Experiences at LFCC Winter 2024

[dogsoldierspoon]

So who went? How were your experiences?

Bus ran late, so I didn't get to the venue until 10:00-ish and was able to walk straight in. I was rather worried about getting low VQ tickets for Michael Sheen, Natalie Dormer and Holly Jackson (author). For Sheen and Dormer I got numbers in the 100s, but it turned out that was low enough.

Rest of the day went splendid! I met: Michael Sheen, Natalie Dormer, Frank Ashmore, May Calamawy, Lisa Wilcox, De'voreaux White, Tom Bennett, Dean Charles Chapman, Sam Hazeldine, Kieran Bew, Clinton Liberty, Theo Nate, Allen Danziger and Jennifer Banko.

All the guests I met were really friendly, even Dormer and Sheen who did most with the very short time they had. Special shout out to the 3 dragon riders (Liberty, Bew and Bennett) who were incredibly nice and chatty, but definitely Jennifer Banko as well. She was the only one I had to queue a long time for as she did talk with each guest for ages, but it was well worth it. 

Wait for more than an hour for Holly Jackson, but by VQ ticket proved to be to high to get a chance at the book signing. Only disappointing part of my day.

I know a lot of people who probably did have a bad experience because of the Ncuti Gatwa situation  Hopefully they did enjoy at least other parts of the con.

 

[TitchDEV]

Had a great time overall, although i'm aware in all of this I got VERY VERY lucky.

Had a DP to meet Ncuti, got there for opening at 9am- went straight to the queue and managed to meet him very early on for autos. Lovely guy, took time to talk very briefly. Then where it went wrong for most, the photos, I was lucky enough to just be there well before the chaos arrived, so I was there when they were pre-sorting some batches into the queue. Met him, got a lovely photo and an even more lovely quick hug from him which he was well up for.

Seperately, Alex Devrient was amazing to talk too- loved my 15 cosplay, while he was signing he took his time to ask me about each bit, where I got them etc. Lovely guy, I hope he does more cons.

Heart goes out to anyone who didn't get what they went to the event for, Showmasters if your reading this, with all the care in the world I can muster, please listen to this; 

STOP OVERSELLING DIAMOND PASSES. LIMIT THEM. WE WOULD SO MUCH RATHER THEM SELL OUT AND PEOPLE WHO PAY GET A HUMANE EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN EVERYONE GET A CHANCE, BUT HERDED LIKE CATTLE OR MISS OUT ENTIRELY. Management and Queueing needs a huge improvement.

[yellowmarlin]

I only picked up 3 autographs (May Calamawy, Dean-Charles Chapman & Sam Hazeldine) and one photo (Michael Sheen) but I don’t think I’ve seen worse queue management since Stan Lee. Autograph queues should have been capped at sensible lengths; at one point Ncuti Gatwa’s queue was coiling around part of the dealers area. Other smaller guests should have had VQ tickets; their queues were allowed to stretch across to the opposite tables, blocking the aisles. The photo sessions were the worst. Gatwa’s and Sheen’s queues appeared to have merged at one point and after diamond batch 6 was eventually called (too many diamond passes sold!) the queue disintegrated into a mob. I was lucky to get squeezed into the first session (only six people after me) and I’m aware that some people queuing longer than me probably didn’t. The guy in the hat who was supposed to be managing the queue had disappeared by this point, or perhaps had been trampled underfoot. 
The positives: all of the guests that I met were lovely and I’m happy with how the photo turned out. 

[Sebster118]

Fortunately I managed to get my autograph and photoshoot for Ncuti Gatwa on the Saturday.

I was disappointed I couldn’t get a personalisation but I understand that SM needed to get as many fans in as possible due to circumstances beyond their control, but Ncuti did acknowledge and briefly speak to every fan he met. He was surprised and impressed when I told him I have met every main Doctor from Tom Baker onwards,

Spent the afternoon meeting up with fellow cosplayers, including some who missed out on meeting Ncuti.

I know things got hectic and rushed for Ncuti Gatwa, but the crew did their best, and offered compromises and compensation for those who missed out. Despite this, I do want to thank Showmasters.

The only Doctor I have left to meet now is Jo Martin.

[ajknight1972]

TitchDEV

"Management and Queueing needs a huge improvement."

DITTO.

Don't know if it's possible to do but can we have a floor plan of the sellers, had a commission done on the Saturday and picking up on the Sunday. For the life of me could I find him? Nope!

 

[Finkyjd]

3 hours ago, ajknight1972 said:

TitchDEV

"Management and Queueing needs a huge improvement."

DITTO.

Don't know if it's possible to do but can we have a floor plan of the sellers, had a commission done on the Saturday and picking up on the Sunday. For the life of me could I find him? Nope!

 

For high volume guests….

One possibility could be creating 3 shoots, one for Diamond, one for extra help and one for standard. And those slots are only for those tick holders 

that way you don’t have 3 streams all overlapping and folk get treated with appropriate dignity. But also it allows management to schedule the time slots properly based on tickets sold in each class.

crash barriers in queue area and not tape on the floor

maybe sell tickets by the batch as opposed to an email sent months later that folk claim not to have had. Batches missing from Eventbrite offline tickets are a problem

 

 

[Finkyjd]

Commented separately about things that could have been done a lot better, but one ,( maybe odd) positive was during the shoot for Millie. The steward very clearly detailed the contact required for the shoot & it made me feel really comfortable as a result  after all, I’ve paid and travelled to meet someone I admire , last thing I want to do is make them feel awkward.
she was terrific & came across as very genuine in her interactions! 

[maegurwen]

 Got in about 10 ish. Had to go get my diamond pass which there was a queue next to some sort of generator. (Understandable that it was there but it was a bit too loud for me.) After that I headed to auto area. Ncuti's queue was quite big so I went to get Micheal's auto as his queue was a bit shorter. I then had a little bit of time so had a browse around the stalls. 

Headed over to photoshoot where a few of us were told to come back in 20 minutes, so I did that. Photo area A seemed to manage quite well although the queue exceeded the queue box. After getting out of Photo A, I walked into a wall of people and tried to get to Photo AREA B. 

There didn't seem to be a visable queue but rather a wall of people. My batch got called and I had no idea if I was supposed to queue or go straight for the doorway. Getting out of Photo B was a bit easier so I sat down for a while and then went back upto the signing area where I found another attendee talking to a crew member. 

I ended up going back the next day for my autograph, which is lucky 

Overall, I did enjoy most of the day. Ncuti and Michael  were wonderful to talk to briefly. 

[MVronsky78]

My experience seems to echo everyone else's here.  Agree with Mae that whatever that generator was, it was most unpleasant to queue alongside on Saturday morning to get your Diamond Pass(es).  I only met Michael Sheen and he was great, and May Calamawy who was quiet but nice.  As for photoshoot handling, any largeish photo shoot queue needs a volunteer who has at least one of these attributes: a) confidence b) loud c) tall  d) decisive.  Unfortunately the chap in the hat managing the Michael Sheen photoshoot (AM, area B) appeared to possess none of these qualities, but I wish him the best of luck next time - without volunteers we don't get a show, it's a thankless job like football referee.

It's a learning experience for volunteers just like it is for customers visiting such an event for the first time.

[Mfahey79]

On 11/17/2024 at 11:24 PM, TitchDEV said:

STOP OVERSELLING DIAMOND PASSES. LIMIT THEM. WE WOULD SO MUCH RATHER THEM SELL OUT AND PEOPLE WHO PAY GET A HUMANE EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN EVERYONE GET A CHANCE, BUT HERDED LIKE CATTLE OR MISS OUT ENTIRELY. Management and Queueing needs a huge improvement.

100% this. Cut the numbers of passes being sold and return the exclusivity of them and I'll add this into the mix, I will happily pay a little extra on a diamond pass if they made them more limited. I'd rather this than them over sell them

[Mfahey79]

I can only really comment on my experience, I was one of the lucky ones, I had a low pass for Ncuti and Millie, so my photoshoot experience was less stressful than most, as I was one of the early ones through, but even from where I was all you could see was a mass of people, and the usual with big guests, everyone milling around waiting for their batch to be called, I've seen it over the years where people are told if you dont have batch x,y or z to step back give everyone space and we'll call your batch shortly. I dont know if this was happening this time. 

Ncuti's autograph, despite them trying to get everybody moving, it didnt feel like a conveyor belt, he was genuinely happy to be there, and having a brief chat with everyone, again I was early so dont know if that changed later on.

Millie's Autograph, again she seemed really happy to meet everyone, and again was quite chatty. My only negative was I smudged the personalisation on way out, my fault but nothing major, never happened before

The only other guest I met was Kieren Bew, who was taking time to chat to everyone, and again looked like he was loving his time there

I did see the aftermath on the socials, and photos, and to be honest it was not unexpected with the amount of diamond batches sold, and then shortened days, it's like they've forgotten the furore over Joseph Quinn, and not learnt the lessons of his appearance. Had he done the full day, would he have got through all the diamond passes and standard batches? 

[denton83]

I unfortunatly had batch 11 for Ncuti's photo shoot on Saturday so missed out. My friend was batch 2 and she didn't even get hers. I couldn't come back on the Sunday. I'm waiting on my refund to go through. I did get my photo with Michael Sheen who was so lovely and i got a hug. 

[scifisteve]

Has anyone got their refunds? I am still witing for one for the Katie Dickie Photoshoot

[Mfahey79]

On 11/24/2024 at 5:18 PM, scifisteve said:

Has anyone got their refunds? I am still witing for one for the Katie Dickie Photoshoot

I've had my talk for Ncuti confirmed

[denton83]

On 11/24/2024 at 5:18 PM, scifisteve said:

Has anyone got their refunds? I am still witing for one for the Katie Dickie Photoshoot

I got my Ncuti photoshoot refund last Friday. 

[TitchDEV]

12 hours ago, denton83 said:

I got my Ncuti photoshoot refund last Friday. 

Good to know refunds are going ahead with requests as well as automatic (I got my Talk Refund for my DP on Tuesday). 
All they need to do now is bloody upload the digitals!

[maegurwen]

On 11/19/2024 at 9:02 PM, Mfahey79 said:

I can only really comment on my experience, I was one of the lucky ones, I had a low pass for Ncuti and Millie, so my photoshoot experience was less stressful than most, as I was one of the early ones through, but even from where I was all you could see was a mass of people, and the usual with big guests, everyone milling around waiting for their batch to be called, I've seen it over the years where people are told if you dont have batch x,y or z to step back give everyone space and we'll call your batch shortly. I dont know if this was happening this time. 

They were doing that. I got told to come back in 20minutes as they were only doing the blue batches. I took a stroll for about 15 minutes. 

[maegurwen]

On 11/19/2024 at 3:40 PM, MVronsky78 said:

My experience seems to echo everyone else's here.  Agree with Mae that whatever that generator was, it was most unpleasant to queue alongside on Saturday morning to get your Diamond Pass(es).  I only met Michael Sheen and he was great, and May Calamawy who was quiet but nice.  As for photoshoot handling, any largeish photo shoot queue needs a volunteer who has at least one of these attributes: a) confidence b) loud c) tall  d) decisive.  Unfortunately the chap in the hat managing the Michael Sheen photoshoot (AM, area appeared to possess none of these qualities, but I wish him the best of luck next time - without volunteers we don't get a show, it's a thankless job like football referee.

Unfortunatly for me, it started to give me a headache. If anyone was in that queue and saw a red head putting fingers in their ears for brief periods on sat, then that was me.... 

I think they need to keep a megaphone handy in photoshoot area because it's a struggle to hear even when the crew yell. (at least with big guest queues.)