WouldYouLikeSomeIceTea

Sucha great event and photos. Thanks Giles. Is it ok to post a link to our photos here too, or should we start another thread?

Last year the hotel told us there were no rooms, so we didnt book there, and so we missed out on the group photo. Felt very ripped off. This year, we have the hotel, so it would be cool to get this now instead! :)

Just bought mine, got standard this time but gold last time. Gold was amazing for great seats and the meet & greets, but, I'm not mad about the group photos or autographs (I know, I know, thats half the point of going...) so opted instead for this. Half the reason I go is the excuse to dress up and dancing with my girlfriends, ahah.

I didnt get anything fun, but my friend got "*IRISH*" written on hers by Jim because he's part irish and we were the irish girls. <3 his face.

This is a great post, thanks so much!

Did they film it? I would love to hear some of them again too.

Which of these main cast actors would you like? This should be a multiple choice question Jason and Lafyette would really make me go to Bitten 2!

Ah, perfect. This is the first break I had since I got back and I have a lot of feedback. 1) The list of events, times and locations should have been emailed to all attendees prior to the event. We didnt user the forum until the day we arrived and were lucky to spot it. There was more effort but into telling us about "booking your seat for the day" than wtf we'd be doing! 2) The guy hosting the Q&A's - yes yes, he's the main guy and yes yes, he's important, but also - he's not very good at it. "Aaaaaaaaaanymore questions?" Way to make it obvious there arent many lined up, make the guests and the attendees feel awkward. He could have easily just pretended he had loads of them lined up from earlier submitted questions. Next year, get someone better. 3) The hotel - ok, I know it was general confusion but I think it is ridiculous that the hotel pulled that on the guests and that you'd still hold the second event there. The booking issue is something that shouldnt have gone unnoticed, and resulted in many guests missing out on their group shot (because no way I was paying £30 on top of my gold pass, and a £10 discount doesnt cut it either). 4) There wasnt much to do during the day - once you had your photo and autograph, (not taking into account the fact that we pretty much got it all done on day one - very efficent layout etc, well done on that), there was NOTHING else to do besides go to the merch room or video room (which were awesome). Some suggestions: quizzes, games, fan interactions with each other, group chats... there is TONs of other stuff we could have done. 5) Too show-centric, no book talk. I know, that from a marketing point of view, most people ONLY want the stars. But at the end of the day, it's a book too. It would have been fun to have some chat based on that, or maybe drawing on the above event suggestions, some writers forums or opinions. This would also help people get to know each other, especially good for people who come on their own / are in a small group / want to get away from the crazies. 6) On the Sunday, we basically had nothing to do until the night, because we'd gotten all of our stuff done on Sat, so we didnt turn up until 2/3ish. However, on the Saturday after the signings, I suggested to a staff member that there be a TB table quiz, as its something you can arrange in short time, and they surely have enough prizes to give away. When I arrived the next day at 2/3pm, I had missed this event (which, I am sure they had thought of themselves too). So, my suggestion is a "text to attendee" notice. This is a simple service you can bulk buy and if there is any event change you can text all attendees with notices. This could be used across your events and is very cheap. 7) Guest encounters bidding - I was horrified when I learned one of the guests only had TWO PEOPLE go to his guest encounter. I think the majority of us were unclear on how the bidding worked and what options we had. This was a failing on the organisers part, and again should have been included either in the booklet, or in an email PRIOR to the event. 8) Music - this was the only thing, theme wise, that was incredibly bad. I dont think it was the DJs fault (how cute and nice was he?), more us requesting songs that didnt fit the event / organisors not giving a solid enough list. Fantasia night would NEVER EVER have hick country music on, I did not wear leather boots to do lion dancing! Kinda ruined the buzz at the start but got better. Ok, all that being said, I did have a REALLY great time. TB is so the way I wanted to pop my "Convention" cherry. The attention to detail at the events was incredible, every themed night was GREAT. The staff, for the most part*, were really really nice. The level of organisation into the chart was FAB - whoever made that gets my excel-effiencey-badge, kudos! And so many of the attendees were so so nice. *I debated whether or not to include this but, here it goes. So I dont know what the deal is with the staff. Are they volunteers who are doing it for experience / get to meet the stars, or are they paid for their work? I kinda found that, being that they were such a big group, they were kind of clique-y (especially when you consider how few attendees knew each other). I doubt, at bigger events, this is even noticed. But at such a small event, when 10-15 of them crowd around a poll to take pictures of one another, or all sit in the chairs on stage with each other, they kind of take-over. And, I dont mean this in a rude way, but this is not about you. It's about us, the people who paid £100-200 pound to attend. I found it distracting and quite annoying. THAT BEING SAID, I have worked events, I have been part of a team and the staff can be just as (sometimes, more) entitled to have a good time too. I don't know where the line is, but it definitely bugged me. Either way, will definitely consider Bitten 2 and would still recommend the company and the conventions.