Was this year's LFCC *too* big?

[spymaster]

I know that Showmasters want to present as many guests as possible (and make as much money as possible!) but I don't know, this time around I almost felt as if I was on a production line! There were so many people I wanted to see on the Saturday that I spent a small fortune, and spent most of the last hour stressed out that I was going to miss autos for Karen and Chris Lloyd.

 

And the Karen shoot was so quick that you barely had time to see Karen, swoon, then see the camera before it was SNAP and you're gone!

 

For the first time ever I didn't even get a chance to wander round the stands - and I only got to see two talks, Walter Koenig and Brent Spiner, but didn't hear much of either because there was too much noise elsewhere!

 

I know this is heresy but couldn't these events be a bit more controlled? Maybe limit the number of entry tickets? Or reduce the guest count? Or something? I mean quantity is important but not when it comes at the expense of quality.

Edited July 11, 2011 by spymaster

[Zagreus]

Speaking personally, yes, too big. Of course I am happy that I got to meet huge guests, and lots of them, but as you say it was at the expense of other activities. The two paid-for talks were the only ones I was able to attend (I should say HAD to, as even with those it caused a bit of a close clash). The only glimpses I caught of stalls was when I was walking from one photo shoot to the next. And I spent a lot of money of this one. So if this is going to be the scale they want to go for, I'd recommend it only be once or twice a year, and the other shows should be smaller in scale.

[kinkbunny]

i'm sorry but i disagree i think it's fantastic they got so many guests and yes i too didn't manage to go to all the talks i'd have liked to but i managed to get to the ones i really wanted to hear.

saturday for me was manic, power walking (not running) from photoshoot A to B i loved it. i had 8 photo's

i only just had a look at the stalls yesterday and then not all of them but never mind they'll be there next time the same guests wont.

yes it has been expensive but you just have to think now which person would i be totally gutted not to see and which one's would be cool to meet but i'll survive not meeting them this time round. also if you think lfcc is big don't ever go to SDCC as i'm told it's at least 10 times bigger.

[Daniel]

I wouldn't say it was too big. Personally I think its great that it was possible to get such a big guest line up and that the event was so well attended. Yes, it was crowded, but a successful event will be,

Edited July 11, 2011 by Daniel

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

Me personally, the quantity and the quality of the guest was just right.

 

It was enough to keep me busy with talks, photoshoots, autographs and stall shopping.

[MrT]

It was fine. It seems showmaster can't win

 

Do u think comic con in America is to big? The bigger it gets the more quality guests we will get and the bigger names eg like mcgregor and Lee.

 

Surely choice is a good thing

 

For me personally I got less autographs than previous ones.

 

I think if anything some people who seem to get 20+ photos or auto should perhaps be more choosy (controversial)

 

Keep up the good work showmaster

 

Bigger is better

[CurlyKirsty]

I loved it, bigger and better. Karen Gillan and all the famous people made it wonderful, keep the japanese section as well. Loved it.

[defender05]

As other people have said the bigger the show the bigger stars you will be able to get.

 

Maybe a bigger arena is needed to cover the extra people.

[Beechy08]

The size of the event was fine. It was space in the hall that was an issue, for me anyway. I never understand why signing area is put so close to the dealers area. I noticed one queue for Christopher Llyod on the Saturday was actually going up one of the aisles of the dealers area. I know it costs more money to rent more space in the hall but I think that outweighs the safety and comfort of the attendees and even the guests.

[CosmicAvatar]

I love the "larger" LFCC and additional stuff. There was so much to do I missed a lot of it, even with a Gold Pass, but I'd rather be busy than bored. I think at times it was a bit overwhelming for the crew (I know I was asking them to help me out a fair bit and I'm sure others did too), but overall everything was good. I'm confident SM'll see what worked and what didn't and adjust for next time.

[keithporter23]

It was fine. It seems showmaster can't win

 

Do u think comic con in America is to big? The bigger it gets the more quality guests we will get and the bigger names eg like mcgregor and Lee.

 

Surely choice is a good thing

 

For me personally I got less autographs than previous ones.

 

I think if anything some people who seem to get 20+ photos or auto should perhaps be more choosy (controversial)

 

Keep up the good work showmaster

 

Bigger is better

 

I got almost 20 photoshoots I think, and had no problems at all with time. I managed to meet Christopher on both Sat and Sun, attended a talk, shopped til I dropped, had lunch on both days and came away very very happy!!

 

It's all about your own organisation and time management......

[TerraHawk]

Do u think comic con in America is to big?

 

That does have a limit on admission, doesn't it?

 

I have to be honest and say for me getting Alex and Karen, it was less like a production line that I had experienced in the past. But I was one of the early ones. But I didn't do photos.

 

I couldn't believe the queues outside at lunchtime though, even on Sunday everyone was only in the building at 14:30. I wonder if admission had of been £5 instead of £6 if that might of let it move quicker?

 

I did hear a stallholder say they thought it was too busy. I was surprised given the extra space there didn't seem to be that many stalls. Not that the autographs give me much spare money to spend with them anyway. I spent £13.50 at stalls.

[DavidB]

Absolutely not. I thought it was great, and I hope it continues to grow.

 

I got Karen's auto and photo, and while it was quick, I didnt for a second feel rushed. The crew were efficient, Karen was attentive, and the photo came out perfectly.

 

As for everything else, I thought it was great to have so much to choose from. Some people got 20 plus autos, so its clearly do-able if you're crazily organised.

 

Yes, sometimes things can go wrong but that can happen at a show of ANY size.

[chubarker]

I do agree that LFCC @ Earls court has now reached it's limits, which probably explains why next years won't be at Earls Court, but down the road at Olympia.

 

From what I heard, they had around 18,000 people attend on Saturday, LFCC 2009 on the Sunday was I believe slightly higher.

 

I don't have the cash to stay in London for both days, (I was looking at around £300 for hotel, food, train, taxis etc) which meant that this year I plumped for a gold pass and getting up at 4AM hoping to get everything done well before closing. Only had seven autographs to get.

 

Had only two photo shoots booked, Karen and Brent (Which was delayed by half and hour, a few announcements would have helped maybe at the beginning or end of Brent's talk to let people know.) so thought I'd be able to see some of the free talks, relax a bit and check out the dealers.

 

Only got to see Brent's talk and didn't have an opportunity to eat my lunch at all.

 

At 4:30 got my final autograph from Chris Lloyd and went to get photos.

 

Only had Karen's back which given the delaying of Brent's I was expecting. My friend had more photo shoots to pick up, but like me only had Karen's not even Christ Lloyd's which was earlier than Karen's.

 

Had to leave at 5PM to catch train back home and finally got home at 11:20PM.

 

Because of the delay in Brent's photo shoot, had to miss Karen's talk which was one of the main reasons I wanted to go and bought a gold pass.

 

At least I didn't pay out the £25 as my friend did.

 

Next year SM please don't schedule any paid talks when there are photo shoots going on, maybe schedule the talk just after the photo shoot, so if that overruns then the talk will be delayed and no-one misses out.

 

The main talk area exit as the side was also a major concern to me, whenever a talk finished, that area just became a log jam. Heaven knows what would have happened if there had been an emergency or someone had tripped up.

 

Health and safety guys

 

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Next years action plan is already in progress, but unless you're going to see one or two specific guest I'd say LFCC is no longer an event you can go to on the day, but a weekend event.

 

A gold pass will help if you can afford it, but you'll spend a lot of time Qing whatever happened, especially if they get a big guest like Karen again.

 

Maybe SM should try and speak to the hotels around Olympia for next year, make a block booking to reduce the room price and sell a Gold+ pack, which would include accommodation.

 

A very stressful, non-stop day and one I would not like to repeat.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Ian Barker

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

 

A gold pass will help if you can afford it, but you'll spend a lot of time Qing whatever happened, especially if they get a big guest like Karen again.

 

Maybe SM should try and speak to the hotels around Olympia for next year, make a block booking to reduce the room price and sell a Gold+ pack, which would include accommodation.

 

A very stressful, no-stop day and one I would not like to repeat.

 

From a separate thread, some forum members are actively seeking hotels to book for next year's event (early July) and are themselves having trouble because of the Olympics (albeit late July).

 

But still think Showmaster got it just right with this year's event and think next year could potentially be bigger and scarily, much more better than this year.

[TerraHawk]

I do agree that LFCC @ Earls court has now reached it's limits, which probably explains why next years won't be at Earls Court, but down the road at Olympia.

 

I think Olympia is smaller (or split more across levels), but it says its only temporary. Earls Court is an Olympic venue, they will have to get it ready.

 

And whilst they are getting it ready, the contractors will need somewhere local to stay.

[Kuato_Lives]

The bigger the better.

[gebes]

One minute attendees are saying they want to meet big name guests, so when SM do bring in big name guests, such as Karen or Christopher Lambert. Attendees are saying the event was too big ??

 

SM obviously can't win at all !

 

SM brought us Karen Gillan and Christopher Lambert, both of which I did meet, even with the prices. So I'm curious to see if getting such names paid off for them and just who they might announce next if the gamble worked.

 

I've not seen early morning queues like that for a good while !

[m4sure]

I think having a bigger venue would have solved so many problems this year.

I think next year should have specific areas for seating or places to sit on the floor.

Walking around endlessly for hours in a crowd without a rest, isn't my idea of fun.

 

BUT THE GUESTS WERE GREAT SM!

 

Even though I couldn't afford to see most of them...

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

I think having a bigger venue would have solved so many problems this year. I think next year should have specific areas for seating or places to sit on the floor.

Walking around endlessly for hours in a crowd without a rest, isn't my idea of fun.

 

BUT THE GUESTS WERE GREAT SM!

 

Even though I couldn't afford to see most of them...

 

Earls Court this year was much bigger than the floor space last year, by the way

[TerraHawk]

SM brought us Karen Gillan and Christopher Lambert, both of which I did meet, even with the prices. So I'm curious to see if getting such names paid off for them and just who they might announce next if the gamble worked.

 

Chris was open queue on Sunday from what I saw, so it might suggest gambles might be better limited to one day guests, if they are being paid per day.

[SpaceAce]

i dont think it was big enough, guests this year were good, though there has been better line-ups in the past,

the problem was there wasnt enough room, the entire hall should have been used,

with wider aisle's where the stalls are,

 

its a nightmare to move around, made even worse when that fan-boy stink fills the room after a few hours,

and the fact that lots of people dont know how to respond when you say excuse me, or dont say it themselves and just barge through

 

a bigger seating area just to rest n take the weight off few a few mins would be great,

SM just needs to spread everything out more, use all the space better,

[girlingray]

In terms of the number of guests, I don't think it was too big - I'd say about right.

I had 7 photoshoots on Saturday and 6 on Sunday and didn't feel too rushed. I got the autographs I wanted (mostly on Friday and Sunday when things were quieter)

But in terms of the number of people for the space - definitely too big.

On Saturday the number of people seemed way too high for the space. I spent a lot of Saturday afternoon literally shuffling along like I was in a slowly moving queue, trying to get from one area to the next. People just seemed jam packed into the space.

Sunday was much better, and I felt I had the space to look at the stalls, could get easily between Photo Areas A & B and generally didn't feel so hot or confined.

Thankfully almost everyone who bumped into me, or tried to get past me apologised or said excuse me, so that was nice!

[Zagreus]

One minute attendees are saying they want to meet big name guests, so when SM do bring in big name guests, such as Karen or Christopher Lambert. Attendees are saying the event was too big ??

 

SM obviously can't win at all !

 

SM brought us Karen Gillan and Christopher Lambert, both of which I did meet, even with the prices. So I'm curious to see if getting such names paid off for them and just who they might announce next if the gamble worked.

 

I've not seen early morning queues like that for a good while !

Of course we all want bigger and better guests, but I think they need to be careful about the quantity. Too little (like the last Centre MK) and you have way too much spare time. Ones like this, you not only have no spare time, but you don't have time to go to the talks you want to see (that's if you have a broad range of interests and are interested in loads of the guests, like me). I think it would be ok if only LFCC was this big from now on, but I don't think I could manage financially if all their shows were this big.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Zagreus

[GoldenGreen]

Having attended the first LFCC and most others in between I would tend to go with the bigger the better !

 

For me the London Film and Comic Con is about celebrating a whole range of different aspects and tastes and Showmasters delivered across all of these.

 

I think there was literally something for everyone there this weekend and that is what in my opinion makes it work.

 

There are plenty of other Conventions and Events for specific programmes or groups, but the LFCC is surely a great celebration of everything film and comic related.

 

So it has to be big to cover this remit and it has to attract in the numbers of people to be succesful so that we all get the chance to go again next year.

 

So my vote goes for even bigger next year !