Howie Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Two things made me angry yesterday morning..it was not clear what lines where for what tickets and I was told that as I had a pre paid early bird ticket I was in the right q..then I was told I and others were in the wrong q..even though me and some others had q'd up since 7am..we were then told there was a mix up(no kidding!)and that as an apology we-those in the pay on the day line with early bird tickets-would be let in after the gold pass people and before the people who were in the right q and we were satisfied with that but after the gold people were admitted they opened the wrong door even though we were assured the people in the right early bird q would be let in after us..talk about angry..also Carrie Fisher had a sign up saying 'no posed photo's' but despite the sign people asked her and she was very happy to do this..I really think it is wrong to advertise this restriction (and to folk paying £25!)with out first asking the guest what they are and are not prepared to do...in Manchester Brent Spiner saw the sign saying 'no posed photo's' so he got up and wiped out the 'no'so the sign said'posed photo's please'..please SM ask the guests what they are and are not prepared to do before you put these signs up..it shows a lack of respect for the guests and us folks who spend a lot of time and money on these events.I already feel better for getting this of my chest and apart from these gripes I had a gr8 day..met some people who were really nice and interesting and the guests I met were really nice...Gates and Carrie are so sweet but Peter Mayhew was miserable and clearly only there for the money and was very rude to a couple who had come all the way from Leeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennylouise Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I saw the queue mix up on Saturday and it was a bit of a nightmare that people who got there really early got in after those who had just turned up in the '2nd' pre-paid queue. It didn't really affect me though as I didn't want to see anyone in particular so was happy to just wait my turn but our queue did have some light entertainment from the girls at the front of one of the queues, who, when 'their' door got stuck for all of 5 seconds were yelling and banging loudly on the door and then pushed everyone to get through the gold pass door. It was way too hot for that melodrama *bg* but gave us all a good laugh at the crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srbarker Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I went on Saturday and was getting my Carrie autograph at around 4.30 and the people in the queue were told apsolutely no photography and then seeing other people got great posed ones does anoy. When you have waited in the queue outside since 08.30 am and had a vt ticket in the 350 range it does beg the question who imposed this rule when other forum members said Carrie was fine about it. On a positive Nathan Fillion what a Gent and perfect guest he appeared to be there only to meet the fans and gave time to speak to all. Bring him back please! Oh and on the subject as i could only go Saturday please try to bring back Maggie Grace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manbeast Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I agree about the Q to get in too, Didn't realise i was in the wrong one until i got to the door Could have put some PA speakers at the back of the talk hall too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sazzra Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I made this suggestion on Saturday (and at GMex, but who's counting), so I'll try third time lucky - rather than 'pre booked' and 'early entrance' signs, why not have them in plain wording, like 'people with early bird tickets' and 'people with no tickets' Just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treehugger Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I really don't know what all the fuss was about. My friend and I were there before the gates to Earls Court were even open (6am). When they did let us in we walked to the main doors and read both signs. One said PRE-PAID and the other said EARLY ENTRY. It makes sense that if you have a pre-paid ticket you should be in the Pre-paid ticket line. If people can't read the signs correctly that's not Showmaters fault. Treehugger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charisma Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I was in the wrong Q and never got my xmen halle thing sat but otherwise it was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix8 Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I turned up just after 8am and got in the correct queue... not problems there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Evil Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 (edited) No complaints here.......got the two autographs i wanted(Fillion/Tudyk) and i didn't get there until 11.30 on Sat,also picked up a Superman Returns statue £50.00 cheaper than a certain sci-fi store......nice and cool inside the event unlike outside.....what more could i have wanted.....oh yeah a place in semi finals would have been nice! .....can i blame showmasters for that? Edited July 2, 2006 by Dr Evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiaora Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I really don't know what all the fuss was about. My friend and I were there before the gates to Earls Court were even open (6am). When they did let us in we walked to the main doors and read both signs. One said PRE-PAID and the other said EARLY ENTRY. It makes sense that if you have a pre-paid ticket you should be in the Pre-paid ticket line. If people can't read the signs correctly that's not Showmaters fault. Treehugger The only problem is if you're near the back of the queue then there are no signs to say which queue was for what. Cos we were in the normak one til we walked down to find someone to ask. If there were signs near main Earls Court entrance and maybe a few dotted on way down there wouldn't have been so much confusion. My only complaint was the Elijah photo session. It said that it was going to be a personal, and I just felt that him just sitting there didn't make it very personal. I appreciate that he didn't have to do it and I am really grateful that I got to meet him, but paying £20 to stand next to him was a bit pants. I guess my expectations were too high cos it was my first time meeting him, but I was a bit disappionted. L x x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeltz-lass Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 ...what more could i have wanted.....oh yeah a place in semi finals would have been nice! .....can i blame showmasters for that? I've no doubt that somebody will eventually!! BTW, were any guests announced at Earl's Court for C10/GMex 2, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostXinspired Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I wasn't in any rush so didn't bother me but they completely messed up the photo queue for Elijah Wood. First of all they didn't do it colour coded as they said so pre-booking didn't actually give you any advantage nor did your ticket colour matter. Next, our photos were SMA05 and despite our memory card of photos being about the middle lot to be taken we were the last, even up to the point where the allotted collection time for all the Elijah photos had completely past. Then some of them came back blurry! A girl I got chatting to almost missed the Filion talk that she really wanted to go to and some guy in front was getting very angry as he was missing the England match - not that England did very well! It was a nuisance but it didn't cause any problems for me personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobo1979uk Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Think Matt Groening got it right when he created comic book guy. Everyone on this thread saying 'worst convention..EVER!!' when you all probably had a good time and got what you wanted. stop moaning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuk Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Although I don't post on this board much, I am a veteran of many signings/conventions whatever, and the one thing that SM does do badly on is the whole posed/no posed photos thing. If you are advertising the fact that the guest is not allowing posed photos, then fine I have no problem with that but then it must be carried through. Communication is the key here, if the guest is happy to do that then it needs to be reflected in the signs. I imagine you lost a fair few pounds because people do not want to pay £25 without a picture to accompany it. Please don't come back saying its down to the guests because I've overheard conversations that tell me otherwise.......it is also sometimes down to the fact that the organisers are trying to make sure they get as many people through as possible.....there are other ways around that...the main one being that you make sure guests arrive on time. As I said, this is the one thing I think SM do badly....apart from that everything else is great....a good cross selection of guests, the staff are 98% brilliant. If they could sort out that problem....they would be absolutely brilliant! Johnhuk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zephyrbrett Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I was also someone who was upset by the queuing signs early tickets this way. Well to me that means early tickets, only to find out that was early but to buy. Then when transfering to the other line I was miles back. No one did anything about all those people who was in the wrong queue and no real fault of their own. And the second point once getting in and like every one else running to get my VT for Elijah which is all part of the fun was great but then we all found out that he was going stright into a photo shoot, then went to lunch, Lunch I cam understand. Why not have him sign a few go to lunch then do photos then sign again. That would give him a few breaks to. Think Matt Groening got it right when he created comic book guy. Everyone on this thread saying 'worst convention..EVER!!' when you all probably had a good time and got what you wanted. stop moaning! People write things on this forum to help improve things. Yes we all did love it but just feel a few thing would make it better than it clearly is. freedom of speech and all that. So just for a good note yes the show was great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptenbob Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Posed/No Posed Photos. As a crew member who's job it is to attempt to enforce this rule, I feel it only right that I chip in here. No matter how much people believe otherwise, no-one has any idea of how many customers will come to see a guest on any one day. It may or may not be fairly obvious that some guests *will* be more popular than others, but as for approximate estimates on how many will arrive to meet the more popular guests - there's *no* way of knowing, untill the day itself. Let's say that 500 tickets are given out for a guest, that's not a huge number, and can generally be handled by mid afternoon, at which point the queue would open. Let's say that 800 tickets are given out for a guest - things start to get worse. By the time the initial rush for tickets has subsided, decisions have to be made on whether or not there is time to allow posed photos or not - and no matter what you may think, my own experiences have shown that for every six people who get a photo, 3 or 4 will not have time to meet the guest, depending on how busy they are. This puts one (or often more) unfortunate crew member in the position of having to tell people that they can't have that photo - and that's certainly not an enjoyable job. Most people will understand fully the reasons for this, and appreciate that if the guest's queue opens later on in the day, there may be an opportunity to return for a photo. On the other end of the scale, there are people who will ignore the crew member and believe that it's their god given right to get that photo - even going as far as being rude to the guest when *they* have to decline. (Yes, I've seen this happen) Imagine if you will, that the guest of your dreams is attending a convention, and you manage to get ticket number 1000 - would you be happy for everyone else to get a posed photo, and maybe only the first 600 will have chance to meet the guest, or would you prefer the crew to attempt to ask for everyone's understanding on the matter, in order that as many fans as possible are given the chance to meet the guest? If you had ticket 1000, there is *no* way on this earth or the next that you would meet the guest if posed photos were allowed - this isn't a guess, it's a simple fact, as photos unfortunately don't just take a second for a quick click - there's framing and focussing, fussing over waiting for the camera to process the image, viewing it and deciding that it's fine or not.... you get the idea. As I said, most people here understand the position that we're placed in - that we have a responsibility as fans ourselves to help as many people as possible meet their heroes, and that isn't always possible if everyone takes a stand up posed photo. As well as all that, please consider the guests themselves - would you be able to stand up and sit down all weekend long, having had no sleep for 48 hours because of the travelling involved? There are some things that are just not humanly possible. Troy. Big Beardy Bloke who was Queue Manager for Elijah on Saturday, and Jorge/Maggie on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm1701 Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Although i realise that it is not showmaster fault, or even their responsiblity, but the parking fee at Earls Court is beyond ridiculous! £24 pound i ended up paying (I had to wait for my photo's otherwise i'd of gone earlier, but i don't blame showmasters for that). I loved the event, but Earls Court are fleasing their customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gebes Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 My friends and i witnessed the Q'ing on Sat morning, we all had bought tickets online, and when we saw the doors opening, we started to move. Yet, all of a sudden the door for the gold pass holders started getting used for those without tickets. A friend of mine, who did not have a ticket, somehow managed to get in and get a lower VQ ticket for Nathan Fillion. She had a number in the 70's and mine was nearly 150. This was the only thing that slightly marred the weekend, which was otherwise absolutely brilliant!! I had no problems elsewhere at all on either days!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smaug Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Troy - Hear hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4sure Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Ok here's a few moans... * Microphone volume too low or lack of speakers in the Talks * lighting in the hall was c*ap so pix didn't come out too well. * The queues on Sat were very confusing having several early bird ones * On Sun my pic with Lijja was passed to him to sign when the people in ahead of me were still chatting & standing in front of him. I had to watch him sign it without him even acknowledging it was mine. Thank God I had the nerve to ask Lijja for a hug before I was told to leave...otherwise I would of been extremely gutted!!!!!! Apart from that everything else was good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DavidB Posted July 2, 2006 Moderators Share Posted July 2, 2006 The lighting can generally be worked around with camera settings or post-event editing ... it's the same at many events, including Collectormania where the natural sunlight can be a pain in the @$$ from certain angles throughout the day .. unfortunately Showmasters don't control EC's lighting or natural sunlight. Would be great if they could though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4sure Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 The lighting can generally be worked around with camera settings or post-event editing ... it's the same at many events, including Collectormania where the natural sunlight can be a pain in the @$$ from certain angles throughout the day .. unfortunately Showmasters don't control EC's lighting or natural sunlight. Would be great if they could though! My camera settings don't like the EC lighting! Nearly broke me camera trying to alter them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howie Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 What I am saying is that sm should ask the guests..especially big guests like Carrie..what they/the guest wants to do regarding posed photo's..it is a bad situation when a sign says 'no posed photo's' and the guest does this..this shows a lack of communication between sm+the guests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crippsy_99 Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 (edited) What annoyed me, but though no fault of showmasters whatsoever, the models barely bothering with sunday!! After it was said they'd be there both days, was so busy myself on saturday, and they were too, I thought oh well, they'll be there sunday so i'll meet them then.. Sunday comes along and I walk past to see what the que for thems like, Holly didnt seem to even show up sunday, and Ebony had gone home by about 1pm!!! (didnt get in until just after 11 and spend the first couple of hours running around after various things) So gutted I didnt get to meet either of them, especially after all those threads So much for both days Oh, and again, not showmasters fault, at least, I dont think it was SM crew, sure it was UK Garrison people (just remember seeing black t-shirts with white writing), but how rude were they majority of the time!! The guys in costume were great, and having a good laugh and playing around, but the non-costumed people walking them around demanding everyone moves out of the way were just being plain rude, no "could you back up please" it was "Get out of the way now!" as they pushed you back and barged past clearing way for the ones in costume! Several friends had this happen to them and were getting quite irate about being pushed around like that..yes I know those helmets are difficult to see out of (ive worn one) and people should move out of the way, but if those guys can be polite still, then im sure the 'walkers' could be too! Perhaps next SM event someone could have a word with them to be a little nicer to people! Edited July 2, 2006 by crippsy_99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggsy Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 What I am saying is that sm should ask the guests..especially big guests like Carrie..what they/the guest wants to do regarding posed photo's..it is a bad situation when a sign says 'no posed photo's' and the guest does this..this shows a lack of communication between sm+the guests! I wouldn't say lack of communication.If a guest requests no posed photo's then that rule is meant to be implimented,but it doesn't always work some people will still ask the guest for a photo say if they've seen someone earlier on the day having a photo when the queue was quieter.If the guest then says no it probably makes them feel bad and people can then go on to badmouth the guest if that makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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