LF&CC Feedback

[Psychosis]

No need to be hostile, I was kidding. Although I did sit on the steps, lol. Too much foot pain to stay standing all day.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Psychosis

[vbloyce]

No need to be hostile, I was kidding. Although I did sit on the steps, lol. Too much foot pain to stay standing all day.

 

 

I was definitely ready to sit on the floor & the steps :) I don't care where I sit when i'm knackered and my feet hurt from standing in heels all days

[Psychosis]

Me too. If there were chairs I would've used them, but I found myself alternating between the floor inside and the steps outside. And I was in trainers!

[cookies41]

Got to see most of the guests i wanted. Felt very lucky when i got to see Dom without having to get a VT ticket so was one of the first to meet him on Sunday

Saturday i wasnt planning on going but i couldn't resist and i wanted to get the layout for Sunday because i knew it was going to be packed. Met Harry Melling and Devon Murray chatted for a few minutes to both and they were both very nice posing for photos. Whilst on the hunt for holders i found out bout Adrian and Milo coming which i literally jumped up and down at (although now thinking crap there goes my budget lol)

Came back after going round London for the afternoon Mads had gone but i walked to the back where Dom and William where was thinking about seeing Dom but still had VT tickets while William was an open que and there was no one to be seen so went up chatted for about 5 to 10 minutes. Really nice guy, friendly and smiling let me take a picture of him

Sunday was Mayhem. Planned on going for 8.30 so i could get good tickets but that went out the window so got there after 9am and the que was massive. Did see a few people run for the Heroes/Patrick tickets but i just briskly walked Managed to get good tickets.

Overall i felt sorry for the Heroes people. They must have been so stressed out and tired at the end of the day, particularly Adrian and Milo who were last minute so they got a photoshoot in there as well. Also the venue was very dark but it didn't really register in my mind and i must have gotten used to it. There weren't many places to sit and if you weren't in the first batch of seats you didn't hear a thing at the talks (i managed to get a good seat in the Lost talk was great but Harry Potter one was bad couldn't hear anything). But it was a good event all the guests i met were vey nice and friendly

[vbloyce]

Me too. If there were chairs I would've used them, but I found myself alternating between the floor inside and the steps outside. And I was in trainers!

 

 

Mmmm trainers - I am wearing them today cos I can't face wearing anything else! ha ha ha ha

[gebes]

Yeah, the venue was on the dark side, but that's no fault of Showmasters, that is however a matter that should be taken up with Earls court management, as well as having more cloakrooms open..

 

Seating, same thing applies, a friend of mine however anticipated this and brought a fold up stool, that could be packed into a bag and slung over the shoulder.

 

Someone also posted about disability, if the venue is not set up well for disabled access and facility, then they can be reported and ordered to make sure disabled facilities are put in place.

[Evie_Nitram]

Someone also posted about disability, if the venue is not set up well for disabled access and facility, then they can be reported and ordered to make sure disabled facilities are put in place.

 

I might have been mistaken, but there was disabled access to the show, there were lifts to the second floor, and toilets for disabled access... I believe that's all the 'facilities' a venue like that would need to provide?

[chianasheart]

I hope the venue isn't used again, much much too dark and shabby and a wholly unpleasant place to be, please go back to Earls Court 2. I think we missed a section of stalls completely due to the bad lighting and the layout.

 

The lack of a VT board was a complete pain and one crew member barked at my friend when all she wanted to do was check what number a guest was up to the rest of the crew were friendly and helpful particularly the girl on Jack Coleman's queue yesterday - hope you got the auto in the end

 

We managed to get all the guests we wanted to Jack, Dominic, Milo and Adrian (apart from Patrick Stewart where there was obviously no chance) although it was a tense few last hours waiting in the crowds. We found all of the guests we met friendly despite it being a tiring day and how nice was Dominic's friend bouncing up and down the queues.

 

I think the photoshoots need to be rethought, perhaps limit the numbers to far less or go back to just autos. We came home happy but it could have easily ended in disappointment and I don't really want to go through that again. Thankyou to the staff who really tried to get the queues moving and called out numbers

 

We managed to get into the Lost talk but as we were near the back could hardly hear a word - William Mapother did his best to repeat the questions so everyone could hear but the acoustics were dreadful.

 

I must admit I might just stick to MK and Manchester from now on.

 

Regarding seating - you can't really carry stools around with you if you have long journeys on public transport and small children in tow.

[Sami_x]

It's understandable that huge events like this with A-list to z-list celebs is always never going to go quite to plan.

 

However, I do think a number of aspects could have been changed to insure it ran a little smoother:

 

1) a tannoy system or a large chalk board (etc) which is loud/large/high enough for all to see so that people know what number the VQs are up to.

 

-This would prevent the crush of people who couldn't see the miniscule boards, it would reduce the number of questions asked of the staff and especially as all the A-listers were put in one area, it may reduce the general chaos around there.

 

2) Queue dividers so that people can see where they need to be standing and so the queues are easily identifiable and seperate from one another.

 

-If there is a guided area, this could reduce the amount of people walking around trying to find where they need to be. Also, it will take away problems such as blocking the cloakroom for the photo sessions.

 

3) Don't oversell tickets!!!

 

-Hypotheses can be made as to the rate of people which can get through each photo session in the time given (taking into consideration how chatty the stars are). I got through the Dom shoot in about half hour and that involved a steady flow of people and he still chatted and was friendly! The Heroes shoot took over an hour, Milo and Adrian looked uncomfortable and they barely had time to breathe let alone chat (though Milo tried, bless him!)

 

4) Don't stress!!!

 

-to everyone. The photographer looked like he'd rather shoot people with a rifle rather than a camera which appeared to make it uncomfortable for everyone, including the stars and staff. The staff were getting stressed and ratty and members of the general public were getting angry, annoyed etc. If people chilled out a bit more, half the problems would go away. At the end of the day, these "stars" are ordinary people like the rest of us and I'm sure they will always turn up at other conventions. If there are particular ones you wish to see, prioritise and as long as you see them, that's all that matters. If you can't see your second or third favourite, it's not the end of the world.

 

5) Surely there should be priority for those who pre-order tickets for the photo shoots?? (not necessarily for the early bird though).

 

-i.e. if gold passes go through first, then pre-order, then the rest, this will reduce the crush of people and it should get through everyone (providing tickets haven't been over-sold in the first place).

 

 

I think there are so many simple adjustments which can be made which will make the day far more enjoyable for everyone. I got to see everyone I wanted but only be the chance of meeting people with spare tickets.

 

Other times I was constantly being crushed and sufocated (being small).

 

Oh and one more point:

 

6) Those giving talks should be on a mini stage or some sort of raised platform so that ALL can see them no matter where they are sat (I'm sure there was a platform for last year's Lost talk!)

 

HOWEVER, considering that LFCC is such a huge event and the majority of staff are volunteers, they have to be saluted. Although this was possible more chaotic than other events (with a worse location etc etc), the staff did the best they could.

 

AND REMEMBER, staff and stars alike are normal people like us! They can only answer one question at a time, 1 against 100 means they have little control, their hands do get tired and their hand-writing sloppy, they do get tired during the photoshoots ( they have to stand far longer than it takes for us to get through that huge queue!)

 

And if you aren't happy with something then ASK! I wasn't happy with one of my photos and they were more than keen to put the bad-editing to right. By the time I got to see my favourite guest, they had all stopped personalising, but I asked and he made an exception.

 

There is no harm in pointing out errors or wanting your moneys worth - just go about it in a nice way and people are more than not always happy to help

 

If you've read this far I take my hat off to you! I do ramble on at the best of times

[sazzra]

Has anyone else noticed the number of people saying they were allowed to join queues (seems particularly Dom's) without VTs? And does that make anyone else really annoyed? I personally don't buy the 'I'm new, I didn't know' nonsense - I managed to get VTs at my first event, and if you've visited the forums you'd know all about it (unless you're too lazy to actually bother reading the rules). I go to at least 4 of SMs events a year and wouldn't have dreamt of trying this, but maybe from now on I will, rather than actually bothering to get there early, queue and follow the rules! Of course, if the crew member involved was letting them, I guess that's where the fault really lies rather than the punters trying their luck.

[DavidB]

I find it very surprising anyone would be allowed into a busy queue without a VQ ticket. Sure, if there's room I always allow it just to keep the queue going, but not if there's a lot of ticketed people waiting.

[sazzra]

I find it very surprising anyone would be allowed into a busy queue without a VQ ticket. Sure, if there's room I always allow it just to keep the queue going, but not if there's a lot of ticketed people waiting.

cookies 41 has posted it in this thread, ellielostie posted in the Dom thread that the crew member tore up her high ticket and let her join, and having seen 3 VTs at a time given to one person with my own eyes I really wouldn't doubt it!

[Queen_Sindel]

Cons

Two sets of VT being given out for Hayden

 

That was because Hayden was so popular and they started another batch of tickets after the first one ran out.

[TommyT]

I must admit being a bit confused about peoples complaints about having the big guests together if they had been at other sides of the hall how would you ever hope to get VTs for them.

At least when they are all togeher you can hopefully get one then easily go to get the next VT and so on particularly for the heroes guests as most people would probably want to meet more then one.

Regarding handing out vt tickets outside when there is more than one queue. Easier to do at LFCC as just one entrance point than MK may be the tickets could be different colours. One crewmember goes down prepaid early bird with one colour and either another crew member does ther other Q with a different colour or if it is done early enough the same crew member does the other Q and then when they start signing they have say blue and yellow upto say 30 going through rather than starting with 1-50. An so on.

The trouble with handing out all the VTs outside is that it rather knackers the VT systemplus transforms it into a "winner takes all" queueing event.

What happens now is that if you're after a couple of "big" guests, you get there at a time when you feel you will have a decent chance of getting a decent number for them, working on the assumption that some of the crowd will be getting VTs for other big guests first; if you've got say five big guests, then roughly only a fifth of the crowd will go for any particular VT first - you have a chance.

Give them out beforehand, and then the first 50 people in the queue will get the first 50 VTs for every guest. And it's likely that if you're just walking past people offering them, they will take one anyway, even if only for a friend or if they are undecided; not a case where you have to go from queue to queue to actually get your VTs. The element of splitting the crowd amongst the VT queues goes, and the person who is first in the queue gets VT number one for everything. Result? You're likely to end up with scores of people queuing there from four in the morning or something. (Plus it makes it more likely or tempting to get there early, get a VT for everything they come past with, and then try to sell them on for a few quid, as "guaranteed" to meet.)

The other problem is with everybody at the front getting the same VT numbers for everybody, it will distort the early hours of the actual queues. If the same 100 people have the fist 100 VTs for half a dozen guests, chances are most of them will go to the "biggest" couple first (whilst there may still be a chance of photos and or personalisations, and not such a pressure to move people through), then the next busiest couple of guests etc, meaning that potentially you could have guests where only a bare handful of people numbered 1-100 turn up in the first hour, but all of them start to appear in the queues after an hour or two. Disrupts the flow.

Also, because people will tend to take one for every one they are offered, just on the off-chance, it will mean that more VTs are actually unused, changing the flow pattern of queues and making it more difficult to predict queue numbers. Because there's a bit of "effort" required to getting a VT now,people only tend to get VTs for guests they really want. Obviously there are a few dropouts as people change their minds or run out of money or time etc, but I would imagine it's reasonably steady/predictable on that front. If people are just going to stand there and probably take a VT for every guest, not always necessarily wanting one, it will become that much less predictable and harder to run the VT queue board numbers effectively.

[atlantisman]

I am a traveler from Belgium, and i am a con vet, and this was my second time coming to the LFCC and i have to say that i came on sunday with my wife and it was the worst con experience i have ever had. The staff was rude and unfriendly and EXTREMELY agressive and pushy and arrogant.One even made an unprovoked racist comment about my accent. They constantly told us to move even when we were standing nowhere near the signing area and they were grumpy and bad tempered and unprofessional and disorganized and they even bullied people in regards to photos and ALL of the staff especially the volunteers were pushy and uncooperative and VERY unhelpful.

 

We came in at opening time and still almost didn't get any autographs. Purchased regular tickets because i am on a traveler's budget and could not afford early bird tickets. If not for people giving up and their numbers getting bumped my wife and I would not have gotten any autographs. We showed up at opening time and still weren't allowed anywhere near a star until almost closing time. Also, it was next to impossible to tell what number was being called for because the signs were illegible. It said in the program that if the star didn't mind that you could snap a photo of them from your place in line but the staff wasn't allowing this even though the program said you could and i even head some of the employees for the con threaten to confiscate a girl's camera.

 

Add also that the area was small and dimly lit and slightly smelly and jumbled. There was overall no sense of organisation at all. There was no indication onsite to notify anyone that the con had switched venues. Things were so bad that my wife and i considered leaving the con around 2 oclock and going to the Hugglets teddy bear festival. ( I am an avid arctophile FYI.) We only stayed because we REALLY wanted the HEROES autographs.

 

I could go on much longer about what was wrong with this con. Also, there was no reason for footballers to be at the con. This is a FILM AND COMIC CON not Sportsmania. I suspect Showmasters did this to fill up the space left when half the film stars cancelled earlier in the month. Even before the con the disorganisation showed through, case in point the date change the venue change and the massive star cancellations. Last year was much better but this year's was so bad that my wife and i are seriously considering not coming next year. Showmasters really dropped the ball this year on LFCC. They tried to cram too much into this con and i got the feeling that they were stretched thin with so many cons occuring in the same time period.

Sorry Showmasters but you bungled this con BIG TIME.

[stavrosbel]

Pros: Got to meet the 3 main guests I was hoping to see (Dom, Billy West and Mads). All 3 were a real joy to chat with, talking about their various work and such like. One photo session with Dom and Mads, Billy was good enough to pose during his signing. Managed to pick up a session ticket on the day for Hayden, who was also great to meet - now a couple of my mates like me slightly less lol.

 

Cons: Dank, Dark venue. Poorly managed queues for big names on the Sunday. Photo sessions and talk start times could have benefitted from a loudspeaker announcement (I was about 3-5 minutes late for my Mads session because I was unaware of the time and he was finished, fortunately it was rescheduled for a couple of us who'd missed it first time - was surprised it wasn't more popular).

 

On the whole however, my first experience of a proper convention was a pleasant one - looking forward to Manchester :)

[Queen_Sindel]

6) Those giving talks should be on a mini stage or some sort of raised platform so that ALL can see them no matter where they are sat (I'm sure there was a platform for last year's Lost talk!)

 

I may have been seeing things - but there was a stage this year as well. It was a huge problem for the Lost talk though that people kept standing up to take pictures though, that happened to me as well. I had a fairly decent seat and saw nothing most of the time.

 

 

We came in at opening time and still almost didn't get any autographs. Purchased regular tickets because i am on a traveler's budget and could not afford early bird tickets.

 

I know this sounds harsh, and I understand where you coming from: but the earlier you get there, the better your chances of getting autographs. Too Tall's FAQ even gives suggested times when things might be getting tough. Going for several of the big guests without an early bird ticket is very risky.

[TommyT]

People buying early bird tickets on the day should have not entered the area before us, the people who bought early bird long before the event.

:uhoh: So there should be two different types of early bird ?

Early bird is early bird is early bird !

Yes I think that's pretty obvious business so where's the point of buying them in advance ?

To make certain that you get an early bird ticket.

To spread your costs before the show rather than incur all your expenditure on the day.

To be able to join a queue that person for person should move quicker than the buying on the day early bird queue because checking a ticket should be quicker than actually selling somebody one on the door.

I didn't say two types of tickets of course but the two queues should not have entered at the same time. People who bought a ticket long before the event had been much supportive of the event, isn't that obvious ?

It depends on how you define "supportive". Those people who are buying early birds on the door may have any number of reasons why they couldn't have bought online 2+ weeks ago; they may only have been able to confirm holiday, or budget recently. They may not be able to buy online. They may have been moving house and did not want to trust their tickets to the post office's forwarding service. They may have been unaware, or in hospital or abroad.

 

Do you honestly think that if some of these people turn up at 6am and queue, they should be forced to wait outside until you perhaps swan along at 10.15 and go in?

The logical extension of your argument is that if you got pre-paid early bird ticket no 38, then there were 37 people who were "more supportive" of the event than you, and so nobody (including you) should be allowed into the show before those 37 have gone in. (Apart from the gold pass holders).

[DavidB]

I could go on much longer about what was wrong with this con. Also, there was no reason for footballers to be at the con. This is a FILM AND COMIC CON not Sportsmania. I suspect Showmasters did this to fill up the space left when half the film stars cancelled earlier in the month. Even before the con the disorganisation showed through, case in point the date change the venue change and the massive star cancellations. Last year was much better but this year's was so bad that my wife and i are seriously considering not coming next year. Showmasters really dropped the ball this year on LFCC. They tried to cram too much into this con and i got the feeling that they were stretched thin with so many cons occuring in the same time period.

Sorry Showmasters but you bungled this con BIG TIME.

 

You say the 'disorganisation showed through' yet you then go on to mention many things that are beyond their control - the date change, the venue change, the cancellations etc.

 

That's not 'dropping the ball' whatsoever. They worked with what they were able to get.

 

And if you saw the Sportsmania guests, they weren't exactly using that big an area and weren't causing any problems whatsoever. Nothing else could have gone there realistically as it wasn't a decent area for crowded queuing, so I'm not sure what impact they really had on your overall experience? They certainly weren't there because 'half the film stars cancelled'.

 

And with the lineup we had, I don't understand why you'd say they were 'stretched thin'.

[Banished_From_Rohan]

I am a traveler from Belgium, and i am a con vet, and this was my second time coming to the LFCC and i have to say that i came on sunday with my wife and it was the worst con experience i have ever had. The staff was rude and unfriendly and EXTREMELY agressive and pushy and arrogant.One even made an unprovoked racist comment about my accent. They constantly told us to move even when we were standing nowhere near the signing area and they were grumpy and bad tempered and unprofessional and disorganized and they even bullied people in regards to photos and ALL of the staff especially the volunteers were pushy and uncooperative and VERY unhelpful.

 

 

First off there is no excuse for any racist comment and I'm sorry you had to endure that. However speaking as a volunteer who was crewing in the Heroes area I take great exception to your generalisation stating that ALL (your capitals) the staff were pushy, uncooperative and very unhelpful. I don't know if you've ever crewed an event involving such crowds as we had yesterday. If you have then perhaps you'd be a little understanding of the pressure we were under. If you haven't then perhaps you'd like to try it some day. We had to strike a balance between keeping the area clear and moving, handing out tickets AND answering questions from lots of people about different things, some of which we wouldn't have known as they didn't concern the guest we were covering. Perhaps your perception was coloured by the racist incident, or perhaps your definition of rude and very unhelpful is somewhat different to mine, but I'd like to think I was none of the three things you accuse me of (for your information my day job which I've had for the past 19 years also involves me being in contact with people where you can't be pushy, rude and unfriendly). Perhaps when you've calmed down a little you might see things in a slightly different light....

Edited September 3, 2007 by Banished_From_Rohan

[Psychosis]

First off there is no excuse for any racist comment and I'm sorry you had to endure that. However speaking as a volunteer who was crewing in the Heroes area I take great exception to your generalisation stating that ALL (your capitals) the staff were pushy, uncooperative and very unhelpful. I don't know if you've ever crewed an event involving such crowds as we had yesterday. If you have then perhaps you'd be a little understanding of the pressure we were under. If you haven't then perhaps you'd like to try it some day. We had to strike a balance between keeping the area clear and moving, handing out tickets AND answering questions from lots of people about different things, some of which we wouldn't have known as they didn't concern the guest we were covering. Perhaps your perception was coloured by the racist incident, or perhaps your definition of rude and very unhelpful is somewhat different to mine, but I'd like to think I was none of the three things you accuse me of (for your information my day job which I've had for the past 19 years also involves me being in contact with people where you can't be pushy, rude and unfriendly). Perhaps when you've calmed down a little you might see things in a slightly different light....

 

I have to say I found all of the staff there very helpful. They were efficient to the extent that they could with everything that they/you had to work with. I think the overall organisation, information and efficiency should have been better, but what all of you did individually was great. The only time I had a problem was when they were handing out the VTs. I got to the front of the queue and a guy (not sure who - a tallish, young black guy) who was giving out the Hayden VTs walked straight past me and started giving them out to people behind me. he was on 150 then and by the time I grabbed his attention, I got 397!

[samwise]

Pros

 

Kudos to SM for getting the Heroes guests to attend.

 

HUGE Thanks to John, the pit boss for Dom on Saturday, who was extremely helpful, went out of his way to make sure we got our autographs, and was generally an all round good egg.

 

The guests we met Saturday (William Mapother, the Harry Potter guys, David Gross, Phil Daniels) and Jack Coleman on Sunday were fantastic!

 

Cons

 

Lighting. Hello?

 

Putting all the big named guests together in one area was horrendous.

 

Where was the information about 'no personalisations' etc? Waiting until a guest is about to personalise and then witnessing a crew member push their hand off the photo and telling you 'no personalisations' aggressively at that point does not make for a pleasant memory of meeting that guest. I don't have a problem with the rules as long as they're clear.

 

The photo shoot for Milo and Adrian was a very unpleasant experience and left me with a rotten memory of the weekend. I don't expect to have time to chat to these people in a rushed busy photo shoot but the photographer didn't even check the picture after he took it, Milo shoved my wrist as he presumed he believed I was going to touch him (I wasn't).

 

PLEASE inform the crew members about the rules of sending out photos. Three crew members told me three different things when I asked them about the photos being sent out. One said they would be sent within 2 weeks, one said they would not be printed off but would be available online, one said they had no idea whatsoever and they should just check the boards.

 

I've been to every SM event in the last few years and I feel this has been the most unpleasant experience. I just hope C12 will be more enjoyable.

[Gandalfia]

Leave Earls Court alone!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm there 5 days a week damnit!!

[peeka85]

Cons:

 

was actually really disappointed with LFCC this year and the reason was not because it was busy, but because the facilities for people with disabilities was appalling. I've never complained about an SM event before and I'm sorry I have to. But the way me and my friend were treated cannot be justified. Why should people with disabilities be penalised? I was hoping it would be ok, because the people outside were very helpful and showed us to the disabled entrance - so I was expecting similar help inside. But no, the staff inside that I spoke to (not all of them) were not at all helpful or considerate. When we went to get tickets for myself and my friend for Milo Ventimiglia I was told I could only get one for myself - not for my friend, who is in a wheelchair. I cannot walk properly and found it very difficult to queue, so in the end I only got a vq ticket for Milo and Adrian. I wouldnt have minded if I hadn't been told on the forum before hand that my carer would be able to get me a Virtual Queue ticket.

 

Also, there was next to no seating, unless you wanted to pay for food to sit in the cafe. At other conventions I've been to there have been designated seating areas for people with disabilities.

[roxy]

 

I have to say I found all of the staff there very helpful. They were efficient to the extent that they could with everything that they/you had to work with. I think the overall organisation, information and efficiency should have been better, but what all of you did individually was great. The only time I had a problem was when they were handing out the VTs. I got to the front of the queue and a guy (not sure who - a tallish, young black guy) who was giving out the Hayden VTs walked straight past me and started giving them out to people behind me. he was on 150 then and by the time I grabbed his attention, I got 397!

 

I have to say I'm confused....no-one of that description gave out Hayden VQ tickets of that number at that time in the morning? I was the girl in the hat handing out Hayden's tickets, and at one point I had help from my pit bosses, none of whom match that description.