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  • Photo problems .. no-one was targeted to have these mis-haps - work with it! I'm amazed that such an operation was as successful as it was

The people "targeted" were those who paid good money in good faith! These shoots are offered because people these days very often have no clue how to make a decent photo. Paying £15 or more for a six by nine should ensure something properly focussed, properly exposed and decently composed which has then been competently printed, not to mention distributed. One or two out of these five is NOT acceptable. Trading Standards would not be impressed.

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Although I don't attend the talks or sign up for many of the additional photo shoots in which some people have endured a bad experience this year, I on the other hand had an most excellent time.

 

Arrived way to early on Saturday and we got a good place in the queue. Once in made our way to the guests for those all important low numbers and found the layout very easy going.

 

Popped off for a coffee which was great as it was chilled out and somewhere to sit which made a nice change before checking out the stalls for goodies to purchase.

 

By 11 did notice the smell in the signing area which got hotter as the day went on but kinda expected. Found no problem with the queues apart from the line when Hayden went for lunch and the board said back at 12.50 and she came back at 1.30.

 

I met plenty of guests and took plenty of photos thought the line up was awesome and coved most people's tastes. All guests were very friendly and talkative no rushing or being pushed through even the ones I thought we going to be very busy. I even had to miss a few to accommodate the budget.

 

I also got to sign up for the free Rage card game and haven't stopped playing it since.

 

Not missed and LFCC show yet and will be back again next year and if the Media guest list is as good as this show I'll be back then.

Edited by Mcfly
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This was my first con and to be honest, I found it a little intimidating at first since I had no idea what to do about signings, talks or photoshoots. Still once I'd wandered around a bit and asked the staff, who were all very helpful and I hope some of their voices have recovered, I managed to figure out what was what. I'm certainly looking into coming next year and checking out other events. By only gripe was that I brought the wrong person with me who wasn't really into it so I ended up leaving early so feel like I missed out on all that I wanted to achieve in the day. Still I was able to meet up with some friends and met some great people on the way. So thank you.

Edited by TheComicShack
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I thought the venue was good, but had some gripes with the day...

I have a recently broken foot with full lower leg in plaster (and obviously on crutches) and although most staff were very helpful some were not so. I had need to ask for a chair on several occasions and was often told 'no' even though I could see unused chairs!

The lift to the balcony was not in use, limiting the places I could take a break, if I wanted to sit on the floor!!

Finally, my shoot with Chris Judge was at 10:30, but the picture was not put out for 4 HOURS, making my day on an untested broken foot very long!

The guests I did meet were great and very friendly, and had I had no issues with my foot the day would have been great.

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The good points for me where that I got everything autograph wise from the show that I wanted to get, the majority of guests I met were very friendly and signed things pretty much the way I wanted them. The venue was also very good, the signing area may have felt a bit cramped at times on Saturday but I guess that was only to be expected with the volume and quality of guests on show. The good thing was there was always space round the edges to take time out. Although I didn't use the balcony area it did look very spacious so if one really wanted to get away from it all that looked the place to be. I thought the dealer area was good as well, there seemed to be enough room to walk around and look at things properly which isn't always the case.

 

Downsides would be the entry queue management on Saturday, it was bad enough when I went in early on but it sounds like it got quite bad shortly after, from things that have been said and from what I saw it doesn't feel like this was properly under control at any point on Saturday morning with people being moved about and no clear direction of where people should be queuing. This does seem to be a recurring issue, especially when people start arriving a couple of hours before the event opens. My real concern here is at some future event if the crowds continue to increase and aren't managed properly there is the risk of people getting seriously hurt.

 

It seems a shame to focus so much on the negative of what was for the most part an excellent event and I've never doubted the effort and hard work that goes into runnig these events but the way they are growing so rapidly I think some more thought really needs to be put into some of these things before something serious happens.

Edited by Count Fooku
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Just a few thoughts as I still have to majorly catch up on sleep after this weekend! ;)

 

(I have been to several cons before but it was the first SM event, so was really looking forward to the event and to see how its run. In general I`d say it was well organised, had great guests and most things went really smoothly.)

 

Some things I liked: :thumbup:

 

- Great line-up

- The guests were all fantastic, even the big ones I saw (especially Gillian and Jeri) were always friendly, smiling and such great troopers despite the masses of fans turning up to see them; everyone I had bought an autograph from was personalising, even Gillian and Jeri, which I didn`t expect at all

- most photos turned out well and were available for collection really fast

- most things started on time, which is something I haven`t experienced often at other cons in the past

- most of the photo ops were very well organised, even with the busier guests where there wasn`t lots of time and heaps of people to go through (the gold pass made things a lot easier in that regard!)

- the Hunted talk with the bonus autograph session by Melissa and Frank, yay!

- watching Gillian, Holly & Brian and Jeri in the talks (and listening to *some* of what was said, but I get to that in a minute...)

- the size of the venue

 

Some things I disliked: :thumbdown:

 

- The sound quality at the talks on Saturday was mostly awful; didn`t hear much at the Charmed talk and only a bit more at the Jeri and Gillian talk and that was despite sitting in row 1!!! (it seemed to work a lot better on Sunday though!)

- Jeri`s talk being cut really short, approximately to 20 mins which would have sucked even more had I paid the talk instead of getting a gold pass

- The chaos regarding the gold pass pick-up on Saturday; took way too long to get them, probably because people suddenly were asked to tell crew at the Organisation Booth which talk they wanted to attend after all (the forum info I read before the event had suggested differently), which caused a huge hold-up, even though they made us form two gold lines and one was supposed to be for "quick pick up, no bag yet"...

- as we wanted to pick up or gold bag later on, we found out that the info regarding our auto pack had not been received (???) or noted, so we had to settle for the not-so-great general auto pack to avoid further delay or more lining up the next day

- too many VTs being called up at Gillian`s talk at once, so having gold passes didn`t make much of a difference; a batch of more than 100 people doesn`t really make sense if you have fans lining up who are definitely buying at least 2 autos each...

- also posting the pictures available for autos for the big guests outside the signing area so people can choose before entering the area itself is a great idea to avoid delay caused by people inside the area taking their time to do so; I saw this was done on Sunday with some guests, shame it wasn`t with Gillian on Saturday already

- our photos from the first Holly photo shoot on Saturday (morning) where over exposed (and it looked as if we were not the only ones affected); same goes for the Brian photo op from Sunday

- no signs to point out that the "room" next to stage A actually *was* the gold pass room; yes, it said so on the map, but looking inside and seeing just tables and no chairs made us doubtful if we were in the right location (or backstage) and not go in at all and just sit in the floor in front of it - no chairs... really???

- the chaos surrounding the Gillian Anderson limited edition prints; we went to the photo pick up as said on the forum but due to uninformed crew members we asked there we were sent around quite a bit in the process - from photo pick up to Organisers Booth to photo sales back to Organisers Booth and finally - thank God for the woman in the read shirt with the walkie talkie in the Organisers Booth - to the knowledgable guy at photo pick who eventually handed us the prints - phew!!! (note to self: if in doubt ask a crew member in red!!)

 

 

I`m sure I forgot some stuff, but all in all, a great event with fantastic guests, but still some room for improvement; looking forward to the next one, cause we *will* definitely be back!!! :clap:

 

ETA: And thanks of course to all the wonderful people working as crew who made this event possible, you rock!!!

Edited by son2012
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I went both Sat and Sun and even though the days were both very tiring, I had a great weekend. The highlights for me were finally meeting Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause after 8 years of being a fan of theirs and my other highlights were meeting Thomas Dekker (total babe), Magnus (seriously good looking) & Ben Mansfield (another babe). :) I had a couple of photoshoots that clashed each day but I didn't have any problems with getting to them on time because the crew members were very helpful.

 

I think Shoowmasters need to get more wrestlers to the conventions because from what I saw, Magnus and Mickie James were very popular for the whole weekend. :)

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I think Shoowmasters need to get more wrestlers to the conventions because from what I saw, Magnus and Mickie James were very popular for the whole weekend. :)

Based on how successful it was at the weekend, I certainly believe that's the aim going forward :)

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Well first of all I want to say I had a great weekend!! When everything settles in I will propably think it was awesome even :)

 

But I have some feedback (and some complaints), first the negative parts and in the end the good stuff :)

 

Queues: I was never really effected by them cause I had a gold pass, but for next year you should really try to have more enclosure (I think thats the word) as you had outside on sunday. Also for photoshoots and stuff.

 

Schedules: The talks were in many cases starting late, and ending five min before it was supposed to. Suggestion here is to stop letting people que 10-15 min before the Talk/photoshoot if the que is full and make reasonable judgementcalls when there is a shorter que, then LATEST five min before the talk STOP the signing and get the guest to go to the Talk/photoshoot.

 

Notes: Please! MORE signs everywhere about stuff, for instance at the guests signingarea have a schedule on what the guest will be doing so one can see what happens, and if the person has talks etc. More information about which guests are there that day.

 

Photodistribution: Well I think it was better than last year, not that a big mess, they had sometimes gloves, (they should allways have them imo... ) I think it went smooth but the staff there had no communication with eachother cause when new photos arrived the staff had most often no clue about where the shoots were. A billboard or something like that on where the photos are is not rocketscience... You had a board there but stopped using it early on sunday. But all in all I think it worked good for me, theese are just suggestion on how to do it better.

 

Talks time: Well I think they were short, dont say they are supposed to be from 13.00 to 13.30 when the real time is 13.10-13.25 or in best case 13.05-13.25. As I said I had a goldpass so the talks was not an issue for me, but for thoose who paid...

 

Talks area: The sound was very random... BUT allover I think it was ok, but a friend of mine when I spoke to him about it (he works with sound) he was supprised that there werent "soundstaff" in the middle of the area messuring the sound during the talks. To check if everything were in order.

Why?!... werent the seatings much closer to the stage in Talk area A, that wouldnt have hurt ONE BIT... I loved what Gates did there when she rebelled and placed her chair right infront of the auddience even though the people working didnt seem to like it. It gave us as audince a much better relation to the guest! I personally think Talk area C and B was far better cause of that, so PLEASE put the people closer to the stage!

 

NO Personlisation...: LET THE GUEST DECIDE!! I can respect a guest that dont want to personalise, but not when a guest WANTS to, but MAY not... Its very frustrating when a guest wants to personalise and someone in the staff dont let them. Jeri Ryan, Adam Baldwin werent to happy about this, Hayden told me that I shouldnt be angry with her cause it werent her fault she couldnt personalise, If the really dont want a guest to personalise, TELL THIS to the guest before, so everyone knows it. Not when the guest sits down and starts signing... I donno what Freema did during the day, but I was first in line for her and I got my my photos personalised even though there were no personalisation. I knew there were no personalisation, but she asked me who it was for. Freema, YOU ROCK! (And also a big big thank to the staffmember who sat beside her and not telling her to not personalize!! You sat with her in the beginning atleast.)

 

Well... Now the good stuff!! :)

 

GOOD STUFF:

 

Photoshoots: All the photoshoots I was in was awesome! All fifteen of them, the Iron Throne aswell! (Chris Judge looked abit tired though in my photoshoot)

 

Guests: I had a very good experience with most of the guests that I got an Autograph from. I also had some very positive impression of some of the guests that I didnt see, for instance without reading any of the nice stuff people have been writing about Craig. I could really tell he LIKED! being there. I never got his autograph but parts of me regret that I didnt cause I bet that would have been a nice one! I think the best experience I had with guests were Gates, Nicolas and Freema. I think Adam deserves a little comment aswell, I got his autograph in the end so he was very much in a hurry, but I managad to get... well... a comment about how nice coffee is :D

 

Talks: I liked this part alot, it really gave a better impression of the guests, how they were as persons and so on, I attended most of the big talks, and I think almost everyone of them had a very nice content. The best one BY FAR!! was Ben Bowders, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! that you moved this to Talk area C (or B) we came really close to him which increased the quality of the talk ten times!! It hadnt been CLOSE to that in Talkarea A. That was also my last thing of the weekend so a godamn perfect ending of a very very nice weekend, Ill be back!! you bet I will!! :)

 

Guest numbers: Im amazed on how many guests you managed to get the last 3-4 weeks! Fantastic!

 

THANKS SM for putting on a great show!!! :)

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Me and my mum had a great weekend, we went Saturday and met everyone we had planned to meet, 13 guests in total and I had bought two photo shoots for my mum for her birthday, only trouble we had was that Brian Krause turned up late in the morning, which in turn meant his photo shoot had to be rescheduled till later in the day, just meant we had to stay till later to pick up the photo, but wasn’t really a big deal. Other than Karl Urban all my autographs were personalised and all the guests were really happy to have a chat which was great.

All the guests we met were really friendly and would love to meet them again if we ever get the chance. Thank You Very Much Showmasters!

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I think Shoowmasters need to get more wrestlers to the conventions because from what I saw, Magnus and Mickie James were very popular for the whole weekend. :)

Based on how successful it was at the weekend, I certainly believe that's the aim going forward :)

That's good to hear. :) *coughAJStylescough* *coughJeff Hardycough*, lol

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Jeri and Adam both personalised for me and I went up to Hayden 3 times, and she personalised each time :smile:

 

I missed out on Jeri personalising as I went first thing in the morning and she only started doing it later in the day. Real pity but she was still lovely and I'm very happy I met her. A couple of others didn't either, possibly because I was talking to them and forgot to ask or distracted them from asking but no real complaints as they were all great to meet anyway.

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i went sunday no problem with queues loved brian krause he was so friendly chris judge was a star as well but my fav by miles was craig parker dont think he sat in his seat once greeted everyone with a big hug and took photos with whoever asked whether they were getting an autograph or not and oh yea he was so handsome better looking in real life i wouldnt kick him outta bed for farting lol all in all had a fab day xxxx

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Lots of good things. The venue was good and better than Earls Court. Food better and much airier. Great set of guests too. The cosplay was amazing and so many people dressed up this year.

 

Bad things?

Too many clashing photoshoots of obvious ones....e.g. Mitch Pilleggi and Ben Browder at the same time though both are Stargate and have the same fans. Some people had more than 2 at the same time!!

Bernard Cribbins sold out on Saturday. I know he could only do limited numbers, but given that he was announced too late to buy online, there should have been some tickets held back for Sunday or maybe only sold on Sunday.

Once again, apart from the big big guests, ticket numbers not called out at lines. Doesn't make it worth buying in advance at all.

 

Saturday was crazy busy and I didn't think the organisation was as good as some previous events.

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My feedback - keep Malcolm + the other lady. ;) drop others

 

And Hayden's hat ;) but that's her personal choice nothing to do with showmasters :P

 

Overall, personnally can't much faults considering the big guests / amount of people all went very well

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3 - Frank Spotnitz's signing not being promoted apart from a forum entry many people (myself included) didn't see till it was too late.

 

Anything can be announced on any day it was just pot luck if you saw that on the forum as I did when I checked my phone, If you had and x-Files poster or photo if not there were stalls were you could buy one then you could get something signed.

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I agree with most people on the issues of this years event. I have been going to this event and the Milton Keynes one, since year one of each.

I like the event size and layout of Olympia and most of the staff were very helpful and if they didnt know then the fans did!

 

I've always been a very happy supporter of this style of event rather than the 'Cons', as I pay a small fee to enter and then choose who I want to meet, rather than paying a large weekend fee and having to be stuck over a whole weekend if its not up to expectations.

 

Please go back to Earls Court, just because the underground problem on the Saturday was really bad and having travelled nearly 3 hours already it was awful.

The BO problem is funny, cause I am a fanboy like everybody else, but when I take new friends to the show for the first time warning them about Fanboy smell is part of the game and someone was right not only do they not wash themselves but also their clothes, its part of the experience. :crying:

 

This is my first ever feedback on the site and I have some major gripes or niggles.

The conflicting price of the stars? I understand some actors are the main stars of shows & movies and some are the third stormtrooper on the left example. But why is it that you have the likes of Charles Dance a major actor of TV & Film charging only £15 and Gillian Anderson star of one hit show charging £45 and you get limited access for the previlage. Even Karl Urban was cheaper! This has been increasing over the past few years and in times when things are tight, I'm going to have to say no to stars with greedy egos. 90% of the stars are amazing with good fair price and will speak to you and even photos. Craig Parker outstanding, didnt get an autograph, but saw the way he conducted himself - all for the fans amazing.

 

The other issue is photos, this needs clarifing as this year in the three major stars area you had conflicting info, saying no posed photos and being advised by the door staff (blue shirts) no flash and then this crap signage half in saying no photos beyond this point and then allowing indivduals do the exact opposite and get way with it and others being told no. It was a shambles. either make it no photos or yes to photos, stars choice.

I will never pay for the photo shoot, its a rip off that you pay for an autograph and then pay again for a photo and then again pay for a talk, whats next pay to stand in the same room as them?

 

Well thats my big soap box bit and its cause getting a bit jaded by the experience now, maybe been doing these shows to long.

But love the fellow fans you guys are ace and make it a fun day with like minded people.

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This was my first con and to be honest, I found it a little intimidating at first since I had no idea what to do about signings, talks or photoshoots. Still once I'd wandered around a bit and asked the staff, who were all very helpful and I hope some of their voices have recovered, I managed to figure out what was what. I'm certainly looking into coming next year and checking out other events. By only gripe was that I brought the wrong person with me who wasn't really into it so I ended up leaving early so feel like I missed out on all that I wanted to achieve in the day. Still I was able to meet up with some friends and met some great people on the way. So thank you.

 

My husband didn't enjoy so he left early with one of our sons and left me to it with our other two sons!

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Instead of giving away free posters etc maybe a free can of deoderant would be better. But having said that some people wouldnt know what is and what its for anyway....

I must say when we finally turned up at the venue at 9.40am (thanks to the traffic and roadworks) i was actually taken aback by the sheer numbers of people waiting outside i thought oh well thats that then.

I mean waiting 40 minutes to get in to a show what the hell was that about? then i found out why... TWO people at the first desk taking the money and giving the tickets out?

I had a list of 8 guests that were only there Saturday so i thought if i just get those today i would be happy but by some miracle i managed to get all 8 of those and plus another nine which left me with only four to get on the Sunday. BUT that did not mean to say i had an easy ride.

SOME of the crew were helpful and knew what i was talking about but others just didnt know or seem to care and having to write your own name on the ticket for a personalisation as she was too busy just sitting there at the desk doing nothing....

Also having a handful of VTs for a load of guests which were redundant by the fact that those guests were hardly there at the table signing autographs because surprise surprise they were at photoshoot talk etc. I mean im sorry but i go to these shows to meet guests and get autographs but how can i do this if the guests are elsewhere? I know they cant be chained to the desk all the time but i kid you not i went back to a few guests three /four times and they were still doing other things. I thought i was never going to get Mitch Pileggi as he was going at the exciting rate of 10 autos an hour. No disrespect intended to him personally but i was starting to get a bit wound up about it.

And as for crew telling people not to run well if the guests were not put right at the other end of the venue and we didnt have to do a marathon then we wouldnt be tempted to run, i mean i was bloody knackerd by the time i got to my first VT holder.

 

But for all the gripes i did attend the two days and enjoyed most of it but i still wonder just how the hell i managed to get all 22 autos i wanted. Basically just get there as early as possible and sacrifice a lot to just get my autos...

Just hope that next years show will be better as in better run and organised

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