Rough with the smooth

[jakeblue]

Firstly let me say that meeting zach Galligan and Danielle Harris was brilliant as we're the array of costumes on display.

 

Unfortunately the day was marred a little for me as right from arrival there was a lack of organisation. We got into a queue outside which we were told the end of which was all the way up by the top end ofvthe venue. When we got there we were told early bird ticket holders had to go back to where we had started from, which we unhappily did. Once in the right queue we snaked our way back and forth as the queue moved in an orderly fashion, until that is we neared the end and those people behind us decided to make it a free for all so we then found ourselves going backwards.

 

This meant that the last five minutes if our queue actually became over ten as people behind us got in before us.

 

Because of the carnage outside hundreds of people were then forced to queue at the desk for tickets to photo shoots or to talk to staff re missed photos and talks. The staff did their best but we're woefully under manned and the queue seemed to be backed up for an absolute age.

 

This was only my second show masters show, the other one was in Coventry where things were a lot more organised it seemed. I've always been given the impression on the forums that show masters are on the ball but alot went wrong today and needs to be addressed for those attending tomorrow, particularly the queuing outside.

 

All that aside I did everything I wanted to and had a great time, would certainly attend a show masters show again. Please don't take this as all negative, more like constructive criticism.

[Gordon The Gopher]

Yeah its a strange one as I did really enjoy myself but the lack of organisation was plain to see, its a shame as the staff were really helpful but many just didn't seem to know what they were doing

[Queen_Sindel]

The queue issue was noted and should hopefully be fixed tomorrow.

[sdad]

But after this many events, why did it ever happen?

[Count Fooku]

I have to say its always a surprise to me that the early queues at LFACC aren't better managed. it presumably isn't a secret by now that people tend to turn up for this event pretty early but there never seems to be anyone from Showmasters outside making sure everyone is in the right place, it always seems to be left till an hour or so before opening when things have generally started getting out of hand that someone seems to turn up and sorts things out. Today was the worst example of managing queues I've ever seen at a SM event. People were being moved about for unclear reasons then out of nowhere a crew member shouted for everyone with a pre paid early bird to stand over by the wall adjacent to the entrance, at which point a number of people from the back of the queue jumped forward and queue jumped a significant number of people. When people were asking the crew member what was supposed to be happening they just shrugged and said I'm only doing what I'm told.

 

SM do seen to get so much right with their events and work hard to put things right but this one niggling area just never seems to get fixed.

 

Should say though in the interests of balance on the positive side every other aspect of the day was very good, the main signing area was probably too crowded at times but not sure if anything could reasonably be done about that, although installing on site shower facilities might improve things a bit, first event I've been to where the toilets smelled better than the signing area!

[Queen_Sindel]

But after this many events, why did it ever happen?

 

Sorry, I am not even sure what exactly happened, much less what the source of the problem was. I only know that attendees brought it to the Organisers' attention and that it is being fixed.

[Clarkey]

I must say after so many years why can't simple things like queuing be properly controlled by now?

 

I know there are always the silly people that don't listen or have their wits about them and are just plain stupid, but even still there should be "clear" signs and directions. What's with the stupid printed out pieces of paper on the wall right near the entrance when the queue is already miles long and people can't see the signs from such a distance. Really it can be so simple to organise queuing especially for the entry to the event. Have good signs, you have enough money just invest in to some sensible organisation.

 

That's the main issue with events, the queuing which is something that is so simple.

[mulderandmonkeys]

The people behind didn't make it a free for all, they did what they were told. Upon arrival there was no one to say which queue to join so everybody guessed. Then a chap I think from Olympia went to the back of the queues which were by now past the Pizza Express on the corner and told everyone to go down the road ( probably a helath and safety thing as at roughly the same time they blocked the road to traffic ) so sudenly all of us in the queues saw everyone pouring past us to the right. Then once we were back in a snakelike formation someone from Showmasters told everyone to just go for it via the two doors for pre paid tickets. Basically I saw dozens of people way behind me in the queues going in ahead of me. By the time we did get in it the queue for talk tickets were so long you would not have been served by the time some talks and photos had started. I was going to get a ticket for the X-Files talk but could not..... Guys if you can afford to turn away money in this economy you must be doing very well..... Why not let people pay on the door for ther early talks ???

Edited July 7, 2012 by mulderandmonkeys

[sdad]

But after this many events, why did it ever happen?

 

Sorry, I am not even sure what exactly happened,.

Thanks for the apology but it would have been so easy for organisers to tell us in advance that prepaid would queue to the right from the right hand side and pay-on-the-day similarly left. Large, clear on-site signage would also help! Signs at head height or below will always be covered and signs that say "in this direction" without arrows are ambiguous. Organisers need to look from our side of the fence occasionally.

[Clarkey]

Signs like the ones inside above the actors heads. A few of those outside around the entrance saying what queue is what. Not the print outs miles away stuck on a wall. We've all experienced this queuing nonsense so lets turn it in to some sense.

Edited July 7, 2012 by Clarkey

[SpaceAce]

But after this many events, why did it ever happen?

 

Sorry, I am not even sure what exactly happened, much less what the source of the problem was. I only know that attendees brought it to the Organisers' attention and that it is being fixed.

 

me and my friends arrived just after 8am, at this point there was only one queue, we asked some people if it was early bird or pay on the door but nobody knew, there were no visible crew to ask so we just joined it, shortly after someone came out and seperated it into two queues, us being in the early bird side, the line gradually got longer and longer, then after a short time the few hundred or so people behind were moved forward and ahead of us, then everybody getting off the train was joining this third queue, then the nearer we got to the entrance the worse it got, with people stepping under the pointless red rope, everybody was then in the open area in front of the entrance, and as others have said it turned into a free for all, we got lucky and walked in ahead of people who had pushed past us earlier, and ahead of most of the people who had just arrived,

 

we're not attending tomorrow, but i seriously hope this is improved on, and there need to be many more staff and crew outside, preventing the blatant queue jumping, which is very unfair on those who have waited an hour or more to get in,

other than the saga outside, i enjoyed the event alot, great line up of guests, and a nice venue, see you in 2013

[jakeblue]

I agree that it could have been much better signposted but the main thing that could have been done is roping off the queues, the snake was moving well until everyone was apparently told to go for it.

 

What made it worse was those of us who had queued and moved along the snake were given no indication that anyone else had been told to just go for the door which made people angry as it looked like people had just pushed in.

 

I even saw people who I know are long term show masters followers looking confused and not knowing what was going on.

 

The staff were as helpful as they could be with the situation they were presented with.

[Clarkey]

Although roping off queues sounds like a good idea, I have always found that the initial outside queue is moved about unexpectedly for certain reasons and having it roped off would cause issues with being able to move a queue for whatever reason.

[trickydickyy]

But after this many events, why did it ever happen?

 

Sorry, I am not even sure what exactly happened, much less what the source of the problem was. I only know that attendees brought it to the Organisers' attention and that it is being fixed.

 

 

You may want to therefore read my and other comments in a previous post about queues, as I mentioned previously first impressions count a lot. Btw other than that the show was great.

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

I must say after so many years why can't simple things like queuing be properly controlled by now?

 

I know there are always the silly people that don't listen or have their wits about them and are just plain stupid, but even still there should be "clear" signs and directions. What's with the stupid printed out pieces of paper on the wall right near the entrance when the queue is already miles long and people can't see the signs from such a distance. Really it can be so simple to organise queuing especially for the entry to the event. Have good signs, you have enough money just invest in to some sensible organisation.

 

That's the main issue with events, the queuing which is something that is so simple.

 

Is this the first time the event was held at the main Kensington Olympia? (annex by Pizza Express doesn't count)?

 

Also, with the guests at this event, demand was unprecedented?

[Clarkey]

Doesn't matter about demand. Firstly they would have clear indications from early bird sales of how many people to expect and then with the headliners for this event you'd have a pretty good idea of how many non-early bird people may come too.

 

It may have been unprecedented but you can't say they didn't realise just how many people would be attracted to LFCC with guests like Gillian, Jeri and Karl all at the same event (especially Gillian and Jeri only appearing on Saturday).