Foba_Bett Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Hi, I was lucky enough to meet Carrie Fisher yesterday and get her autograph in London. The event was fairly well managed by the organisors, but a little forward planning would have gone a long way too. No Air conditioning or fans, no seats, nowhere to buy a drink. This ultimately led to a vast number of Star Wars fans slowly turning to the dark side as their moods got worse! There were 2 queues. The fast track ticket queue, and the standard ticket queue. I had a fast track ticket which allowed me entry about an hour before the standard ticket queue.................or so I thought. We got into the first room which had Kenny Baker (R2-D2) & Warwick Davis (Wicket) there giving autographs at a very resonable £10 - £15 each, and neither objected to having photos taken too. (Thanks Warwick!) Besides the celebrities, there were only about 3 or 4 trade stands. Then we had to wait to meet Carrie Fisher, who was situated in the Library on the 1st Floor of the hotel. I finally got to meet Ms.Fisher around 2pm, about 4 hours after I had got into the event. Unfortunately photos were not allowed, but it was well worth the £25 per autograph. There was one person who had paid for 36 items to be signed!!! (36 x £25 = £900!!!) At this point, there were still Standard ticket holders waiting outside to get in. This was crazy!! They'd been there as long as I had, but still hadn't even got in to see Kenny & Warwick 4 hours later. Needless to say, not all of them were fortunate enough to meet Carrie Fisher. It was a very long day as I had travelled nearly 200 miles each way just to meet her. But how often do you get this chance??? If anyone else was at the event and has some comments to share, I'd love to hear them. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 I was there. I got to see her at about 12.30. I found the show was actually pretty poorly organised. As you have already mentioned, No Air con and no seats. Before they started letting people go through to see her, there was up to 300 people in the room. There was no air con, because it didnt work! I was there from 9am, eventually got through the door at about 10.20. Dealer tables were pretty poor and not much to look at. Everyone was standing by the door waiting for numbers to be called so it was hard to hear your number. From where I was I heard about three people complain about how poor the organisation was. Anyway, this was just the second event organised by these people that I have been to and this was as bad as the last one. Atleast though I got to meet Carrie Fisher though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foba_Bett Posted August 4, 2003 Author Share Posted August 4, 2003 I'm glad it wasn't just me then. That farce with not having her photos ready for when we got in was bad too. I was thinking about going to another event they organise, but I think I'll stick to the Collectormania4. Billy Dee Williams is going to be there for god's sake!!! How can you compete with that?!?!? Meeting 2 main Star Wars characters in the space of a few months!!! Almost better than winning the lottery!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bohan Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 EV what was the last of their events that you attended? I have always found their events very enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 It was the JediCon in Basildon. I found that poorly organised and lacking in any control from the organisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTR Fan Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 But at least you met Carrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Owl Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 For my full views on the day please see the Liam Neeson thread in the C4 section - probably should have been posted in here, but hey! I found the organisers of the event to be extremely arogant actually. They were not approachable at all and unless it is another event like the Carrie one I very much doubt I will attend anything put up by these guys in the future. A couple of weeks ago I asked a few questions on their forum and on their live chat box thing and found them to be extremely rude and on top of that they were not giving much info about the event away despite charging the admission price that they did. Very poorly organised, but then I am not sure how much of that was down to Carrie herself. Having read EV's post though I am not too sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 There events are all extreamly unorganised, At all the Expos they have all the lines like cross over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 For my full views on the day please see the Liam Neeson thread in the C4 section - probably should have been posted in here, but hey! I found the organisers of the event to be extremely arogant actually. They were not approachable at all and unless it is another event like the Carrie one I very much doubt I will attend anything put up by these guys in the future. A couple of weeks ago I asked a few questions on their forum and on their live chat box thing and found them to be extremely rude and on top of that they were not giving much info about the event away despite charging the admission price that they did. Very poorly organised, but then I am not sure how much of that was down to Carrie herself. Having read EV's post though I am not too sure. Im sorry to say that it cannot all be blamed on Carrie. According to them you were not allowed to take pictures and this was news to them. As in they only found out that day. However, my inside sources told me about 2 weeks ago that photos were not allowed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bohan Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 actually the organisers confirmed roughly 2-3 weeks ago that no photos where allowed, and they made no secret of that. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 actually the organisers confirmed roughly 2-3 weeks ago that no photos where allowed, and they made no secret of that. T Ever heard of foresight? They hadnt. They had a wonderfull idea of trying to pack 400 people in that room. That was the first mistake. Thats why so many 'fast track' people ended up waiting outside to way gone 11, yet they had paid £20 for entry. They hadnt planned on people wanting to go to the toilet or drinking. So much so that in my belief the hotel had told them not to let people wander around. Therefore the venue was a bad choice. Finally queueing on stairs is hardly great and I think could even be in breach of certain health and safety regulations. I have been to quite a few events in my time, so I can speak from experience when I say that they are badly organised. It would also seem that others tend to be in agreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Owl Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 actually the organisers confirmed roughly 2-3 weeks ago that no photos where allowed, and they made no secret of that. Rubbish!! I asked this question no more than a week before and I was told they didn't know and wouldn't know for definate until her management let them know - they told me if I didn't like their answers to bugger off basically - I raised my concerns at the fact they were giving little info away about the signing - I was met with rudery and ignorance. I find it hard to believe that the lot who organised the Carrie event could organise a **** up in a brewery let alone an enjoyable and well planned convention/signing event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 Also, even there they acted all shocked that she wouldnt allow pictures to be taken. Supposedly the owner (Paul I believe his name was) was peed off as well because he only found out when she arrived. He wanted photos for his personal collection. So they didnt know until she arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bohan Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 well that is bulls*** they are lying as they knew 1-2 weeks in advance, i speak to the guys who run the show a couple of times a week on the net and i was told at least 8 days before the signing that carrie's management said no photos. Even check the organisers message forum, somebody posted in the carrie topic days before the event about taking photos and an event organiser posted a reply saying that there will be strictly no photos allowed. I agree that this group can sometimes run poor conventions, but a signing like this must be very hard to get right due to the amount of people that turnt up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Owl Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 I agree that this group can sometimes run poor conventions, but a signing like this must be very hard to get right due to the amount of people that turnt up. That's a cop out. If it was very hard then they should have canvassed opinion from the fans that would be in attendence in a similar fashion to Showmasters. That location, lack of space, lack of refreshments could well have been avoided with a little bit of foresight/better planning. Don't make excuses for them - it was a poorly run event, and based on that I would expect anything else they run to be similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTR Fan Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 The event doesn't seem to have been any good but I hope everyone that went enjoyed themselves at least a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bohan Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 those who feel it was not run professionally really should go and complain on the organisers message board, maybe if enough people voice their opinions then they can get their act togethor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 well that is bulls*** they are lying as they knew 1-2 weeks in advance, i speak to the guys who run the show a couple of times a week on the net and i was told at least 8 days before the signing that carrie's management said no photos. Even check the organisers message forum, somebody posted in the carrie topic days before the event about taking photos and an event organiser posted a reply saying that there will be strictly no photos allowed. I agree that this group can sometimes run poor conventions, but a signing like this must be very hard to get right due to the amount of people that turnt up. Well it goes to show how great they are if they lie to everyone then doesnt it. As for complaining, as I have said above, people were complaining and they basically didnt give a s***. The answer they gave was basically "tough. You dont like it, then theres the door!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foba_Bett Posted August 8, 2003 Author Share Posted August 8, 2003 Looks like I've either opened a can of worms with this feed, or more likely in reality, the people who make these events a success (the fans) are voicing their opinions. Just as it should be. I've been to Jedicon events in the past and they were much better than this signing. Don't get me wrong, I'm well chuffed I got to meet her and wouldn't have missed it for anything. But keeping the troops entertained would have helped a lot!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 9, 2003 Share Posted August 9, 2003 Air con and drinks would have helped! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Owl Posted August 9, 2003 Share Posted August 9, 2003 those who feel it was not run professionally really should go and complain on the organisers message board, maybe if enough people voice their opinions then they can get their act togethor. My mate who came with me has emailed them raising his concerns and received a very rude response. I shall also be emailing them, but don't expect anything greeting my criticisms. I'm sure if anyone criticised something that showmasters put up that they would take on board the criticism and meet it with a more receptive response - but then why would anyone need to criticise showmasters? After all they consult the fans that attend their events through this forum, they provide all the neccessary info WEEKS in advance, they choose a superb location with facilities available for the attending public - their names is 100% apt - they are the Showmasters!! The future's bright, the future is showmasters!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emotionalvampire Posted August 9, 2003 Share Posted August 9, 2003 Here, here Darth Owl. At least we know where we stand with Showmasters and their events. The 'other' organiser just seems to throw things together and hope it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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