definately has my vote

For me absolutely no option but to get something from The X Files signed and think she may have to stand up to sign this!! LOL

The year i got a gold pass was great - i managed to get so much done, the reduction in queuing time (especially at photo shoots) was well worth it. For those who are buying gold solely because of Gillian anderson, beware on upgrading for one person, for as everyone knows the standard advice from punters and mods alike is to be aware of the risk in booking something just for one guest. But if there are lots you want to see and do, and you can afford it, then go for it.

£45 is not unexpected, it will mean that those on a budget will get less autos than if she were charging say £20, this will have an effect on the speed of the queue. Of course it's way to early to speculate on personalisations etc, but for £45, the very least someone should hope for when paying that kind of money is no restrictions as far as personalisng goes and I hope not a production line feel which has sometimes occured a few years back. (BTW I thought the pacing of David Tennant's line last year was about right)

Cylon agents are everywhere.....

Sounds like a good idea (certainly enabling people to attend guest talks with a legend like Nichelle) - however, i suspect that for those punters attending who need to stick to a budget for the weekend, it would use most of it staying two nights, whereas they would much rather spend it meeting actors and getting autos & photos. Those with unlimited funds should try it out tho.

Bumped into Norman in New Jersey last year, he's fan friendly so hopefully will allow table photos if you meet him in June