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what works and what did not work


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i loved the event, i met who i wanted to see. i have two points to bring up, the lack of buses, need more and i'm a massive harry potter fan and i didn't see any merchandise and that disappointed me as there is normally lots, you really need to cater for all needs, not just the sci-fi genre. Apart from that i had a great day and thanks for a great event

 

huh, I spotted Harry Potter trading cards, action figures and some other Harry Potter stuff. Did you go see all the dealers?

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I was quite apprehensive about this event when I got there and saw it was around the concourse but all in all (on a personal note) I thought it went very well.

 

My only gripe (and it is very minor) is that in the organisers booth can signs be put up as to what queue is for what ie cash payments only, card payments only etc. I know it's the Brit thing to stand in a queue for the sake of it but it is quite grating to stand in one only to find it's the wrong one.

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  • Showmasters Admin

i have had to go though this thread and take down some posts

 

if anyone has any issues that maybe considered serious matter please do not talk about them here ,

 

 

the only way to deal with this is to contact me by email on Showmasters <info@showmastersonline.com>

 

this is the only way i can comment on these issues and we will not be responding at all the them on here we will not be letting people post about them on here now ether

 

sorry i have to comply to this and in force this 100%

 

i hope you can all see what i am saying here and please leave this issues to email only

 

thank you all for your understanding

 

jason

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Guys Jason has requested that you address these issues via email maybe you should do that and give him the chance to help resolve them. You have very personal/individual issues that arose from the weekend and may be best to deal with them on a 1 to 1 basis with the organisers. Hopefully all will be resolved for you guys soon

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Not having a go but just a thought, I queued SAT- outside gate No3, the queue for spock, which was quite big, the doors opened at 9am, the queue moved v fast, to my suprise, once i reached the door, the queue dispersed into several quickly moving lines, all moving towards another queue forming by the signing booth. People who were behind me were passing me, walking fast and the queue formed a very long away from the gate door that we entered.

Same thing happened on Sunday as well. It is rather dependant on the politness of the people in the queue. With the right people it works great, the Brandon Routh queue at CM11, for example, was very civilised.

 

Wonder if Malcolm and the other photographer (sorry - I don't know her name!) would be interested in doing something similar. Not sure if they would have time to burn CD's at the event due to how busy they are taking photos (I am guessing the other photographer either has less photos to deal with or has some help).

 

The second photographer's name is Danielle.

 

It's way less photos at the other event, simply because it's less fans and the number of guests is smaller. Also last time I was there it was a surprisingly small amount of fans who actually wanted the files. $ 10 per picture can add up quickly.

 

We'll see, maybe some point in the future we'll see something similar established at Showmasters events.

Sorry - just saw your reply - thanks.

 

Note to self - must come over and say hello as I keep seeing you (especially when you are wearing long furry ears!).

 

 

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the atmosphere was awesome! :unsure:

You are not alone in that thought. A definite buzz about the place!

 

Good to see another DS9 fan on the forum, best Star Trek (and Sci-fi) series by far !!!!
Another DS9 fan here :YAHOO:

 

I am going to stop replying to people now and watch the rest of the footie!

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Uh, ok. Why was my post as well as several posts by Psychosis taken away?

See post 155, I guess. Forum owner's discretion, without going into it further.

That's just lame, why not comment on them here? Jason has already commented about the security, defending them. Now that people are voicing their disapproval of the way the security handled things, and no apology being given, the posts are taken away.

 

Good to know.

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I used to have this cartoon-style stress man - about 3 inches tall, it was made out of some sort of rubber with a thick heavy gelatinous filling - you'd squeeze his body and his head would hugely expand and look very silly and then I'd find it rather silly and that would knock the edge off my stress. Then one day, I don't know if the rubber had weakened or started to perish, or if I just squeezed really really hard, but his head expanded, and expanded, and expanded, and then burst like a giant zit. Sitting there with splatters of gelatinous gloop on your face and shirt and keyboard and monitor (not mentioning holding a fistful of it) doesn't really de-stress you - especially not when a couple of your colleagues are laughing so hard that they're in imminent danger of complete failure of bladder control. Gosh was I Mr Moody Stomper for about an hour or so after that :thumbup:

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Jason.... please delete this once youve read it.... can you check your spam filter... Ive emailed twice and I don't think they are getting to you. Failing that, is there a different email address I can try? I really do need to discuss this issue with you... or can you send me an email to jamesandkehlan at aol dot com (obviously with dots and at signs in place instead of the words)

 

thanks alot

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I used to have this cartoon-style stress man - about 3 inches tall, it was made out of some sort of rubber with a thick heavy gelatinous filling - you'd squeeze his body and his head would hugely expand and look very silly and then I'd find it rather silly and that would knock the edge off my stress. Then one day, I don't know if the rubber had weakened or started to perish, or if I just squeezed really really hard, but his head expanded, and expanded, and expanded, and then burst like a giant zit. Sitting there with splatters of gelatinous gloop on your face and shirt and keyboard and monitor (not mentioning holding a fistful of it) doesn't really de-stress you - especially not when a couple of your colleagues are laughing so hard that they're in imminent danger of complete failure of bladder control. Gosh was I Mr Moody Stomper for about an hour or so after that ;)

 

LMAO :D:blink::YAHOO: Gave me a good giggle, this did.

Edited by Psychosis
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Jason.... please delete this once youve read it.... can you check your spam filter... Ive emailed twice and I don't think they are getting to you. Failing that, is there a different email address I can try? I really do need to discuss this issue with you... or can you send me an email to jamesandkehlan at aol dot com (obviously with dots and at signs in place instead of the words)

 

thanks alot

 

as i am sure you can understand we get lots of emails.

 

What name were you using so that i can identify your email?

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Jason.... please delete this once youve read it.... can you check your spam filter... Ive emailed twice and I don't think they are getting to you. Failing that, is there a different email address I can try? I really do need to discuss this issue with you... or can you send me an email to jamesandkehlan at aol dot com (obviously with dots and at signs in place instead of the words)

 

thanks alot

 

as i am sure you can understand we get lots of emails.

 

What name were you using so that i can identify your email?

 

it came from jamesandkehlan... my name as signed in the email is charlotte Kebbell. The reason I think you might not have got them is that I requested a "return receipt" with the last email, so aol should have informed me when you received it. I havent had that notification.

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it came from jamesandkehlan... my name as signed in the email is charlotte Kebbell. The reason I think you might not have got them is that I requested a "return receipt" with the last email, so aol should have informed me when you received it. I havent had that notification.

 

 

i am sorry i have not had an email from you at all its not in the junk folder ether so can you please send it to info@showmastersonline.com if you still need to

 

thanks

 

jason

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We were there mainly for the Cosplay competition. We were asked to turn up for registration at 11.00am, went all the way round the stadium and couldn't find their desk, asked at the info desk, no one knew where it was. We were told to walk around again and if we STILL couldn't find it, go back to the info desk and ask. We did as we were told, got back to the info desk and were told it was being held in the ballroom. Found the ballroom blocked by bags and stuff and couldn't get through that way, went back to the info desk, they couldn't help. Took ANOTHER walk around incase we had missed it - no luck. Back at the info desk they decided to set up a table for signing in, then the Cosplay person turned up, she had been waiting at door 3 for three hours for someone to tell her where to go! We all finally got signed in and collected there at 2.30pm! Up until this time, no one was sure where the judging would take place and we were all led downstairs. Unlike other Cosplay events, there was no stage, no music, just the judges talking to the entrants. All in all a vast anticlimax to the whole event! I realise that the stadium was NOT the best place to hold such an event, but there were areas of the stadium (like downstairs) that could have been utilised to great advantage. Cosplay, you need to get organised, and put on a decent show, we can spend months making our costumes to show off to the crowds of people attending, apart from walking through a crowded stadium to get downstairs, not a lot of people saw our hard work. When the Hall is built, I think we will need a guarantee from Cosplay that it will be properly organised, otherwise we shalln't go.

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The whole event was temporary, we understand that, but even so there must have been plenty of time to get signs organised at the event itself. We were after Leonard Nimoys autograph, so dutifully went to door 3 and then where do we go! We found a sheet of paper hanging up, which listed a FEW of the guests, but no indictation which direction to take - are they to the left or right? A lot of time was wasted and a lot of mis-information given. You expect the helpers of Showmasters to give you answers, but most were completely in dark as to what was going on (is there a briefing held before opening up to pass information on, because its not working).

 

The stall holders around the parapet WHERE complaining, no matter what Showmasters say, we asked them! One stallholder in the hall was taken to hospital following a bad asthma attack because of the oppresive air quality and builders dust.

 

We have been so used to having a descent view of the guests as they were signing in the shopping centre, and this was all taken away by burying them in alchoves.

 

People attending probably didn't notice the cold, but when you are standing in queue, or a stall holder, it was freezing. One showmaster helper DID complain, he had been standing as a ticket collector for 2 hours, with no protection from the cold expect for trousers and a sweatshirt and no sign of being relieved.

 

All in all, it was a bad move to make, In my opinion, I would rather have waited for a descent warm place to go, even if it meant cancelling the event for this year.

 

I think I speak for everyone, when I say - Showmasters, make the next event an occasion to be proud of, put signs up at EVERY entry door indicating where everyone is sited.

PS. Please arrange a sandwich bar as well as the usual rubbish of McD's and KFC. We went to ASDA for our lunch, I'm damned if I was going to pay the prices on show!!!!!

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Since we're on the subject of cosplay, and this isn't about showmasters it's about the people, my wife was getting a little fed up by the end of the day after being bothered by storm troopers all day (patting her bag, touching her arm, etc), it's fun the first time but gets a little boring and annoying after a while. I'm sure having a mask on can alter someones behaviour.

 

Personally, I think it's cool if people want to dress up but that doesn't mean I want to be involved either, I'll happily have a conversation with anyone in the world but I'm not really interested in being part of someones role play.

 

Most people were well behaved and looked good, it has to be said.

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it came from jamesandkehlan... my name as signed in the email is charlotte Kebbell. The reason I think you might not have got them is that I requested a "return receipt" with the last email, so aol should have informed me when you received it. I havent had that notification.

 

 

i am sorry i have not had an email from you at all its not in the junk folder ether so can you please send it to info@showmastersonline.com if you still need to

 

thanks

 

jason

 

Thanks Jason

 

Am sending it now... if it doesnt arrive in a reasonable amount of time then I'd be grateful if you could give me an alternate way to communicate as this will be the third time its has been sent to you...

 

ok, its sent, with a title of resend of previous email... and its from jamesandkehlan (at) aol (dot) com

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Cosplay, you need to get organised, and put on a decent show, we can spend months making our costumes to show off to the crowds of people attending, apart from walking through a crowded stadium to get downstairs, not a lot of people saw our hard work. When the Hall is built, I think we will need a guarantee from Cosplay that it will be properly organised, otherwise we shalln't go.

I wasn't there at this event, Sarah took my place. I had actually arranged and organised the whole masquerade and such, but due to talks being called off due to rain there was nothing could be done except hold the competition somewhere else. On this occasion there was no other option, no one knew until the day that we wouldn't get to hold the masquerade properly - and the rain really wasn't anyone's fault. Still, I shall be having a word because I hate to think of everyone's opinions of cosplay at SM events dropping due to things like this. I personally felt that the Midlands competition was an embarrassment and the online judges hated judging it, so you've got a guarantee that such a competition won't be happening again if I'm involved, only a proper masquerade.

 

On the subject of showing off your costume - personally, I thought cosplay was something you did for yourself, not other people, but maybe I misunderstood... if you're cosplaying just to show off, in the words of lolcats, "ur doin it wrong..."

Edited by TurkFox
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Yes, there are crew briefings in the morning. But the crew works different sections at the event, so it is possible that a crew member may not be able to answer your question. It is a large event and not every crew member can know everything.

 

I am really surprised though that you have met that many people who did guesswork about where a guest was sitting instead of directing you to the Organisers Booth or another place or person that could help. This is the way that's supposed to be done.

 

If something like this happens again, please let someone at the Organisers Booth know, or grab the nearest Pit Boss (the guys/gals in the red shirts) and let them know. If you inform someone at the show, something can be done about it. It's kind of hard to identify the crew members now.

 

We found a sheet of paper hanging up, which listed a FEW of the guests, but no indictation which direction to take - are they to the left or right?

 

There were large maps on the walls showing where the guests were sitting. I found it kind of funny that they even had a red dot saying "you are here" on them.

 

I agree, not all guests where named on there, but this was simply impossible due to space. All names and the map would have become unreadable. But Leonard's name was definitely on there.

Edited by Queen_Sindel
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Just wanted to say thank you all ..we enjoyed ourselves once the early snags were worked out.

Such a shame about the weather,but we got to see Leonard so it didn't matter a bit.

We look foreward to '16'

thanks again xx

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I haven't had chance to post about the event up until now because I was away on holiday, and when I got back I wanted to read through the whole thread to see if the points I want to make had been raised already. I am a Showmasters regular, having attended Collectormania in Milton Keynes since number 3. In fact the only one I missed was last year when I was getting married abroad. Collectormania MK is usually one of the highlights of my year. However, this time round I really didn't enjoy the event.

 

I had been looking forward to the event for months. I set off early to try to avoid the kind of problems I'd encountered at Collectormania Midlands in Coventry (at which I arrived too late for a free autograph because the trains were up the creek), even catching an earlier train than I'd anticipated. I got to Milton Keynes not long after 9am, and was pleased with my progress. However, that was when the problems started. It took quite some time to establish where the coach to the event was as there was absolutely nothing to identify it as having anything to do with the event. The driver was a miserable sod, refusing to let us on the coach despite the fact that a sizeable queue had formed at the bus stop and the rain was pouring down. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who had items with me that I did not want to get wet. I was out in the rain for nearly half an hour. The driver was adamant that he had to stick to a schedule so he would not leave until a specific time, even though some attendees at the front of the queue pointed out that the previous coach had failed to turn up. This was extremely frustrating as I wanted to get to the event as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

 

The coach did eventually depart, but I ended up arriving far later than I'd hoped. I was wanting to buy photoshoots for Leonard Nimoy, Avery Brooks and John de Lancie (I'd met them at other events where they would not look into the camera when you got an autograph). I had tried to pre-order via the website but was surprised to find that pre-orders were no longer being accepted at the time when I looked (I forget the exact day, but I hadn't seen any announcements here on the forums regarding the online shop being closed at the time). I joined the queue to buy tickets and waited... and waited... and just as I was getting near the front of the queue a steward came and announced that the Leonard Nimoy photoshoots had sold out. I was astonished - at previous events when there was the demand, the time for photoshoots was extended. The steward seemed to think that it wasn't a problem as there would be another photoshoot the following day, but this was no consolation to me as I was catching a plane that day. The Leonard Nimoy photoshoot was the one I wanted the most. I was so disappointed that I decided not to bother getting any photoshoots at all.

 

I decided to start finding the actors I wanted to get autographs from, but this was easier said than done as the maps provided only had a handful of names on them, and most of the actors I wanted to see were not listed. I completed a circuit of the venue but even then was not entirely sure where some of the guests were meant to be. Whose idea was it to put Nicholas Parsons in the same area as Leonard Nimoy? As it was very hard to tell whether Nicholas had actually arrived, a number of people were shouted at by stewards who thought they were trying to ogle Mr Nimoy. The positioning meant that the queue for Nicholas felt very cramped. I did eventually get my autograph, but as I walked away, trying to let the fresh autograph dry, the rain fell on my autograph book. This surprised and appalled me - why use a venue that isn't adequately protected from the elements? After getting my autographs I wanted to find out where the talks were taking place. I had been looking forward to them ever since they were announced on the forum. The sign I had seen earlier in the day had disappeared, so after much fruitless searching I eventually made my way to the Organiser's Booth where I was informed that the talks had been cancelled due to the weather. This was fair enough, but why didn't anyone write a message to that effect on the maps around the venue? It would have taken five minutes and saved a lot of confusion.

 

This leads to another source of frustration: inadequate or inaccurate information from stewards. When I arrived I couldn't find where Alice Krige would be signing. I checked at the Organiser's Booth and was told that she was running a litlle late but should be there around 10.30. I went to the area indicated but was told that she would be coming around 11. When I went there again a little after 11 I still couldn't find her. I then spoke to a steward in a red shirt who told me that she had cancelled. If I'd been given the correct information earlier I could have saved myself a lot of fruitless searching. The heat and the crowding in the dealers' room has already been raised, so I will just add that the atmosphere in the room meant that I didn't spend much time looking at the different stalls. I just bought the items that I caught sight of in a brief glance at each stall. It wasn't condusive to browsing.

 

I had intended staying until around 4pm but ended up deciding at around 11.45am that I'd had enough and went to wait for the coach to take me back to the train station. I checked at the info desk and was told that the next coach was due to depart at 12pm. I waited, and at around 12.10 a coach did arrive. We dutifully filed out and formed a queue only to have the same coach driver as before tell us that another coach would be along "in about 10 minutes" and speed off, leaving us to trudge back to the entrance and continue waiting. To add insult to injury, when the coach did finally arrive, much later than the quoted "ten minutes", there was a massive free-for-all and I ended up being told that the coach driver was sorry but he was full. I had been waiting far longer than many of the people who were on the coach! I went to the info desk were it was confirmed that the next coach wouldn't be coming for another hour but that there was a bus stop "next to Tesco". I went to find the bus stop, but there was no Tesco to speak of. I eventually found a bus stop and waited for ages for a bus. A local turned up and it was only then that I discovered I was waiting at the wrong bus stop. I had to rush across a busy main road in order to avoid missing the bus which was about to arrive. I then had to pay £1.70 for the privilege. I know it's not much money, especially as I'd spent far less than I'd planned to, but I had been led to believe that I would be getting a free coach.

 

The whole experience was a massive disappointment, and it would take an amazing guest (of the calibre of Harrison Ford, for example) to persuade me to return to the Milton Keynes event.

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Most of your post is absolutely fair enough and I don't mean to detract from that, but as to this:

 

I was astonished - at previous events when there was the demand, the time for photoshoots was extended. The steward seemed to think that it wasn't a problem as there would be another photoshoot the following day, but this was no consolation to me as I was catching a plane that day. The Leonard Nimoy photoshoot was the one I wanted the most. I was so disappointed that I decided not to bother getting any photoshoots at all.

 

Photoshoots have NEVER been unlimited, and that's why they go online and you are advised to buy as early as possible. The Hayden and possibly Milo/Adrian ones at LFCC also sold out and I think John Barrowman or James Marsters did too. The photoshoot did run significantly over its allocated time. Imagine what that would've been like if there were a hundred more people, or even more than that, in the queue. Plus, are you aware how old Leonard Nimoy is? Do your eally want him standing there grinning for the cameras for two hours?

 

I'm not sure how the bus driver can be blamed for the bus being full. However, I agree that one of them was a miserable sod. The other bus drivers opened the hold for my suitcase, but oh no, not him. He just watched me drag a suitcase I could fit into up those cramped stairs and glared at me.

Edited by Psychosis
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