Guests talks for this years event

[adriangill]

Can I make an appeal to have the seats numbered and not just the rows? With the seats being numbered, you really feel like you're getting what you pay for. If you have a great aisle seat, then that's what you've got. I don't like this idea of letting a whole row in on a first come first served basis. Where the folk who have been loitering for ages and get in first get the pick of the best seats within that row.

Would you get what you are expecting? How would you number them?

 

Example

 

left 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, aisle, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 right (5 would be sat in the middle, with 1 sat on the end, fair?)

 

or 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, aisle, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (6 sat in the middle, and 5 sat on the end, still not fair)

 

or 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, aisle, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 (possibly the fairest based purely on numbering but if people bought tickets together then they would want to sit together especially if there is a child, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, etc)

[Too Tall]

In the past when we have numbered each seat there have been time issues. As it takes a much longer time to load the hall. For a number of "fully numbered talks" it took over 20 minutes just to load the hall with people walking about trying to find their seat.

 

There are many other issues with specifically numbering the seats.

 

If we number it in standard order from front left onwards, ticket number 1 ends up on the far left anyway, and person with ticket 20 gets the aisle seat. That's really not fair.

 

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20---------21.22.23.24......

 

So you may say, why not start with ticket one at the aisle and number outwards? Well then ticket number 20 ends up on the end and ticket 21 still gets the other side of the aisle. Is that fair?

 

20.19.18.17.16.15.14.13.12.11.10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1--------21.22.23.24.......

 

So then you start 1 one side and 2 the other, but then you start splitting up friends and families (epsecially bad if it's kids involved). We tried that kind of thing and it was hated.

 

39.37.35.33.31.29.27.25.23.21.19.17.15.13.11.9.7.5.3.1--------2.4.6.8.10.12.14..........

Or

............12.11.10.9.4.3.2.1--------5.6.7.8.13.14.15.16.......

 

We didn't just come up with the idea we have tried a number of different ways and have discussed it at length and I'm sorry but after doing this over 10 times now we've found that numbering the rows is the best option for speed and being fair to as many people as possible.

 

Adrian made the point too, and a bit quicker

[adriangill]

............12.11.10.9.4.3.2.1--------5.6.7.8.13.14.15.16.......

 

Adrian made the point too, and a bit quicker

I didn't include that method though

[Trialia]

Done, thank you. :) Hoping not to end up right at the back, since my eyesight's not as good as it used to be either.

 

Is it about one of the paid for talks?

 

At ME the chairs were removed in about the area he would have sat per his ticket number. I'd imagine they'd do the same at the paid for talks at EMS, but this is really just a personal guess.

Yep, and that's about what I thought. Already got my ticket, so I hope I did in time...

[owlpost1992]

Can I make an appeal to have the seats numbered and not just the rows? With the seats being numbered, you really feel like you're getting what you pay for. If you have a great aisle seat, then that's what you've got. I don't like this idea of letting a whole row in on a first come first served basis. Where the folk who have been loitering for ages and get in first get the pick of the best seats within that row.

 

But then you'd be unfair to those dedicated enough to wait for good seats, I think i waited an hour for Karen's talk at LFCC but didn't get an asile seat cos people were milling around the edge of the previous talk rather then behind the grey wall like the queues for previous talks had done.

[Zagreus]

But that's the whole point. For the paid-for talks you're not supposed to hang around waiting. Your seat is allocated, or at least it was before it was changed to row numbering. So that's exactly my point - if you allocate numbers to rows instead of individual seats, people are gonna start hanging about in the hopes of getting the best seats.

[RavenclawKing97]

Still Waiting for the Harry Potter Guests :'( Please announce quickly before I spend my money on other stuff

[MinkyKnights]

I think i waited an hour for Karen's talk at LFCC but didn't get an asile seat cos people were milling around the edge of the previous talk rather then behind the grey wall like the queues for previous talks had done.

There was definitely some oddness going on there. I started queuing behind the wall, as usual, and a crew member told the people in the queue at that point to go and stand at the back of the talks area. I was surprised by this turn of events, but I did as asked, as did loads of other people by the look of it.

 

 

 

But that's the whole point. For the paid-for talks you're not supposed to hang around waiting. Your seat is allocated, or at least it was before it was changed to row numbering. So that's exactly my point - if you allocate numbers to rows instead of individual seats, people are gonna start hanging about in the hopes of getting the best seats.

Spot on. As long as there's any chance at all to get closer to the guest, people will start queuing early.

Edited September 14, 2011 by MinkyKnights

[Too Tall]

Zagreus,

 

I'm sorry you don't agree but I still come back to my question about how do you "100% fairly" allocate the ticket specific seats? The answer is, you can't! Someone always gets the short end of the stick.

 

Doing it by rows, yes if someone gets there first they get an aisle seat, but everyone is still in the same row, so it's not a huge deal. It's not like we're talking about someone with a next ticket being 7 rows back. So I honestly don't think THAT many people will queue up really early.

 

No system is perfect but after a lot of trial and error and a lot of discussion we feel this is the best/fairest option.

 

At the moment all I'm hearing is you don't like the row seating, but with no suggestion on how allocated seating can be done fairly. If you can find a fair way to allocate seats, I'd be happy to hear it!

 

Stuart.

[owlpost1992]

But that's the whole point. For the paid-for talks you're not supposed to hang around waiting. Your seat is allocated, or at least it was before it was changed to row numbering. So that's exactly my point - if you allocate numbers to rows instead of individual seats, people are gonna start hanging about in the hopes of getting the best seats.

 

I waited the whole night for doctor who tickets but then real life took over and I had to go to work which meant the hours I sat dedicated to getting a good ticket was in vain because I wouldn't be in a position to get tickets whilst those with no jobs could get prime seats.. So in fact your being unfair to those not permanently plugged into a.computer through things out of our control.

 

 

I think i waited an hour for Karen's talk at LFCC but didn't get an asile seat cos people were milling around the edge of the previous talk rather then behind the grey wall like the queues for previous talks had done.

There was definitely some oddness going on there. I started queuing behind the wall, as usual, and a crew member told the people in the queue at that point to go and stand at the back of the talks area. I was surrised by this turn of events, but I did as asked, as did loads of other people by the look of it

 

I was right on the edge and no-one told me or my friends to move at all its cos we got.so disgruntled at everyone pushing in did we move.

[adriangill]

I waited the whole night for doctor who tickets but then real life took over and I had to go to work which meant the hours I sat dedicated to getting a good ticket was in vain because I wouldn't be in a position to get tickets whilst those with no jobs could get prime seats.. So in fact your being unfair to those not permanently plugged into a.computer through things out of our control.

They went on sale at around 7pm. True not everybody may have finished work at that point, but it's likely more have than haven't. No matter what time they go on sale there could be people at work who may miss out.

[MinkyKnights]

I'm sorry you don't agree but I still come back to my question about how do you "100% fairly" allocate the ticket specific seats? The answer is, you can't! Someone always gets the short end of the stick.

Too Tall's on the money. Short of people picking their own seats when they book, like you do at the theatre (which would need a whole new back end to the booking system), there isn't really a 'fair' way to do this thing.

 

I remember the most recent attempt to make the seating fairer, at Collectormania London in 2009, where straight numbered rows were abandoned in favour of a system devised to give those with the lowest-number tickets the best seats. But it took an age to load the hall and there were heaps of complaints afterwards, with many people saying that it was confusing and that family groups and friends had been separated by the system.

 

For what it's worth, I preferred the straight 'ticket number = seat number' approach, because I think that only having an allocated row encourages people to queue early. But then I think people are going to do that with whatever system is running. Even when individual seats were allocated, people would queue for ages to ensure that no one pinched the seat they'd paid for - and that was a serious problem at times. All it took was one or two people to sit in the wrong seats and refuse to budge, and the whole system was in danger of collapse. Where do you sit when someone's in your seat? You sit in someone else's, and on it goes, causing arguments and disgruntlement.

 

So I can see why, after so many years of these events, they've arrived at the 'allocated row' system, even though it's not perfect. Personally, I find the views at these talks are rarely great no matter where I sit (tiered seating would be a dream come true - one to consider, perhaps, for that purpose-built venue Showmasters are planning ), so I just go with the flow and hope for the best.

[etmuse]

The only other way I can think of to do it that would be relatively fair would be to call people in by ticket number in a similar fashion to what is done at the ME shows - the people with the lower numbered tickets get called in first and get to choose what seat (of the remaining seats) they think is best and so on until everyone's in.

 

It still disadvantages anyone who has a low number ticket and can't be there for the start of the hall-loading, but said loading shouldn't take long so no one would need to hang around more than 5-10 minutes before the start of the talk.

[Too Tall]

The only other way I can think of to do it that would be relatively fair would be to call people in by ticket number in a similar fashion to what is done at the ME shows - the people with the lower numbered tickets get called in first and get to choose what seat (of the remaining seats) they think is best and so on until everyone's in.

 

It still disadvantages anyone who has a low number ticket and can't be there for the start of the hall-loading, but said loading shouldn't take long so no one would need to hang around more than 5-10 minutes before the start of the talk.

I had thought of this, but there are 3 issues....

 

1: You already raised if you're not there when called you may have ticket 3 but you could end up at the back of the hall.

 

2: People WILL queue up early to make sure they get in the front of their group, or hope to sneak in an earlier group. We get this at ME events.

 

3: We don't have somewhere to have all 400-600 people stood where they can easily hear being called, you'd get people at the back with ticket 40 but not hear they've been called until 100+ and even then they have to squeeze through the crowd.

[laurab1]

The only other way I can think of to do it that would be relatively fair would be to call people in by ticket number in a similar fashion to what is done at the ME shows - the people with the lower numbered tickets get called in first and get to choose what seat (of the remaining seats) they think is best and so on until everyone's in.

 

It still disadvantages anyone who has a low number ticket and can't be there for the start of the hall-loading, but said loading shouldn't take long so no one would need to hang around more than 5-10 minutes before the start of the talk.

 

I'm sure that's basically what happened for Karen's talk at LFCC - calling people by ticket number. And you're quite right, it works fine at the ME cons.

 

I was at the Torchwood talk at CL 2009, and, yes, the way the seating was done wasn't perfect. (Neither were some of the questions, but that's another matter ) It was all a bit sardines, too, which didn't help.

[Too Tall]

The only other way I can think of to do it that would be relatively fair would be to call people in by ticket number in a similar fashion to what is done at the ME shows - the people with the lower numbered tickets get called in first and get to choose what seat (of the remaining seats) they think is best and so on until everyone's in.

 

It still disadvantages anyone who has a low number ticket and can't be there for the start of the hall-loading, but said loading shouldn't take long so no one would need to hang around more than 5-10 minutes before the start of the talk.

 

I'm sure that's basically what happened for Karen's talk at LFCC - calling people by ticket number. And you're quite right, it works fine at the ME cons.

 

I was at the Torchwood talk at CL 2009, and, yes, the way the seating was done wasn't perfect. (Neither were some of the questions, but that's another matter ) It was all a bit sardines, too, which didn't help.

I did call people in groups at LFCC but the rows were still numbered (as they will be at EMS). I will likely call people in groups again so that it's orderly and the crew have time to check the tickets. If I had just let it be a free for all, we'd have had a lot of people sitting in the wrong rows.

 

You're right it does work at ME events, but that's a very different environment. I always make sure that the schedule means EVERYONE is free for when the talks open. At an event like EMS someone could be in a photo shoot or autograph queue. Also it being in a hotel with big lobbies etc we have a place to stand everyone and I can call them in. Again as I said I don't have the single big space at the signing events to do that.

 

I don't think a pure "ME style, call them by groups" system would work at the signing events. And that's why we're numbering the rows.

[laurab1]

The only other way I can think of to do it that would be relatively fair would be to call people in by ticket number in a similar fashion to what is done at the ME shows - the people with the lower numbered tickets get called in first and get to choose what seat (of the remaining seats) they think is best and so on until everyone's in.

 

It still disadvantages anyone who has a low number ticket and can't be there for the start of the hall-loading, but said loading shouldn't take long so no one would need to hang around more than 5-10 minutes before the start of the talk.

 

I'm sure that's basically what happened for Karen's talk at LFCC - calling people by ticket number. And you're quite right, it works fine at the ME cons.

 

I was at the Torchwood talk at CL 2009, and, yes, the way the seating was done wasn't perfect. (Neither were some of the questions, but that's another matter ) It was all a bit sardines, too, which didn't help.

I did call people in groups at LFCC but the rows were still numbered (as they will be at EMS). I will likely call people in groups again so that it's orderly and the crew have time to check the tickets. If I had just let it be a free for all, we'd have had a lot of people sitting in the wrong rows.

 

You're right it does work at ME events, but that's a very different environment. I always make sure that the schedule means EVERYONE is free for when the talks open. At an event like EMS someone could be in a photo shoot or autograph queue. Also it being in a hotel with big lobbies etc we have a place to stand everyone and I can call them in. Again as I said I don't have the single big space at the signing events to do that.

 

I don't think a pure "ME style, call them by groups" system would work at the signing events. And that's why we're numbering the rows.

 

Rows seemed to work fine at Karen's talk, though :) Better than CL 2009, certainly!

[owlpost1992]

I waited the whole night for doctor who tickets but then real life took over and I had to go to work which meant the hours I sat dedicated to getting a good ticket was in vain because I wouldn't be in a position to get tickets whilst those with no jobs could get prime seats.. So in fact your being unfair to those not permanently plugged into a.computer through things out of our control.

They went on sale at around 7pm. True not everybody may have finished work at that point, but it's likely more have than haven't. No matter what time they go on sale there could be people at work who may miss out.

 

I would still be on the way home. Plus I checked the forum same time as I checked the shop and there wa no message of tickets being on sale but they were available in the shop and I know im a few rows back to if the tickets had been on sale on Sunday night.

[Ariel23]

What exactly happens at the talks? Does the audience have to ask questions to the guests or is it an interviewer asking them all questions? And are there any general rules we should follow in regards to the talks?

[Glowingwings]

A crew member goes round the audience with a microphone and they ask the questions.

[Scoop1107]

What exactly happens at the talks? Does the audience have to ask questions to the guests or is it an interviewer asking them all questions? And are there any general rules we should follow in regards to the talks?

 

I don't know if you're planning on taking photos in the talks, but the rules regarding this are simple. You usually get a short amount of time before the talk begins where you are allowed flash photography and then all photos after that have to be without flash. Also, no recording of video or audio is allowed.

 

The talks are always good fun and informative, I'm sure you'll love them!

[Ariel23]

A crew member goes round the audience with a microphone and they ask the questions.

 

I guess I might have to try and think up questions...

 

I don't know if you're planning on taking photos in the talks, but the rules regarding this are simple. You usually get a short amount of time before the talk begins where you are allowed flash photography and then all photos after that have to be without flash. Also, no recording of video or audio is allowed.

 

The talks are always good fun and informative, I'm sure you'll love them!

 

I might take a few photos but I'd use my mobile phone since my normal camera is rubbish and just dies on me all the time, but once the talk started I probably wouldn't take any. I'm looking forward to the talks so I'd rather concentrate on the guests rather then taking photos

[laurab1]

What exactly happens at the talks? Does the audience have to ask questions to the guests or is it an interviewer asking them all questions? And are there any general rules we should follow in regards to the talks?

 

Please don't ask for hugs/if someone will marry you/anything potentially offensive

 

If you're going to any of the group talks, as there will be a few people on stage, a question that everyone can answer is good

 

Probably best to avoid any mention of fanworks, too, as this is basically a family show, not The Hub. (You all know exactly what I mean )

Edited September 18, 2011 by laurab1

[Lizzy87]

Maybe because I'm still tramaurised by public speaking from school I just wanted to check that it's not compulsory to ask a question? (i.e be forced to stand and ask something infront of Everyone!) Sorry about the childishness of that question!

Also I got tickets to the Doctor Who talk with numbers 7 and 8 but it seems that from posts on here that the numbers don't mean anything - is it on a first come first serve basis?

[Scoop1107]

Maybe because I'm still tramaurised by public speaking from school I just wanted to check that it's not compulsory to ask a question? (i.e be forced to stand and ask something infront of Everyone!) Sorry about the childishness of that question!

Also I got tickets to the Doctor Who talk with numbers 7 and 8 but it seems that from posts on here that the numbers don't mean anything - is it on a first come first serve basis?

 

Don't worry - it's not compulsory to ask a question. I hate talking in public too and I'm been to several talks - I never ask questions because I just can't think of one, and like you, I hate speaking in front of other people.

 

Because the Dr Who talk is paid for the ticket numbers will mean something - the lowest numbers will get a seat on the front row of the standard tickets and then it works its way back. (Gold tickets have reserved seating at the front).

 

For free talks, I believe it is first come first served for seating in the standard seats.