Future of RingCon

[Jenny Elffan]

Of course it would be wonderful to bring you Orlando, Viggo, etc, but this really isn't viable.

If we could get Viggo then all the world's LOTR fans would be booking up and we would sell out the convention and have the income to do all the things we want to, but unfortunately he is not doing events. Orlando's management want a large fee, more than all the guests we have had in the past, making him completely unfeasible to get as a convention guest.

Jason

 

In February in the Who Do You Want To Hang Out With? thread, Jason, you took Noddy to task for suggesting that some of the guests on the First Choice list were unrealistic. You said,

"I book the guests and I talk to the agents and I can tell you now none off the guests are unrealistic"

 

If you were talking to all the actors or their agents in February, how is it you did not know then that Viggo isn't doing events or that Orlando's management charges too high a fee? Wouldn't the honourable thing to have done be to remove their names from the list and stop letting us think for seven months that their attendance was still a possibliity?

 

I had no hopes of seeing Sean Bean because he didn't attend the Autographica event when all of the Chosen Men were together for the first time in 13 years. As one of the Chosen Men said, "It would have been nice if Sean had been there but we all know he doesn't do these events."

[Kumo]

As to the guy who is bashing Showmasters,

 

ROFL I'm bashing Showmasters? As opposed to all the people in this thread who have said they regret bying their tickets etc.? Perhaps you need to look up the word "bash". I merely pointed out there was no point in blaming the fans for lack of guests and information. The attitude of the fans has absolutely nothing to do with a show's ability to get good guests and advertise properly, and it is ridiculous to claim as much.

 

if I understand you correctly you don't seem to care that your favourite actors did not get paid for appearing at an event.

 

I don't know if you saw my post in which I wrote the following:

 

I agree that the situation afterwards was, actually, not just handled badly but rather not handled at all, which is a shame. It could have gone down with more grace.

 

Apparently, I do. The show went bankrupt; that should have been made very clear. Apologies should have been made, but there was no way anyone could have gotten paid as there were no money. As for the "favourite actors"; I have had a talk to some of them about it; and so far, people have agreed that nothing could have been done about the money situation but there should have been honesty about it. I always have been, but that particular ball was never in my court.

 

Perhaps you need to actually read the topic you post in before commenting on things taking out of its context.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Kumo

[Queen_Sindel]

If you were talking to all the actors or their agents in February, how is it you did not know then that Viggo isn't doing events or that Orlando's management charges too high a fee? Wouldn't the honourable thing to have done be to remove their names from the list and stop letting us think for seven months that their attendance was still a possibliity?

 

I can only speak from my experience with other events, but here's what may have happened: booking guests often goes that an organiser approaches an agent and asks "Would XYZ do an event?" The agent says "Yes, send us your offer and we will work from there." And then the agent takes its sweet time in getting back to the organiser.

 

Showmasters' negotiations may well have been in the "work from there" stage in February, and it only turned out recently that they can not come to an agreement with said guests.

[Jenny Elffan]

Thank you, Queen Sindel.

[yeltz-lass]

Totally random thought of perhaps utter pointlessness: anyone totted up how many people have now said they've bought or are planning to buy another show tickets on this thread yet?

[Natti]

I'm visiting this board nearly every day and normally I'm not in posting a lot. But after reading some of the posts now, I have to say, that you all are really scaring me with our sometimes unpolite and accussing posts. I don't think this is the right way to handle things. So calm down.

 

I would love to meet David Wenham and Andy Serkis. Dominic Monaghan, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd and Elijah Wood are also on my wishlist. Others like Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett are unrealistic dreams.

 

My friends and I already booked our flights and our hotel. We also bought our con-tickets, hoping for more guests. While we haven't been to London yet, we decided early that we will also take 2 extra days for sightseeing. If everything fails, we'll have 5 days for London.

[sbheik]

Totally random thought of perhaps utter pointlessness: anyone totted up how many people have now said they've bought or are planning to buy another show tickets on this thread yet?

 

I just bought a silver-pass.

[rich5wolves]

Ok, instead of helping us try to save the event it seems that a small group of you just want to blame us for trying to run a another show in the UK in the first place.

And if you think that we are starting to give up, well after reading some of the posts on here then yes I do feel like that. Instead of all the fans grouping together to help make it happen we get a small number of people trying to lay blame.

Now you can attack us and say that this or that is our fault, but I think it's unfair to blame us for trying and it's certainly not productive. We put a lot of time and effort into our work and don't organise these events then cancel them just for the fun of it! So attack us if you want, but it will not save the event which was the only reasion I decided to put this thread up here in the first place.

 

I know it's your right to say what you think, but it does nothing to help us save the event. So let me answer some of your jabs at us:

 

1. We have been working on this event for months and right from the start laid out activities and fun things to do over the weekend, which we then added to later on. But these rely on people actually attending the event; A) to have enough people involved to make some of the activities work and to bring in enough revenue to pay for the guests, hotel rooms, etc.

 

Rich5wolfs: Do not give me this "it's your business" crap. Yes it is, and you should know that Showmasters is not run purely for profit. Why? Because I love running events and DO NOT do it simply to make money. However I do not intend to run an event which needs around 400 to 500 people to make it work if only 70 people want to actually come. Sorry mate, but it's about putting on a good show and it now looks like this event is not popular enough to make it work.

 

I think that we should take a good look at the problems with this event which may be stopping people booking tickets:

 

A lot of you have already met most of the guests from the film, so it's hard for us to get you a headliner who you haven't met yet. Of course it would be wonderful to bring you Orlando, Viggo, etc, but this really isn't viable.

If we could get Viggo then all the world's LOTR fans would be booking up and we would sell out the convention and have the income to do all the things we want to, but unfortunately he is not doing events. Orlando's management want a large fee, more than all the guests we have had in the past, making him completely unfeasible to get as a convention guest.

And so it goes on and on. There's no-one new that hasn't been to an event before which we can get, which it seems is what we need to bring you to make the convention work.

 

We have been able to bring you many stars from LOTR, and have brought you more guests than any other event in the world over the past 4 years. In comparison, in Germany they have had less opportunities to meet all the stars elsewhere so go to another show.

 

Now some of you talk about artists and background guests. That's fine and we would consider adding them to a more complete guest line-up, but they will only please the die hard fans and wouldn't encourage more attendees to sign up, and that's what we need at the moment. These sort of guests make a convention more interesting but don't help build up the numbers of fans attending.

 

Next, I know that some of you went to the another show, and many of you had a good time there. But that convention didn't work either. It went bust and lots of the guests and New Line itself never got paid, so not only did the event not work but lots of people were ripped off. So it may have been good for some of you but it was far from perfect, and it's certainly not how we want to run a convention. Maybe some the problems we are encountering now are the same problems the FF suffered from, not enough fans wanting to pay for tickets to see these guests in a convention setting rather than at a big event such as Collectormania.

 

We ARE still trying to make this convention happen and I still have several guests I am waiting to hear back from. There is not a huge chance that they will be available, but we will wait and see. If one of them is, then the convention will probably go ahead as they are good guests and should satisfy those fans still waiting to book their tickets. If not, then I think we will have to call it a day and cancel the convention. Sorry, but that's the way it looks at the moment.

 

For those of you who have already bought tickets and have tried to help, I thank you for trying with us.

 

And for those of you that want to take a chunk out of us for failing, then go for it if it makes you feel better.

 

 

Jason

 

"Rich5wolfs: Do not give me this "it's your business" crap. Yes it is, and you should know that Showmasters is not run purely for profit. Why? Because I love running events and DO NOT do it simply to make money. However I do not intend to run an event which needs around 400 to 500 people to make it work if only 70 people want to actually come. Sorry mate, but it's about putting on a good show and it now looks like this event is not popular enough to make it work.

 

I think that we should take a good look at the problems with this event which may be stopping people booking tickets:

 

A lot of you have already met most of the guests from the film, so it's hard for us to get you a headliner who you haven't met yet. Of course it would be wonderful to bring you Orlando, Viggo, etc, but this really isn't viable.

If we could get Viggo then all the world's LOTR fans would be booking up and we would sell out the convention and have the income to do all the things we want to, but unfortunately he is not doing events. Orlando's management want a large fee, more than all the guests we have had in the past, making him completely unfeasible to get as a convention guest.

And so it goes on and on. There's no-one new that hasn't been to an event before which we can get, which it seems is what we need to bring you to make the convention work."

 

Unsure about this to be honest - firstly it is your business. Secondly if the event doesnt generate a profit then it is not financially viable no matter how much we enjoy doing things. If it is simply for the fun of it and to put on a good show then go ahead and book Orlando anyway............

 

The other factor here is quite simply this. We were asked to vote for which guests we wanted to see at this event. We were told by you that you are in contact with all of the agents and anything is possible, including the big names. Now you say "Of course it would be wonderful to bring you Orlando, Viggo, etc, but this really isn't viable." A feeling of disappointment has swept through this forum over the last month or so.

 

In all honesty if there were a handful of guests coming to this event that have previously been to other shows then I still would book. Hill, Davies, Wood, Boyd and Dom would see this event sell out quick!

 

I have just booked a guest to appear at a venue for next year when im laying on an after dinner speaker and i was a bit suprised how much the agents fees are. I am at the same time worrying now about selling 180 plus tickets to this dinner. This is on a smaller scale to you guys but I kind of know where you are coming from.

 

I am not one of those people attacking Showmasters as I enjoy the events as much as anyone. Id love this event to go ahead but like others if the guests are announced I am far more likely to book.

Edited September 16, 2007 by rich5wolves

[missdaisy]

Totally random thought of perhaps utter pointlessness: anyone totted up how many people have now said they've bought or are planning to buy another show tickets on this thread yet?

 

I just bought a silver-pass.

 

[frankslittlemachine]

Totally random thought of perhaps utter pointlessness: anyone totted up how many people have now said they've bought or are planning to buy another show tickets on this thread yet?

 

I just bought a silver-pass.

 

 

Nice one Bellis!

[Blackbird]

I've already purchased a ticket, but I do support very strongly the addition of JRD and David Wenham. I've met them both before, and they are lovely.

 

Now to the advice. I agree very strongly with those who say that you must book and confirm on your website more guests if you want people to buy tickets, and you must do it right away. With just a little over two months to go, you are courting disaster by waiting to confirm David and John (if they are confirmable at this point), because most people must plan such an expensive weekend in advance, both with their employers and their bank accounts. In the United States, Creation Entertainment came a cropper with its Lord of the Rings conventions in part because they had so much trouble booking guests, and didn't do so for their last ORC until the very last minute. At that point, people were fed up and/or unable to arrange the time and money to go that they didn't manage to sell anything to capacity.

 

I'd strongly suggest that you try to get at least one other member of the Fellowship and/or a major presence in the films who never or rarely does conventions. I'd imagine that it would be impossible to get Sir Ian McKellen, as he's doing King Lear at that time, and probably will want to lay low during the day to manage that demanding role, but he would be a huge draw, as would Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Karl Urban or possibly Dominic Monaghan. Failing that, the three other main hobbit actors are always a draw, even though they've all done zillions of conventions. For myself, I'd love to see Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson, as their 'act' is apparently hilarious, but I do understand that many in the UK have already seen them.

 

I'm editing this (since I hadn't had my caffeine when I posted) to say that I understand that you probably know everything I've said here, already, and I do apologize if I have inadvertently insulted your efforts. I meant no disrespect, even though I'm cringing at reading some of my comments. I know that it's most likely impossible to get any of the guests I mentioned, of course. I do stand by my suggestion concerning confirming those you do have ASAP.

 

Best of luck with all of this! I don't envy you your task.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Blackbird

[DavidB]

Did you quote the right person? I can't see what yeltz-lass said that would warrant a 'no need for comments like this' response?

[frankslittlemachine]

Yeah, exactly what i was thinking, bit confused

[sbheik]

Totally random thought of perhaps utter pointlessness: anyone totted up how many people have now said they've bought or are planning to buy another show tickets on this thread yet?

 

I just bought a silver-pass.

 

 

Nice one Bellis!

 

Thank you to both

 

Am feeling a bit giddy with anticipation!!

[nosfer2]

As to the guy who is bashing Showmasters,

 

ROFL I'm bashing Showmasters? As opposed to all the people in this thread who have said they regret bying their tickets etc.? Perhaps you need to look up the word "bash". I merely pointed out there was no point in blaming the fans for lack of guests and information. The attitude of the fans has absolutely nothing to do with a show's ability to get good guests and advertise properly, and it is ridiculous to claim as much.

 

if I understand you correctly you don't seem to care that your favourite actors did not get paid for appearing at an event.

 

I don't know if you saw my post in which I wrote the following:

 

I agree that the situation afterwards was, actually, not just handled badly but rather not handled at all, which is a shame. It could have gone down with more grace.

 

Apparently, I do. The show went bankrupt; that should have been made very clear. Apologies should have been made, but there was no way anyone could have gotten paid as there were no money. As for the "favourite actors"; I have had a talk to some of them about it; and so far, people have agreed that nothing could have been done about the money situation but there should have been honesty about it. I always have been, but that particular ball was never in my court.

 

Perhaps you need to actually read the topic you post in before commenting on things taking out of its context.

 

Excuse me, I have read through all 10 pages of this thread so I think I'm entitled to comment, especially since you are being disingenious with regards to the contents of your posts. It wasn't just "a shame", it was scandalous. If someone employs you for a job and you have an agreement with them then it is their responsibility to pay you what they owe you.

[Delorean 2015]

SHOWMASTERS PLEASE READ THIS POST!!!

 

I just wanted to make a very valid point that a lot of people have touched on but I want to emphasise..

 

I totally believe this con will be a great success.. If you provide us with the opportunity to buy DAY PASSES!!

 

I have been waiting for such an announcement ever since the get go.. And without this option you are GREATLY limiting the numbers that will sign up in advance. A lot of people would love to attend this con, but speaking for myself ( And prob a load more out there ) dont want to pay £70 for just one day..

 

The venue is great, the guests you have announced so far are quality and everyone agrees your doing great work.. So how about rethinking the day passes and im sure you will not be disappointed..

[Piglet]

I'm really gutted I got a GOLD PASS. Yes, I want to still go to the convention, but with hotel on top of the £400 already forked out, it's going to be at least £700 for the weekend for three guests I've already seen. Why didn't I wait for guest announcements first? Love the three guests, but are they really worth £700 when I've seen them already so many times?

[jael001]

Is that really what Gold Passes cost? £400 quid??? My god, that's a heck of a lot of money, for any convention anywhere. I was shocked at Creation charging $400 for their conventions! I'm sorry, no convention, no matter who the guests are, is worth paying that kind of money for. I'm happy to pay the £195 for Eclipse and Lockdown, and I think that's a reasonable price for a gold pass, but anything more than that is frankly nuts.

[tri]

SHOWMASTERS PLEASE READ THIS POST!!!

 

I just wanted to make a very valid point that a lot of people have touched on but I want to emphasise..

 

I totally believe this con will be a great success.. If you provide us with the opportunity to buy DAY PASSES!!

 

I have been waiting for such an announcement ever since the get go.. And without this option you are GREATLY limiting the numbers that will sign up in advance. A lot of people would love to attend this con, but speaking for myself ( And prob a load more out there ) dont want to pay £70 for just one day..

 

The venue is great, the guests you have announced so far are quality and everyone agrees your doing great work.. So how about rethinking the day passes and im sure you will not be disappointed..

 

I agree. I can't justify a weekend pass based on these guests, but would very likely fork out for a day pass. I'm not sure why SM haven't gone down that route already, perhaps they can explain (if I missed it already, ignore me!)

 

*still hoping beyond hope for Elijah, in which case bugger the expense - silver pass here I come!*

[Kumo]

Excuse me, I have read through all 10 pages of this thread so I think I'm entitled to comment, especially since you are being disingenious with regards to the contents of your posts. It wasn't just "a shame", it was scandalous. If someone employs you for a job and you have an agreement with them then it is their responsibility to pay you what they owe you.

 

*sigh* That is what I'm saying... well, not that it's scandalous as there's not much you can do when you simply don't get enough money to cover your expenses, let alone pay anyone. I have said as much all the time; it's a shame, it's horrible, but what could have been done? Yes, there could have been hoensty about it instead of the complete disappearance of some people. But I can't do much about that. How is that disingenious? I've had the same opinion all the time; you're the one who keeps claiming I don't care that people didn't get paid.

[Super_princess]

Showmasters, i emaild you twice regarding my attendendce and got no respnose so i will put my vote here

 

 

either give people the option of a refund or cancel the thing.

theres no way for people who paid for hte silver and gold passes that its worth it.

 

you continued to promise big guest announcements and told people not to wrory when clearly there was reason to worry.

 

 

you clearly see theres a problem here and that this event isnt up to your normal standards

give people hte option for the refund see what your left with and cut your losses or cancle it all together.

[Piglet]

Is that really what Gold Passes cost? £400 quid??? My god, that's a heck of a lot of money, for any convention anywhere. I was shocked at Creation charging $400 for their conventions! I'm sorry, no convention, no matter who the guests are, is worth paying that kind of money for. I'm happy to pay the £195 for Eclipse and Lockdown, and I think that's a reasonable price for a gold pass, but anything more than that is frankly nuts.

I know, I don't know what possessed me, i really don't. I was thinking BIG LOTR convention with big names. But still, I was crazy to pay that money. TOTALLY REGRET IT NOW. There'll be absolutely NO benefits for Gold Pass ticket holders.

 

Showmasters, i emaild you twice regarding my attendendce and got no respnose so i will put my vote here

 

 

either give people the option of a refund or cancel the thing.

theres no way for people who paid for hte silver and gold passes that its worth it.

 

you continued to promise big guest announcements and told people not to wrory when clearly there was reason to worry.

 

 

you clearly see theres a problem here and that this event isnt up to your normal standards

give people hte option for the refund see what your left with and cut your losses or cancle it all together.

 

Agree with you Chelsea :)

[frankslittlemachine]

In light of what has happened perhaps your right, I have a gold pass and maybe £400 is a little bit too much but I would much rather have 50% refund (too bring the gold into line with lockdown, eclipse) and still have the event on.

[ifu03612]

Is that really what Gold Passes cost? £400 quid??? My god, that's a heck of a lot of money, for any convention anywhere. I was shocked at Creation charging $400 for their conventions! I'm sorry, no convention, no matter who the guests are, is worth paying that kind of money for. I'm happy to pay the £195 for Eclipse and Lockdown, and I think that's a reasonable price for a gold pass, but anything more than that is frankly nuts.

I know, I don't know what possessed me, i really don't. I was thinking BIG LOTR convention with big names. But still, I was crazy to pay that money. TOTALLY REGRET IT NOW. There'll be absolutely NO benefits for Gold Pass ticket holders.

 

Showmasters, i emaild you twice regarding my attendendce and got no respnose so i will put my vote here

 

 

either give people the option of a refund or cancel the thing.

theres no way for people who paid for hte silver and gold passes that its worth it.

 

you continued to promise big guest announcements and told people not to wrory when clearly there was reason to worry.

 

 

you clearly see theres a problem here and that this event isnt up to your normal standards

give people hte option for the refund see what your left with and cut your losses or cancle it all together.

 

Agree with you Chelsea :)

 

We were promised big guests, as I remember SM referring to getting 3 of the 4 Hobbits prior to the ROTK movie or something. I paid for 2 gold tickets and totally regret it now, but thats hindsight for you.

 

I really can't be bothered waiting another month before hearing that the event isn't going to take place, i'm just getting ready to book my flights, thus I really need to know soon.

 

What about our 'non-refundable' room bookings too, will these fee's be waived if this event is cancelled. Please let us know one way or another.

[DavidB]

Not trying to be argumentative but where did they promise big guests? I can't remember every last thing that has been said about this event by everyone, but I can't believe anyone would ever 'promise' something in relation to getting guests as that's not something that can be 100%.

 

And as for non-refundable rooms etc, that's the decision of the attendee and not the organisers responsibility I'm afraid.