Apologies from Showmasters

[kelso70]

2. Dealers! Restricting the number of autographs per person should sort them out.. perhaps two or maybe three.. Obviously, the dealers and their helpers get in before the public and no doubt join the queues for the virtual queuing system first.. This is unfair

 

Yeah when I was queueing for Dom, I saw some dealer getting about 6 out of Elijah, well out of order considering the queues. I would like to see this restricted in future if possible

[ptenbob]

There is one point you may not have considered here.

 

One person out of myself and 6 others managed to get a ticket for Elijah, she very kindly offered to get our stuff signed too, and, though I won't mention any names, this poor girl and her mother very kindly struggled through with 17 items to be signed, now, just because we didn't get a ticket, is there any reason why we shouldn't take someone's extremely generous offer?

 

Not everyone getting multiples was a dealer, I got 7 from Sean,5 were on different items for myself, are you saying I shouldn't be allowed?

 

How would you distinguish between a dealer and a genuine fan?

[Jezebel]

This was my first Collectormania but common sense told me that unless I was prepared to be outside the door at the crack of dawn then no way was I going to get to see Elijah or any of the others.

 

I think the Showmasters did a brilliant job just getting the LOTR guys there in the first place. These are mega-stars we're talking about - of course not everyone could possibly get to see them - that's why, regardless of what time an event is 'supposed' to be open, if you're that desperate to see someone then you get there hours before to make sure you're first in the queue.

 

You can't please everybody all of the time.

 

I would like to say a great big thanks to the Showmasters. I know how hard they have worked to bring stars of this calibre to Collectormania. The organisation and dedication that goes into an event of this size is mind-boggling and it's very difficult to see how there can be much financial profit in it when everything is paid out. Well done you guys!!!

 

Personally I can't wait for the next one and if the Showmasters manage to pull off the impossible and get Viggo Mortensen to come as a guest then I'll be camping outside all night to make sure I get to see him!!

 

Jez xx

[kelso70]

There is one point you may not have considered here.

 

One person out of myself and 6 others managed to get a ticket for Elijah, she very kindly offered to get our stuff signed too, and, though I won't mention any names, this poor girl and her mother very kindly struggled through with 17 items to be signed, now, just because we didn't get a ticket, is there any reason why we shouldn't take someone's extremely generous offer?

 

Yeah I didnt think of that, thanks for putting me straight ......that is a very kind gesture of her

Edited October 6, 2003 by kelso70

[SALEMSLOT]

No apologies necessary!! I'm with Jangojohnny on this - the event was highly enjoyable and from my standpoint a great success. Amongst the traditional hours of waiting in line I met many old friends and acquired many new. An event such as this should not be just about getting pictures and autographs of favourite movie/TV stars and celebrities, but also about socialising and having fun with friends and making new ones interested in the same movies, actors, actresses etc.., as oneself. Those people that have been complained incessantly about the event and the organisation of such have lost sight of some of the reasons that make these events so enjoyable. ITS NOT JUST ABOUT AUTOGRAPHS! If you can understand and accept this you might start enjoying the events more and do less complaining. If you can take time to complain, take time to get up early and arrive at the event early in order to get the tickets for autographs like the majority of us.

 

P.S. Hope the picture of hum3z is actually her and how do I get her number!?

 

[SALEMSLOT]

P.P.S. Check out rachiepachie2001. Very attractive also and looks remarkably like Gollum. Hang on a minute, what's happening? Everyone on this site is starting to look like a movie star!!

[Rockstar6662]

An event such as this should not be just about getting pictures and autographs of favourite movie/TV stars and celebrities, but also about socialising and having fun with friends and making new ones interested in the same movies, actors, actresses etc.., as oneself. 

Well said. This was my first such event and while I went on my own, I had a great time just soaking up the atmosphere, chatting to one or two people while in queues and just being there really.

 

I was lucky enough to get the autographs I wanted on Friday and Saturday but had just as much fun looking at the stalls and going to the Buffy talk on Saturday evening, which was great fun.

 

I'm sure there were problems encountered by people but I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

[SerbianJanet]

I went on Saturday, I got to meet Tony and Iyari who were the reason I went.

 

The only complaint I have about my weekend isn't even about the event and will be going directly to Virgin Trains, lol.

[harryo]

Mmmm I understand the disappointment at missing out on seeing the guests. For my part it was a great day-my daughter (kari) was happy therefore so am I.

 

We shared our tickets with some less fortunate than ourselves and so they got to see Andy.We took photos for on lookers, I even gave my ticket for Eligah.

 

Word to the wise-plan your weekend, you will have to come early, you will have long waits. Sorry thats part of the deal, you want big guest stars then expect big disruptions!

 

I have nothing but praise for Showmasters long may you bring these amazing events to life. Thank you

[glm]

hi,

 

although this is my first post, i've been lurking here for months now, religiously following everybody's posts on here so that i could make the most of my first visit to CM. Would like to add my own views to this somewhat delicate issue regarding sunday.

 

Having attended many events/fairs of this nature over the past decade, I knew it was going to be a VERY busy event, hence the reasons for me keeping an eye on all the tips people gave out on here over the past few weeks.

 

The vast majority of people did say it was essential to get there early, to which end i travelled for several hours on the sunday morning in order to arrive for aprox 8.30am. Unfortunately due to traffic problems i didn't get there until 9am. (before anyone tells me that is not showmasters fault, I am in no way suggesting it is.) What i do think IS very poor though, as others have already mentioned, is the fact that the event was advertised as starting at 10am, and that on many occasions, people's forum queries on what time to arrive in order to have a good chance of getting tickets for the queues were constantly responded to with the reassurance that if you got there around about opening time, you'd not have a problem. Again.... I'm not being naive here..... I'm well aware that the attendance numbers were going to be HUGE... but IMHO it was WRONG to have started giving out the tickets at 8.30am having led everyone to believe they'd be given out from a later timepoint.

 

I was disapointed to find that all the LOTR tickets had gone by the time i got there.... and can only say that the constant reassurances on the forum that getting there between 9am and noon at the latest and everything would be fine were a little misleading in the end. (not due to the organisers underestimating the crowds...nobody has a crystal ball - but simply based on the fact that the tickets were given out pre- 9am after all that had been said)

 

At the end of the day, with these sort of events, it's the luck of the draw. Congratulations to all those who got there early enough to meet all the LOTR people. No hard feelings, well done!

 

My main reason for posting here today though, is something that i do hope the organisers will read and take on board for future events, and that is the subject of queue control.

 

My highest priority personally was to get to meet kristanna loken and get a signed picture. To that end, the first thing i did as soon as i arrived was join the long queue for obtaining tickets that was leading off to the left of the area where kristanna and various others were due to be seated. I queued for about an hour, before reaching the actual signing area... only to discover that once you reached that area, there didn't appear to be anyone controlling the crowds for each individual line. People were aproaching from the opposite side and walking straight up to the person handing out the tickets to meet kristanna, which really made a mockery of the fact that everyone else had patiently queued for 60 minutes + from the opposite direction.

 

However, I was pleased to have obtained a ticket in the early 300's and having been told that Kristanna unfortunately wouldn't be there until 12pm and to go back at aproximately 2pm when it would be time for me to get to meet her, i then quite happily made the most of the next few hours queuing to meet the various cast members from Harry Potter in order to obtain signed photos for my daughters.

 

To all of those members of the cast - thank you - my children were over the moon at getting the autographs, it has made their day/week/year. To showmasters - thank you too...for being able to get such great guests to attend. I have no idea how you do it... for that part of the event...you have my full admiration.

 

Here's my observations about what could be done to improve matters from my experience in the afternoon though -

 

Having been told to go back for meeting kristanna at aprox 2pm, myself and my wife went off to look round the stalls, finish obtaining the other required signed photos from everyone else and then went to have some lunch. Having returned at around 1.45pm to check on how the queue was doing and see if we were near to getting our turn, we discovered that Kristanna was due to take a lunch break herself at 2pm. Some might say this was a bit cheeky considering she hadn't arrived until just 2 hours beforehand.... but i would say everyone has to eat, so fair enough. Was still very happy that i'd got my queue ticket, and patiently headed off again to kill some more time before my number was due to be called. We then returned again at aprox 2.45pm, only to discover that Kristanna was still signing and according to a few people i spoke to she hadn't spent long away from the table for lunch, if in fact she had even left at all. Fair enough.... but what puzzled me in that case was why the ticket numbers listed that had been called so far hadn't changed in the past hour. I can only presume this was because there was still a steady flow of people who had earlier numbers, that had been busy in the queues for the LOTR people...and were only just arriving at Kristanna's queue. (this became apparent when the number on the board said 260 and the guy standing next to me had a ticket in the 70- 80 range.) Everyone in the crowd was encouraging those with the lower numbered tickets to get to the front and take their rightful place. The problem was, there were so many people milling around, those with lower numbered tickets were unable to all reach the front area and so the person who was supposed to be stewarding was repeatedly calling out for anyone with ticket no's 260 or below to go to the front, and nobody was able to move. Meanwhile, there were only a small handful of people actually in the proper queue past the steward who were within minutes of getting their autographs.

 

It has been pointed out earlier in this thread that one particular person who was operating in the Kristanna queue was acting in a somewhat unprofessional manner by constantly swearing and seemingly being quite short tempered with everybody who was trying to queue up or confirm what number the queue was up to. I believe this to be the same person who i am talking about, and from here onwards will refer to him as steward#1. Whilst we were trying to establish roughly what time the next batch of 50 would be called, another steward arrived from nearby, who seemed to take a firmer charge of the situation. He began calling for all those with tickets 260 or below to remain in the queue, and for those above to disperse to enable a more orderly queue to form for those who's turn it was. He asked me what number my ticket was, I told him, and he stated that we should leave the area and return 45 minutes later by which point we would have no problem going straight up to meet Kristanna. Sounded quite fair enough to me, so off we went again for another look around to kill some time.

 

I had actually only got Kristanna left to meet after which point I would be done for the day and could be on my way home. I returned briefly to check again on ticket status - they were up to 285 by this point, so we immediately left the area again as we'd been asked to do by steward# 2 30 mins or so before... still at this point quite happy in the knowledge that our turn would soon be coming up.

 

In this respect, the virtual queuing system works very well IN PRINCIPLE.

 

Here's the point where it failed, unfortunately. Having returned to the queue/crowd for what was probably the 5th time by then to check on ticket status, despite the fact that the information sheet stated 285 still, it became apparent that whilst we had been staying away from the area as requested to do by steward#2, the tickets that had been processed had now just passed our ticket number, so my wife aproached steward#1 to enable him to let us go past the checkpoint and join the immediate short queue to meet Kristanna....

 

OH DEAR. steward#1 then proceeded to accuse my wife rather loudly of being a queue jumper and told her to go away. At this point, i joined her at the front of the crowd and established that the people in the front of the crowd standing next in turn to be let through had tickets that were about 20 numbers AFTER mine. I showed him my ticket and he was quite understanding, and happy for me to be let through before him. (remember, we hadn't done anything other than EXACTLY what we had been told to do by steward#2)

 

Amazingly...steward#1 then stated that yes, he knew that we had tickets that should enable us to go up BEFORE the people at the front of the queue, BUT BECAUSE WE HAD ONLY JUST ARRIVED AT THE QUEUE AND THE OTHER PEOPLE HAD BEEN STANDING THERE WAITING, HE WASN'T GOING TO LET US IN AND WAS GOING TO LET THE OTHERS GO IN FIRST.

 

 

Despite my explanation to him of exactly what the virtual queuing sytem was for, he simply failed to see the logic, instead deciding to become sarcastic by teling us that we couldn't see Kristanna but he was quite happy to sign his own autograph for us if we wanted it! When my wife pointed out that we had done EXACTLY what we had been instructed to do by steward#2 and began to protest at not being allowed our turn for which we had patiently waited, fair and square for the best part of 6 hours, steward#1 said he wasn't interested and said if we wanted to discuss it we should go and find steward#2 and "have a go" at him instead.

 

Luckily for all involved at this point, my wife was able to locate steward#2 who was nearby and as soon as we explained our predicament, he gave steward#1 a puzzled look and asked him why on earth he hadn't let us go through the checkpoint??? Poor confused steward#1 was STILL insisting that we hadn't been standing in the crowd directly in front of him and therefore weren't entitled to go through even as steward#2 was letting us through He just DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE BASIC POINT OF THE WHOLE TICKETING SYSTEM. I found myself having to reassure steward#2 at this point that we had no problem with him, as he was visibly stressed and upset at the fact that despite the best efforts of many, things weren't running exactly as they should have been.

 

Many thanks to steward#2 for stepping in and resolving the situation - most apreciated. I was able to then meet Kristanna, who was very sociable, signed a couple of photos for me and also posed for a picture with me too (something i apreciate VERY MUCH as I'm aware that others weren't so lucky) I expressed my gratitude at Kristanna for being so kind, and said all the time waiting to meet had been worthwhile. she responded by saying it was her pleasure and thanking me for my interest in her. Truly a wonderful guest.

 

Again....to the organisers...THANK YOU for enabling me the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Kristanna.

 

But please.... next time.... make sure your stewards/helpers are all aware of precisely how the whole principal of the virtual queuing system works....

 

thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

regards,

 

GLM.

[nave314]

i attended saturday,id never been b4 and i had a blast ! i met david naughton (hes so nice) spoke to him 4 bit .also met doug bradley,bit more reserved but had photo taken with him,so im happy.boy,im glad i went on saturday,sunday was a total c###k up.no organisation at all, no tickets for the ques like on saturday.i did que 4 peter weller but gave up cos people pushed me out of que,so i went home! sunday was such a dissapointment for me and no one to be found guarding the ques ?

[Spike's dream date]

I notice that no one is blaming the Hobbits for not signing faster!!

 

(Only joking )

[tiggerbabe]

Hi. I've just got back for C4 and i think showmasters did really well considering the amount of people that turned up. I don't think anyone expected the event to be this huge! My friends and I have been planning our weekend 4 months!! We had a fantastic day on Saturday and we met everyone we wanted to! On Sunday we arrived at about 9am and joined Elijahs queue. When we finally got our ticket we had 870something! Basically no chance. we joined Sean and Doms queues but their numbers were high as well! I was extreamley dissapointed (and yes there were tears!!) but it made me all the more determined to get them today (Monday). So at 5am this morning I was at the centre!! We waited in the car until about 5.45 and then joined the queue. We were let in to the centre at about 6.20. We then queued inside the centre until about 9.45 when they started to give out tickets. I managed to get ticket 119 for Elijah (Extatic wasn't the word!) Then my friends and I jumped in to Doms and Seans queues (Got 130something for Dom and 120something for Sean!) And was a VERY happy bunny!!

 

The organisation was a lot better today! I think Showmasters really learnt something from yesterday and hopefully this will make future events better for everyone!!

 

I had a fantastic time at C4 and can't wait for C5!! (The only thing that put me off were the hoards of girls chasing and screaming at Elijah and Dom when they went for a break!! They are having a tiring enough day as it is signing over 500 autographs without having to run away from hundreds of people screaming in their ears!!)

[Wyn]

Helllooo

 

Me and my sis and my mate Mike arrived at 8.30 and although it was mad we got to see Elijah, Dom and Andy what a, amazing day a bit mental and i would have been very dissapointed not to have got an autograph.

 

The only niggle i had was Collectormania telling us not to have our autographs personalised or have a picture taken the actor's didn't mind. I just feel when you pay £20 for an autogrpah you should be able to get your name and picture, which i got both of very quickly not holding anyone up.

 

We went to the fellowship screening and how wicked was that Elijah and Sean were soo funny esp Elija's laugh!

 

But apart from that what a brilliant day i had long but fab i'll be coming to C5 and def to the screenings.

 

Sam

xxx

[tiggerbabe]

The only niggle i had was Collectormania telling us not to have our autographs personalised or have a picture taken the actor's didn't mind. I just feel when you pay £20 for an autogrpah you should be able to get your name and picture, which i got both of very quickly not holding anyone up.

I got all of mine (apart from Sean's) personalised anyway. Just wrote my name on a piece of paper and put it down with my picture! It only took about half a second longer to sign!! (if that!!)

 

And i'd like to says thanks to the very nice showmasters? man in the Dom queue who took our photo with Dom if we had our camera ready and just leaned in next to him!! Thank You!!

[SALEMSLOT]

Well done qlm. That must be the longest reply ever. Very informative and well observed. When is the next book due? Will be buying!

[emilyweb]

Showmasters have absolutely nothing to apologise for, in my opinion. It was only because they do such a fantastic job and are so well respected that the guests were there at all. I think most people attending this weekend have no idea just how much gratitude we owe SM. Of course there are always improvements that can be made - and will be made next time - but for goodness' sakes, people, please just spare a thought for all the organisers, who have worked tirelessly for months - this weekend alone will have physically and emotionally drained them - just to try and make our dreams come true. If you were only there for the autographs and didn't get them, of course you'll be disappointed, but look at what else SM laid on for us... I got some absolutely fantastic pictures from the trade stands and the talks and screenings were fantastic (shame on you who didn't bother to stay for the films!). I don't know about anyone else, but I felt privileged just to have been there. Showmasters, from at least one true fan, thank you so much for C4 - Jason, thank you for chatting with us this morning and I hope you get some well-earned sleep tonight! Well done, and pay no attention to the whingers!

Edited October 6, 2003 by emilyweb

[Spike's dream date]

Yeah wish I had ignored SMs & got the personalised auotgraph & a pic standing near Elijah. Silly me!! I was there long enough to have got those things anyway!

[SALEMSLOT]

No one has blamed the hobbits for not signing faster!!

 

I am. Why did they not use their feet to sign!? They are definately big enough!

Edited October 6, 2003 by SALEMSLOT

[nobby]

 

I was one of the many that had travelled a long way to Milton Keynes and, on arriving (9:30) discovered that I was not going to meet Andy Serkis or a single hobbit. (V Miffed) I am not going to moan, judging from some of the faces of youngsters there, Im sure there were many more fans much more disappointed than myself.

 

Can I please add some constructive comments instead.? OK so I heard that many hundreds of people had queued part the early hours to get in first and subsequently the 1000 max tickets for the hobbits were snapped up within minutes of people entering the centre.

This obviously left those travelling from around the UK to the event with no chance at all of meeting ANY of the hobbits.

Could I suggest that for the next event where VERY big stars are going to attend, (yes Im sure you will do it again!) and where huge turn outs can be anticipated you offer prior to the event some kind of 'gold' pass ticket for each major star. You could charge for this, perhaps £10 or £15 say, and there would be a max of 200 gold tickets per star available before the event. The gold pass Ticket would GUARANTEE that buyer seeing the star of his choice. (only one gold ticket per person) This would mean that more people would get the chance to meet one of the big stars and it would mean that less people would have wasted journeys. I for one would have paid the tenner in advance just to make sure I was going to meet the guest of my choice.

Hope most people enjoyed C4 despite the problems, I still did, and this is still the best event of its kind in the country. Can't wait till the next one. Anyone for more Hobbits!?

[glm]

Well done qlm. That must be the longest reply ever. Very informative and well observed. When is the next book due? Will be buying!

 

 

cheers for reading it anyway

[toiletbowl]

Hello everyone, this is my first post after feeling compelled to register (although have been reading posts on here for months ). I attended collectormania for the first time Sunday, I had been looking forward to it for months, I first found out about it in June I think when the Hobbits hadn't even been mentioned yet and I really wanted to go, if I remember rightly the main guests then were the likes of the Rayment twins, kristanna Loken amoungst others and I was really hoping to meet any of them. I had never met anyone famous in my life and am pretty much too shy to go up and speak to them in the street if I see anyone even remotely famous. When the hobbits names were mentioned I was a bit dubious as to whether or not anyone that famous would show up to an event, so well done on even getting them there. I didn't get to meet them or anyone from Buffy as it happens, but after the initial disappointment, that wasn't such a bad thing in the end as I had gotten to meet the people that I had originally wanted to meet from all the way back in June.

 

I managed to meet Kristanna Loken(Gorgeous!!), the Rayment twins (I really wanted to meet these two as I loved their characters from the matrix), Robert Davi, Corey Feldman (childhood and still 21 years on faves) and Sauron himself!!! I have been watching films with Robert Davi and Corey Feldman in for as long as I can remember so it was a real honour to meet them and they could not have been any nicer, Robert Davi especially, he was a real gent, he seemed really interested in you and he laughed at me when I stood there pretty much star struck, I couldn't think of anything to say until he started signing, I also found it incredible that the Rayment twins, Corey and Robert actually asked me if I wanted a photo taken and not the other way around, they didn't have to do that and could easily have said no photos at all. I was really impressed not to mention pleased.

 

As for Milton Keynes not being a good place for it, I couldn't disagree more........not so far to travel as opposed to London (from Gloucestershire), parking right next to the arcade, enough to keep my parents and sister occupied for 8 hours, stuff to keep you occupied whilst you waited for your ticket to be called......imagine how busy it could have been in the centre of London!!!!

 

Now I don't know about any of you people, but an average day for me does not involve seeing Hollywood superstars from box office smash hit, let alone meeting, having photos taken and getting autographs from them.

 

I am not a rude or moany person, I took the disappointment of the hobbits on the chin practially straight away and went about getting all of those people that I mentioned above and had fun doing it, the stalls were also excellent.....where I live there is nothing like this and I don't drive so I have to buy all my models and stuff from the internet so when I can't stuff I am pretty much stuck and the stalls were really cheap compared to the net or is that just me?

 

Well done to all staff and celebs alike, it was a thankless task to keep people happy........but I for one was a thouroughly satisfied customer, so thankyou from the bottom of my heart for making some my ambitions come to fruition.

 

Sorry for rambling on.......

 

ben

[nightprowler]

I also like the many travelled to Collectormania 4, and I have to say since Collectormania 1, Jason, Andrea and all there team deserve a great thanks. I travelled all four days from Poole, Dorset and I got just about every guests Autographs and I brought a great many items of the dealers.

Yes there will be those who are going to make there point, but thats their right to speak their mind. I am always going to attend Jasons events whether they be in Reading, Cheshunt, Milton Keynes or Wembley (March 2004). Also I have always found Jason & Andrea great people to speak to, I even got a chance to speak to Andrea during C4 despite the fact she was busy she helped and answered my questions.

 

Keep up the good work.

Edited October 6, 2003 by nightprowler

[dark_ladymoon]

Hi Just need to say tickets today were late and still people didnt get tickets for Elijah, so to those who said Sunday they shouldnt have been given early as it hinders other peoples chance, I didnt matter today. (oh and today there was a small q for all others because everyone was crowed round Elijah like on sunday). I was there at 7 am and got ticket 283 for Elijah, and below 300 for the others.

 

Thats all i want to say, and before you all form a lynch mob yes i am just happy cos i saw all hobbits , I work weekends and miss most cons.

[nobodytossesadwarf]

Well i for one will readily accept ur apology. I may be slightly biased as i did get to meet dom and sean, but i did wait for 9 hours to get to do it. Even if i hadn't met them, i wouldn't be mad at showmasters, they did the best they could in that situation. Plus just seeing them would have been enough for me, i was happy just seeing elijah while i was with Dom.