ok lets talk

[Decode]

I really really want to come, I just have no one to go with!

[chris_mk]

I really really want to come, I just have no one to go with!

 

Attendees are a friendly bunch and it's a great place to meet new people. I met some of my best friends through going to events!

[retro_slippy]

I met some of my best friends through going to events!

And some of your worst!

 

Hope people start buying tickets for this shindig and I also echo nkb's sentiments... surely online advertising is worth a punt? It is in my experience.

 

Steve

 

PS: Mind you having said all that, we've not got our tickets yet....

[Decode]

I really really want to come, I just have no one to go with!

 

Attendees are a friendly bunch and it's a great place to meet new people. I met some of my best friends through going to events!

 

Oh I know! The more I think about this con, the more I think I can't resist it, regardless of being alone, it's too good to miss

 

Although the last con I decided to take the plunge and go alone to was the Abrams con and that got cancelled...

[chole110]

I really really want to come, I just have no one to go with!

 

Attendees are a friendly bunch and it's a great place to meet new people. I met some of my best friends through going to events!

 

Oh I know! The more I think about this con, the more I think I can't resist it, regardless of being alone, it's too good to miss

 

Although the last con I decided to take the plunge and go alone to was the Abrams con and that got cancelled...

 

DEFINITLY come alone and come along! People are lovely! And we need to sell more tickets!!!!!

 

I'm going to be so upset if this gets cancelled, it's one of the best cons on here! No fair!

[C0RDEL1A]

I think there's just too many events going on these days and we can't afford to do them all. As much as I'd love to meet the rest of the cast, I'm doing other events for shows I like more so it's unlikely I'll be at this one.... maybe people do know about the con but are in the same positiion as I am.

[DavidB]

You have to assume that they're not aiming to get exactly the same attendees to every convention though.

 

It's tough to know how many fans cross over into each different show.

 

I guess there is a limited amount that know about these events though, so that does make it more difficult.

[showmasters]

I think there's just too many events going on these days and we can't afford to do them all. As much as I'd love to meet the rest of the cast, I'm doing other events for shows I like more so it's unlikely I'll be at this one.... maybe people do know about the con but are in the same positiion as I am.

 

 

hi C0RDEL1A i have to say i just do not agree

 

people keep saying this and now just say it without thinking and its just not true

 

 

 

i have just done some adding up and looked back on one year, i just took 2004 at randum

 

 

now 2004 had 115 event held over the year in the UK

 

thats events like cons or collectors fairs

 

now this year there were only 58

 

 

now yes we were running less events back in 2004 as we only ran 8 that year

 

but if you add up the events that were being run back then by our now partners it would be 18 out of the 115

 

 

 

 

 

now this year we are running 24 events thats only 6 more a year

 

 

but i will also point out this 8 of these event have never been ran before, they are new subject events

for new fans of new shows and films , like twilight , being human , muggle mayhem ,touchwood cons and take very little away from the other events at all

 

so for people to keep saying there are to many events now days is like saying everything was much better in the 70s its nostalgia not fact

 

sorry i just had to say this as it keeps coming up and in the end the few that say it really are starting to beleave this and its just not true sorry i hope everyone can see this now

 

 

 

now down to Housebroken

 

this year is a hard year for most events , but all i can say is we risked a lot this year and increased both lfcc and Collectormaia MK by 40% more people attending the events , so more people are coming to the events which means we can get the bigger names and that helps get more fans to the event which is why you are starting to see rare and great names coming again to all the events which is great for all us fans

 

 

but with cons its a much harder this to grow.

 

this year we have worked out its all down to the fans, if they want something to happen it will, look at touchwood , it was great from the start, all we had to do was get the word out , well we could though the Dr Who network and that help make that event amazing.

 

with Being Human there is not a long running network of fans, its all new and if this event is going to work we all need to work together to make it happen and thats what this post was about.

 

if you love this show like we do, then get behind it and help make it happen, we can risk booking the hotel and commit and book the guest which is a big risk, to we can spend a lot of time coming up with fun things to do and SJ can build the web sits and everything else, but in the end its down to the fans to want this as we want this.

 

now we do still have some time and i think we are all talking the right way about what we can all do, so i think with some continued help we will get there, once we have one under our belt lots of other fans will here about it and then we will be set and will keep running some great events

 

but on the day everyone at the event will be the ones that made it happen and this will not be forgotten

 

thanks for reading all this and contact me if you have any more thoughts on how to get the word out

 

thanks

 

jason

[Decode]

 

DEFINITLY come alone and come along! People are lovely! And we need to sell more tickets!!!!!

 

I'm going to be so upset if this gets cancelled, it's one of the best cons on here! No fair!

 

Just gotta save some money first

[Larry David]

Jason

 

I am grateful for your candour, as everyone else will be I would imagine.

 

The line-up is fantastic for this event so I am sure that the reason for the low ticket sales is mainly down to people not having sufficient funds at this moment in time to purchase the tickets, especially with other Showmasters Events happening prior to Housebroken. I can't believe people will be putting off buying their tickets for any other reason, as they have security in a fabulous line-up already.

 

For previous events like Abrams Inc and Eclipse III, I believe that the low ticket sales were mainly due to the fact that there were only one or two guests announced with only a short-ish period to go before the event. You have responded and have more than delivered on your promises in the "something new for this con" thread and I believe that the fans will, in time, show their support for this event.

 

I believe the cards on the table approach you have exhibited here, at an early stage, is refreshing and could prove crucial. I think many would have assumed that the amazing line-up would have meant that tickets would have been selling well.

 

Keep up the great work.

 

I am already looking forward to February

 

Regards

[Avengers7]

Am really looking forward to February also.There is a great line up going as I said above. Just wondering though whether more tickets would be sold if the three main cast were going?

 

 

Anyway, role on Feb.

[TerraHawk]

people keep saying this and now just say it without thinking and its just not true

 

I think it rather depends what you are into.

 

Adding up 2009 for me I make it I will have done 18 events out of a possible 24 I could do, lets say 26 to make it easier. That would be one event every two weeks. Bare in mind I could easily spend 2 weeks wages at one large event, that would 100% of my income going just on events. And half of my weekends. I will have to cut down next year, I will have to be more picky.

 

2008 I did about 9

 

Also, I did an event February this year, and that was really touch and go due to the weather. A week earlier there would have been no chance. But we couldn't have weather that extreme two years running.

[chris_mk]

Also, I did an event February this year, and that was really touch and go due to the weather. A week earlier there would have been no chance. But we couldn't have weather that extreme two years running.

 

I couldn't make an event in February, because of the weather That said, it was on the coast and more of a pain to get to than Bedford!

[chris_mk]

I think there's just too many events going on these days and we can't afford to do them all. As much as I'd love to meet the rest of the cast, I'm doing other events for shows I like more so it's unlikely I'll be at this one.... maybe people do know about the con but are in the same positiion as I am.

 

 

hi C0RDEL1A i have to say i just do not agree

 

people keep saying this and now just say it without thinking and its just not true

 

 

 

i have just done some adding up and looked back on one year, i just took 2004 at randum

 

 

now 2004 had 115 event held over the year in the UK

 

thats events like cons or collectors fairs

 

now this year there were only 58

 

 

now yes we were running less events back in 2004 as we only ran 8 that year

 

but if you add up the events that were being run back then by our now partners it would be 18 out of the 115

 

 

 

 

 

now this year we are running 24 events thats only 6 more a year

 

 

but i will also point out this 8 of these event have never been ran before, they are new subject events

for new fans of new shows and films , like twilight , being human , muggle mayhem ,touchwood cons and take very little away from the other events at all

 

so for people to keep saying there are to many events now days is like saying everything was much better in the 70s its nostalgia not fact

 

sorry i just had to say this as it keeps coming up and in the end the few that say it really are starting to beleave this and its just not true sorry i hope everyone can see this now

 

 

jason

 

Sorry mate, but I'm with Cordel1a on this one. I'm not sure where you got your figures from but regardless of what you're including, 2004 was during a boom period for events and was not in a recession. In 2009, people have less money to spend. The fact that there are now less collectors fairs is because they're no longer financially viable, so people have stopped doing them. This means that your competitors believe that this is a bad time to be running events and are scaling back.

Also, you've shifted more from signing events, to full weekend conventions. From an attendee point of view, those are significantly more expensive.

 

Another issue is guests, I realise it's probably getting harder to find and sign first time guests, given the number of events you're currently running. I think this problem is made worse by matters outside of your control, such as a weak pound making US guests prohibitively expensive and various Hollywood strikes making filming schedules utterly unpredictable, meaning it's hard to get US guests to commit to anything very far in advance.

 

Yes, you've given attendees much more choice, but in doing so, you've split the 'regular' attendees, who can no longer afford to do every event. I think these attendees made up a small but significant proportion of the convention numbers. I've also noticed at conventions in the last 12 months, that the number of foreign attendees seems much lower, which I guess is again down to the recession.

 

Is there a solution? I don't know... I LIKE the choice that you offer and will continue to support these events. Obviously some of them are doing incredibly well (The Hub and The Twighlight events to name a couple), so maybe it's time to focus on them, until the global market recovers and overall attendee numbers start picking up? Alternatively, there are other methods of advertising, which could be explored.

Edited August 24, 2009 by chris_mk

[Lionesskeeper]

Not only did I tweet this. I added this on the Livejournal community georgethewolf and on the Facebook group main page 'George the Neurotic Werewolf from Being Human is great'.

I really hope that this gets more people to the event

[ElectroxGirl]

I would love to go to this (especially as it's on my birthday!) but I've spent all my money on some of your other events and don't have the money for this one.

[firefly9]

...The thing is you guys are running SO many great conventions now that we just can't afford to book them all up at once - we have to prioritise...

 

I think there's just too many events going on these days and we can't afford to do them all. As much as I'd love to meet the rest of the cast, I'm doing other events for shows I like more so it's unlikely I'll be at this one.... maybe people do know about the con but are in the same positiion as I am.

 

These two are right - there are too many events now.

 

Sorry mate, but I'm with Cordel1a on this one. I'm not sure where you got your figures from but regardless of what you're including, 2004 was during a boom period for events and was not in a recession. In 2009, people have less money to spend. The fact that there are now less collectors fairs is because they're no longer financially viable, so people have stopped doing them. This means that your competitors believe that this is a bad time to be running events and are scaling back.

Also, you've shifted more from signing events, to full weekend conventions. From an attendee point of view, those are significantly more expensive.

 

Another issue is guests, I realise it's probably getting harder to find and sign first time guests, given the number of events you're currently running. I think this problem is made worse by matters outside of your control, such as a weak pound making US guests prohibitively expensive and various Hollywood strikes making filming schedules utterly unpredictable, meaning it's hard to get US guests to commit to anything very far in advance.

 

Yes, you've given attendees much more choice, but in doing so, you've split the 'regular' attendees, who can no longer afford to do every event. I think these attendees made up a small but significant proportion of the convention numbers. I've also noticed at conventions in the last 12 months, that the number of foreign attendees seems much lower, which I guess is again down to the recession.

 

I agree with pretty much all of that.

 

I had my first con in 2007 (Collectormania Glasgow) and since then I've done 8 weekend events with various organisers and 2 more SM signing events. This year I attended events in January, March, May and June (and 3 of those were over 3 consecutive weekends). I'll be doing CMG at the weekend, plus I'm hoping to go to another signing event and at least 4 weekend events before the end of the year. Being a student, I've had to juggle money, studying and time off from work to attend these. I love going to cons and always try and make them if I can but because there are so many I now find myself having to choose between conventions I want to attend instead of being able to plan for each one. I was hoping to go to Collectormania London until I discovered it's the same weekend as a weekend event I'd already booked. I simply can't afford conventions anymore (cause of uni I can only work certain hours which means I make nowhere near enough to cover costs, plus we're rarely allowed time off from October to December due to the Christmas rush) - added to the fact that I live in Scotland so for every event I have to pay for hotel and transport as well as tickets and extra merchandise. For every weekend event I attend I pay at least £300 or £400. I spent twice my budget at C15 cause there were so many fantastic guests, but it meant that I've had to severely cut down on my spending since then in order to afford CMG.

 

I *want* to go to cons, but I just don't have the time or the money anymore. If I could afford to (and had time), I would have booked for the CM:MKs and LFACCs from the past 2 years, Muggle Mayhem, The Hub, The Hub 2, Chevron 7, Chevron 7.2, and would book for Collectormania London, The Hub 3, Chevron 7.3, Hallowhedon and both Twilight events as well as 3 events from other organisers before Christmas alone. I may only be able to go to the non-SM ones.

 

Next year there are 6 events I want to do before July - and there will probably be more that haven't even been announced yet. My funds and holiday allowance just can't take it, especially during the current economic crisis.

Edited August 25, 2009 by firefly9

[rosie727]

its not as bad if they can be spaced out, i have tickets for the hub3 then its hallowedon the following week, chevron 7.3 the week, dimensions i believe is maybe the weekend after (luckily thats on home turf so not as costly) then collectormania end of nov then nothing i wanna do til housebroken in feb. it means i have to wait til nearer the housebroken event to buy tickets just in case i dont have enough cash

Edited August 25, 2009 by rosie727

[Avengers7]

Can I just say - this thread was started to get support for Housebroken. It is not for arguing about whether there are too many shows.

 

 

Support this event because I have a funny feeling its going to be the only Being Human event for sometime.

 

For those that havent seen it, its being repeated.

[loopymowse]

I'm four days away from making my order, I had a crashed computer (complete surprise) and new lenses (anyone who wears glasses will appreciate the expense of opticians) to pay out for in the past two months but consider that this will be my only con in 2010 - no plans to go anywhere else. So I would have ordered when I learned about Housebroken from the poster (which was July) but had to wait until the end of this month instead. It's still well in advance of the con date.

Since 2003 I have attended at least one, sometimes two, cons/signing events per year, I can only afford that amount as it takes a number of months for me to pay off the total cost. It is easier for me when the con is in the UK but even without a flight involved I pay out hundreds of pounds because those trains don't get any cheaper each year - the government allowing the train companies to charge ridiculous prices - plus hotel room bill. I don't have much interest in merchandise, maybe a promo pic, so I'm not even counting what I'm sure a lot of other people do in spending on merchandise.

I'm looking forward to February; cons are my only indulgence; I work full-time in a very boring job and don't do anything else all year as I'm saving for or paying off bill from that one/two con/s.

I have no idea how people with children or other responsibilities afford the time and money for cons! It must be even more of a struggle finding the money/time from work for them.

Just my two p worth to the discussion.

[chole110]

I don't think any of us are trying to be grumpy about the amount of events - we're just pointing out the reasons why it might not be selling too well at the moment and saying that maybe it just needs a bit of patience?

 

As SM are asking us to support them, I think it's only fair that we explain our reasons for not booking things up as fast as we'd like to. It's not that we don't care, it's not that we don't love the shows, it's not that we don't appreciate SM .. it's just that we're all only human and only have so much money to spend a month!

 

I'm fully supportive of this event, I've already booked my ticket and I've been going to SM events for years now - I think they're great organisers and do great cons! It's just that unfortunately money doesn't grown on trees and it's hard to keep up nowadays with the amount of cons that are on!

 

I am sure we'll all do our best to get the word out as we all want this event to run!

 

Also - just to say! The reason I love SM more than other event organisers is cos they do listen to fans and they do allow us to debate and contribute in threads like this without getting angry at us and just shutting them down etc!

 

I feel this thread is constructive and is only our way of communicating to SM our thoughts on a topic that they started.

 

I'm sure they realise it's just our way of trying to explain, rather than any of us moaning for the sake of moaning!

 

I LOVE SM!

Edited August 26, 2009 by chole110

[11th_doctor_2009]

From my exprience, I wont buy the tickets in avance in the situation that guests may cancel at the LAST miniute, Unless the fans want to go to the event and are not bothered about the guests, I sadly cant attend this as I would have paid the weekend pass if it were at the NEC IN Birmingham. I think people will start booking christmas time, I think its to early at the moment. :-)

 

Also I will be sop shocked if the VIP Tickets sell for a grand £1000 each :-@

[Little1]

Hi all .... (waving from across the pond)

 

I'm going to be flying in from NJ, USA for this event and I've even conned -- convinced my friend from Cork to fly over so we can both do this event ....

 

With that being said - it's too soon to cancel, as I know she'll be buying her ticket soon, and I have to wait til next week...and then I still have to figure out how to pay for my airline ticket over there - but I'll do it - somehow. My friend got me hooked on this show and when I saw there was a convention for it - I realized that I just HAD to go....

 

Because man, it would suck if I had booked all my travel arrangements and then you canceled it ... :-( I'd be crushed ! Please don't crush the little American !!! Save the convention, save the American ! ;-)

 

Ok - back to your regularly scheduled forum stuff !

[nkb]

Hi all .... (waving from across the pond)

 

I'm going to be flying in from NJ, USA for this event and I've even conned -- convinced my friend from Cork to fly over so we can both do this event ....

 

With that being said - it's too soon to cancel, as I know she'll be buying her ticket soon, and I have to wait til next week...and then I still have to figure out how to pay for my airline ticket over there - but I'll do it - somehow. My friend got me hooked on this show and when I saw there was a convention for it - I realized that I just HAD to go....

 

Because man, it would suck if I had booked all my travel arrangements and then you canceled it ... :-( I'd be crushed ! Please don't crush the little American !!! Save the convention, save the American ! ;-)

 

Ok - back to your regularly scheduled forum stuff !

 

Ok, you're my new favouritest Being Human fan. That's ace!

 

I was over for Comic Con while the first couple of shows aired and it seemed to be going really well, I read quite a few reviews all of which seemed positive - hope it still is, the con goes ahead and you have an amazing time.

 

It might be worth looking into travel insurance though to cover if the con IS cancelled, that way you can book your flights etc early and get the best price, without worrying nearer the time that you'll be left with flights you can't change/cancel.

 

PS - if you do make it over I'll buy you a beer just for sheer dedication to the BH cause!

 

Narin

:)

[Little1]

Hi all .... (waving from across the pond)

 

I'm going to be flying in from NJ, USA for this event and I've even conned -- convinced my friend from Cork to fly over so we can both do this event ....

 

With that being said - it's too soon to cancel, as I know she'll be buying her ticket soon, and I have to wait til next week...and then I still have to figure out how to pay for my airline ticket over there - but I'll do it - somehow. My friend got me hooked on this show and when I saw there was a convention for it - I realized that I just HAD to go....

 

Because man, it would suck if I had booked all my travel arrangements and then you canceled it ... :-( I'd be crushed ! Please don't crush the little American !!! Save the convention, save the American ! ;-)

 

Ok - back to your regularly scheduled forum stuff !

 

Ok, you're my new favouritest Being Human fan. That's ace!

 

I was over for Comic Con while the first couple of shows aired and it seemed to be going really well, I read quite a few reviews all of which seemed positive - hope it still is, the con goes ahead and you have an amazing time.

 

It might be worth looking into travel insurance though to cover if the con IS cancelled, that way you can book your flights etc early and get the best price, without worrying nearer the time that you'll be left with flights you can't change/cancel.

 

PS - if you do make it over I'll buy you a beer just for sheer dedication to the BH cause!

 

Narin

:)

 

 

2 Things :

1. Screw the trip insurance, I'm coming either way - if the con is canceled - I'll pop a flight over the Cork and visit with my friend regardless or hang out with my Londoner friends ... and

2. Can we make the beer a mixed drink of some sort? I have a slight hops allergy !

 

But thanks for making me your fave...I'm tickled pink !

 

You went all the way to San Diego for comic con? I'm jealous - still haven't been to that, but I have been to several others.

 

Cheers !

 

*edited*

Sorry, we don't allow discussion of other events on here, especially linking to them so I removed it

 

Thank you!

Edited August 29, 2009 by DavidB