Unorganised Chaos

[retro_slippy]

krisq and loremaster. All I wanna say is good on you for being (in the main) rational, constructive and well... intelligent in your discussions about C4.

And to everyone who had a great time, me included to be honest! .... let's just savour the good bits

(thanks S/M for all the efforts!!!) and hope that the bad bits don't happen again, hopefully with convos between S/M and people like these guys!!

 

Life's too short people. Just like hobbits in fact.

 

Me out.

Edited October 8, 2003 by retro_slippy

[WomanofSoul]

For the record i'm 30 not a kid!!!!!!! everyone has a right to air their views, but when they don't want to listen to anyone else's and start slagging people off for replying, that's when I start getting a wee bit p***ed off!

 

[retro_slippy]

For the record i'm 30 not a kid!!!!!!! everyone has a right to air their views, but when they don't want to listen to anyone else's and start slagging people off for replying, that's when I start getting a wee bit p***ed off!

 

hey... the girl's got a great point there.

[krisg]

Im 29 as well and I think you know f*** all about business!

and i think that this post says just about everything i need to know about you.

 

really going now.

And try not to forget it either!

threatening manner too - you must be quite scary.

 

Glad I'm going.

[krisg]

For the record i'm 30 not a kid!!!!!!! everyone has a right to air their views, but when they don't want to listen to anyone else's and start slagging people off for replying, that's when I start getting a wee bit p***ed off!

 

it's not great practice to tell people to shut up or use profanity in your posts.

[C.Q.B.]

i thought you were leaving

[TishTosh]

i thought you were leaving

Lol!

[kyle longbottom]

Well it happens I am a little disappointed to not be able to talk to Dobby (toby Jones) but you dont get everything. So the guy who played jason needs to take care of himself before coming to see us. Don't you think?

 

Kyle longbottom

[fak]

This idea, I think, is a good one, and should be considered. I know people who would be prepared to pay a small fee (maybe with a reduced autograph price) to guarantee a ticket, and doesn't discriminate against people physically unable to wait outside a shopping centre at 05:30

SELL PRE PAID TICKETS FOT STAR SIGNINGS – nuff said – sell 500 tickets that guarantee an autograph pre event and give 200-300 out on the day first come first served – you then won’t get people travelling hundred of miles only to go home empty handed – it will also stop people touting virtual raffle tickets.

[Colonel Jack O'Neill]

I think people have to stop complaining about the tickets being handed out early on sunday, it doesnt make any difference, if you think it does then you cant have thought it through.

 

The fact is, if they had started handing them out at 10am the queue would have been a few hours longer with the people who got their ticket early and you would have still been in the same place in the queue, if you didnt get a ticket then you were never going to get a ticket, except it, if you want a ticket, doesnt matter what time the event starts, be there no later than 9am, its that simple, maybe earlier.

[Sam's Girl]

I think people have to stop complaining about the tickets being handed out early on sunday, it doesnt make any difference, if you think it does then you cant have thought it through.

 

The fact is, if they had started handing them out at 10am the queue would have been a few hours longer with the people who got their ticket early and you would have still been in the same place in the queue, if you didnt get a ticket then you were never going to get a ticket, except it, if you want a ticket, doesnt matter what time the event starts, be there no later than 9am, its that simple, maybe earlier.

Quite right- & haven't we had enough of this topic!!!

[emotionalvampire]

Im 29 as well and I think you know f*** all about business!

and i think that this post says just about everything i need to know about you.

 

really going now.

And try not to forget it either!

threatening manner too - you must be quite scary.

 

Glad I'm going.

How can you class that as 'threatening manner'. Do you find remarks concerning your memory threatening? If someone tells you that 'you have a memory like a sieve', is that fighting talk to you?

[spudulator]

Yes, let's stop dwelling on this ticket thing. It is utterly irrelevant what time the tickets are handed out, what matters is how many people are there at a given time! By 9am, there were already more people there than any of the guys could physically see in a day. The tickets could have been handed out at 6am, at the end of the day all that ticket is, is a representation of YOUR PLACE IN THE QUEUE!!! Nothing more! If you are the 500th person to arrive, you get ticket number 500.

Everyone seems to have forgotten the basic reason why tickets are used, and that is so that you don't have to stand in a queue for 8 hours!

Of course it is unfortunate that a lot of people were disappointed but let's face it, there was NO WAY that the guys could see every single person there, in fact, they probably weren't going to see even a quarter of those that turned up.

So instead of tearing strips off Showmasters, why not try to appreciate the fact that despite everything, they got the Hobbits to C4 and made a lot of people very happy.

 

Spudulator

[kithara]

Okay... I thought about joining in here for a while. First I did not want to, but as it has been said previously that nobody of the people who travelled far complained… so here are the first complaints. I apologize if things have been said here already… but I caught a nasty cold during the event, and I can’t follow the whole discussion.

 

I came from Germany with my friend. We both knew it was going to be mayhem, we booked hotel rooms and wouldn’t have needed them anyway because we spent two nights in the freezing cold outside of the Centre.

 

Personally, I find it extremely amusing that some people here are defending Showmasters with sentences like “They don’t have a crystal ball.” They make the convention as per the fans’ wishes, they say. So they should know the demand for certain guests. If they tell the people turning up at 9 is okay, that’s ********. I knew that. But I don’t blame people for believing them. Some people out there think organisers have a clue of what they are doing!

 

We got all the autographs we wanted – I am not complaining because of that. It was not a pleasant experience. I am not blaming the guests – the organisation was just crappy. I did not expect to be able to talk to certain guests for an hour, but I did not expect what happened especially when the volunteers seemed to start panicking on Sunday.

 

I am in no way affiliated with TORn or whatever… But I really think some people need to make a difference here between “the event was great because I asw all the guests” and “I saw all the guests and they were cool, but the event was horribly organised.”

 

Let’s start with Saturday: I don’t know about the “Orlando Bloom is walking around here” story, but I was within earshot when one of the volunteers pretended to do a phone call saying “get Billy Boyd ready.” I can point the lady out to you if necessary.

 

On to Sunday: We were in line at 3 AM something. Fine with me, I chose to do that. At maybe 6 AM a guy in a crew shirt appeared at our door. He took our choices for the Hobbits down on a list and assigned ticket numbers. He said keep your number in mind, go straight to the queue and don’t move. According to him, you couldn’t get a ticket number for somebody else until you had been through with your first choice. So I went to Sean, two of our group to Dominic, and the fourth one to Elijah.

 

The doors finally opened – one door at the very other side of the Centre. Ours was last. I ran to Sean’s queue, only to find out that nobody cared about the numbers we had been assigned. They were not valid. The queuemaster was very rude when I asked him about that.

Next thing I know is the two girls from the Dom lines start signalling they’d need to talk to me. I say sorry to the queuemaster and go to see what’s happening. They told me that you could get tickets for all three Hobbits at the same time, and that the people in line for Dom could get more than one ticket if they asked. So I ran again to get tickets for Dom and Elijah. Got a ticket for Dom in the middle of the first book, and one for Elijah in the upper middle of the first book. Better than most people. But I decided to complain anyway, because of the incident with the pre-assigned ticket numbers and the fact that people could get more than one ticket for Dom.

At the Showmasters booth, I was again being shouted at. I talked to an older lady who forwarded my request to somebody higher up in the ranks as it seems… who didn’t bother to even come up to me herself. Again, she was very rude, claiming that the person assigning the ticket numbers was not a volunteer, but Centre staff (which he wasn’t). I got repeatedly told that she wouldn’t let me queue jump for Elijah… what I didn’t want to, I just wanted somebody to tell off that freaking person who started that mess. I was being told that I accepted the risk of being at the door that opened last by showing up – news to me, but again, not the actual problem! In the end, I gave up. It was obviously useless. There was more than one person complaining about just the same thing at that time, and was who ignored.

 

I went back to the Sean queue, and some minutes later he started signing. That was a quite nice experience, he really took his time, I got a personalised autograph and later even a picture with him. Similar with Andy.

 

Three or four hours hours later my numbers were called for Elijah and Dominic. First thing was crew members barging “no personalisations” for both. In front of me was an obvious dealer who had 22 poster he got signed from Elijah. To quote Elijah “oh my god.” Within that time, at least three more people could have been through. I tried to take some photos from the queue during that – and some volunteers kept on blocking the people from taking pictures on purpose. People were flashing from everywhere, but once you had a good chance (and you paid money to get that near), a volunteer was in the picture. So I got shoved through for Elijah – I only dared asking him how the appendix surgery went and if he was okay (when he was signing my pictures) and a volunteer almost killed me with his looks. Elijah looked at me like a deer in the headlight because somebody was talking to him. It was even worse for Dom, I couldn’t even say “hi”.

 

Nevertheless, I saw several crying kids that day already, and I also noticed people offering money just to get ticket stubs. It should be even worse the day after… when I heard that supposedly somebody got hit, I was not surprised.

 

Then in the “The two towers” screening somebody (I can’t put faces to the names, it was my first time at Collectormania) said 700 people had spent the night outside. It was seven people, and I was one of them. But we knew that the people would panic if that spread. So my friend and I decided to leave the screening and get outside the Centre, while the two others got us at least blankets.

 

The Centre doors opened early on Monday, and it was really appreciated. I would have killed for a rest room, plus it was a stormy night. And there were already about 200 people in line at 5 AM. So you had your chance, but you were screwed if you had listened to Showmasters’ advice.

On to the queue: I made it in the first group for Elijah, behind me tickets were being handed out. After a while I politely asked Dom’s queuemaster if I might have a Dom ticket also. He refused, saying I had a good place for Elijah and just needed to go through after that, Dom’s queue would not be very long, I’d still get a good ticket. I tried explaining him that all people who behind me get tickets for Elijah would queue for Dom then, too. But he wouldn’t listen. Somebody besides me tried the same approach, and was told “Tough luck. You gotta make a decision.”

The most pleasant experience of the day was then meeting Elijah. But not before noticing something very unpleasant again… several people just kept on squeezing through without a ticket. They were wearing C4 shirts partly, but no badge or whatever. Most of them were even “in civil”, most likely dealers again. But Elijah really took a small amount of time for me and my friends when he realized we had slept outside of the Centre, we all got a personalized picture and he was willing to do photos with us in a heartbeat. The downside of that few minutes was that Daniel Logan boy. He annoyed us to no end, and was also a specialist for the stepping in on pictures thing! Who appointed him head security or whatever he prentended to be by all means?

The next rude awakening followed when I went to get my ticket for Dom: way beyond 600. And that is after staying a night in the freezing cold outside of the Centre. So we decided to get tickets for Sean again, too, because he was signing the quickest of all three, and we wanted at least to see him again. Until we were finally called in for Sean, we spent the rest of the day at the booth of Lawrence and Sala, two nice and very generous people.

 

At Sean’s booth there was another pleasant experience… they had put his table that way so you could get a quick photo with him. Why couldn’t they have done it for all guys that way? That was really fantastic.

 

Less an hour before the scheduled end of the event, our numbers for Dominic were finally called. It was tough to get through because so many people were hanging around at the booths and blocking everything. When we reached the booth, again the barging… this time “only one item each.” Great, so people finally realized that things wouldn’t work obviously. We were pushed through like cattle for branding – crew obviously in desperation to get as many people through as possible. Yet there still were tickets being handed out, although it was obvious people wouldn’t get through.

And again, volunteers let people (partly in these blue shirts again, but without a badge) squeeze in without a ticket. One claimed that was a volunteer’s bonus… was that official? Getting through without a ticket, and getting two autographs for you and your non-volunteering friend when the limit is ONE?

So I got my autograph, somehow even got Dominic to personalize it, and wonder of wonders the volunteer allowed me to lean over to take a photo. My friends behind me already were forbidden to do so.

 

One other thing I also noticed during the Sunday: there were volunteers giving out used ticket stubs to begging gawkers and groupies… that really needs to be stopped!

 

My suggestions:

 

1. Limit the number of autographs. Not to one right from the start, but 5, even 10 is okay. Just stop that 20 item plus dealers. Most fans do want one item signed, maybe two or three. With that limit you can make at least some more people happy, who will most likely be returning customers. And I recall from another topic that you are “doing this for the fans…” Maybe you can set up a special time just for the dealers having signed their stuff?

2. The photo thing: I understood that photography was stopped in the end, it really hurts the eyes. But did you have to start with the paying customers? The whole droling crowd at the windows was taking photos all the time.

3. Check on your volunteers more closely: besides three people, all crew members that I have been in contact with have been rude and annoying. And I have spent a lot of time in Milton Keynes.

4. Get some kind of a game plan set up for taking photos with the guests if you don’t forbid it in general. It can’t work that way that from time to time taking pictures is okay, then again it isn’t.

5. I like the idea with the virtual ticket system. But the way I experienced it now, it just doesn’t work – like some people getting two tickets at the same time, others don’t.

6. Also, all volunteers need to be on the same info level. That was horrible most of the time.

7. Clear up the booths from people waiting for their numbers to be called, and more important from gawkers. It is possible, I have seen it at other events.

 

There was one more thing that I can’t remember anymore… will add that later when it comes back to my mind.

 

Most important of all… do us all a favor and do not even try to get Viggo or Orlando until you get things working better. Somebody mentioned that before… there will people get hurt if things are going the way they did at C4.

[WomanofSoul]

Hope you get better soon, there seems to be a cm4 cold!!!!!

 

Showmasters have offered to meet with people to listen to their complaints!!!!!

 

Just one point and ok i'm biased but come on what do you expect when you get 3major star's a couple of hundred people?

 

Showmasters did a class A job!!!!!

 

Again hope you get better, i've been in bed 4 two days with this nasty cold!!!!

 

[shireling amy]

i agree with the first comment, the day was a complete disater i did not meet any one and i am truely annoyed, i dont think i will bother going to another showmaster event again it's just not worth the hassel, i think i will go shopping instead! that will never let me down

[Serkette]

I can't say I was impressed with the organisation- I think it was dreadful actually. After C3 they asked us for our opinions on how to better run the show for C4- it seems as if they ignored every single piece of advice.

 

The fact that they used members of the fourm (no offence to anyone ok?) as staff members after the first day was appauling. They have no idea on who they were "employing", no idea on what kind of customer service they could offer or anything. No wonder someone got smacked in the face (I have no idea who it was). I also feel that those forum members that did decide to wear a C4 tee shirt and run around for SM got priority treatment over eveyone else, such as being able to get tickets early for Elijah, Sean etc (and dont say they didnt because I actually saw someone do it). The volunteer idea should be stopped, i'm, sorry but it was unbelievably out of order- especially when they pushed in.

 

I was very dissapointed that I didnt get to see Elijah- this is because I too was told 10am, and when I got there it was too late as he had started early. But, he wasn't the main reason I went there so I won't say too much- but I know for many people he was and I feel for them.

 

To hear that they put the wrong film on is appauling! You paid £20 for not only Kane Hodder not to show...but for a film so bad I walked out on it when I saw it originally at the cinema for a few quid!!!

 

I also didnt appreciate one of the staff members telling my partner and I that we were only entitled to ONE Kristianna Loken picture. We had paid for two items, and we are two seperate people not joined at the hip. She was unbelieveably rude and spoke to me like I was a piece of sh*t on the bottom of her foot. She started going off on one saying it took too long and other people wouldnt be able to get in, and that we were lucky they didnt charge for photos. Just before we got to speak to Kristianna a TV reporter starting interviewing her for about five minutes- I notice the SM staff member didnt tell them to p*ss off and hurry up! Anyway, Kristianna heard how rude that woman was and actually apologised for her and spent a nice (not selfish) length of time speaking and posing for photos.

 

If SM plan on getting big names for C5- then please do an ordering tickets idea like Krisq suggested- it makes common sense. And don't tell people 10am when you opened at 3am!

 

But, of course I am happy with the event overall, I got to meet Corey Feldman and he was wonderful as was his wife. I also got to meet lots of forum people, and had a good weekend looking at all the stalls!