Hallowhedon 2 feedback thread

[Becks]

All in all I had a fantastic weekend - it was a lot of fun and the SM crew were friendly and helpful (as indeed they were last year.)

 

I thought the quiz and the screening were brilliant - please do something similar next year!

 

It's good how the talks are filmed so if there's someone tall infront, or if you're far back in the hall, you can still see the guests on the TVs, however both this and last year, we found that who ever is in charge of the camera tends to focus on just one guest in a joint talk sometimes, so we miss the other guest's reaction or response, which is quite annoying - why not just keep the camera on both guests rather than moving from one to the other?

 

I would agree with this; I thought the camera tended to focus on one guest, even when the other might be talking.

 

I also thought that during the talk with Jewel and Stephanie, most of the questions were aimed at Jewel and Stephanie didn't get much chance to answer questions. I understand that when people are standing up and asking questions live the crew can't control what people say - but perhaps, if one guest isn't getting much attention they could have some stand-by questions, or just ask the crowd if there are any questions for that guest. It's not a huge problem, just something I noticed at the time.

 

Roll on HW3!

[CosmicAvatar]

Some great feedback - I forgot to mention a lot of things when I started the thread off this morning. Like:

 

Alan acting up in the photoshoot (sorry, Malcolm, but I found it most enjoyable, even if he did pull a face in my photo!) and providing all those gifts for people asking questions during the talks - all of them! I was most impressed.

 

Tony cracking up all the time, which of course made me crease up as well. Also, I didn't go to the parties as I was too tired, but it sounds like he was a total gent, being so sociable. Damn, I wish I'd gone now, but never mind - so glad to have met him as he was my number one reason for attending! (Oh, and - best hug photo EVER.)

 

Stephanie being a nutter. Sometimes I was going, "Oh, lord, woman, stop!" But then she'd come out with something so hilarious, I was crying with laughter all over again.

 

Jewel being even more gorgeous than the last time I met her, being understanding when I called Sean Simon by mistake, and she was particularly happy with the chocs I gave her.

 

Robin being generally naughty and lovely. I adored his smutty commentary with Tony (for two "grumpy old men", there was a LOT of cackling) and evil remarks during the talks, and he even wished me a safe journey as I was leaving the hotel. Awwwwww.

 

The quiz was great. One vast improvement over the last one I attended - no picking on individual attendees and making them answer stuff, which had me quivering with fear at Roadhouse. Someone commented that the quiz was a bit drawn out, with which I personally disagree, although I do agree that the guests didn't seem to realize what was required at some points. Or perhaps they were too busy nattering when the rules were being explained.

 

I would say it was the majority of the crew who are friendly and helpful rather than the handful to which someone alluded earlier in the thread - sorry to those whose experiences are different to mine, but I can only think of one or two off-putting crew encounters in all the years I've attended SM/ME stuff. However, I have to agree with the comment about one of the ladies on the the registration desk coming across as miserable at times. At one point she made me feel like I was really putting her out. Although she was perfectly efficient handling all my queries, don't get me wrong. Everyone else (and I do mean everyone) was his or her usual lovely self, so until I saw that comment I'd completely forgotten about it. That was a very minor thing in the context of the whole weekend, though.

 

Speaking of crew, I did mention my photos earlier, but particular props to Malcolm and Danielle as the photos are the things I treasure most about these things, even though I hate, hate, hate having my photo taken, and they do me proud. Although I kick myself a million times for not taking advantage of more huggage with Tony Head during his photoshoot and requesting an extra shot when Malcolm asked me if the photo he'd taken was OK. FAIL. Also, special shout-outs to all the crew whom I've actually got to know a bit and took extra time to say Hi to me and ask how I was doing. I hope you all know who you are. Great to see you guys again. :)

 

Had no problems with the hotel as I didn't run into the same situations as the others (drinks, etc.), mainly because I bought all my food and drink bar brekky at the nearby garage/McDonalds, but I appreciate how others may have fallen foul of this (and the smallness of the room used for the Gold Pass reception), but at least ME have taken steps to avoid that next time - hope we all have a better experience at the Radisson.

 

To the dealers: please stop tempting me with stuff. I spent way too much money.

 

Did I mention that the talks were great fun? They so were.

 

Argghhh, there were so many good things! I can't remember them all. Anyway, I'm signed up for next year...

[adriangill]

(for two "grumpy old men", there was a LOT of cackling)

Thanks - I had forgotten the comment about the two grumpy old men from Sesame Street. Obviously he meant Statler & Waldorf from The Muppet Show but still hilarious!

[ChrisR]

In reply to dragontattoo re the quiz [sorry, I can't make the quote thing work]. I was the guy on Alan and Stephanie's team (for my sins...), so here's a bit of insight about how it felt to be up there and some suggestions for improvements for next time.

 

Firstly, I don't think a quiz with just the guests would work, as they don't know most of Joss's stuff very well, if at all. Alan said he'd never seen Angel or Buffy [apart from the episodes his Halo mate Nathan Fillion was in] and Stephanie hadn't seen an Angel episode for 10 years and hadn't ever seen Firefly or Dollhouse. So if you pitched the guests against each other, they'd all get nil points! I think it's important to remember that while most con attendees are big fans and have watched every episode lots of times, most actors don't actually watch much TV and have been in so many things since that they don't remember things like how long it took Wesley to notice that Cordelia had cut her hair, or whatever. So the level of detail, while entirely appropriate for fans, was way above the guests' heads. Alan answered a couple of Firefly questions [he never wrote anything down, incidentally] and Stephanie got Lindsay McDonald right, but that was all. All the rest of the answers came from myself, the other guest (Hey, Carrie!) or the audience. Also, when the guests were called on stage they obviously had no idea why they were there - it seemed that nobody had even told them that it was going to be a quiz - and therefore had no idea what was going to happen and neither did we!

 

I was very aware that where I was sitting I was blocking the audience's view of Alan and after a few minutes I suggested we swapped places, but he said he was very happy where he was as he didn't know any of the answers. That was also why Alan and Stephanie kept giving me the mic as they knew that I knew the answers and they didn't - and were perhaps a bit embarrassed to be up there when they didn't even understand the questions. Also with the pictionary board on the stage there wasn't room to sit 'out of the way' next to the guest, and it was a round table so hard to sit in a line. Perhaps if there were long rectangular tables, the guests and fans can sit in a line so everyone can see everyone else, and the format could be more 'TV quiz' than 'pub quiz' format. Also the pictionary board can just be brought on stage for that round, then removed.

 

Another reason why the quiz was a bit messy was the format, particularly at the beginning. Instead of both teams being asked the same questions (as in a pub quiz), then the guests and fans getting into a huddle and writing the answers down, then checking the answers at the end [which isn't that great to watch probably] each team is asked a question one by one, they have time to confer, give the answer, if not, it passes across for a bonus point. As it was, we were just discussing the answers in our little group and then writing them down, which I imagine wasn't very interesting to watch. Also it was a bit chaotic as we didn't always understand the instructions what to do, and some of the scenes we had to act out were handwritten on bits of paper and we couldn't read the writing. We couldn't see what the other team were doing either, which would have been nice.

 

So to Dave, Too Tall and the rest of you fine people at ME, may I suggest a TV-style Question of Sport panel-game approach, with a proper quizmaster in the centre of the stage would work better for the audience. There could be an individual round - proper trivia questions for the fans [the questions were very good, I think, but only if you're a Whedon acolyte], and questions only about the actors' characters and the episodes they appeared in in their own shows for the guests - a quickfire buzzer round [with buzzers for everyone, or at least one big buzzer for each team, not just saying 'buzz' into one mic for four people (!)], a pictionary round, a 'which episode is this a quote from' round, an acting round (again with guests only having to act scenes from their character's role, not from programmes they've never seen), an audience round [e.g. by asking a multiple choice questions and half of the audience voting for answers by a show of hands, not just random shouting out] ... the possibilities are endless. But I think it's a great idea to have a quiz - it makes a nice break from the talks - and with some tweaking it could be even better (if ME want any help with this next year, I'd be happy to help!).

 

Finally, I think everyone on stage did their best to involve the audience and most people seemed to enjoy it - the noise level was very high, which said a lot I think - but I'm sorry if some people didn't. I had the time of my life, though, I have to say!!!! !

 

 

 

 

 

Just to add that I also found the crew very helpful and friendly, with no exceptions.

[hanoigrillo]

To all of you that have said lovely things about the 'long blonde/wavy/smiley/Welsh' lady on reg desk on Friday - that would be my lovely wife and your forum moderator Rhianydd!

I was the 'other guy' on reg on Sunday, and it was a great weekend with all of you guys - hope to see you next time!

[KLF]

Guests: Amazing

Staff: Fantastic

Pumpkins on Saturday night: Awesome

GE with Alan: Best thing EVER!

 

My only suggestion would be perhaps a re-think of how the bidding for the guest encounters work. Other then having my bid crossed out by someone in error I found that in the last few minutes of the Anthony Head auction it got rather mad and it seemed (and I apologise if I am wrong) that one women was standing there bidding for numerous people and everytime someone came along she outbid them. I accept she is fully entitled to do so but the bids for people who were not there seemed a little unfair and she made it impossible for anyone else to bid. I appreciate its a difficult thing to monitor but perhaps a crew member could be assigned to taking the bids or at least a pen provided for the silly people i.e. me who didnt have one on them to bid.

[lilbuzz155]

Had a fantastic weekend overall - even better than last year!

 

The only negative for me was the way the auction was done. A full list of auction items and their position would have been useful. I missed out on a couple of good things at the beginning - I didn't dare bid just in case something better came up later on!

[eternallyme]

Im going to give my negatives first - there are only two things that I would have changed -

1) as a gold ticket, the meet and greet was pants.I have sciatica so had to go sit down as i cant stand up that long - this meant that I didnt really get to 'meet or greet' as i was sat behind where the guest was standing. I would also like to point out that the standing format is all good and well when space is limited, but personally, i dont feel that it was fair to the children, wheel chair users , pregnant ladies or people like myself who cant stand for that long in that type of environment - it wasn't worth the money!

The noise level also made it difficult to hear what was being said and the guests commented on this too.

That said, Too Tall has already addressed this issue, so thank you for that - I hope that the Radison will provide a better setting

 

2) Many people have comment on how great the DJ was and about how he played everyones request = WRONG!!!!! I requested songs every night that never got played. I new that some of them were a long shot but even on halloween i though marilyn mansons beautiful people would have been allowed and i dont think Fall Out Boy would have been remotely heavy for the crowd! It really seemed that he didn't want to play much alternative music (but i am thankful for the handful that i did get) and when many of my friends verbally asked for songs they got the response that he cant play metal - Why not? Not even 1 song?. I appreciate that its a big crowd to play for but surely he could diversify the music a bit more (and not to be too judgemental but from most of the people i met at the con, we are all pretty 'alternative' in one way or another and i think this could be embraced more in the music style) Also....... I loved Lady Gaga before the con but she was played to death every night - so please, next year, mix it up a little!!

 

With the negatives over i would just like to comment on how friendly the stewards were - I found them all to be really helpful and chatty. I also found the staff at the thistle to be very helpful and they even gave us a bit of banter when we were in our cotumes which i liked - much better stay than last year (although I only bought one drink from the bar so I cant comment on that side of the staff).

 

The guest were fab and the days were really well organised.... i think there are always little improvements that can be made with things like the quiz and guest talks but these issues have already been addressed by other posters

 

Overall I had a jolly good time and im now waiting for the poast con blues to kick in!

[Kelsbells64]

ps Props to Alan Tudyk for bringing all that cool stuff to give to the people who asked the questions. It was a lovely thing to do and very generous of him. What a nice man!!

Indeed. I have never seen a guest hand out stuff like that before. Especially stuff like the NASA pass - he should have kept them himself!

 

His jokey 'put down' of Jewel made me laugh - "Let's give out some of the stuff that you brought Jewel" or words to that effect

 

 

Jewel: "got any gum Alan"

[dragontattoo]

 

So to Dave, Too Tall and the rest of you fine people at ME, may I suggest a TV-style Question of Sport panel-game approach, with a proper quizmaster in the centre of the stage would work better for the audience. There could be an individual round - proper trivia questions for the fans [the questions were very good, I think, but only if you're a Whedon acolyte], and questions only about the actors' characters and the episodes they appeared in in their own shows for the guests - a quickfire buzzer round [with buzzers for everyone, or at least one big buzzer for each team, not just saying 'buzz' into one mic for four people (!)], a pictionary round, a 'which episode is this a quote from' round, an acting round (again with guests only having to act scenes from their character's role, not from programmes they've never seen), an audience round [e.g. by asking a multiple choice questions and half of the audience voting for answers by a show of hands, not just random shouting out] ... the possibilities are endless. But I think it's a great idea to have a quiz - it makes a nice break from the talks - and with some tweaking it could be even better (if ME want any help with this next year, I'd be happy to help!).

 

 

 

Which is exactly what I suggested a few posts above. :)

 

It is, however, interesting to see your point of view, please note that it was nothing personal, and I was not the only one commenting on it, but I hope you can see our points of view. I am glad you enjoyed yourself, though.

[thedothatgirl]

Ok some feedback on the event this weekend.

 

Overall my con buddy and I had a great time. The guests as we had expected, were first class. Shame we only got five and the announcement of the last one was left so late. Would love to see some behind the scenes guests and/or writers in addition to cast - some of these people have the best stories.

 

The Thistle Hotel is notorious and fails to offer decent food, rooms and service everytime. The Radisson is a better hotel but I think the main hall is a little narrow so we shall just have to see how that goes. With a bit of luck event organisers will be able to find a better venue than the Thistle so I will never have to stay there again.

 

The Meet and Greet was a great improvement from last year (which was impossible and a scrum to see/hear any of the guests) however is wasn't perfect so perhaps seating the attendees at large round tables and circulating the guests to each table would work better imo - the small tables helped a little but attendees still struggled to get to the guests. Free drinks are always appreciated.

 

Questions at the Talks - I understand the need to have some control over the questions at the talks but I would like to see more of a mix of forum/prearranged questions and those from people actually in the hall. All too frequently there was no reaction or response from the MC once the guest had replied so that felt very 'flat'. The guests for the most part are used to dealing with an audience, being asked all kinds of things and I think we should trust their ability to handle this as well as the attendees being able to ask interesting or entertaining questions. Nobody likes awkward silences but it gave a very controlled feel to the Q&A's and some opportunities were missed.

 

Auction - Possible to have a fuller list of the items to be offered? Gives some people a chance to decide exactly what they want to bid on.

 

Screening/live commentaries are always great fun so please continue with this idea, I enjoyed this very much.

 

The quiz was probably my favourite part of the weekend - admittedly the guests looked bemused at times but a lot of effort went into the questions (Team Grr Argh was totally robbed) and it was great fun. I should imagine though this might not work for all guests in the future but let's hope so.

 

Loved all the effort put into the party on Friday and Saturday night. The table decorations (pumpkins etc) were lovely and watching everyone try out on the spider was hilarious. Sunday night party didn't appear to 'happen' - most people including the organisers appeared to have left dodge so that was disappointing.

 

Closing Ceremony - or the lack of. For me this was probably the most disappointing aspect of the whole weekend. We'd just had a great afternoon of events/talks/quiz in the hall and ME organizers came onto the stage and gave a brief statement that the event was over and a quick thanks to the guests - buy the tickets for next year. Even Alan Tudyk made a comment to the effect of 'that's the closing event? You just say goodbye?' It was embarassing and confusing considering how much effort was put into other aspects of the convention organization - there was no speech, no opportunity to introduce the guests for the final time and give them the chance to thank/say goodbye/tell us how they feel or for us all to wallow in how great the weekend had been. I would have liked to have had the crew thanked first before the guests left the stage as I am sure they appreciate their efforts too and would have wanted to be part of that. Not expecting a huge ceremony but 30 minutes would have done the trick and preferrably not immediately after the final Q&A.

 

I found all the Convention staff/stewards to be friendly and helpful.

[JennMel]

Okay, so definitely an awesome weekend - I'd definitely say better than last year even; the guests complemented each other so well this year (you didn't feel there were a couple of 'main' guests with tag-alongs) and going silver this year was amazing! And Alan giving out those little gifts was incredibly generous and sweet; you really felt like all the guests actually wanted to be there!

 

The two main improvements from last year (screening and quiz) were a really good shake up. Screening made me laugh so hard, and the quiz was great, though I would have preferred the quiz to just have been with the actors with audience participation from each side of the room, because eight people, tables and a flip board do NOT fit well on that stage!

 

Also, BIG improvement on the ending all-guests talk; I know people mentioned above about the more inane questions, but compared to the utter cringey-embarrassment of last year's selection (what's your favourite...etc), and probably helped along by Robin's hilarious reactions, I thought it went way better! (although we were sitting right behind the mc on the sunday, and it made me a little affronted when I heard him turn to the camera guy with something that amounted to what I took to be annoyance at the guests going off on a tangent to questions - if they're having fun, and we're having fun, then I don't see the problem. He seemed to have an issue with spontaneity)

 

Autos and photos were awesome, everyone was lovely, and photographers were insanely efficient, patient and friendly, and the bonus add of the group photo was a lovely and muchly appreciated surprise! Crewmembers were a pleasure and helpful (I do agree with the lady on the reg desk for gold/silver being less approachable this year - though for the 3 times I interacted with her, I just assumed she was angry at me for something I couldn't work out...)

 

Parties were great, though at times, especially on the Sunday night with less people, I felt the DJ needed to be a bit more intune to what people liked (when the dance floor goes from having 30+ people going nuts with an anthem or cheese song, and then suddenly clears when he puts on dance music, you'd think something would have twigged) And the bungee thing on friday was wicked fun

 

One major thing that I felt actually before we came to the weekend was that the website management compared to HW1 was very poor. No party themes were ever put up, Robin wasn't added to the guest list (even if you couldn't have grabbed a photo, a name would probably have been good for those who only check the site and not forums) and also the ticket sales weren't changed to sold out when gold went. This made no difference to me personally, but I found it odd when HW1's website was so well organised.

 

Would love to attend next year, but for us this will depend on researching the Raddison and area to work out a new weekend costings, because we've managed to get away cheap with the Lodge, petrol station and macdonalds for the past 2 years! Hopefully we'll make it!

 

Thank you to all the awesome people, and the two sweet ladies who have run the promo pic/pen/keyring dealers room stall for the past two years, always at hand with a smile and a very overworked printer!

[Kelsbells64]

I will post later as I have a good pro and con list. As the organisers stated its good to get both types of feedback.

 

A major plus is that the cons are moving away from the thistle. God this hotel get worse every time, we had cleaning staff come to our door at half eight at to ask are you sure you dont want your room cleaned. "EH NOOOOOOOOOO go away" then but what about clean towels. I actually asked the reception if it was on the level as it just seemed so dodgy!

 

The BAR!!!! I honestly do not understand the cheek of charging me £3.25 for a glass of cola which has been poured out a bottle of 99p COLA????? That is beyond a joke and I freaked when I watched the waiter pour the dredges out 2 bottles to make up my glass of refreshing and expensive cola. Also the booze was so overpriced that it cant have been only me that was think I cant afford to drink here!!!!! £15 for a bottle of echo falls - Thats some bloody profit margain considering how cheap echo falls wine is???? or £5 in the bar and £6 upstairs for a glass????

 

I also complained to the lunch waiter asking if there was a chance for vegetarian food and was getting into my rant when the poor guy started apologising and said he would bring down veggie bean burgers. So am really glad I asked. I did notice that they made extra than the two i asked for and people were buying them. MIne was cold but still better than a packet of crisps! He did use the same tongs to pick up my chips as he did the girl before me's beefburger but since most of teh staff struggle with english am guessing basic food hygiene and cross contamination food is something that may be out of their reach. I did like the idea of the lunch buffet though. I know that there are alot of vegetarians and vegans at these things and it would be nice to be thought of in the meal deals and such... . .Can somone with a car do a subway run at nex years ha ha

 

I know its not MS fault the staff and attitude of the Thistle but its so frustrating staying or being in this hotel. PLus on the Saturday we were entitled to an extra hour and got NOTHING. they closed - buggar!

 

On the flip side - they do an awesome breakfast

 

write more later . . . very tired

[ChrisR]

 

So to Dave, Too Tall and the rest of you fine people at ME, may I suggest a TV-style Question of Sport panel-game approach, with a proper quizmaster in the centre of the stage would work better for the audience. There could be an individual round - proper trivia questions for the fans [the questions were very good, I think, but only if you're a Whedon acolyte], and questions only about the actors' characters and the episodes they appeared in in their own shows for the guests - a quickfire buzzer round [with buzzers for everyone, or at least one big buzzer for each team, not just saying 'buzz' into one mic for four people (!)], a pictionary round, a 'which episode is this a quote from' round, an acting round (again with guests only having to act scenes from their character's role, not from programmes they've never seen), an audience round [e.g. by asking a multiple choice questions and half of the audience voting for answers by a show of hands, not just random shouting out] ... the possibilities are endless. But I think it's a great idea to have a quiz - it makes a nice break from the talks - and with some tweaking it could be even better (if ME want any help with this next year, I'd be happy to help!).

 

 

 

Which is exactly what I suggested a few posts above. :)

 

It is, however, interesting to see your point of view, please note that it was nothing personal, and I was not the only one commenting on it, but I hope you can see our points of view. I am glad you enjoyed yourself, though.

 

Thanks, no worries, I didn't take it personally and sorry if I p*ssed anyone off. I felt very lucky to be up there, but was also very aware that there were hundreds of people watching us expectantly, the organisers wanted the quiz to be successful but the guests on our team hardly knew any of the answers. I was also aware how well things were or weren't working for the teams and for the audience as it was going on - I sometimes have to give talks and do other stuff onstage in front of big audiences like this as part of my job - hence my modest but hopefully useful suggestions for next year.

Actually, the hardest thing for me was not chatting to the guests all the time - Omygod-I'm-sitting-next-to-Alpha-and-Lilah!!! - and trying instead to focus on what was going on! But it's the first time they've done a quiz I think, so I'm sure it can improve. That's one thing I really like about ME, there always looking to make things better and different, and I'm sure Mark and the team will read all this feedback and take things from it. But glad lots of people enjoyed the quiz as well and I thought considering the rather chaotic nature of it and the seating arrangements on stage, it was a lot of fun - I was actually amazed at the huge roar that greeted the (much deserved!) Alpha team victory, which showed that people had really got into it.

I also think that it would be good if the talks on Saturday were a bit more structured, ie if there was a bit more of an interview scenario, where someone talked to the star about their career, work in the Whedonverse, what they remember about it, how they felt about their character looking back, etc. Then on Sunday, have the audience Q&A. Having all the sessions as Q&A makes things seem rather disjointed, in that there can be a really good question about, say, how an actor felt when they found out they were being killed off, then instead of asking follow-up questions about what that day of filming was like on set, whether the occasion was marked in some way by the cast or Joss, the next question was about their favourite country. This means there's very rarely an flow or depth to the conversation, it just richochets from one topic to another. So perhaps having Saturday as an 'interview day' and Sunday as a 'fan Q&A day' would mean we'd get the best of both worlds.

Anyway, see you all next year, and thanks to everyone for making it such a great time. Joss's fans really are the best!

[gemma85]

Overall, had a fantastic time!!!

 

The guests were all amazing, the gals were beautiful, the guys were yummy!!! All very polite, entertaining and down to earth, made for a great line up!!!

 

The main reason we were there was Anthony Head and all we can say is WOWSA!!!!! He was such an amazing guest. Me and my sis made comlplete twonks of ourselves by crying when we met him to get our autographs

We told him how much it meant to meet him as Buffy had helped us through some dark times, and I just started balling, my sis then did the same . We couldnt control it, I managed to get out "i'm sorry" as we didnt wanna make him feel awkward but he said "oh darling.. bless you". He then got up, came round and gave both of us big hugs ( they were so tight we could hardly breath ) and a kiss each . He carried on chatting to us about things and said hopefully now things will get better and spoke about how Joss has the ability to make people feel like their not alone...the actors just show up and play the part. He signed our pics and my poster (which he bent in the hugs...but whos cares??? Giles bent my poster )

Needless to say, that made our whole weekend. He even remembered us in our photoshoots and gaves us another massive, tight hug!! A treasured pic!!!!

 

No complaints about the weekend as a whole.

The only issue we had was with the gold recption.

Way too small, way too loud. But despite the obvious issues that have already been addressed, some of the attendees were also a problem. The same people were at the front the whole time, blocking out us and others. I was very angry about this, which was seen by said group but despite mine and my sisters attempts to try and get in somewhere so we could at least hear what was being said, overall I felt we may aswell not have been there. I ended up just leaning against a wall at one point because it was useless trying to do anything, we couldnt even get to the crew members to say about it because they were blocked off. Any little gap that became free, the same woman would barge her way in more & more to the point where she was literally leaning over the table. This group of people ruined for us what was supposed to be a relaxed and casual bonus that we paid good money for.

 

Hotel wasnt great but ok. Expecting worse to be honest, but the ceiling in our bathroom was peeling, shower rails all rusty, the toilet was literally against the wall with the sink the other side so it wasnt comftable. For a twin room, it was frickin tiny and where was all the soundproofing? We could hear every plane and every person out in the hall!!!

Like someone mentioned earlier, if we werent sisters, sharing a twin room that small with somebody else could have been abit awkward!

 

Great weekend though, and thanks to Malcolm and Danielle for the fab photos!!!!

[adriangill]

But it's the first time they've done a quiz I think

Not the first. That was the third one I have seen.

 

Like the idea of a interview session

[dragonsanddaffodils]

the first in that venue though.

 

It was done recently in the Hilton and there was loads more room on stage there and it worked well

[laurab1]

But it's the first time they've done a quiz I think

Not the first. That was the third one I have seen.

 

Like the idea of a interview session

 

They did mainly interviews at this year's Bad Wolf with a couple of the guests.

 

And Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred more or less did their talk themselves - like an old married couple

 

As for Hallowhedon, after other ME shows (rather than SM) I've been to this year, it was nice to be at a busy 3 day event again :) But having said that, even if my local coach service to LHR is great, the Thistle is kind of a pig of a place to get to, unless you drive. I went mainly for Jewel and Alan for Firefly, and for Tony for Merlin, but Stephanie and Robin were also awesome :)

 

Someone mentioned about the website not being updated - SJ, who does the website, was actually at this con, and I'm not sure whether that's always the case.

 

The screening and commentary was FABULOUS So funny! Well done, Tony and Robin!

 

Nathan Fillion got the mick taken out of him by pretty much everyone. As did David Boreanaz, in the screening

 

While the guests were lovely, the gold pass drinks were kinda impersonal, compared to what I've experienced before. But I see this was the hotel's fault XD

 

A few complaints about the convention centre bar - it didn't seem that well stocked, and why was there no Coke or lemonade on draft/tap? Over-priced soft drinks, for what they were.

 

It was great to see some of my con buddies from the Hub, to meet some cool new people, and to meet a whole load of Browncoats. Thanks for all those lovely comments on my Zoe costume, from us lot, the crew and Alan :) Hello, if I gave you one or more of my shrink plastic Firefly/Serenity badges! I gave Jewel a 'shiny' one, along with a framed Kaylee and Serenity picture I'd made, and Alan had 'curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal' and 'mighty fine shindig'. They were both appreciative of their presents :) Shrink plastic you can print on, using an inkjet printer, is definitely one of the coolest things I've found on ebay recently :)

 

Thanks to Malcolm, Danielle and Giles for all my great pictures, and to the crew, particularly Kevin, Rhi, Kelly and Michelle. Kelly, I don't know if you've seen it up close, but I'm obviously bringing my Captain John jacket with all the watch bits sewn on to it to Hub 6 :)

 

Might be back to Hallowhedon next year, but I certainly had a great time at this one!

Edited November 3, 2010 by laurab1

[adriangill]

the first in that venue though.

 

It was done recently in the Hilton and there was loads more room on stage there and it worked well

Northampton has plenty of stage space as well.

[MojoeDark]

As the person that organised the quiz, firstly thanks for all your comments and for everyone that helped and took part you all rocked

 

 

 

So to Dave, Too Tall and the rest of you fine people at ME, may I suggest a TV-style Question of Sport panel-game approach, with a proper quizmaster in the centre of the stage would work better for the audience. There could be an individual round - proper trivia questions for the fans [the questions were very good, I think, but only if you're a Whedon acolyte], and questions only about the actors' characters and the episodes they appeared in in their own shows for the guests - a quickfire buzzer round [with buzzers for everyone, or at least one big buzzer for each team, not just saying 'buzz' into one mic for four people (!)], a pictionary round, a 'which episode is this a quote from' round, an acting round (again with guests only having to act scenes from their character's role, not from programmes they've never seen), an audience round [e.g. by asking a multiple choice questions and half of the audience voting for answers by a show of hands, not just random shouting out] ... the possibilities are endless. But I think it's a great idea to have a quiz - it makes a nice break from the talks - and with some tweaking it could be even better (if ME want any help with this next year, I'd be happy to help!).

 

 

I have done them a few different ways at a few other ME events, from using on screen clips from the shows and photo rounds ect. I do feel that the format used at Hallowhedon works well, and with a few improvements can be even better!

 

The two main improvements from last year (screening and quiz) were a really good shake up. Screening made me laugh so hard, and the quiz was great, though I would have preferred the quiz to just have been with the actors with audience participation from each side of the room, because eight people, tables and a flip board do NOT fit well on that stage!

 

 

Having JUST the guests on stage answering the questions would just be uncomfortable as they can’t possible know all everything from all Joss shows. Having them on stage with attendees I feel works better. The guests were also told what to expect and werent just thrown on the stage.

 

As for the organisation during the quiz its hard to judge how long to make it as the guests like to play around so yes there were changes on the fly. The stage was a little small and guests were blocked a little but this is the first time this issue has come up. All the guests told me they enjoyed it and is was good fun They were awesome and so much fun Alan and Robin were still talking about it right upto the last talk!

 

Andrew

Edited November 2, 2010 by mojoe

[dragonsanddaffodils]

thats true, the stage area at Northampton is bigger, I forgot that

 

I havent seen the other quizzes, but I did giggle all the way through this one, I liked how the audience were involved.

 

I remember the quiz at Twi Proms in Brum which was just the audience answering questions, and this way is more entertaining

[adriangill]

They did mainly interviews at this year's Bad Wolf with a couple of the guests.

I've seen it done at Bad Wolf (and somewhere else) as well. It worked fairly well as I think the interviewers were diehard (note to self - must watch that again) fans of the show.

 

They were awesome and so much fun Alan and Robin were still talking about it right upto the last talk!

 

Andrew

Alan strikes me as being very competitive, moving his seat off the stage to see better etc

[MojoeDark]

Alan strikes me as being very competitive, moving his seat off the stage to see better etc

 

Just a bit

[adriangill]

I havent seen the other quizzes, but I did giggle all the way through this one, I liked how the audience were involved.

 

When the scorekeeper was not looking Rainbow Sun Francks resorted to changing the teams score on the board at one of the Chevron quizzes

Edit: Problem was ambition got in the way. 9-5 down he amended the 5 to 165. Before finally settling on 40,000,000,000

Edited November 2, 2010 by 1of2

[Kinross07]

I only have two negative ish comments to pass. I agree the parties felt a little lacklustre (with most people avoiding the hall) and so I think if there were some way to create a playlist of music that people really enjoy rather than whatever was around at the time would be nice.

 

Secondly, because there were a number of hours we spent waiting around for something to happen, it would be great if there were a room set up with Whedon programmes to watch.

 

Other than that it was an amazing weekend and I look forward to hearing more about next year.