Suggestions for Next Time

[chris_mk]

I was in the first 50 and yet only got 1 autograph on the Saturday as my group wasn't called for the other guests (it wasn't clear whether this was intentional or an oversight). This meant that although I had supported the convention from the beginning and along with the other early bookers provided the capital to get the guests in those who booked months later got most of their autographs before I did. That really didn't seem all that appropriate.

 

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day. In truth, Christine aside, if you got your auto at the start of the signing session on the second day (like I did), you got more time to chat with the guests :)

 

Did anyone notice that the main body guy looked like one of the gentlemen from the Buffy episode 'Hush' or was that just me : )

 

I think he looks more like the Italian referee, Pierluigi Colina (though someone told me today that he's dating/married to one of the crew!)

 

The DJ was mean to me when he asked if anyone wanted bob the builder

and didnt play my other (reasonable) requests.

 

We were ALL mean to you when you asked for Bob the Builder!!!

 

I thought Davey (it was Davey, right?) did a great job and got the balance between con dances and 'normal' music just right. On saturday there were one of two songs that I thought were really hard to dance to (but I guess they might have been requests). Second night was really great!

[mousybrown]

yeah i got 2 autos i think saturday but then like 3/4 photoshoots so i guess what it really depends on is if you have photoshoots or not. I was happy getting my autos yesterday as i had more time to talk with the guests.

[Psychosis]

Yes, I do think for next time they need to arrange the group photo better. I appreciate it for the last minute job that it was, but it made most people look massive.

[Persephone1]

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day.

 

I think you're misunderstanding me. I've been to enough cons to know that you can't expect to get EVERYTHING on the Saturday. But as an early booker I certainly would have expected to be able to get more than 1 autograph on the first day, especially when someone who booked a week before the event probably got 3/4 autographs on the Saturday. Generally it's quite nice to be able to get at least half of the autographs done on the first day. At other cons where things are done in number order the benefit of booking early is that you can get your autographs (or most of them anyway) done on the Saturday and have Sunday to relax, enjoy the ambience, book additional photo sessions etc.

 

To me with the exception of being able to sit nearer to the front of the hall (a system which was a bit muddled and which many ignored) there was absolutely no benefit that I could see to booking early. Which means that there is no incentive in the future for me to give Massive Events my money until a couple of weeks before the event.

[mousybrown]

I have to agree partially with that. I booked the night they came out i think so had a nice early number but that didn't really count for much apart from seat talks.

Also the photoshoot tickets i thought may of worked better in some sort of ticket order (like the numbers on the tickets) instead of everyone queuing at once as it might cut down on the standing around.

[chris_mk]

I think that was the tricky part of the weekend from an attendee point of view. So many people got it in their heads that they had to get most/all of their autographs on teh first day.

 

I think you're misunderstanding me. I've been to enough cons to know that you can't expect to get EVERYTHING on the Saturday. But as an early booker I certainly would have expected to be able to get more than 1 autograph on the first day, especially when someone who booked a week before the event probably got 3/4 autographs on the Saturday. Generally it's quite nice to be able to get at least half of the autographs done on the first day. At other cons where things are done in number order the benefit of booking early is that you can get your autographs (or most of them anyway) done on the Saturday and have Sunday to relax, enjoy the ambience, book additional photo sessions etc.

 

To me with the exception of being able to sit nearer to the front of the hall (a system which was a bit muddled and which many ignored) there was absolutely no benefit that I could see to booking early. Which means that there is no incentive in the future for me to give Massive Events my money until a couple of weeks before the event.

 

I don't know how they decided which group was getting what, when... but if you leav eit to the last minute to book tickets, you run the risk of it being sold out (like this event was and I suspect Eclipse 2 will be).

 

I have to agree partially with that. I booked the night they came out i think so had a nice early number but that didn't really count for much apart from seat talks.

Also the photoshoot tickets i thought may of worked better in some sort of ticket order (like the numbers on the tickets) instead of everyone queuing at once as it might cut down on the standing around.

 

Because the photo queues were moving quite quickly, I don't think it would have made a difference. They called 10-12 of the groups (seemingly randomly) for each photo session and if the tickets had of been numbered, they would have just called 400-500 tickets and the queue would have been the same size. I guess They wanted to avoid the guests (and photographer) standing around waiting for people.

[acharmingplace]

Make the Q's for gold better. I wasent sure where i was supposed to go (not for the talks). I had to Q in the autos and acouple of times in the photos. Im spending money for perks so it should be abit better.

Meet and greet was quite frankly crap. I met 2 guests, alot of people were crouding around one guest and moving on etc it was the same people so alot of us dident get alook in. I'd like a sit down and they go around the tables?

 

But everything else was really good.

[paul]

I agree with all the compliments and some of the gripes!

 

Saturday was great because everyone started to get what they wanted (with the promise that they'll get the rest the next day - which was fulfulled: Kudos SM) but everyone ended up in the afternoon waiting for the talks to begin.... and that space isnt big enough or air-conditioned enough (or at all) to handle a group of people that big waiting to get into a main hall!

 

On the Sunday, although some things had to clash, at least people could make decision about what they wanted to do and make priorities! The area outside the hall was still busy but much clearer for queuing for photos etc

 

I loved the weekend though! Well done SM on making this a success!! We love ya!

[ShortyAZK]

The one thing I didn't like was how everybody crowded round the doors to the main hall before the talks so you could barely hear which groups were being called in and then once you heard you had to fight your way through a bunch of attendees in later groups who were unwilling to move (and quite often while battling another group had been called so you ended up further back anyway)!!

It was less of an issue on Sunday as there was crew inside the hall telling you where to sit, but Saturday I was sat further back than I probably should have been which was disappointing!!

 

Oh and another thing I did notice was that there wasn't enough people stopping videoing in the main hall during Q&As.....one guy was handed a mic to ask his question and asked it while holding a camcorder up in his other hand, and then after his question was answered, the mic was taken and that was that.....seemed a bit weird that nobody mentioned no videoing to him then!!!

 

But overall I thought it was a great event and the first one that i'd been to where I was able to do EVERYTHING (as nothing was scheduled while something else was happening, ie photo sessions during talks), I saw nearly every guest talk, all photo sessions, all autographs and still had time to relax and get some proper food as usually you don't get time to do that at events as the timing doesn't work!!!

 

Thumbs up from me! :)

Edited March 17, 2008 by ShortyAZK

[Daniel]

I have been going to conventions for nearly six years. I have had some of the best times of my life at some of them and I have been to some that were awful.

 

This one I found to be fantastic, especially as a debut con for Massive Events. I don't feel the event was overpriced for what we got and the orgainisation was good considering the fairly large attendance. The autographs were also well organised and thank you for the free pictures.

 

I really enjoyed the parties, especially that Michael Jackson impersonater (I was the one dancing near the stage for much of the show) I have seen Michael live twice and never got that close . I was also glad that the traditional convention tunes got played and dances danced .

 

The talks were also entertaining, I felt it a good idea to have questions already put forward by people as I have seen talks that were a little slow because they weren't enough quesions from the audience, provided there is a fair balance for attendees wishing to ask a question. A suggestion for next time might be to have a mic at the side of the stage so any attendees can que to ask questions so the organisers can keep an eye on how many attendees are wishing to ask a question.

 

I have a couple of complaints though. I though the stage was abit low which made it hard for shorter people to see the guests. I know that the stage is the hotel's property so not the orgainsers fault, but maybe if possible the set could be raised a ltttle, if safe to do so ofcourse.

 

Also no proper party on Sunday I was very dissapointed about. As much as I enjoy a drink and a chat with my friends I did miss the usual Sunday night party where we all did the con dances for the final time. It was annoying to my girlfriend and friends who had spent quite abit of time getting ready for what they thought would be a proper party. At Eclipse 2 it would be very useful to know in advance whether there will be a large Sunday night party, as I may not stay Sunday if there is not.

 

One final thing is a luggage area at the Park Inn. We stayed at the Ibis, but will stay at the Park Inn for Eclipse 2 and might well need an area to keep the luggage as we really don't want to have to carry it with us all Sunday, it would be annoying to alot of people.

 

Thanks for an awesome weekend! See you in November.

[pez]

the tickets groups made no sence at all but other than that...( i only say that because not one person was in my group that i went with and we all booked our tickets within hours of eachother and had really close numbers)

 

oh and i look like a giant in my group photo. im only 4ft8 and a size 8/10 but i look like i ate noah im twice his size!

 

and im with lizzy people pushing and shoving forward in the guest talk que was a little to much as i've said and she's said people had no consideration for anyone else my knee is killing from somone smacking me with a postertube tryin to get past and i have really bad knees.

it needs to be sorted so people can get through . too tall did quite a good job at one point ( well he can see whats going on cant he!)

 

but other than that....it was fantastic and thankyou for giving us a lunch break it was apreciated!

[gebes]

I enjoyed this weekend immensely, but I did have some niggles as well about the event.

 

Saturday,

 

What happened first thing in the morning I felt could have been avoided completely. At Collectormania's there's always been plenty of information on the white boards which works fine, so thought that more white boards should have been setup , such as one in the foyer area.

 

Photoshoot , I wasn't quite sure about the lighting going from a dark area to being in front of a large flash unit.

 

Things to do whilst waiting for your group to be called , I felt that maybe a video room screening eps of Heroes or something would be good, but admit that getting permission for this would be either difficult or expensive.

 

Seating, I read in a post about allowing for 'airspace' this would be a good idea, as well as maybe having the seating split into the group names? I know of a system at another con, where you are allocated a seat by a letter and number eg, Row E seat 16 . That is then your seat for any talks. Could a similar system work here?

 

The Party, I'll admit that I'm not either a music fan, and do not know the con dances, but the DJ is there to meet the demands of the crowd, and this was a con , so therefore con dances were required playlists. You meet the criteria of the environment . A happy medium between normal music and "con" music is needed, to satisfy both people who are new to the con scene, and those that would be classed as "hard core con attendees"

 

Sunday-

 

I really enjoyed Sunday alot, everything for me ran nice and smoothly indeed, enjoyed getting my group photo with the guests, this was a great last minute addition to the weekend.

 

It was good to see that those running the con, took the time to listen to what was said and make changes over the course of the weekend to the system, and can only say that I'm looking forward to Eclipse 2 alot now. Got myself a silver pass for E2 !

 

The provisional guest announcement of Jack Coleman was also welcomed, as I felt that a guest announcement for E2 would very likely give more people an incentive to book their E2 ticket on Sunday.

[emmangel]

Sorry, just thought of one last thing, with regard to the room gifts.

 

I'd talked to Jason at one of the signing events before the con where we voiced our concerns about how the room gifts were going to be handled. We were told that they'd be placed in the rooms on the Friday before everyone arrived and not after we'd checked in.

 

Now, I know things can come up and change, but I was extremely uncomfortable to find out that someone had come into my room on the Saturday to put these gifts in our rooms (esp. when they could have been slid under the door).

 

I'm not doubting the honesty of the staff that put them in the rooms, but it still made my feel uneasy. I dislike the Housekeeping staff coming into my room, let alone people who I'm not expecting and I know several other people felt the same way. Perhaps this can be fixed for next time?

 

I know of a system at another con, where you are allocated a seat by a letter and number eg, Row E seat 16 . That is then your seat for any talks. Could a similar system work here?

I'd vote against that, it it can split up friends and family who booked only minutes apart and are still in the same 'group'. I think putting signs on the isle seats indicating the sections (like other cons do for stewards) would work though, so everyone knows what area they should sit in.

Edited March 17, 2008 by emmangel

[Jola]

I'm not doubting the honesty of the staff that put them in the rooms, but it still made my feel uneasy. I dislike the Housekeeping staff coming into my room, let alone people who I'm not expecting and I know several other people felt the same way. Perhaps this can be fixed for next time?

 

As far as I'm aware it would have been housekeeping that would have put the room gift in your room. I'm not aware that it was ANY of the SM Crew and I don't think the hotel would have allowed it to be anyone other than their staff anyway.

[emmangel]

As far as I'm aware it would have been housekeeping that would have put the room gift in your room. I'm not aware that it was ANY of the SM Crew and I don't think the hotel would have allowed it to be anyone other than their staff anyway.

Ah, I assumed it was someone from SM/ME since my room wasn't cleaned on the Saturday. If it's the housekeeping staff that went in to put them in the rooms that's fine, I don't have a problem with it. It was just given what Jason had told me previously and the fact that I spoke to the housekeeper about not cleaning my room I assumed it was someone from the event. :)

[lams9999]

Well, I'm far too tired to read all the posts below and so I apologise because all I will write below might have been said or discussed before.

 

First of all, thanks to Jason, Mark and all the crew for a great first convention. As I said to Jason on saturday night, I really have my doubts concerning several aspects of the organisation but it eventually proved to work well. I was particularly concerned about the parallel photo shoots/signings but it worked well despite a very chaotic start at 9 AM. But, as Jason said, they quickly learned from their mistake and the situation got back to normal quite quickly.

 

I would like to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. Of course, this is not a great quality hotel but personnally I thought it had all the aspects important for a good convention. The rooms were large and the beds were good, the main hall was large, there were several smaller rooms, they had nice food and for a very reasonable price, they had a great breakfast and probably the most important thing, they had two bars with the main one being open early and staying open until late. I liked this hotel and hope that the next cons organized by Massive Events will be run there.

 

Thanks to Jason and the organizers to offer the Gold pass members the group shot as they promised to do.

 

My main suggestion for improvements woud probably be to include numbers and names on badges as everyone could give their gold pass member to a friend so that they could join the queues earlier (not that it was needed but I'm pretty sure some people did it). Concerning the gold pass members, I would suggest using (if possible) a slightly larger room for the meet & greet as it was really packed inside. The use of tables where people sit and guests visit would also ensure that everyone meets all the guests which was not my case. However, I don't complain too much as I had a really great time speaking with Jessalyn, Noah and her mother and a little bit also with Santiago. But I missed Cristine and David. Great point also for Massive Events to offer us free wine at the meet & greet. This was actually the first time it happened to me and this was really appreciated.

 

Concerning the talks, I used to have people going to a microphone and asking questions to guests which might sometimes be funnier but also is sometimes more silly because of some questions. I personnally like the fact that Paul was a kind of MC for the talks. I still had the opportunity to ask two questions at the end of two talks. Since English is not my mother tongue, I also sometimes have some difficulties understanding the questions because people have so different accents. I could understand very easily what Paul said, so even though I realise it's very specific to me, I liked the fact that Paul asked most of the questions. And eventually what made great talks is the guests themselves and their answers and I think most of them if not all have done a great job. It was also good to be able to attend all the talks on saturday without having to care about a photo shoot. So, even though I was very doubtful about the system, I personnally thought it went very well.

 

The saturday night party was superb ! Great decoration and great theme ! I have two concerns for the parties : I personnally didn't like having a band or a singer on stage but I realized it might be due to my age and it seems like a lot of younger people than me liked the band, so fair enough for me if this happen again. It would also have been nice to have a third party. The idea of running it outside the main hall was okay for me as most people had already left but it would have been nice to have some music. That said, the third party was more a gathering and discussion with fans but it was apparently okay as I went to bed at 2:45 AM

 

I probably have some more minor complaints/comments but I will post that later because after travelling back to Belgium and after three nights with less than five hours sleep, I definitely need to rest a bit. Thanks to all people who contributed to my pictures for Missy's upcoming birthday

 

Edit : sorry for all the grammatical mistakes above but I'm too lazy to correct them

Edited March 17, 2008 by lams9999

[chris_mk]

As far as I'm aware it would have been housekeeping that would have put the room gift in your room. I'm not aware that it was ANY of the SM Crew and I don't think the hotel would have allowed it to be anyone other than their staff anyway.

Ah, I assumed it was someone from SM/ME since my room wasn't cleaned on the Saturday. If it's the housekeeping staff that went in to put them in the rooms that's fine, I don't have a problem with it. It was just given what Jason had told me previously and the fact that I spoke to the housekeeper about not cleaning my room I assumed it was someone from the event. :)

 

I'm sure it was housekeeping, as I saw a few of the gifts on the floor outside doors that had 'do not disturb' signs on them

[crippsy_99]

What on earth did you do to it? It was a sturdy card that held up perfectly for me, far better than any laminated card I've ever had, where the edges always end up peeling. I was really pleased by how well it held up

 

*blush* Was that just me then??!

 

Seriously, green string was not my bag so it went into my pocket. Once I'd sat down a couple of times it was scrumpled (is that a word? It is now!) even before I spilled beer on it (ok, I admit that bit is my fault )

 

Nope not just you. My friend had hers on a lanyard and during the autos sat it got ripped off somehow. It was never found and she had to be issued a new one.

Mine lasted till sunday when the corner got bent.

 

 

I see someone has already commented on the DJ. I did not like the DJing at both parties...actually it was pretty much the same set played over both nights. I can only assume that he was not in the mood for it - I've been at SM parties where he,s done a good job. Just not this weekend.

 

He did variate slightly on saturday night. He wasnt playing some of the major con songs, so a few of us kept asking him to which he said he didnt have them. We asked has he got internet access on the laptop he had which he said yes, so we said download the stuff then, and lo and behold about an hour later Doctoring the tardis was played

 

Anyway, my thoughts on the event:

 

Friday: Slow start, got registered, looked around briefly, then went to opening cerimony..fine so far..then back to hotel to change for party.

Got back and there was that absolutly AWFUL band playing for ages..they sounded like nails on a blackboard to me and was glad when they finally finished! Was any of it even their own music or was it all really bad covers?? But hey some people liked them anyway, though noticed it was mostly teenagers! Rest of the party was ok. My suggestion though, keep the live acts down to short appearences!

 

Saturday: Absolute chaos in the morning as everyone knows! Rather badly organised as no-one knew what they were supposed to do and was a mad scrum trying to fit a couple of hundred people at least into the tiny room. Eventually it was sorted, but I feel the only thing which was really needed, which didnt materialise till sunday was a list of what order groups were being called in! It was like random which meant everyone stood around the white board incase they missed something. If there had been lists up somewhere of what groups would be called that day and in what order, it would have saved a lot of people waiting around. I noticed eventually one of those list types did go up for the photoshoots so thankfully I knew if to wait around for my photo on the sat, or go back sunday. Autos I eventually gave up on figuring id just get the 3 people I had to go on the sunday.

Rest of the day however was pretty well organised. Liked the guest talks, then the party was excellent saturday night, especially with the shooters and cocktails made for the event!

 

Sunday: Much improved on the previous day. Talks were great. However, the group photo..didnt think too much of it, the cross was too far away and made it both very impersonal, and as people have said some people looked photoshopped onto the pic, or are far too big. Im a rather large person myself, so I look like a giant towering over all the guests, and you can barely see Noah whos hidden almost behind my arm, and David who is just about looking over my shoulder from behind me.

Was also dissapointed that there was no sunday party, even though it was on the schedual.

 

But still, overall, had a good weekend, and I booked a silver pass for eclipse 2!

[beckinfected]

Was a bit miffed I missed the Santiago talk on Sunday morning because I was in the queue for my Sendhil photoshoot.

 

And talking of photos - was was up with that 'Dead Sexy' photographer?

[berta314]

I had a really good weekend, and thought the event went pretty well considering it was their first 3 day event.

 

The only things that could have been better are things that people have already said before

 

The stage: im pretty tall for a girl and i was sitting on the 8th row for the talks on sat and really struggled to see the guests, so if the stage could be raised a little that would help. It also makes it easier to take photos at the start.

 

Sunday chill out party: started out kinda slow and i was disappointed that there was no actual party...but the night ended well chatting to friends and playing foosball who could ask for more! I also stayed up later that night than any of the other nights too lol

[mjturny23]

Thanks SM, me and my fiancee had a great time at the event (our first real con! ), and definately want to come back for Eclipse 2 (if we can afford it). Some feedback:

 

The guests were superb and SO funny, hope E2 are just as good (is there any chance of getting Masi Oka??? ).

 

The talks were a real highlight, the MC was brilliant and I liked that he was asking the questions out of the box (sorry, but sometimes attendees get a bit shy and can't be heard that well, or ask similar questions and I hate the long awkward silences when no-one can think if a question or is too scared to ask). Would love a DVD! I liked them being paired too. Last one was my favourite! I didn't like that some talks clashed with my photo sessions!!!!

 

Loved the videos that were being shown, more please in future. Episodes would be better, but licensing, I know...

 

Please tell us the schedule of what group should be doing what when.

 

Loved that Gold got the group shot, but the Heroes are standing so far back that they look like tiny Heroes, or that they don't like me...

 

I liked the backgrounds and would like backgrounds on all photos.

 

At the party, a lot of people seemed to sit quitely around the edge of the room, so it would have been nice to see more mixing.

 

Had a great time, can't wait to see who is announced for E2!!!

[Yodas'stuntman]

Well i was very impressed with the whole weekend and think they did a great job so feel im scrapping the barrel too but the only 2 niggles and suggestions i had were;-

 

1. I think there were quite a few times where we were all waiting about between shoots/signings etc in the room between dealers and main hall, i just thought to keep everyone occupied what about a tv in there keeping the atmosphere going with series 1 of Heroes showing. It keeps the atmophere and stops people sometimes getting bored as there arent an abundance stall to look at!

 

2. Which leads me onto number 2 surely we could do with more dealersi realise that the venue couldnt really fit more in so maybe a bigger venue may be better??

 

I dont know its just what i was thinking while i was there, but couldn really fault the weekend i love it apart from the major hangover sunday!!

[Bohan_]

Really enjoyed the convention but did not like the fact that the talks happened so early on Sunday morning, how am I supposed to wake for that? And as other people have noted, having the signing sessions and the talks all happening in the same hall really does not go well - it would have been nice to have the main hall open at all times with various activities happening in there as there were parts of the day where nothing at all was going on.

 

But yeah I aint gonna complain because it was fun as I knew it would be. So well done showmasters

[cat in boots]

.

 

As for photoshoot - I couldnt afford any. However, when the group one was annonced I went an queued for a ticket with my girlfriend. Was then told for both of us to have 1 photo was going to cost £80! We couldnt pay for just 1! I thought you were paying for a "session" - hence we both take up 1 "session" between us we should only pay for 1? So we left dissappointed...

 

 

£80 for both of you to have a group photo together, thats seems a bit steep, the last con I was at you paid the set price for the photo and if you wanted an extra person with you it was add £5 per person, not double it.

[SerbianJanet]

Really enjoyed the convention but did not like the fact that the talks happened so early on Sunday morning, how am I supposed to wake for that?

 

Wow, that's possibly the strangest complaint I've seen on here! It's pretty easy to be up for 9.30, especially if all you're talking about is the talks - when all you have to do is roll out of bed, come down and sit in a sit for a while. I understand people complaining about early photo shoots when they have to beautify themselves but even then, every other convention I've ever done has had photo shoots starting at 9am so still not really a problem if you ask me! Thousands of people have managed to get out of bed in the past, I'm sure you can manage it too!

 

 

As for other things, I did have a few niggles but I'm too tired to remember them now so I'll just say one thing for tonight - I liked Saturday's schedule. Having the autographs in such a large room worked particularly well, I thought, and the only reason it caused problems on Sunday was the need to reset the room multiple times. If the signing was all over before the talks (or vice versa) like on Saturday, Sunday would have been nigh on perfect if you ask me