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[Rockstar6662]

Rockstar - I wasn't digging at you and I fully agree with the sentiments you and others outline. However people have to learn how to do things - there's a first time for everything after all - and yes mistakes are made. It's part of the learning process.

One question though:

Is it possible for every single crew member to have consistent common sense?

 

Don't worry, I'm not taking anything as a personal attack. Your example was perfectly valid and well expressed. I know there have to exceptions when managing a fluid thing like a crowd it was just that having been to so many now I was surprised that many things seem to have taken a step backwards and that not collecting VQ tickets could lead to all kinds of other issues.

 

And no, common sense can be a rare commodity. Sounds like you have it, some others maybe didn't or were just worried about what reaction they might get if they said no.

 

Had my say, expressed my pov. Thank you for taking it for what it is, just an opinion.

[Rockstar6662]

As with everything, sometimes the crew might slip or make a mistake. But that's human nature. Human's cant be 100% perfect 100% of the time. And it is very unlucky when you are the person to see/experience a crew member make a mistake. But, if you did, then it's very likely that they didnt the rest of the time and you just saw the small slip.

 

You have to remember all day they are being bombarded with questions, comments, people trying to bend or break rules, people feeling entitled, people complaining, people being rude. Its all what the general public do best lol And the crew have to deal with that AND do the job they are trying to do as best they can. Bound to be a rare slip here and there.

 

As I said to a crew member on saturday, I've not re-requested to crew since 09 as apart from being busy, I hate people lol You are lucky we have the crew we do. I would be so annoyed at the attendees sometimes that fists may be thrown lol I really dont know how the crew do it so well and calmly

 

This is all true and to be fair I never saw anyone lose their temper or treat anyone badly. I recognise many of the crew even if I don't know their names and have always found them helpful and sometimes even have a bit of a laugh when waiting in queues etc.

 

My main surprise (and this goes for the people I was with too) was that no-one took our VQ tickets off us. Never known that before. Wasn't just a one-off, it was the same saturday and sunday with different crew members and guests.

 

We all commented on it. that's all. It's not a disaster, didn't stop anyone enjoying anything etc. Just a surprising thing.

[Westiesx2]

Just a few thoughts from someone who lives in MK and is a season ticket holder with the MK Dons FC, for which the stadium was built.

 

1. The stadium is in the process of being finished as you may have noticed with all the work going on around it. By the start of the new season in August the stadium will be fully cladded on the outside which will make it more weather proof and hopefully warmer inside.

 

2. The car park is being improved and made ready for the new shopping complex that is being built to one end of the stadium.

 

3. The Arena which is situated at the Asda end should be completed within the next year.

 

The money for all the work on the stadium has come from the sale of the land for the new units being built for M&S, Primark and 4 others.

 

As the stadium is used as a football stadium for 9 months of the year, this work can only be carried out in the close season, when it is not used as much.

 

For those who aired there discomfort on this topic and have gripes with the stadium, carpark facilities etc, why don't you contact Pete Winkleman, owner of the MK Dons, and tell him you views? Tell him how you feel!

 

As for the poor signage to the stadium. If you feel that it is not well signed posted then contact the MK Council and tell them.

 

IMO it's a great venue, well run, great guests, great staff. Obviously things can be and will be improved year on year. Bring on next May!!

[tabbath]

"maybe they do either need to change the venue or move the dealers out and the stars indoors, who knows ? "

 

Having the dealers outside clearly wouldn't work as there is no protection & the stock would be damaged, therefore which dealers would want too have tables? .... i agree the guests should be better protected from the elements , having been to every Collectormania at the stadium there always seems to be at least one day when the weather is bad & both the guests & general public suffer!

[Psyclepath]

Gaznewbie - you would not believe the amount of blinks and specular flare, etc that get fixed.

 

Also at the aforementioned event - not one of their photoshoots were as busy as our busiest shoots. Whilst the process was good and quick, the photographers were not as quick as they would have needed to be to get through the queues we have.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Psyclepath

[Banished_From_Rohan]

Rockstar - I wasn't digging at you and I fully agree with the sentiments you and others outline. However people have to learn how to do things - there's a first time for everything after all - and yes mistakes are made. It's part of the learning process.

One question though:

Is it possible for every single crew member to have consistent common sense?

 

Don't worry, I'm not taking anything as a personal attack. Your example was perfectly valid and well expressed. I know there have to exceptions when managing a fluid thing like a crowd it was just that having been to so many now I was surprised that many things seem to have taken a step backwards and that not collecting VQ tickets could lead to all kinds of other issues.

 

And no, common sense can be a rare commodity. Sounds like you have it, some others maybe didn't or were just worried about what reaction they might get if they said no.

 

Had my say, expressed my pov. Thank you for taking it for what it is, just an opinion.

 

No problem mate. Thanks for keeping it civil, and I'm more than happy to discuss things if asked. Have a good rest of week :)

[Rainbowchazer]

Really useful post, Westiesx2, thanks. Sounds like by the time I come back to CM:MK again it will be much improved in venue terms. Really, really would like to be inside rather than just on the concourse, however, because as others have said, the weather for CM weekends is often shocking! One friend refuses to come with us now as she was so cold last time (yes, she would have loved the steaming hot LFCC, she's a bit of a tropical flower, to be honest).

 

Still had a good time, if the niggles could be sorted out with the running of it too, that would truly make it head and shoulders above any other similar event in this country.

[sdad]

It might not have been SM fault that half the car park was missing but they could have had the honesty to flag it on the forum so that people were prepared.

[CosmicAvatar]

On the whole, I had an excellent weekend. Parking was tight (I was lucky, but I can imagine several weren't), but that and weather can't be helped, and I actually prefer the cool as I always get so hot and bothered rushing around for photoshoots and whatnot.

 

I do have one thing, though - I really wanted a photoshoot with Suzi Plakson; I never saw them on sale in the online shop (and someone confirmed they had ticket #1 and bought it on site, which bears this out), so turned up shortly after the doors opened to buy one but the queue was so long the photoshoot session came and went before I had a chance to buy a ticket. Unfortunately it was some time afterwards when I saw crew members telling people that if they had a photoshoot coming up in the next ten minutes to slip to the front, but it was a bit too late for me. I know, I could have taken the initiative and asked, but I'm not always that good at sticking my nose in and seeing what can be done, I'm afraid. Obviously queue size can't be helped either, but perhaps next time if tickets for a photoshoot are being sold on the day, the photoshoot itself could take place a little later on in the day so people have a chance to buy tickets?

 

That was the only disappointment for me - otherwise it was a great event as usual.

[indio]

i still say that showmasters do the best events, back in 2010 i went to a non showmasters event and it was the worst organised event ever, there were people pushing in the queue, some of the guests had the worst quility pens you could ever possiblely imagine, there were no signs, i could go and on, i dident go to the weekend show as im very picky which ones i go to as at one time i would go to nearly them all lol

[BeatrixKiddo88]

Rockstar: I had my VQs taken off me on saturday. Other days I didnt get/need any. But Barrowman, T Baker and Lena's queues all took my VQ off me :)

[Bondstarpaul]

Just read the point of the people using old tickets, when I was in the queue for Andrew Lee Potts, i picked up a ticket off the floor number 39, which was for Hannahs queue, it had the name Nigel in pen on the back and being honest I handed it back to one of the crew members at the table.Guess honesty does not pay lol I had decided to leave simply because it was too cold, which having just got over an infection I didn't want to take chances of getting it back lol. If it had been like saturday's weather then I most probarbly would of stayed.

[SlippDigby]

Well, we attended both Saturday and Sunday. On both days we arrived at or immediately before 7am and avoided any parking hassles because we did not leave until late afternoon, especially Sunday, where we must have been some of the last knockings...but parking was a diabolical 'mare for most as we went back and forth to our car retrieving our signing items from the boot. We were always being approached by new entrants in their cars with very expectant "Can we have your space?" type expressions on their faces. Terrible indeed. As this is the stadium and not SM I am sure that there was nothing much that could be done...

 

The other 'out of SM's hands' was the weather. Sorry SM but this event really needs to be indoors next year...or find another venue in which it will be. The number of stars that were obviously freezing cold (not even having the benefit of being able to move around so as to keep warm) was very high. Even younger Sean Astin, put on a short impromptu 'boxing' display to get his temperature up. They handled it like the pro's that hey are, but I would not be surprised if we did not see some of them again if it is still at the stadium next time you ask, unless something changes.

 

As to the actual guest..

 

We have been to many SM events and we have had guests that were tired, jet-lagged, arrived bleary-eyed and direct from the airport, a little quiet, and sometimes (I am sure) overwhelmed at the fan response to seeing them live and we have had the inevitable through-rush due to a star's wide popularity. But in all these collecting years, we have never had an actual bad or indeed rude guest experience, ever.

 

This years guests surpassed even our high standard of experiences. Every single person we met, made time to chat, was pleased to see us, took an interest in how we were and really made us feel like we had had a genuinely unique time. Every single person...and we saw a lot of folks! We met...

 

Brandon Routh, Eric Avari, Caitlin Blackwood, Lena Heady, Deb Watling, Katy Manning, Tom Baker, Paul McGann, Sylester McCoy, Nichelle Nichols, Jason Mamoa, Sean Astin, Lance Henrickson, Danny Dyer, Sean Dingwall, Michael Dorn, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Vic Armstrong, Wendy Leech and John Schuck. On some, we did multiples.

 

Every single one was amazing. But stand-outs were Brandon, Lena, Lance, Eric, the Armstrongs (what modest people!) Nichelle, Sean A, David P and Danny.

 

Danny Dyer has gone up miles in my estimation, he is such an amiable and friendly lad. Brandon was just happy to see everyone and is full of that 'boy next door charm, much like Ben Browder in that respect. Lena was a delightful (but petitely tiny) darling and seeing her with dark hair again came as a bit of a surprise. Lance was just making conversations with everyone and anyone, he gave so much time to folks, we almost had to go off to do a photo-shoot. But personal top pick was Nichelle Nichols. The lady is class all the way from head to toe. I think she really appreciated me telling her that I grew up watching her on classic TREK much it influenced how I felt good SF should be done and how strongly those memories remain, still alive inside me to this day. She reached out and took my had and squeezed it hard and gave me quite the most beautiful full smile I have ever seen. Now there is a lady!

 

A great but cold weekend. Please make it indoors next year though.

[gunners65]

I had Suzi Plakson #1 which I was lucky enough to get Friday has I arrived about 11am and being a quiet Day there was no queue a info booth and knew it would be manic on the Saturday got there and then. Best guest for me was Hannah Spearritt she was just gorgeous.

[CosmicAvatar]

I had Suzi Plakson #1 which I was lucky enough to get Friday has I arrived about 11am and being a quiet Day there was no queue a info booth and knew it would be manic on the Saturday got there and then. Best guest for me was Hannah Spearritt she was just gorgeous.

 

Hee, I guess it was you to whom I was talking about Suzi then (not envious of you at all, oh, no ). Unless I spoke to the person who had ticket #2 or something really close like that (I'm pretty sure it was ticket #1 but I can never trust my memory).

[dragonsanddaffodils]

 

 

Had a major gripe with the Brian Blessed signing desk. i had waited in the queue as a gold pass member for 1.5 hours while talks etc were going on and just before i got to him no posed photos was mentioned verbally nothing noted. I mentioned to the guy with BB that i had waited for so long couldnt i at least get a posed photo? the answer was no which i though was harsh IMO

 

 

Many apologies, we can't always see gold pass holders lanyards, so unless they tell us they are gold pass, in which case, I moved the few that I saw up to the front.

 

Graham the crew member with brian was an absolute Gentleman all day, he doesn't usually snap at all. Towards the very end of the day we really wanted to get everyone through Brians queue so we asked you to take photographs while Brian was signing, and crew were going up and down the queue informing people of this

My friends had tickets for the queue for Brian Blessed, somewhere in the 400s. They got there a bit before me, around 10am. We left at 12, and it was still around 150. They had to be somewhere else unfortunately so bailed on it. A shame really because they both really wanted to meet him, but hey, these things happen I guess.

 

That is a shame you didn't get one, I am sorry you had to leave at 12, I appreciate not everyone can be there for the whole day. He actually signed for half an hour after the show finished as he wanted everyone waiting to get an autograph, what an amazing guy. He didn't want us to cap the queue and signed for everybody that waited Fantastic guy!

Brian Blessed should really have been put somewhere to better accomodate his constant long queue.

 

Brian was put there instead of over by the tents on the far side as he loves to chat to his fans and the queue would have been greatly held up over there if he had, we were lucky in that we had that whole area between him and sports in which to operate his queue

[BACYLON]

Rockstar: I had my VQs taken off me on saturday. Other days I didnt get/need any. But Barrowman, T Baker and Lena's queues all took my VQ off me :)

 

Only one VT was taken off me all weekend & only 3 checked!!

 

And I saw Lena & Tom twice (2nd time for a friend who had to leave)

 

Here are all the tickets i used and still had at end of Saturday.

 

As an experienced showmasters attendee I can assure you that the majority of VT queues I used did not function in the controlled normal way they do at MK, LF&CC or EMS

 

http://i782.photobuc...cylon/042-1.jpg

Edited June 4, 2012 by TonytheCylon

[Rockstar6662]

Rockstar: I had my VQs taken off me on saturday. Other days I didnt get/need any. But Barrowman, T Baker and Lena's queues all took my VQ off me :)

 

Fair enough, only going by my and my friends experience. I did hand in my Tom Baker one but only because I asked if they wanted it off me.

 

Think I've thrown them all away but I see TonytheCylon has posted a photo of his and I was going round with him most of the weekend.

 

Look, it's not a big issue, not trying to blow it out of proportion and if others had their tickets taken then that's great. It's just a comment on the way we perceived things were working, or not as the case may be. All I can say is our group didn't and I was aware that others hadn't either and that in a couple of cases low numbers that hadn't been collected were being swapped with other people. I was asked when in a queue what number I had to make sure i should be in the queue but it wasn't taken off me.

 

I've been going to SM events since CM4, think I'm pretty clued up on how things work and have always had VQ tickets taken unless I'd left it so late that the guest was open Q.

 

Don't want to keep banging on about it as it makes it seem far worse than it is.

[captainkibble]

There was just a general air of comedic chaos about the event on Sunday. Almost like an episode of The Brittas Empire. Thankfully nothing that was occurring affected me too badly so I just got to enjoy the Schadenfreude.

 

I really liked the party tickets with 'Lena Headey' scrawled on the back in Sharpie that made a stand in for the photo shoot tickets on Sunday. Professional and classy. I also didn't have any of my virtual queue tickets even checked let alone taken off me. I still have a couple in my jacket pocket.

[dragonsanddaffodils]

the tickets that had to be altered were because she was very popular and you can't suddenly print extra tickets at the show not long before her shoot was due to start

[dragonsanddaffodils]

where the VQ tickets not being collected was concerned, we did have new crew over the weekend, but Too Tall will see this and note it for LFCC

 

All feedback is read

[Rockstar6662]

where the VQ tickets not being collected was concerned, we did have new crew over the weekend, but Too Tall will see this and note it for LFCC

 

All feedback is read

 

Thank you. New crew probably had a lot to deal with, especially considering how busy it was on saturday. Just wanted to highlight this as it could be open to abuse and if taken to extremes maybe even prevent some people with higher numbers missing out.

[dragonsanddaffodils]

I agree, one system implemented across the board is fair to everyone that way

[Elspeth]

OK, here is my event feedback.

 

The Good

 

The Guests - every single person I met was absolutely lovely! I'm not saying usually they aren't but I found this year that even more. A couple of highlights for me were Josef Altin who as so lovely and happy to chat and chat away (he even replies to every single person who tweeted him too) he's a real sweetheart. Dayo Okeniyi, had a lovely chat to him and Amandla on Friday when the event was really quite, they let me take some pictures of the 2 of them together as well, every time I saw him over the course of the weekend he'd remember my name. Lovely guy. Lena was great, she was very busy, but stopped to chat with everyone and when I went into the photoshoot (the day after I met her) she also remembered my name. I could go on and on quite literally, they were all brilliant!

 

The Talks - It was great to have talks again. The layout and lighting was good a few more signs up pointing out the directions would be nice though. The felt really intimate which was a great experience. The GoTs talks were probably 2 of the best ones I've ever been too.

 

Photoshoot photos - I know you guys had your on site printers in use for some of the shoots this year, just wanted to say I couldn't notice any difference in quality between those and the ones developed off site.

 

The Crew - Hardworking as ever, whenever I had a question they always knew the answer. It was a very busy weekend and in my opinion you guys all did a stand up job! Thank you!

 

The Residents Pass - I loved having the residents pass, it made the whole weekend even more enjoyable. The parties were great, loved my rides in the batmobile and the A-team van! It was also brilliant to see so many of the guests come down too. Brilliant, I would recommend it to anyone next year!

 

 

Room for improvement

 

 

Photos at the table - my biggest gripe from the weekend was when 'no photos or videos' signs are used. I'm not complaining about them, I understand completely why they are there, that's not the problem. 3 of the guests I met had 'no photos or videos' signs above the table, I respect that and don't even bother to get my camera out. It's a bit disappointing but I respect the sign. However, on 2 of these 3 occasions the people in front of me (and many in the queue behind) had their cameras out and were snapping away while the guests signed their items while the crew members watched and said nothing. This annoys me a little because I wanted to take photos (who doesn't?) while others just did it anyway. Could the crew please crack down on this next time? Because when people see that the person in front is being allowed to take pictures they will too. Which just leaves those of us who actually obey the rules missing out.

 

The Stadium - I love the event, but I really don't like the stadium. Sorry. It's just not wide enough, especially on the Saturday when the place was crowded, you couldn't move, I almost missed one of my quieter shoots because I couldn't get to the other side of the stadium in time! The Queues for the photoshoots and autographs meant the flow of "traffic" couldn't move. It's also very cold. Enough people have mentioned this before so I wont go into details. I just don't like seeing the guests being cold, I feel like it'd put a damper on their day and make it less likely for them to come back again. Also on Sunday when it was raining, I had just left an 'autograph tent' and big drop of water fell right on my picture...I was more than a bit annoyed.

 

Gold Pass Room - Was there one? I might have missed it, but I asked a couple of crew members and they didn't know, it wasn't on the map and I didn't see a sign for it. So if there was, can it be better sign posted next time please. It would have been nice to have somewhere to escape to on Saturday.

 

Photo pick up - This is once again more of a point about the stadium, it was just too mobbed around the pick up place so even if you were just trying to walk past you couldn't.

 

 

Well that's all I can think of right now, it's just my 2 cents worth :)

[keithporter23]

It was awful trying to find the venue from the M1 - MK council definitely need to put up more signs.

 

Car parking was spectacularly chaotic - I felt sorry for anyone who had their cars jammed in by crazy idiotic drivers!!

 

The weather was terrible - I really felt sorry for the guests, particularly the elderly ones who had to sit and endure those freezing cold conditions.

 

Photoshoot queues have never been so disorganised - why have colours/numbers on the tickets if they aren't called in the correct order?

 

Queues to buy shoots on the day were so long, people were missing out on early shoots by the time they'd purchased the tickets. maybe it would be worth selling some photoshoot tickets to people as they are queuing outside?

 

The guests were amazing - every single person I met was superb, friendly and genuinely seemed happy to be there. I think poor Jason (Momoa not SM jason!) is going to be hobbling around for weeks!! We saw him at breakfast and he was limping like mad after Friday's shenanigans!

 

Loved the photoshoots once the chaos was controlled, they were well managed by all staff inside the area and particularly Malcolm(and the photographer girl of B area) who once again did a fab job. The quality control to ensure every pic is perfect is amazing.

 

I didn't think the photo collection area was too problematic - it was just a case of waiting until the hoards of vultures/zombies had moved on. There are some real rude people!! Don't know if it would be beneficial sticking to ticket numbers and calling them in batches to collect photos? ie when photos from ticket numbers 1-100 are returned, allowing these ticket holders to come forward to retrieve their pics.

 

Lastly, DEODORANT DEODORANT DEODORANT!! I cannot emphasise this enough!! Why oh why do people choose not to bathe before arriving?? Several times in the photoshoot queue, stuck behind one of these scruffs, I was stood thinking to myself "I hope guest X realises the stench is emanating from the person before me, and doesn't think it's me!!". IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL AND EXPECT SOMEONE TO PUT THEIR ARM AROUND YOU FOR A PHOTO, PLEASE TRY NOT TO STINK TO HIGH HEAVENS!!

 

Rant over! Overall, we had a fantastic weekend Thanks once again Jason, SM and the fab crew X