GMEX Improvements

[Rach]

2. The queueing system. It was freezing and I am sure with indoor barriers, most of the queue could have been kept indoors by snaking up and down the indoor area.

928860[/snapback]

 

i totally agree with this. we were all freezing to death outside and it took atleast 2 hours for us to defrost once we got in. and mebie some signe telling you which queue is for people who already have tickets and which one is for those wanting to buy them.

[Jedi_Tink]

Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

928860[/snapback]

 

 

I can see your point here and believe me the crew do try and move fans along as quick as they can but this also depends on the actor as some of them enjoy trying to chat to their fans as much as they can....they know people are waiting and will chat for the same length with the next fan. Also, due to the vast amount of people who go to guests to get things signed, we can't allow people to go down just to take photos as there are people waiting who have paid to see this guest.

 

 

7. Stall suggestion - have a stall selling 8x10 frames or other hanging, mounting, storage equipment (it would have made a killing)

 

There was at LEAST one stall that sold frames-etc for autographs...if I remember rightly it was near the entrance..they also sell plastic folders to slide them in as well..they are at every event that SM do.

 

8. Stall suggestion - stall aimed at a younger audience as kids get borded and parents promise them with a toy if they behave when they meet the next guest (this would also have made a killing)

 

Again, there were a few stalls that sold toys.....or collectibles rather. I was with a young kid on the saturday afternoon/evening and he adored the star wars stall that they had....so they're definately some things there for the younger ones....however if you were thinking of more smaller things for kids such as things you'd find in woolies or something then I agree that we could do with one of those.

9. Update the homepage after announcements are made.

[Alx]

3. Why not hand out some VT's before people get in (say restrict it to 5 per head) so that people didn't get trampled in the rush

 

9. Update the homepage after announcements are made.

928860[/snapback]

 

Thats not going to hapen because it will always cause problems and people at the front of the que are at a huge advantage, and the people at the back are at a huge diadvantage even if they had prebooked early bird tickets to avpoid that disadvantage.

 

2. The queueing system. It was freezing and I am sure with indoor barriers, most of the queue could have been kept indoors by snaking up and down the indoor area.

928860[/snapback]

 

i totally agree with this. we were all freezing to death outside and it took atleast 2 hours for us to defrost once we got in. and mebie some signe telling you which queue is for people who already have tickets and which one is for those wanting to buy them.

928885[/snapback]

 

I think again with seperate ques that this becomes unfair, who gets to que inside, prebooked or waiting to buy. Also would have caused chaos at door opening.

 

A

[Queen_Sindel]

and mebie some signe telling you which queue is for people who already have tickets and which one is for those wanting to buy them.

928885[/snapback]

 

Sorry, but there were signs for that.

[rainbowsparkle]

Sorry, but there were signs for that.

 

Well, maybe there were, but if so, they weren't prominent enough. When I arrived at around 8.30am on the Saturday morning, there was utter confusion until two crew members came out to tell everyone where to stand. Even then, there was more confusion when the queue for people buying tickets appeared to be going in before the queue for pre-booked tickets and when I went down to check this for the group of people I was standing with, the crew members had disappeared and there were no signs. Fortunately, we were in the right queue. Then when I'd got in and hung around for a while waiting for my friends who also had pre-booked tickets, I noticed that the "pre-booked" queue had vanished and when I went outside to look for my friends they were still queung in the "to buy" queue because there were no signs telling anyone otherwise.

 

Anyhoo...

[Queen_Sindel]

There were signs directly at the entrance doors.

 

I was pretty much at the front, so that was obvious for me. I am not sure what SM could do about lines being as long as they were 30 minutes before entrance. Sign posts would probably get knocked over.

[gebes]

Q'ing inside may not have been allowed by GMEX staff, I suspect it would also break Building Fire Safety rules, as if fire had broken out, it would have been chaos getting that many people out safely.

[Marina]

Letting people queue inside would probably have caused more problems, I'm a fire safety officer at work (along with everything else I do), G:mex staff and possibly the fire brigade would have come down heavy on Showmasters. As that would have been a huge fire and safety risk.

 

It would have been an accident waiting to happen.

 

4. Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

 

Ideally crew try to get through the attendees that want an autograph. As for attendees hogging guests,some if not all the guests like to have a good chat with fans, as this means a lot to them, that you have travelled all this way. At the front of busy queues there is generally a crew member who does move on attendees so more can get through and meet their idol.

 

Hope this makes sense? If not will try and clarify for ya

 

Hugs

 

Marina x

[Dwarfer ZK]

I personally didn't mind the out door waiting or anything, and I didn't actually queue up for any of the major guests so that doesn't really effect me, I do agree with the lack of space that was used effectivly as well as the lack of seating.

As for taking a quick photograph of a guest without paying for an autograph, it wasn't a problem for me, I just went up and asked the people taking the money for the Harry Potter people if I culd ask the HP guests if they would mind talking to my friend on the phone, and then took pics quickly while they were on the phone - I went when it was quiet so I wasn't disturbing anyone.

The stalls were ok, crowded as others have said but still interesting.

The thing about the website been updated is the only other thing I can think of for me personally as a semi complaint so well done Showmasters for a good convention (And GMEX2 should beeven better now you hve feedback and know the venue's layout better, etc...)

[Too Tall]

3. Why not hand out some VT's before people get in (say restrict it to 5 per head) so that people didn't get trampled in the rush

 

Thats not going to hapen because it will always cause problems and people at the front of the que are at a huge advantage, and the people at the back are at a huge diadvantage even if they had prebooked early bird tickets to avpoid that disadvantage.

I have to agree with Alex on this one. It would be very unfair if VTs were given out in the queues. It would be like you were standing in 5 guest queues at the same time.

 

Lets say you're number 5 in the outside queue and you want guests A, B, C, D and E. Someone number 150 in the outside queue only wants E.

 

At present....

 

You would go in and get tickets for A (say number 5), then B (say number 20) and so on.

 

The person at 150 would go straight to E and get maybe ticket 20.

 

In your siscenario...

 

You would get ticket number 5 or below for all the guests you wanted.

 

The person at 150 in the queue would likely get ticket number 100+ for guest E.

 

Sorry but to me the present way is fairer.

 

And that's without adding the complication of there being an advanced queue and a pay on the day queue. Do you only give them out to those in the advanced booked queue? If so someone in the advanced queue that got there at 8:45am could get better tickets than someone that got there at 6am in the pay on the day queue. It starts to get really messy.

 

Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

928860[/snapback]

I can see your point here and believe me the crew do try and move fans along as quick as they can but this also depends on the actor as some of them enjoy trying to chat to their fans as much as they can....they know people are waiting and will chat for the same length with the next fan. Also, due to the vast amount of people who go to guests to get things signed, we can't allow people to go down just to take photos as there are people waiting who have paid to see this guest.

928935[/snapback]

4. Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

Ideally crew try to get through the attendees that want an autograph. As for attendees hogging guests,some if not all the guests like to have a good chat with fans, as this means a lot to them, that you have travelled all this way. At the front of busy queues there is generally a crew member who does move on attendees so more can get through and meet their idol.

 

Hope this makes sense? If not will try and clarify for ya

 

Hugs

 

Marina x

929084[/snapback]

Tink and Marina - I think you misunderstood Steve. He wasn't saying he wanted to go and JUST get a photo. He was saying it was spoiling it (i.e. making the wait a lot longer) for people that just wanted a photo (not a chat) when they get an autograph.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Too Tall

[steevofromglasgow]

3. Why not hand out some VT's before people get in (say restrict it to 5 per head) so that people didn't get trampled in the rush

 

Thats not going to hapen because it will always cause problems and people at the front of the que are at a huge advantage, and the people at the back are at a huge diadvantage even if they had prebooked early bird tickets to avpoid that disadvantage.

I have to agree with Alex on this one. It would be very unfair if VTs were given out in the queues. It would be like you were standing in 5 guest queues at the same time.

 

Lets say you're number 5 in the outside queue and you want guests A, B, C, D and E. Someone number 150 in the outside queue only wants E.

 

At present....

 

You would go in and get tickets for A (say number 5), then B (say number 20) and so on.

 

The person at 150 would go straight to E and get maybe ticket 20.

 

In your siscenario...

 

You would get ticket number 5 or below for all the guests you wanted.

 

The person at 150 in the queue would likely get ticket number 100+ for guest E.

 

Sorry but to me the present way is fairer.

 

And that's without adding the complication of there being an advanced queue and a pay on the day queue. Do you only give them out to those in the advanced booked queue? If so someone in the advanced queue that got there at 8:45am could get better tickets than someone that got there at 6am in the pay on the day queue. It starts to get really messy.

 

Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

928860[/snapback]

I can see your point here and believe me the crew do try and move fans along as quick as they can but this also depends on the actor as some of them enjoy trying to chat to their fans as much as they can....they know people are waiting and will chat for the same length with the next fan. Also, due to the vast amount of people who go to guests to get things signed, we can't allow people to go down just to take photos as there are people waiting who have paid to see this guest.

928935[/snapback]

4. Be stricter with the timeslots for the fans but not to the point where an annoying jobsworth ruins the event. The main point I'm trying to make here is that many of us who wanted to take a quick photograph at the signing were penalised because some idiot chatted to a guests for ages (this is a controverisal point but staff should move people on if they are hogging the guests for ages).

Ideally crew try to get through the attendees that want an autograph. As for attendees hogging guests,some if not all the guests like to have a good chat with fans, as this means a lot to them, that you have travelled all this way. At the front of busy queues there is generally a crew member who does move on attendees so more can get through and meet their idol.

 

Hope this makes sense? If not will try and clarify for ya

 

Hugs

 

Marina x

929084[/snapback]

Tink and Marina - I think you misunderstood Steve. He wasn't saying he wanted to go and JUST get a photo. He was saying it was spoiling it (i.e. making the wait a lot longer) for people that just wanted a photo (not a chat) when they get an autograph.

929202[/snapback]

 

Hi

 

Thanks Too Tall for clearing this up. I was paying to meet the guests and get the autograph. In most cases I got a quick hello with the guests, got something signed, took a photo and then left. It only takes a few seconds for a photo (especially as my partner takes the shot and uses our camera).

 

I am all for fans chatting to guests as long as:

(a) It's kept short if there's a queue so that everyone can meet the guest and those wanting a quick photograph aren't penalised; or

( If there's no queue then chat forever if you want.

 

Think about this. Myself, partner and son each had a VT and we met most guests in about a minute. In some queues, three individuals on their own were spending some time with the guests and yet it was us who were penalised by not being allowed to take a very quick photo of the guest with our 4 year old son.

 

As a result, we would have spent more money if photos were allowed (I've already cited the fact that we would have got Avery Brooks when he had no-one in his queue but decided against it as he had a "no posed photos" sign).

 

We also wish to say that we had a fantastic time and will attend other events. I know other fans feel like us - it was quite frustrating on the day to get stuck twice behind one fan who chatted for ages and in one case this person forced up the "no posed photos" sign when we would have been a fraction of the time and taking a photo would have taken a few seconds.

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[barney]

Theres 2 points that keep getting raised..

 

1) Guest hogging

 

2) no posed photos

 

 

my views (if any1 really cares) :)

 

 

1) its true no brit likes to wait, were all impatient BUT i think that if someone wants to chat for a couple of minutes with a guest, thats fine by me, they have just paid £20 and instead of just saying "i got there autograph" im sure they would rather say "i spoke to".. so if i have to wait so that some1 can have a 2 min chat chat with the person they admire... SO BE IT !

 

2) Posed photos.....hmmmmmm

controversal indeed... i personnaly expect the guest to accept a posed photo, that dosent mean they have to stand up, merley lean forward and let the person crouch alongside,it dosent take much..

 

I can understand a guest not wanting to get up and down continously, but if u look at my photo with avery brooks he dosent even look at the camera!!

Im sorry but some guests are just plain ignorant, and hes one of the worst !

 

If some1 travelled miles and paid £20 for me to sign my name, i would most deffo give this person some attention and if that means taking 2 mins of my time out to make this person feel welcome, i would.

[DavidB]

The situation with posed photos is always a tricky one, and there's no one solution.

 

Sometimes it's probably done due to time restrictions, others it's done because the guest doesn't like it, or it'll give them headaches or whatever.

 

Then there's the differing wants and needs from the attendees ...

 

Some would like more time to talk to the guests, and aren't bothered about photos.

 

Others really just want a photo, and aren't too fussed about time with the guest.

 

Either way someone's going to end up disappointed, so I don't think there's any guaranteed way to make everyone happy ...

[steevofromglasgow]

Hi

 

I'm not suggesting fans can't chat with guests and 2 minutes in my opinion would be the maximum time someone should have with a guest.

 

At Gmex 1 we waited behind 1 fan for 10 minutes with John Rhyss Davies which was taking the *?@!

 

On two occassions, I witnessed the no posed photos going up after (it appeared) crew were getting jumpy at the length of the queue after a few fans had been hogging the guests.

 

I'm very happy for a guest to lean forward and look (not even smile) at the camera as a posed photo. In Jorge's case, he only needed to glance up.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that photos appear to be stopped because queues aren't moving, but it's the chats that take far more time than the photos, even when a crew member is being shown how to use a camera. When we approached the guests, we had our camera at the ready to take a shot.

 

We collect signed personalised autographs for our son and also collect quick snaps of him with the guests (we frame the autographed shot and put a mini shot of him with the guests in the frame for completeness). This is collectormania after all, not wafflemania - I do think two minutes is pushing it but not deniable if a queue isn't too big.

 

Keep in mind that Too Tall's original FAQ suggested that some guests would have 800-1000 fans. If a guest was seeing 800 fans between 9 and 5 then I make that just over half a minute per fan (obviously some will be accompanying others, etc) and that's not including time spent at talks, breaks, etc which puts the whole thing into some kind of perspective.

 

We got to meet Andy Serkis, someone I really admire. I shook his hand, got him to personalise the photo to our son, took a photo of our own and asked him how he liked working on King Kong AND got a reply in under a minute.

 

We are hoping to attend the LFACC in London but aren't sure as we don't want to take time off work, travel hundreds of miles, spend a fortune, queue for ages and then when we meet the guest be told we can't spend a few seconds taking a photo because someone before us wanted to ask them their lifes history.

 

It's also worth pointing out (and I should have trusted Too Tall before we attended)

that we collected all 12 autographs we wanted (we missed one photo because they were stopped) by noon. I estimated we would be there till 3 and my partner suggested leaving at noon. As we were quicker than I anticipated we looked round the stalls and spent some there. If the queues move, people may generally spend more.

 

We were in the queue to see Ray Park and because it was hardly moving, a number of people behind us left. I also overheard many people wanting to get X's autograph but being talked out of it by a partner and friend because the queue wasn't moving.

 

All I'm asking is that fans should be considerate and remember the others behind them (if there's no-one there, then don't be considerate) and from what we saw about 95% of those were adhering to this. It was a great show and I am sorry for waffling in this post.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[feralmoggy]

The definition of a posed photo is always going to be a tricky one ... is it you both just looking at the camera or is it them leaning over the desk. It can't be much fun yoyoing up and down out of the seat to have photos but at the end of the day it is upto the guest.

 

When I met James Callis I had three things to be signed so does that mean that I should of had 3 times the amount of time with James? Does the person behind me know that I have three items so know I'm entitled to 3 times the amount of time?

 

I think the guest tends to dictate the amount of time they talk to someone and should there be an issue with the amount of time they're spending with each signee, then the crew member will mention it between signees.

[Too Tall]

Keep in mind that Too Tall's original FAQ suggested that some guests would have 800-1000 fans.

I wasn't far off, although the show was quieter than I'd expected. Mike Shanks, Chris Judge and Andy Serkis all did 700-800 on the Saturday. So you're right it does work out about one per 30 secs.

 

It's also worth pointing out (and I should have trusted Too Tall before we attended)

that we collected all 12 autographs we wanted (we missed one photo because they were stopped) by noon.

You'll know better next time

 

On the topic of chatting....

 

Unfortunately you came to an event were we had 2 of the worlds greatest wafflers, JRD and Andy S. They both love talking to the fans and will sit there chatting for ages. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I know a lot of people love that they chat for a long time. TBH this isn't really the norm and I think you'll find at LFCC it's not such an issue.

 

When it does happen it's a hard one to stop as it means one of 3 things has to happen.

1: The guests stops talking after 2 mins

Some will, some wouldn't, as I said above there are some guests that love to chat.

 

2: The attendee is considerate and stops talking after 2 mins.

There will always be some people that don't consider others.

 

3: The crew stops the chat.

This can get very uncomfortable, especially if it's the guest doing most of the talking.

 

Number 3 can be done, but the crew needs to talk to the guest about it in advance. I did this with Alex Siddig at C7. We had a simple but effective solution. If someone (including himself) was talking for a bit too long. I would pass the next persons item to him. Alex would then say thanks and goodbye to the last person and direct his attention to the next person. It worked well and we only needed to do it about 4 times the whole day. This was possible because Alex was a very amenable guy and was very conscious how many people he needed to see and wanted to get though everyone as he was only there for one day. But he also didn't want to have to be thinking of it whilst he was talking and so we came to the agreement that I would worry about the timing so he didn't have to. Some other guests are just not going to be the same and we (the crew) can't really make them.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Too Tall

[Nik_Doof]

At Gmex 1 we waited behind 1 fan for 10 minutes with John Rhyss Davies which was taking the *?@!

929235[/snapback]

 

I reply as you are making a rash assumption there that it's the fan's fault... We went to see JRD while the queues were quiet, and my partner eneded up talking to JRD for about 15minutes, not out of any fault of her own. Turned out JRD is interested in archeology due to his stint on Indiana Jones, so when my missues is a Egyptologist and JRD asks "what do you do for a living?" you cant just be ignorant and not respond. Sometimes the guests are interested to hear about you, just don't assume it's the fan's fault for taking too long :)

 

Also doesn't help that JRD and my missus can gab for England...

[be_insane]

my two pence worth...

 

Only real complaints on the day:

 

1. Queue space left for the guests,

I certainly think more space could have been left between the stalls and the queue areas. This would have helped considerably with some of the build up of people.

 

2. Toilets

What the heck was going on? more seemed to be closed then open!

 

3. Seating

Would have been nice having a couple of areas to sit down. The small number for the eating areas was just not enough.

 

4. Food

Although nothing showmasters can probably do - and yes could have gone outside (even though it was freezing!) wasn't too impressed by selection

 

Part from that had a blooming good day!

[Jedi_Tink]

Tink and Marina - I think you misunderstood Steve. He wasn't saying he wanted to go and JUST get a photo. He was saying it was spoiling it (i.e. making the wait a lot longer) for people that just wanted a photo (not a chat) when they get an autograph.

929202[/snapback]

 

Ah! Sorry Steve, misunderstood your post there, thanks for pointing it out Too Tall.

[mollochash]

I think that SM do great, I would not like to have to organise an event like this. most of the problems come down to igronant people not bad organisation!

 

There are a couple of things that I would suggest but prob has already been tried. I know it will not sound fair, but I think that maybe at a venue like this where you can close some of the hall off, like where the talks were, have the guest in there and only the people with the tickets that are being signed at that time are allowed through, but then this means that the ticket number boards MUST be kept up to date. This would stop the crowds a bit it think! I know that you would not be able to just get a glimps of the guests if you have not got a ticket, but if there is another area where the talk are then you could see them there without causing problems with the q's for the autographs.

 

Also may be have desks set up near the entrance where you can get the VT's from instead of having to charge into the hall, or in 10 different directions to get the ones you want, which is nearly impossible with a pushchair/wheelchair. I know it would mean more q's but has to be better then the pushing and shoving you get first off or trying to find the person who has the VT tickets for the ones you want.

 

As I said, prob already been tried.

[Aspen]

KFC rather than Allans Chicken Shack.

[DavidB]

There are plenty of McDonalds, BK and KFCs around

[feralmoggy]

KFC rather than Allans Chicken Shack.

930166[/snapback]

There used to be one opposite McDonalds but it shut down.

[Aspen]

There are plenty of McDonalds, BK and KFCs around

930169[/snapback]

Thats all Waterboy could find bless him on Friday

[turreima]

One thing, which I think would apply not only to the next event at G-Mex event, but to all events in the future, is the need for better communication amongst the crew. I know of where I speak: not only do I attend the conventions, but I have also crewed for a fair share of them in the past and I know that the crew are briefed at the beginning of each day. However, simple issues such as queueing procedures, gues protocol, etc etc, should all be fully explained to the crew, old and new, as every event is different from the last.

 

I love crewing, believe me I do love it. I've not had the chance for the past couple of events due to work clashes in my 'real world' job, but I've learned from that (being an assistant manager) that communication amongst the staff ensure a smooth running operation. It's the key to success! That, and plenty of punters .