FAO Showmasters/Massive Events : Gold Pass Drinks Reception

[Lisa090982]

Hey you guys,

 

Sorry if this has been brought up before but I wanted to bring something up about the gold pass drinks reception from ET3, that as a suggestion, can hopefully be brought forward to ET4 (I have gone gold again-I have every faith that suggestions are taken on board and improvements made at each event!)

 

You guys always say about feedback to make things better.... And I had an awesome weekend at the last event, I just feel that the drinks reception could be improved. It was my own personal 'down side' to ET3.....

 

Basically, I felt the room was too small for the amount of people in it and the tables used were way too small to fit 15 people around..... They were basically bar tables, meant for 4 people max.... And you basically made us try and get 15 people round one of those.....

 

I think the drinks reception would work much better with a couple of simple adjustments..... I think that it should maybe be chairs around a table with everyone sat down as each guest moves around....and a bigger room!

The mingling idea is cool but at the last reception with everyone stood up in such a small room it just felt too chaotic and a lot of people and the guests alike couldn't hear some of what was being said because of so much noise in a small space

 

I also saw a select few people who would move from table to table and basically follow the movement of their favourite guest..... Obviously if there were tables with chairs, this wouldn't happen and I just felt it was a bit unfair on those of us waiting on our first encounters with a guest.....

[xkleex]

This was my first et, so i dont know how they have been done in the past. But i have to say this was the highlight of my weekend! I absolutly loved it!

 

I thought the idea of the tables was brilliant, and the staff did such an amazing job of moving the guests around, i managed to chat to all of them and get a hug off Jamie. The lady working with Jamie especially did an amazing job making sure he worked the whole table and no one was missed out. I think yeah the tables cud have been slightly bigger, but i wouldnt want to be sat down. It would feel really formal i think, and it would mean someone at the table wud always be at the other end to the guest and might not get heard or spoken to. And also meaning that the same lucky few would always be sat next to a guest again not really being fair.

 

I loved the atmosphere and thought the whole thing worked really well. I wasnt aware of people moving around to different tables tho, that is naughty.

 

Like i said, i loved loved loved this part of the weekend and was the only reason why im going gold again for et4

[beauty&bear]

I think by extending it by even 15 minutes would be a good idea to. I have been to another con which had about 50-60 people as gold and it had 5 guests, worked really well. We were all sitting and the guests sat down and chatted to us all for a good 10-15 minutes at a time. I think more tables and an extended period of time will do the trick. Even more so now we are getting 7 guests not 5. Just an idea.

[Nina]

I have to also say that the Drinks Reception is one of the main reasons that convinced me to get GOLD again for ET4..... I really love the idea of this...

However i do have to agree with the fact that the tables were in fact too small or perhaps the groups too large...

 

Although i have a habit of making myself heard especially if there are particularly loud and pushy people around, so therefore i did manage to speak and interact with all the guests that came to our table however there were a few quieter people that didn't really get the opportunity to talk....and that's why i feel that perhaps we have slightly smaller groups.. maybe groups of 8 instead of 15.....!!

 

Standing at the tables wasn't really an issue, so i'm not bothered if there's chairs or not........and please can we can have more drink options for those of us that don't do alcohol... Lol

 

And making the drinks reception a tad longer is definitely a good idea..... Hope some of these requirements are met.... (We're not asking for much - just maybe 1 or 2 minor changes)....

[Too Tall]

Bigger room:

 

This is possible and I'll talk to the office see what we can do. To be honest though I think the ET4 room was OK, no one was walking into each other. The only thing I do agree with was the room acoustic and that it did get loud in there, and maybe a bigger room would help with that.

 

Bigger tables:

 

The problem is that if we have bigger tables they are likely to be sit down tables and as I'll explain below we don't want people sitting. But if the hotel have bigger high tables we'll see if we can find them.

 

Chairs:

 

I know the guys in the office really want to keep this as a casual affair and that all goes if everyone is sitting. Also it's a lot less likely that the guests will come around a chaired table and shake everyone hands or hug them (with people needing to get up and down). So we feel that standing gives a better chance of a more personal interaction.

 

Also it allows the guest to move about the group more easily, if there's one free seat, the people sitting next to that seat get to sit next to every guest, unless you make everyone move around a bit after every guest.

 

But basically this is something we'd rather not do.

 

Smaller groups:

 

The issue is time. With 10 groups of 15 people it gives us about 5 minute per guests with each group and leaves a minute to move between groups. And that's the hour. If you make the groups only 8 that's 19 groups, that means only 2 minutes per group with a minute to move. So by splitting the groups in to 8s each group ends up getting 2/5th of the time with each guest. Not great. So on to the next one, which would help with this.

 

Make it longer:

 

I can talk to the office about making it a bit longer, but I do know that there will be contractual issues with doing so. It's not as simple as "well let's just make it 30 minutes longer", we need to get the agreement of all of the guests etc. There is also the issue of it then clashing with the party which usually starts at 8:30pm. If we make the drinks reception 30 minutes longer we will not end until 9pm.

 

I'm not saying this is out of the question I'm just explaining why it's not just as simple as "let's make it longer".

 

More soft drinks options:

 

That's something I can again talk to the office about. What were you thinking of?

Edited April 8, 2010 by Too Tall

[Lisa090982]

Thankyou for reading my comments - like I said, I enjoyed the whole weekend - I just feel for the quite a bit extra we are paying that maybe a couple of minor changes could make a bit of difference..... Sat down tables was just a suggestion - I don't mind the standing part.... but like I said, I just think the tables actually used were far too small and I personally was in a group that was kinda reluctant to really 'move out' and let everyone get around the table properly and interact with the guests.

 

Like Nina, I am a bit of a 'mouthy' one - so to be honest, I kinda did ok out of guest interaction within the drinks reception but there were people in our group who really didn't get a word in edgeways - I know people need to speak up - but like I said and as you have agreed 'Too Tall', the room used really had major acoustics issues and it was very loud in there and probably a little overwhelming for some.....

 

I know you guys are obviously limited with time etc..... but I do agree - I know the possibility of more guests is going to put us on an even tighter time constraint with photos etc and talks and encounters - but we really could use an extra 30 mins if it is at all contractually available for our guests..... and definately bigger tables if at all possible :)

 

Thanks so much for your time :)

[Marystat]

I prefer the standing to be honest, so totally agree with Too Tall here, the sitting down makes it a bit more formal, but as I said in my feedback it was HARD to hear what the guests had to say.

 

As for time. Well for the most part I think the guests had good enough time with us there..my only complaint was that Tinsel only had like 2 min at our table, time ran out. I hope there is a way to make SURE that ALL of the guests get the same amount of time at every table, THAT does of course demand us attendees to not "drag out" any of the guests time as well as the ppl making sure that each guest get to every table.

 

As for the rest..nothing, I liked the fact there was a cake, snacks (Jamie sure loved the snacks lmao!) and drinks, both alcohol and non alcoholic..and you guys at SM are REALLY generous with the wine! LOL. NO not complaining! :-D

 

S to me, keep the standing, make sure the room is better as far as accoustics go so we can HEAR the guests at our table and make sure that each guest get the same amount of time at each table so there isn't any "rushing" in the last few min. And that means us attendees has to cooperate with SM here as well and respect the fact the guest has to go when they are told to go to the next table. Works both ways here of course.

 

IF there is a way to extend the wine reception that would be cool but if not then hey atleast you tried right Too Tall? :-).

[Nina]

I prefer the standing to be honest, so totally agree with Too Tall here, the sitting down makes it a bit more formal, but as I said in my feedback it was HARD to hear what the guests had to say.

 

As for time. Well for the most part I think the guests had good enough time with us there..my only complaint was that Tinsel only had like 2 min at our table, time ran out. I hope there is a way to make SURE that ALL of the guests get the same amount of time at every table, THAT does of course demand us attendees to not "drag out" any of the guests time as well as the ppl making sure that each guest get to every table.

 

As for the rest..nothing, I liked the fact there was a cake, snacks (Jamie sure loved the snacks lmao!) and drinks, both alcohol and non alcoholic..and you guys at SM are REALLY generous with the wine! LOL. NO not complaining! :-D

 

S to me, keep the standing, make sure the room is better as far as accoustics go so we can HEAR the guests at our table and make sure that each guest get the same amount of time at each table so there isn't any "rushing" in the last few min. And that means us attendees has to cooperate with SM here as well and respect the fact the guest has to go when they are told to go to the next table. Works both ways here of course.

 

IF there is a way to extend the wine reception that would be cool but if not then hey atleast you tried right Too Tall? :-).

 

Sounds like perhaps we were on the same table...the comment about Jamie loving the snacks...then again we did get lots of extra pom bears...Lol.... T'was extremely funny....

Loved jamie giving all our table hugs too......

 

Too Tall you're a star...love the fast response and the fact that you will try to work on some of the issues we have stressed.........thank you.... So hope more than anything else if only one of our rerquirements is met is that it's the 'more time' one...... we could soooooo do with that.... No pressure though.....

 

 

 

I really can't wait for October........................

[xkleex]

Completely agree with you too tall about the seating, it would then become formal.

 

 

I think I might have been on the same table as you both, where jamie ate all our pom bears, but then some girl at our table (I forgot her name sorry) who kept going and getting us extra bags? Lol

[Sarah_Cullen]

 

Standing at the tables wasn't really an issue, so i'm not bothered if there's chairs or not........and please can we can have more drink options for those of us that don't do alcohol... Lol

 

 

ET4 will be my first time as Gold (I was standard at ET3), so I cannot comment on rooms, seat, tables, etc. but I picked up on the alcohol comment above. I don't drink either (choice, not age restriction), so if water or orange juice wasnt available, could we have that as an option this time please? If it had only been me, then I would have just gone without a drink, but as someone else is in the same position as me, I thought I would support them!

[beauty&bear]

I think it is trial and error. By ET5 I think it will be perfect, can't wait

 

Thanks TooTall

[rayray_x]

They had orange juice at ET3 did they not? We were with underage people and they were drinking something that wasn't wine :')

[reneeadamson09]

the only thing i found to be a problem was the noise. The one time i was standing nxt to a guest i still couldnt hear him

[Beechy08]

I really enjoyed the Gold Reception at ET3. The only thing that I thought could be improved was the size of the tables. I thought standing up was great and the table idea gave a focal point for the groups, rather than just a few masses of people like at ET2. The only downside to standing is when you have had slightly too much to drink and start to feel yourself swaying (I may be speaking from experience ). Seats would make getting hugs from all the guest pretty difficult too (At ET3 Vicky was nominated to ask all the guests to go round our group and hug everyone - and they all kindly obliged!). Did seem though that towards the end of the reception, we seemed to get less time (perhaps the conversation was just great that we lost track of all time!)

[talie]

I'm gonna miss the gold reception </3

 

I thought the tables were too small tbh, like we ended up with 20 people at our table despite having 15 at first, yet the table next to us had about 7.

[Beechy08]

Dont think we had the problem of migrating guests. We had quite a nice sized group. Just couldnt really hear some of the questions with the acoustics. Think maybe the type of room where the guest encounters where held could be an alternative (if they have one big enough?)?

[talie]

I think sit down seats would work really well if it was possible

[Beechy08]

I think if you had seats it would just make the reception into a suped-up guest encounter and take some of the 'special-ness' away from it. Or maybe that's just me

[Marystat]

 

Sounds like perhaps we were on the same table...the comment about Jamie loving the snacks...then again we did get lots of extra pom bears...Lol.... T'was extremely funny....

Loved jamie giving all our table hugs too......

 

Too Tall you're a star...love the fast response and the fact that you will try to work on some of the issues we have stressed.........thank you.... So hope more than anything else if only one of our rerquirements is met is that it's the 'more time' one...... we could soooooo do with that.... No pressure though.....

 

 

 

I really can't wait for October........................

 

If you were at the table where we made the guests go around giving everyone a hug..yep we were LOL.

[Twilight_fanatic92]

I think it was best (for me personally) at ET3, you could see the guests better standing without a table, and we let shorter people (no offense intended) at the front and had taller people at the back, and the ME volunteers were more encouraging to those who weren't asking questions to the guests to actually do so. Also Fanta please TooTall!

[natfrog5]

 

Like Nina, I am a bit of a 'mouthy' one -

loollll Liisssaaa!!!

 

I agree that there has to be some small adjustments to make this a better experience. I've done a number of gold receptions at ME events and for me personally theyve all had their issues.....apart from Chevron 7.2 which I really enjoyed. From what I can remember we got time with all the guests and had good convos. It didnt seem as rushed or as busy. But then I'm not so much of a mouthy one lol so find it hard to get involved sometimes and after a few glasses of wine I tend to glaze over haha!

 

I've heard good things about other gold receptions with the seated table option but havent done one myself so cant comment. But I can see that it wouldnt be as informal/casual and I do like that with the standing....the guests can just wander around and its more of "mingle" situation.

These other events dont have the "guest encounters" tho so it wouldnt seem similar to anything.

 

I would like for it to be longer. I think this would solve a lot of the other problems. Even if it was just by half an hour.

 

xxxx

[TommyT]

Smaller groups:

 

The issue is time. With 10 groups of 15 people it gives us about 5 minute per guests with each group and leaves a minute to move between groups. And that's the hour. If you make the groups only 8 that's 19 groups, that means only 2 minutes per group with a minute to move. So by splitting the groups in to 8s each group ends up getting 2/5th of the time with each guest. Not great. So on to the next one, which would help with this.

Not just time. With 19 groups, even with seven guests, it means that at any time there will be 12 groups without a guest - that's virtually two-thirds of the ticketholders guest-less at any one time. Sure, some folks will be happy just talking to the others in their group, but surely having such a large proportion of the room guestless is just going to encourage people to migrate to where the guests actually are...

[Queen_Sindel]

I think if you had seats it would just make the reception into a suped-up guest encounter and take some of the 'special-ness' away from it. Or maybe that's just me

 

No, that's not just you. I've done the "table version" elsewhere and always got the same feeling.

[Nina]

Aaaahh whatever the case will be... i personally LOVE the drinks reception......

Main reason for going GOLD........i just loved the guests mingling with us.....

 

HURRY UP OCTOBER..............I NEED TO MINGLE WITH THE DOC & THE HOT DOG...!! Lol... (Okay.....WOLF)...

[Too Tall]

We've never said "well that'll do!", for any aspect of the show. We're always looking at different ways of doing things to see if they could be better. For most things you'll just notice small tweaks here and there.

 

The drinks reception is one of the more "played" with things we do. We're always looking at it to try and make it the best it can be.

 

One of the BIGGEST things we wanted to fix was to make sure that every attendee got to see every guest. With smaller numbers of gold passes (80 and less) the old more random mingling approach worked and we found that everyone would get to see all the guests. But when it's 100+ we started to see issues with a number of attendees not seeing some guests at all.

 

This became our number one issue for the gold pass reception. The thing is we needed a system which ensured every attendee saw every guest BUT that did not make the drinks reception too formal. The new system brought in at ET3 worked on that front. Everyone got a group and every group got to see every guest. On that front it was a great success.

 

I do think we're getting there and the ET3 gold pass reception was by far the best we've had with a full 150 gold pass holders.

 

It is trial and error. Sometimes things that sound great in theory just don't work out in practice. So thank you to those that have given suggestions to help us make it even better.

 

Stuart.