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Improvements For Next Year


DavidB
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2: It would cause huge issues for the SM servers with the huge influx of traffic every time a big guests was announced, with everyone trying to get their VTs on-line.

 

Upgrade, develop?

 

3: People would request the lowest tickets they could, but not turn up until late. They'd get number 1 if they could but then knowing they have ticket number 1 they would then not bother to turn up until maybe 11am (getting in cheaper) knowing they have their VT and can join the queue as soon as they get there. If all the people that have tickets 1 to 200 do this, we'll have a guest sat there from 9am until 11am with next to no one seeing them or we put the numbers up to 300+ to get people in the queue but then suddenly at 11am instead of having 30-40 people in the real queue we'd have 200+.

 

Print realistic times on the ticket.

 

++Example only++

 

Tickets 1 – 200 : 9.00 – 10.30

Tickets 201 – 400: 10.30 – 12.00

 

 

4: People would order them and not use them. We could have 1000 tickets ordered on-line but we'd have no way of knowing how many of those people are actually at the show. OK it happens now were people take tickets and don't come back, but even at 4pm it's only 20% max that don't come back. If you could easily order them on-line people would order them "just in case" they were going. As I say we'd have no idea how many of the 1000 were actually going to come to the event. We do use the number of tickets gone out as a gadge as to how fast we need the guest to sign.

 

Pay for your autographs at the same time.

 

Who’s going to miss the queue then?.

 

5: On-line there is no way of limiting it to one per person. How do you stop people getting more than one. Everyone has to get their own? What about children? A family of 4 has to have 4 different orders, one for each member of the family? How could we prove that it's not just someone coming up with a fake wife and 2 children's names? We have to have a limit of one per person or people would get 4, 8 or 12 tickets and then sell them.

 

One ticket per credit card?

 

Specify name, bring photographic ID -> when you pick up photo to be signed.

 

6: It could start a whole black market in VTs. Even if we could limit it to one per person, you can't tell me that if someone has VTs 1 for let's say Orlando Bloom, that someone isn't going to pay a lot of money on eBay to get it. People would get to know this and we'd have people waiting on-line to get a low VT that have no intention of going to the event, they just want to try and get a low VT for a big guest to try and sell on. It's a no loss situation for them, the VTs are free so they loss nothing by trying but could get £5-£20+ for a VT. As I say someone would pay £20+ for a number 1 to 30 Orlando ticket.

 

This is like concert tickets, and every other ticket in existence.

Edited by sock007
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Print realistic times on the ticket.

 

++Example only++

 

Tickets 1 – 200 : 9.00 – 10.30

Tickets 201 – 400: 10.30 – 12.00

 

Noone knows for sure how fast a guest will sign. There is no way to work it out really!

 

 

 

5: On-line there is no way of limiting it to one per person. How do you stop people getting more than one. Everyone has to get their own? What about children? A family of 4 has to have 4 different orders, one for each member of the family? How could we prove that it's not just someone coming up with a fake wife and 2 children's names? We have to have a limit of one per person or people would get 4, 8 or 12 tickets and then sell them.

 

One ticket per credit card?

 

Like too tall said. with a family of 4 they need 4 tickets. How many 7year olds have credit cards?!

 

6: It could start a whole black market in VTs. Even if we could limit it to one per person, you can't tell me that if someone has VTs 1 for let's say Orlando Bloom, that someone isn't going to pay a lot of money on eBay to get it. People would get to know this and we'd have people waiting on-line to get a low VT that have no intention of going to the event, they just want to try and get a low VT for a big guest to try and sell on. It's a no loss situation for them, the VTs are free so they loss nothing by trying but could get £5-£20+ for a VT. As I say someone would pay £20+ for a number 1 to 30 Orlando ticket.

 

This is like concert tickets, and every other ticket in existence.

 

This aint a concert...VTs are first come first served. Im sure there is a way to make them easier, but dont think this is the way to do that

 

 

(My replies are mingled in, in Purple!)

Edited by C.Parkers-Girl
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Noone knows for sure how fast a guest will sign. There is no way to work it out really!

 

You have enough experience to work out the ‘average’ time though, and make fairly reasonable estimations. These figures could also be agreed in the contract with the star?.

 

If there ends up, being space at the end for more, sure sell more tickets on the day.

 

Like too tall said. with a family of 4 they need 4 tickets. How many 7year olds have credit cards?!

 

Limit tickets 4 per credit card.

 

Everybody has to be named at time of purchase, and everybody has to bring photographic ID.

 

 

This aint a concert...VTs are first come first served. Im sure there is a way to make them easier, but dont think this is the way to do that

 

Aren’t tickets bought on the internet still in a way ‘first come, first served’.

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Like too tall said. with a family of 4 they need 4 tickets. How many 7year olds have credit cards?!

 

Limit tickets 4 per credit card.

 

Everybody has to be named at time of purchase, and everybody has to bring photographic ID.

Not everyone esp under 18s have photo id and it would take ages for everyone to collect them...and besides, they're only VTs, not rock festival or airplane tickets! No need for high security
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  • Showmasters Admin
2: It would cause huge issues for the SM servers with the huge influx of traffic every time a big guests was announced, with everyone trying to get their VTs on-line.

 

Upgrade, develop?

 

Yes, OK this one's not too much of an issue but one none the less.

 

3: People would request the lowest tickets they could, but not turn up until late. They'd get number 1 if they could but then knowing they have ticket number 1 they would then not bother to turn up until maybe 11am (getting in cheaper) knowing they have their VT and can join the queue as soon as they get there. If all the people that have tickets 1 to 200 do this, we'll have a guest sat there from 9am until 11am with next to no one seeing them or we put the numbers up to 300+ to get people in the queue but then suddenly at 11am instead of having 30-40 people in the real queue we'd have 200+.

 

Print realistic times on the ticket.

 

++Example only++

 

Tickets 1 – 200 : 9.00 – 10.30

Tickets 201 – 400: 10.30 – 12.00

 

The whole point of the VTs is that you DON'T have to come back at a specific time. You can come back anytime after your ticket is called. You either change that system and have people miss there turn (which will not happen) or you can't enforce people to join the queue at a specific time.

 

 

4: People would order them and not use them. We could have 1000 tickets ordered on-line but we'd have no way of knowing how many of those people are actually at the show. OK it happens now were people take tickets and don't come back, but even at 4pm it's only 20% max that don't come back. If you could easily order them on-line people would order them "just in case" they were going. As I say we'd have no idea how many of the 1000 were actually going to come to the event. We do use the number of tickets gone out as a gadge as to how fast we need the guest to sign.

 

Pay for your autographs at the same time.

 

Who’s going to miss the queue then?.

 

We are not going to sell autographs in advance. I would mean people would consider it a garentee and we can never garentee an autograph. And it still has the same issues that it's unfair to people coming on the day if all the autograph tickets have been "sold" on-line in advance.

 

5: On-line there is no way of limiting it to one per person. How do you stop people getting more than one. Everyone has to get their own? What about children? A family of 4 has to have 4 different orders, one for each member of the family? How could we prove that it's not just someone coming up with a fake wife and 2 children's names? We have to have a limit of one per person or people would get 4, 8 or 12 tickets and then sell them.

 

One ticket per credit card?

 

Specify name, bring photographic ID -> when you pick up photo to be signed.

 

As has been said above what about a family with one credit card or people without credit cards. This just will not work.

 

6: It could start a whole black market in VTs. Even if we could limit it to one per person, you can't tell me that if someone has VTs 1 for let's say Orlando Bloom, that someone isn't going to pay a lot of money on eBay to get it. People would get to know this and we'd have people waiting on-line to get a low VT that have no intention of going to the event, they just want to try and get a low VT for a big guest to try and sell on. It's a no loss situation for them, the VTs are free so they loss nothing by trying but could get £5-£20+ for a VT. As I say someone would pay £20+ for a number 1 to 30 Orlando ticket.

 

This is like concert tickets, and every other ticket in existence.

 

But these are all tickets that get paid for. VTs are free. And just because everything else it like it doesn't mean that we have to do it too. Giving them out on the day stops (mostly) there being a black market. This can only be a good thing.

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  • Showmasters Admin

Firstly please stop writting in CAPITALS. It is considered shouting on a forum and is very rude. Thank you.

 

LETS FACE IT THERES NOT GOING TO BE A WAY THAT IS SUCURE, SAFE, AND MAKES EVERYONE HAPPY, YOU CAN STOP PEOPLE PUSHING IN, IN THE QUES OUTSIDE BUT LETS FACE IT YOU CANT REALLY STOP PEOPLE RUSHING TO GET THERE V.T IN THE CASE OF THE LONDON COMIC CON JUST GONE THERE WERE JUST A FLOOD OF PEOPLE SURROUNDING STAFF AND PEOPLE PUSHING TO GET THERES, SO HOW ABOUT:

 

1. YOU SET A BARRIER WIDE ENOUGH TO FIT 1 PERSON DOWN IT WITH AN ENTRANCE AND AN EXIT POINT SO IT DOESNT CLOG UP THE QUEING, TO EACH CREW MEMBER AND THEN NO ONE WILL PUSH AND STEEK IN.

I have already stated above this is something we are looking at doing. Using barriers so that it avoid the scrum and pushing in in the morning.

 

OR.

 

2. HOW ABOUT TELLING CREW MEMBERS TO HAND OUT A MAXIUM OF 2 VT IF THE PERSON WANTS 2 BECAUSE IF YOU GO TO A CONVENTION AND ITS JUST YOU AND YOUR FRIEND AND YOU BOTH WANT 2 GUESTS AUTOGRAPH IN STEAD OF BOTH OF YOU QUEING TO EACH GUEST YOU COULD GET YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIEND A VT FOR ONE OF THE GUEST WHILE YOUR FRIEND QUES UP FOR THE OTHER GUEEST YOU BOTH WANT AND GET 2 TICKETS,

 

THIS WILL CUT DOWN THE CUEING BECAUSE NOT EVERY SINGLE PERSON WILL BE QUEING UP FOR EVERY GUEST IF YOUR ALOUD, SAY A MAXIUM OF 2 VT PER PERSON (ONLY IF YOU ASK FOR 2 VT)

Because people will just get tickets for people coming later. If you have 4 friends they will all get in the queue and get 2 each and 4 people that don't turn up until 11am get to go striaght in the queue because there friends where there earlier.

 

One per person is the only fair way of doing it. It makes sure that everyone getting a ticket is actually there and that people are not getting tickets for people that are turning up later. It's completely unfair that someone coming in at 8:30am maybe behind 50 people that came in at 11am because they had friends that got there at 8am.

 

It's also unfair on people that are on their own they still have to go to each guest.

 

OR.

 

3 THIS MAY BE A LONG SHOT BUT ILL SAY IT ANYWAY, (AND ONLY DO THIS FOR THE MAIN GUESTS) JUST WHEN YOUR LET IN TO THE VENUE, YOU HAVE SAY 5 CREW MEMBERS ALL IN A LINE BY THE DOORS EACH HOLDING A PAD OF VTS FOR A CERTAIN MAIN GUEST AND YOU HAVE TO WALK PAST ALL 5 AND YOU CAN HAVE THE OPPURTUNITY TO TAKE ONE VT FROM EACH CREW MEMBER THEN WHEN YOU GET PASTED ALL 5 YOUR ON YOUR WAY INTO THE VENUE AND THAT WAY YOU WONT HAVE TO RUSH (WELL MAYBE YOU WILL FOR A LESS MAIN GUEST) BUT FOR THE MAIN ONES THE QUES WILL BE NON EXSTINING BECAUSE YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY GOT 1 VT PER PERSON PER GUEST.

This is no difference to giving out the ticket in the queue outside. You will still have the first 30 people through the door having 1-30 for the 5 big guests. As I've explaineds above this will not work, is unfair to later people and will cause us huge issues with queue management.

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The VT system as it is works and there is nothing wrong with it...it's just the mass disaster-movie-stampede to get them that is the problem but I really dont think you can force people to not run.

 

The only way to sort it is by using barriers.

Maybe having all VTs on a desk (away from the guest Q's) Like the organisers desk with barriers that make people queue in a line. So there will be a rush to the queues but once there it becomes organised and it makes it easier for crew members to make sure tickets are 1 per person. If someone wants 2 they join the back of the queue.

 

Or Sazzra (I think) said at some point give the VT's out on the guests Photo table so everyone gets to see the guests photos and get a VT. Once the first rush has died the VTs can go back to the end of a queue like normal.

 

I dont know! arg! :P

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its only unfair to the later people because they should of got there early enough to get an early ticket,
There will always be people at the back of the queue - someone has to be at the back. What if everyone camped out the night before to turn up early? There'd still be people at the back cos not everyone can be near the front. Edited by nicky
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Sorry i didnt realise that using capital letters was consided shouting,

 

i dont see how the 3rd issue is the same, as giving the tickets outside, for a start crew wont have to shout to ask who wants who, its only unfair to the later people because they should of got there early enough to get an early ticket, collecting the "2 or 5" tickets from crew members on the way in before heading to the main venue. gives the early people the early numbers and the the later people the higher numbers this way it saves the later people once inside pushing in or running to get an earlier ticket before the people who were there early, again its first come first serve, (its unfair, for an example if someone is disabled or an older member of the public who lets say gets there early and is number 30 in line when everyone is let in and starts running, the person who is at number 40 or 60 will overtake the that person who was at 30 resulting in the that person getting a higher number. )

 

again im sorry for using captials may it be known that i wasnt "shouting"

It is the same issue because I assume what you're suggesting is that people go to the first crew member then to the next and so on? The problem is that the first person through will get ticket number 1 for everyone and so on. This will mean that all the main guests tickets 1-100 will likely be with the same 100 people. This causes us big problems with queues. Trust me if you can go from one to the next to the next people will just get a ticket even if they don't want it themselves. If you make it that easy they'll grab one "just in case" or to give to someone else.

 

If what you're suggesting is that there are 5 crew members and each has a queue for a specific guest and the first person goes to get say Guest A, and then has to leave the queue and go and queue for Guest C and so on. And the Next person may go to Guests B first then Guest C. The problem with this is that we'll get the same big scrum (even with barriers) as we did outside of the guests area but just in the Entrance hall where we don't have room for it. As people come in they'd still be trying to rush to get to those queues.

 

We have thought of giving out the VTs for major guests closer to the doors the issue is as I say that there is no room for the queue if you're that close to the doors. Think of Patrick Stewarts queue on Sunday. At one point we had over 300 poeple in the queue waiting for VTs because we just couldn't get them out as quickly as people joined the back of the queue. If we'd been giving those VTs out closer to the door we'd have had no where for those 300 people to queue, they'd just be in the way of other people trying to get in the door.

 

Please do understand as I've said above. I'm not just brushing these ideas off, it's why I'm taking the time to reply and explain any down falls. They are all good ideas it's just most of them we have thought of and have been through the logical fors and againsts and have come to the conclusion they won't work for one reason or another. Please don't let this put anybody off putting an idea forward, someone may come up with the perfect solution.

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I really think the only way to stop the crush is to funnel people to a table per guest where one VT per person is given out. No, it doesn't stop the running, but that's a case of the quick and the dead unfortunately - on Saturday at LFaCC I got a ticket before some people who'd been ahead of me outside because I'd noticed Jason's post about the signings hopefully being at the back on the right, they hadn't so charged in and went left at the top of the escalators. It's not fair that some people run past, but hey, that's life and it happens in many other places too - I think the only real issue is trying to get a single file queing system up and running so that it truly is first come first served.

 

And as to shackles, there are some very nice shops just off of Wardour St which I'm sure could oblige :whistling:

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ive been to quite a few showmaster events and there has never been a problem with the vts or the ques, unfortunatly lfcc was one of thoses things that happen, new venue and very big guests,

we all know what was wrong and so do showmasters, and i am positive that by the end of oct at milton keynes it will run very smooth with the heroes guests and every one else they get.

all the crew work very hard and worked double as hard at earls court.

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How about making some pre signed pictures available for sale from SM at the event?

 

This wouldn't work in all cases, like Patrick Stewart for example where he was only there for a few hours as he would have had no time to sign extra photos. Maybe for some of the Heroes guests though, if they were able to supply them with pictures for signing before the event then at least the people who weren't able to see them on the day could have come away with something they could be sure was genuine.

 

The downsides is you don't get the personalisations/chance of a chat/photo with the guest etc but then again with the very busy guests you don't get that anyway.

 

I bought a signed Hayden Panettiere picture from MSPG over ebay and although I didn't get to stand in front of her when she signed it, I'm happy enough with it as it only cost £15, its been signed in full and I didn't get the c*** beaten out of me trying to get a VT!

 

I know MSPG do the preorder thing but I've always looked at that as more of a thing if you can't get to the event. At least this way if you have made a special journey you can at least walk away from the show with something.

 

I'd also say with something like this it would be fair to charge the same price as if you were meeting the guest properly, OK you aren't getting the same experience but I think otherwise it would get messy!

 

Just a thought

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I'd also say with something like this it would be fair to charge the same price as if you were meeting the guest properly, OK you aren't getting the same experience but I think otherwise it would get messy!

That would just encourage people further to go for VTs - if you made the pre-signed ones cheaper then fans might be tempted to not go for the VT and thus not take part in the stampede.

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I wasn't suggesting this as an alternative to getting autographs in person or even as a means of reducing queue sizes just as a way of helping people who otherwise might go home with nothing at least go home with something (like 3-2-1 without Dusty Bin!)

 

If they were to try something like this I would think they would have to stick to the same price as I presume there might be issues with the agreements they have with the guests around how much they get paid per autogrpah or if they get a cut of the proceeds (I've no idea how that part works)

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It is the same issue because I assume what you're suggesting is that people go to the first crew member then to the next and so on? The problem is that the first person through will get ticket number 1 for everyone and so on. This will mean that all the main guests tickets 1-100 will likely be with the same 100 people. This causes us big problems with queues. Trust me if you can go from one to the next to the next people will just get a ticket even if they don't want it themselves. If you make it that easy they'll grab one "just in case" or to give to someone else.

I agree that giving out all the VTs outside the doors in advance just makes it "winner takes all", seriously knackers your queue management, and has other unpleasant effects as have been previously highlighted. However, it might be worth considering allowing people in the queue outside to get one VT before the doors open. Somebody goes down the two early bird queues (pre-paid and pay on the door), and later the normal entrance queues, with VT tickets for say the five most popular guests. Everybody can have one VT. (as an extra security measure to prevent abuse you might consider putting a big squiggle on pre-paid tickets, and a big squiggle in very permanent ink on the wrists of the pay on the door people).

The upside is that it reduces the total number of VTs that you have to give out inside, and takes out of the equation all those who only want one "popular" VT anyway.

The downside is that it still has a smaller effect on your queue management, and it doesn't really stop the crush of those who want multiple popular VTs. For example, at the recent LFACC, this would only really have removed from the stampede those people who wanted a Patrick Stewart VT but not any of the Heroes ones. (Assuming that everybody interested in a Heroes VT wanted VTs for at least two different Heroes guests). It may be that the extra work entailed for doing this might not be worth the candle.

We have thought of giving out the VTs for major guests closer to the doors the issue is as I say that there is no room for the queue if you're that close to the doors. Think of Patrick Stewarts queue on Sunday. At one point we had over 300 poeple in the queue waiting for VTs because we just couldn't get them out as quickly as people joined the back of the queue. If we'd been giving those VTs out closer to the door we'd have had no where for those 300 people to queue, they'd just be in the way of other people trying to get in the door.

In an ideal world, a venue would be a bit like a supermarket, where you can create a large amount of sace inside the doors (by taking out a few aisles) and have your VT arrangements as close to the doors as possible, thereby minimising the time and space for people to break into a run. Unfortunately, many venues have entrance halls or lobbies, which are too small to put VT queues in, so just become areas for people to rush through. Short of having DavidB rolling bowling balls through the crowd (or having people wandering around waving "live" chainsaws in the air - I do find the sight and sound of revving chainsaws works wonders at slowing a crowd down :D ), you will probably need some sort of "traffic calming" arrangement, which probably means a zigzag queueing system to prevent scrummaging; given the reports of the crowd on the Sunday, one that's probably set out with those big solid metal barriers the police use (or are used at rock concerts), rather than those wimpy little posts with self-retracting 2 inch wide cloth tape that they use at airports.

And to hopefully minimise shennanigans in the "home stretch" leading up to the VTs, make sure the whole way in is populated with signs saying something like "staff have been instructed NOT to issue VTs to those they see running, pushing, jostling or otherwise behaving discourteously to fellow attendees". Yes, it will lead to complaints from people who say they weren't running but were busted for doing so, or from people who say that others ran and got away with it, but it's a start. And you don't have to refuse completely to give an offender a VT - just make sure that they have to wait an extra 15 or 30 tickets (which is roughly all they will have gained) to slow them down and make the point.

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But it's called London Film And Comic Con ..

 

Transport links are plentiful to be honest. Sure, they're not always reliable, but at least there's a lot of options.

 

As for expense, most stuff can be found cheap enough if you look around.

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I like it in London, is easy to get to in a way lol

 

But what about somewhere else in London, Excle centre is easy to get to and nice, or I dont know another venue. But I liked where it was, its hard to get to by car but by train its ok.

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