Saturday col 15..the verdict!

[Psychosis]

Jason, did you mean me when you said you didn't see me today? Just clarifying, I'm not sure who you mean in your post :) If you do mean me, I was there today (in three different outfits... hehe). The only problem I really had was how uncomfortable I was because of the cold (I really don't have enough body fat for that, LOL! especially in costumes) and that didn't change today, and really hampered my enjoyment - so I'm going home earlier than planned tomorrow rather than hang around. I got more done today than planned though too. Obviously you can't control the weather and I'd guess you didn't know it was going to be so exposed to the weather anyway, so I'm not complaining at you. It was a busy show though and I was happy to see that. The guests were lovely too.

 

Overall I think most people would agree that other than some niggles (e.g. photoshoot collection being confusing at first, and the Rachel Luttrell photos were VERY poorly framed to the point that people's hair was cut out) the organisational effort was very good, and we appreciate the things you tried to do (even if talks didn't work) but the venue pulled the atmosphere down a bit for some of us. Personally, I'm a complete wimp, I never go to football grounds or outdoor festivals or anything, so it was a culture shock for me.

 

Anyway, nice work, shame about the cold though. I'll be there in the morning, hopefully without getting wet

[pdt1984]

sorry Psychosis

 

i know you worked on that post , but i am not alouwing people with 1 or 2 post that only joined in the last few days to come on here and post rubbish and then for you and us have to defend our selfs

 

the event went every well to day did not see you there today its sad as it did go very well and some of the guest even told us it was like a different show

 

so we lernt and fixed it

 

and we will keep on fixing bits and pices till we get it right like we did at C1 C2 C3 C4 till we got it working smoth

 

so give us the chance to run this event well for every one and you will be every happy were we end up

 

i do think we got it right by 9 am this morning and more good things to come out of this show

 

jason

 

Jason,

 

As one of these people 'posting rubbish', I think you're being hugely unfair. People have been to an event, and see a forum such as this for a way to have a dialogue with the people running the show, which you've acknowledged yourself had problems. It can be very disheartening to have a disappointing day, particularly if you've travelled some way to get to the event. So please, even if you're going to keep deleting posts which express dissatisfaction with the event, don't resort to trash-talking and getting personal.

 

Pete

[Psychosis]

Jason (delete this if you want to, I just want you to read it).

 

When I went to my first Showmasters event, I had a lot of problems, and I posted all of those negatives online after signing up. You were sweet about it. You acknowledged them, and you and your staff gave me answers as to what you were going to do to improve it. I loved that you did that, and I decided I was going to attend more of your events.

 

When I went to my first major convention of that other organiser, I was angry at the organisation. I posted online just like I did with you, and they told me off for troublemaking and deleted my posts. Because of what they did on the forum, no power on this earth could make me go to their events again no matter how much they improve it. Not even for the star of my favourite movie of all time.

 

I just wanted to share that little anecdote with you. Do with it what you will

Edited June 6, 2009 by Psychosis

[MikeDonovan]

When I went to my first major convention of that other organiser, I was angry at the organisation. I posted online just like I did with you, and they told me off for troublemaking and deleted my posts. Because of what they did on the forum, no power on this earth could make me go to their events again no matter how much they improve it. Not even for the star of my favourite movie of all time.

 

Have to agree with what Psychosis has to say here. Although I have been to that 'other' event on occasion because of particular guests, it's been a case of in, and out, and I'd never go there if I could avoid it, for much the same reason.

 

Some people here are overly negative without a doubt, but don't let that stop this being the open and honest forum it's always been.

[adriangill]

Very enjoyable day. There appeared to be a definite 'buzz' about the place. Thankfully managed to see Leonard Nimoy, and Kerri Green fairly early before spending the majority of the day in multiple photoshoots.

 

I did like the queue for the photo collections. A lot more 'civilised' than previous scrums. Well done whoever thought of that!

 

And just how many people were there!!?? In my limited time of attending (CM11 onwards) I can't recall ever seeing it so busy. Maybe it was the guest line-up, or the new venue (without having to fight your way though weeknd shoopers), some other factor, maybe a combination of everything

 

 

 

** Going back to wonder how, in the heat of the moment of preparing to meet Leonard, I 'accidentaly' asked for four autographs instead of the pre-planned one . Oops....

[jeffahey4ever]

Didn't do this Con, Largely because I heard Leonard Nimoy didn't Personalise. Shame, he's a Legend...

[jerellis1]

sorry Psychosis

 

i know you worked on that post , but i am not alouwing people with 1 or 2 post that only joined in the last few days to come on here and post rubbish and then for you and us have to defend our selfs

 

the event went every well to day did not see you there today its sad as it did go very well and some of the guest even told us it was like a different show

 

so we lernt and fixed it

 

and we will keep on fixing bits and pices till we get it right like we did at C1 C2 C3 C4 till we got it working smoth

 

so give us the chance to run this event well for every one and you will be every happy were we end up

 

i do think we got it right by 9 am this morning and more good things to come out of this show

 

jason

I'd also like to respond to this. Before this evening, I had never posted on this forum. However, that doesn't mean I haven't supported Collectormania extremely loyally for a number of years. I've been to every event I could get to over the past three or four years and, more importantly, spent hundreds (and quite possibly thousands) of pounds getting lots of autographs and making expensive purchases from stalls. I'm not a troublemaker, nor am I overly negative; I've quietly enjoyed all of the events I've been to so far and only felt compelled to air my views today after having a fairly negative experience for the first time. Like all of the other attendees, I only want the best for these shows, and if voicing some concerns has some small effect in rectifying one or two mis-steps on the organisers' behalf, then not only am I entitled to do so, but I believe I should be positively encouraged to do so. Deleting my first post just because it wasn't a fawning, sycophantic gush about how perfect everything was today, was most definitely the wrong thing to do.

 

One suggestion: there seems to be something of an imbalance in terms of who should be the most grateful for the experience of obtaining an autograph (the guest or the punter). I ALWAYS thank the people who sign photos for me, but sadly I don't often hear that gratitude reciprocated. That seems odd to me, as I'm invariably the one that queues for hours at each event and hands over my hard-earned cash, for which these megastars simply have to spend roughly five seconds scribbling on a photo of themselves. Guests should be encouraged to thank those that line their pockets, and it's a shame that so many of them don't appear to have the good manners to do so instinctively.

[sazzra]

 

One suggestion: there seems to be something of an imbalance in terms of who should be the most grateful for the experience of obtaining an autograph (the guest or the punter). I ALWAYS thank the people who sign photos for me, but sadly I don't often hear that gratitude reciprocated. That seems odd to me, as I'm invariably the one that queues for hours at each event and hands over my hard-earned cash, for which these megastars simply have to spend roughly five seconds scribbling on a photo of themselves. Guests should be encouraged to thank those that line their pockets, and it's a shame that so many of them don't appear to have the good manners to do so instinctively.

 

That really does surprise me. I've had exactly the opposite experience (and I have too been to many events, so I'm not just going on a one off!). I've found that the vast majority are polite at the very least (even my Shatner experience was positive) and often downright garrulous, with only a small minority being rude/disinterested.

 

Weird, huh?! I'm of course not dismissing your experiences, just really surprised that you've had so many less than positive encounters.

[Kinggodzillak]

Mostly okay - saw everyone I wanted to see, got all the autos I wanted and everyone was very nice...but I do have a few niggles.

 

Firstly - the venue. It's a nice enough place, just the right size to cope with all the attendees...on Friday. Come Saturday, it's hell, in the dealer's room in particular. Want to look at something on a bottom shelf? You can't bend down, it's far too crowded. Even on Friday it felt a little cramped, but today was just wading through a sea of people.

 

Oh, and people thinking about taking prams in the dealer's room? Please don't. There's just not the room.

 

The Leonard Nimoy queuing at the very start of the day wasn't too well handled either. Got there at about 8.20 to find a load of people already queuing at door number 3 to get tickets for Leonard, and a much shorter queue at the main doors (which I think was number 4). Both doors opened at 9, both doors led to almost exactly the same place which means that most of those people who were in the specific Nimoy queue were beaten to him by those in the general queue. That sort of thing's happened before (where standard pass and early birds have all been let in at the same time), it's very irritating, and although he was an open queue by the end of the day it wouldn't have hurt to have handed out the virtual tickets while the queue was still outside.

 

The biggest problem for me - waiting for the photo shoots to come back. For 3 hours minimum. I know there were a lot to get done, far more than usual, and it was all very busy - but really, three hours? Where were they being printed, the Moon? The first one I was waiting for was John de Lancie (taken at 11ish), which didn't come back until 2.30-ish. Why can't they just be printed out right there and then? The technology does exist. I've seen it in action. It's quite good. A 2-3 hour wait simply isn't necessary, and when you've done everything else you wanted to do waiting for photos that might not even be back by the end of the day isn't a great way to end it..

 

In fact, I couldn't even work out where the photos could be collected from, doing a lap of the stadium at 2pm trying (and failing) to find a table, or a sign, or anything to indicate where they should be picked up from. The collection point was marked on the map but there wasn't even a piece of paper stuck to the wall or anything at that spot.

 

I only managed to get 3 of my 5 photos back before I had to leave at 5.20. That really annoyed me because I got burned on the photoshoots at LF&CC 07 in the same way, since it then took 3 months to get them posted to me with absolutely no response from Showmasters whatsoever to my emails. Hopefully this time might be better, but I really didn't want to be put in this situation again...

 

If the show was ever going to be held here again, Friday's the day to go. I would seriously have to think about doing another Saturday or Sunday there...

Edited June 6, 2009 by Kinggodzillak

[Princess83]

One suggestion: there seems to be something of an imbalance in terms of who should be the most grateful for the experience of obtaining an autograph (the guest or the punter). I ALWAYS thank the people who sign photos for me, but sadly I don't often hear that gratitude reciprocated. That seems odd to me, as I'm invariably the one that queues for hours at each event and hands over my hard-earned cash, for which these megastars simply have to spend roughly five seconds scribbling on a photo of themselves. Guests should be encouraged to thank those that line their pockets, and it's a shame that so many of them don't appear to have the good manners to do so instinctively.

 

I've only ever had gratitude when I've thanked a guest for coming. I thanked Nimoy this morning and he seemed genuinely pleased that someone had taken time to do so. It works both ways, imho. Plus. showing good manners toward a guest might encourage them to come back or tell their friends about the good fan support. :)

Edited June 6, 2009 by Princess83

[JoeChur]

I've also been going to showmasters events for years and wasnt sure how things would go.

 

I felt the event ran very well for the first time at a new venue.

 

I came along on the Saturday at about 11.30 on the free bus (I think this was a fantastic service). I got a VQ ticket for everyone i wanted to meet and then joined the Leonard Nimoy photo shoot Queue.

 

So after arriving pretty much midday, i spent 4-5 hours at the event, had the ability to get the autos of anyone (bar Leonard Nimoy and Ben Browder), I got my 3 photo shoots done and had a great time looking through all the vendor stalls.

 

I think this event had the most costumes i'd seen for a while at a MK event. There was a great Alien + Predator going round, Storm Troopers with Vader, Spiderman, R2-D2 and BS Galatica Cylons and loads of other people in cosplay giving it the convention feel.

 

Food in the Stadium was regular expensive footy fast food, but with an ASDA next door or IKEA one more along this wasnt a problem.

 

Most peoples major complaint seemed to be about the weather, which no-one can control!

 

This was still Collectormania

 

Verdict: I think with a major guest again and the Sun on their side, the Dons stadium will be the perfect place for another great event.

[Psychosis]

They have to take the photos into town to get printed, and then they have to wait for the shop to print them. Usually it's about two hours but the stadium was in the middle of nowhere so that's probably (I'm running on an educated guess, I wasn't actually involved) why it took longer than usual.

[Kinggodzillak]

All the more reason to get a computer/printer set up to print the photos off right there and then. Surely they can afford that after all the money Nimoy alone made for them today?

[Psychosis]

All the more reason to get a computer/printer set up to print the photos off right there and then. Surely they can afford that after all the money Nimoy alone made for them today?

 

What about all the money Nimoy made today? Do you think he doesn't need to get paid?

 

The worst quality photos I've ever had were the ones printed on-site. I would really rather Showmasters not sacrifice the quality of their largely excellent photoshoots and ruin Malcolm's good work just to satisfy some impatience.

[adriangill]

 

One suggestion: there seems to be something of an imbalance in terms of who should be the most grateful for the experience of obtaining an autograph (the guest or the punter). I ALWAYS thank the people who sign photos for me, but sadly I don't often hear that gratitude reciprocated. That seems odd to me, as I'm invariably the one that queues for hours at each event and hands over my hard-earned cash, for which these megastars simply have to spend roughly five seconds scribbling on a photo of themselves. Guests should be encouraged to thank those that line their pockets, and it's a shame that so many of them don't appear to have the good manners to do so instinctively.

 

That really does surprise me. I've had exactly the opposite experience (and I have too been to many events, so I'm not just going on a one off!). I've found that the vast majority are polite at the very least (even my Shatner experience was positive) and often downright garrulous, with only a small minority being rude/disinterested.

 

Weird, huh?! I'm of course not dismissing your experiences, just really surprised that you've had so many less than positive encounters.

Similar here as well. Today the very busy Mr Nimoy returned my thanks with a genuine smile. From what I can recall I have always left a guest with the impression that they have been grateful and/or enjoyed the encounter as well. Even my only other speed demon meeting, Patrick Stewart, thanked me for coming to see him, and that was before I had chance to say hello. When I met Eve Myles at CM13 she said she was amazed that all these people were queueing to see her. And so on.

 

I honestly can't recall having a similar experience to yours Jerellis1. It sounds like you have been very unlucky in your meetings with guests.

[Basil]

Thought I'd come out of lurking to add my thoughts.

 

1. Great guests especially the legend who is Ben Browder.

 

2. Good organisation. Staff knew what they were doing and were professional as always.

 

3. Terrible venue. This was teh first Collectomania where I left before lunchtime. No talks due to the weather, no food to talk of (as I wont spend £6.30 on a small burger and chips) and it was cold to the point where the two ladies I was with were visabily shivering and I wasn't far off that. Didn't do any photoshoots as we couldn't stand waiting for an hour for the photos to be developed (£40 that I didn't spend).

 

Sorry to be negative but with the old venue your clients had the choice on finding a coffee shop or having a mooch around the shops while waiting for their autograph numbers to come up. By moving you've taken away the comfort that the shopping centre gave us, even the guests were huddled under blankets in the nooks and crannies they were stuck in. Then there's the feel of the place, a circular thin corridor with a small room of it? Some people may like the novelty of having an event in a football stadium but as a Sci-Fi fan who hates football why do I want to be at a football stadium?

 

I ended up at the MK centre to have lunch and then straight home. This is normally the "in and out" technique I use for other shows. Quite seriously I wont bother doing more than this if Collectomania is run at the stadium again.

 

As one of these people 'posting rubbish', I think you're being hugely unfair. People have been to an event, and see a forum such as this for a way to have a dialogue with the people running the show, which you've acknowledged yourself had problems. It can be very disheartening to have a disappointing day, particularly if you've travelled some way to get to the event. So please, even if you're going to keep deleting posts which express dissatisfaction with the event, don't resort to trash-talking and getting personal.

 

I agree completely with Pete (pdt1984).

 

You can't stop negative comments. If you delete the posts then other forums and old fasioned word of mouth will soon drag the name of Showmnasters down from the heights we all want it to be. If there's a specific problem as a buisnessman you need to address it. We don't expect you to be able to act on unreasonable complaints but not adressing concerns at all is just bad customer service which is something you don't want to be known for.

 

this is now the space we are using next year there is a new hall avalable to us by then and when this hall is opened the location will be the best in the UK for us

 

So the hall will be big enough for all the signings and dealers or do we have to pray for good weather?

 

On the upside we've still got LFACC at a good venue (indoor location shops and food just up the road, plenty of space for talks etc).

 

Basil

[jerellis1]

I honestly can't recall having a similar experience to yours Jerellis1. It sounds like you have been very unlucky in your meetings with guests.

Well... I suppose I could be feeling slightly more negative that I ought to be on account of the way today went (not to mention the fact that it's now midnight and my nose is STILL cold).

 

If I think back, I've had some really terrific meetings in the past. Off the top of my head, John Rhys-Davies, Paul McGann, Dirk Benedict, Dave Prowse, Kenny Baker, Tom Baker, Jewel Staite, Peter Mayhew, Nick Courtney, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and plenty of others have all been delightful. And now I think about it, only Sylvester McCoy, Walter Koenig, Morena Baccarin and the two from today (Nathan Fillion and Leonard Nimoy) have left me feeling a little unloved.

 

Perhaps I should try not to be so sensitive.

Edited June 6, 2009 by jerellis1

[tiggerbabe]

They have to take the photos into town to get printed, and then they have to wait for the shop to print them. Usually it's about two hours but the stadium was in the middle of nowhere so that's probably (I'm running on an educated guess, I wasn't actually involved) why it took longer than usual.

 

There is a boots in a retail park just behind ikea, if they took then there it would only take a matter of minutes to get there.

[Psychosis]

Ah, really? :) I only knew of the Ikea and Asda. Still, that's the difference between two hours and three... either way I'd rather wait and have a good photo than not wait and have a crappy print-out.

[tiggerbabe]

Ah, really? :) I only knew of the Ikea and Asda. Still, that's the difference between two hours and three... either way I'd rather wait and have a good photo than not wait and have a crappy print-out.

 

Yeah there would still be a wait regardless of how close the shop is.

 

There is a big retail park just the other side of the roundabout to ikea. Tesco and mattalan one side, next clearance, tk maxx, boots, brantano and argos on the other.

[ciao]

Ah, really? :) I only knew of the Ikea and Asda. Still, that's the difference between two hours and three... either way I'd rather wait and have a good photo than not wait and have a crappy print-out.

 

We did a charity ball a few months ago, it was held in the middle of no where. Our photographer took shots of every one burned them onto separate CD's - so people could take the disc home and print at their leisure. - That could be a option?

[chris_mk]

Ah, really? :) I only knew of the Ikea and Asda. Still, that's the difference between two hours and three... either way I'd rather wait and have a good photo than not wait and have a crappy print-out.

 

We did a charity ball a few months ago, it was held in the middle of no where. Our photographer took shots of every one burned them onto separate CD's - so people could take the disc home and print at their leisure. - That could be a option?

 

Interesting idea, but probably not feasable, given teh number of photos taken. Between the two sessions, I would imagine there could have been 3000-4000 pictures taken. If you had two PCs burning CDs and each picture took 1 minute to burn and mark (with something identifying the attendeee), then it would take around 30+ hours to process.

[cptpugwash]

if this event had happened one weekend earlier i assume most people would love it being in the open but just because we have had a cold spell people are moaning, i thank showmasters for finding a temp location and putting on the event.

 

ok so the guests were a little cold, they are getting paid enough, and i met Q,nathan and ben and all seemed happy to talk to me, and when i asked nathan to sign it with storm falls he seem pleasntly suprised and asked if i was a fan.

 

i went friday and saturday and saturday was much better and i enjoyed myself more, maybe it was because they did open it up more but also because of the cosplay people, always love seeming them they do make the event.2 thumbs up for the transformers they did make me smile

 

i also found the helpers to be well...helpful, got chatting to one he was doing ben on fri and leonard on saturday great bloke.

 

so all in all thank you showmasters i live in milton keynes and yes i enjoyed shopping centre but that was because it was 5 mins away, but in my opinion the place doesnt make the event, the guests and the customers do.

 

p.s hope the 2 northern ireland girls saved enough money to get home lol

 

p.p.s my partner want to know if you could get middleman next time

[showmasters]

When I went to my first major convention of that other organiser, I was angry at the organisation. I posted online just like I did with you, and they told me off for troublemaking and deleted my posts. Because of what they did on the forum, no power on this earth could make me go to their events again no matter how much they improve it. Not even for the star of my favourite movie of all time.

 

Have to agree with what Psychosis has to say here. Although I have been to that 'other' event on occasion because of particular guests, it's been a case of in, and out, and I'd never go there if I could avoid it, for much the same reason.

 

Some people here are overly negative without a doubt, but don't let that stop this being the open and honest forum it's always been.

 

guys thats what we are trying to do here but when we are at a show certon people know we can not wach our backs and that were you can help us

 

do not bight when someone comes on ovaly negative and do not feed the topic if we feel there is a genuin issues we will deal with is if something happens thats unfair we will help to put it right but alot of the comments on here over the last few days wee not htere to help anyone just damage the show

 

Collectormana MK was at its weekest point of its intire history over the last 6 months andwhat alot of you did not know is if we did not get to move it and make it work to a fair level then this would have been the last event things do not last for ever and sometimes go just like that

 

over the last few days we made it work , as bones from star trek said "we turned death into a fighting chance to live" we now have the time to get the new hall open and then grow this event into the event we wanted to this weekend showed us all that the shopping center achaly stop us from making the event much bigger and when we moved out we had more space to grow and it did by 30% this show so next year we will get more big names and beable to have talks indoors and add more things that are free

 

so its going to be great for everyone but it very nealy did not happen we all forght for it to have a chance and you all halped make this happen to thank you all

 

now of to work

 

jason

[showmasters]

Basil'

 

ok mate but what about the people that come on here and just out right LIE ? 15 dealers ?when there was 150 ? also you understand this is not were we are running this next year and if we only run one event a year in england ie lfcc that means you only get to meet 50 guests a year with showmasters

 

so maybe GIVE US A CHANCE as if every one felt like this CM MK 1 would have been the only event we would have ran 7 guests 40 dealers and we lost £25,000 if we stopped then were would everyone be ?

 

so why not stop being so hard and just give it some time

 

and i really mean this as we know what's coming and we know what we want to do

 

we have ran some of the bests event in the world and have proven ourselfs over and over again so why ont just trust us

 

as to delting stuff

 

it if not corect and its lies or ovelay negative and is there to damaging to our dream then we are going to remove this as its not helping what it is we want to do run great events and serve the fans