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Was my very first con and wanted to give my thoughts.

Firstly i had an amazing time, i was not sure what to expect, as i dont really know anyone else who is into scifi as i am, i dragged a friend along who likes comics. It would of been nice to chat more with people with same interests but i dont find it that easy to talk to people i dont know.

I didnt really mind any of the long queues it was just brilliant to be able to meet and get photos.

Was very tired after the weekend but was totally worth it.

Edited by tomscaper
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I came to LFCC to attend the Gillian Anderson talk on Saturday. I really enjoyed seeing and - sort of - hearing her!

 

Many parts of the talk seem to have been badly organised or not organised at all.

 

The person from LFCC who spoke at the beginning could scarcely be heard, probaly due to the external noise. She seemed to be at the side of the stage on the floor and was basically invisible to the audience. This meant she didn't attract their attention, so the requests about flash photos at the beginning of the talk then no flash wasn't heard or was ignored. Flashes went off throughout the talk. Nothing was done about it (another reason for a moderator who could have gently reminded people about this - more about moderators further down)

 

Worst of all, Area A was affected by a lot of external noise from the hall making it difficult to hear questions and answers. This may partly have been the cause of the repetitive questions - a great waste of time in such a short talk.

 

I believe there should have been some sort of moderator on stage with Gillian. At the start it would have been good to have her annnounced, not that we didn't all know who she was! It just seems more professional and polite. Questioners and questions could have been controlled better and the request for a hug shut down quickly. Gillian handled it well but that was time wasting and of no interest to anyone else there. This sort of talk works better with someone to control it. He or she could direct those with the microphones more quickly around the hall as they would have had a better view standing on the stage (to one side so as not to distract from whoever is doing the talk/Q&A).

 

On a separate but related note, the layout plans posted around the hall had a specific X-Files display shown. We couldn't find it so asked a few staff in various sections. None of them knew anything about it, despite being seated right next to the plans. We eventually found the display - a single case with a suit that had no label but we assumed must have been Fox Mulder's and a copy of the Lone Gunman newspaper. Not what I would call a display, certainly nothing worth being labelled separately on the plan.

 

I hope this is constructive criticism. I enjoyed the event but it could have been so much better.

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I attended the Friday preview evening and the Saturday and had a great time, but there are a few things that I think could be improved before Star Trek London, which I guess is the next big event:

 

Firstly, the tape on the floor advising parons where to queue doesn't work. I'll always queue and try to just get on with it if there is a long queue, it's long because loads of other people want to do the same activity as me, hence the long queue. If I wanted to get through the queue faster I should have turned up earlier, that's how queuing works. Unfortunately, not everybody who attended LFCC seems to feel this way. I queued for over an hour before early entry on Saturday morning, only for 2 blokes to just try to subtly ease there way into the line right near me, having just arrived. Moreover, when the photoshoots had to be moved due to others overrunning the queues descended into farce, particularly the Adam Baldwin shoot later on Saturday. I really think Showmasters should look into obtaining some of these:

 

barrier1.jpg

Large events like festivals hire large numbers of them to arrange queues and I think the same should be done here. It would make it clear where people should queue when they arrive in the mornings before the event opens and would keep people in the right order whilst waiting for photoshoots.

 

On the subject of photoshoots, there are a few other points I'd like to raise. Firstly, a couple of years ago people were called for photoshoot queues in much smaller batches, something which sadly seems to have been lost. If I log on to the online store as a new guest is announced and hurriedly buy my ticket, which let's say turns out to be #2 (as timelord81r almost certainly beat me to it...) I think it's unfair that crew will then sometimes call #1-150 or #1-200 straight away. I seem to remember that a couple years ago it was #1-50, then #51-100 etc. which means that you don't spend over an hour in a photoshoot queue in which you're holding a ticket with a number less than 10 (which I must admit happened to me multiple times).

 

Also, regarding the controversial "printing on site", I believe that this should only have been offered if the quality of the prints could be maintained. I feel that I was very lucky in that 4 of my shoots were printed at Boots and only 2 were printed at the show (you can tell by whether or not the file name is written on the reverse of the print. The colours in the on-site prints are much worse. A good way to illustrate this is to look at the colour my t-shirt in these shoots (the Jeri Ryan shoot was printed in Boots, the Gates McFadden one was printed on site and as you can see, the blue is a lot "weaker" in the on site photo):

 

NjaO2.jpg

 

jU9x4.jpg

 

Overall I had a great time, as always, I just think changing little things like this could make such a difference :thumbup:

Edited by cyd0nian
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I had a awesome time at LFCC I wasn't even planning on going untill Karl Urban was announced.

 

I went on the Sunday and was going straight from a 8 and a half hour bus journy to the event and thought it would be good that I get there so early because of queues. I was very surprised when I was inside for like 5 past 9 lol. Also queues for photo shoot tickets and talk tickets moved very fast as well. I was at my first photo shoot for half 9 with out any rushing around. My 2 photo shoots were in area A and the guys there had evrything moving very fast:)

 

I do wish I had checked that if Chris Judge was doing photos at his desk. I just didn't think he would be, if I had known I would have used the money for to get a autograph and asked for one at the desk. This has nothing to do with sm just my self not thinking lol.

 

Only went to 3 talks. The Doctor Who talk when I finaly found it was standing room only and such a tiny area. Considering I heard Bernard Cribbins was sold out that morning I thought it would be known how popular he would be and in a better talk area.

 

Tony Head one I had no clue about, luckily my friend some how did know about it and we got to hear him sing and decide he was doing his own talk:) Why he wasn't scheduled for one I don't know. People kept asking who we were queuing for and we we had to tell them not sure.

 

The main one was there for was Dred talk and I did enjoy it, I could hear fine. Just wish I was one of the lucky ones to win the signed poster.

 

One thing I realy wish there had been a star gate talk. With three of the main actors I realy thought there would have been one.

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2 - Gillian Anderson talk being recorded by several people - crew members not intervening. Hug request - crew not intervening.

 

That took us by surprise, so I don't think the crew really had time to intervene. Gillian shut the request down as politely as possible, though. The same thing happened last year with Karen Gillan, but as she was new, Karen allowed far more things from the crowd than she really should have.

 

Seriously, people, a bit of common sense, please. If you're in a queue, and can see, or know from previous experience that the guest is prepared to initiate a hug, then ask, if you're feeling brave enough to. That should be the only time you ask. Never in a talk. The ball is always in the guest's court, not yours.

Edited by laurab1
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Be careful with hugs too...especially if you DO have a cold or something like it.....also PLEASE make sure you keep anti-bac handwash or wipes around if you have germs AND USE THEM REGULARLY!!....this is the 2nd Con in a row where within 2 days of returning home I've gone down with some sort of crud....I was as scrupulously clean with myself and washing my hands before touching things/people as I could be, but I've picked it up from someone again!...it's not pleasant and I think I'm gonna give these things a miss now unless I absolutely HAVE to travel to them for someone....

 

The Rules of Hygiene aren't difficult to adhere to, don't forget them in your excitement to go....I'm still reeling from the man I stood next to in a queue elswhere who sneezed and snorted all over the place and didn't "cover up"...bleugh!!!!..

Edited by discodiva
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This was my first comic con of any kind. I was a little disappointed that Brian Krause's photoshoot got messed around so much, and that the people at the ticket desk seemed to have no idea of what was being organised, where or when. Sort of a "left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing" type of situation really.

 

Having said that, he was so very very lovely when finally got to having the photos taken and was so quick to try and put me at ease (especially when I was getting all tongue-tied lol) with a massive hug, that it all pales really. Just waiting for my photo to be sent out so I can see how tomato or white as a sheet I was haha

 

ignoring the organisation standards, the guests were great and handled SO many people that I have to applaud them. There were also so many great costumes and I really enjoyed seeing the effort people had put into them :)

 

As with any large group of people, you get a number with no concept of queuing or manners but they were given short thrift by myself and a few others so they didn't get far with their tactics (elbows as 20 paces lol).

 

All in all I had a GREAT day, really enjoyed myself and am definitely going to be trying to come back next year (hopefully with a costume this time)

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Great show, if a little overwhelming at times and even going over two days couldn't do everything I wanted to.

 

Saturday was far busier than Sunday, which was to be expected.

 

The guests I saw were all great and having the extra space at Olympia made a difference.

 

Talks were OK, but the background noise made it hard to hear at time. Also especially in the main talk area because the guest were sat low down and behind the table, it made getting decent photos unless you were in the gold seating or on the end of the middle hard (Lucky for me I had a tax rebate earlier in the year and first thing I bought was a gold pass)

 

I think because of the size of the event and the appeal for extra volunteers on the forum, there were a few crew who didn't know exactly the procedures for certain thing.

 

I heard rumors of at least one person turning away gold pass members from autogrpah Q's because they didn't have a virtual ticket.

 

My friend also had a bad experience whilst trying to get through three photoshoots on Sunday. The first PS he went to was Haydene's, and this was well organised. The guy got all the golds lined up first, then those that had a clash. When my friend reached the second Q for Ben and expalned the situation, he was told he needed to go to the back of the Q. He only just managed to get to his thrid and last photoshoot, but if he'd have been five minutes later or had to go through the bag handing in\picking up he would never had made it.

 

I didn't like the idea of the gold wristbands, partly because I like having the badges (Even if I don't look all that great) strung together like shark teeth. Having just a plain gold wrisitband just doen't look the same.

 

I'm guessing this was cost saving idea, but it would have been nice if the event had been printed on it at least.

 

If it was a security idea, then I have to say that I managed to remove it undamaged when I got home, so I'd suggest either using a different colour next year or printing the event on it.

 

There was a hic-cup with the photo development and I am misisng one photo shoot, but Jason addressed this at the end of the show and here on the forum, so I'm hopefull this will be addressed and fixed for the next event.

 

All in all a enjoyable, if tiring weekend, I look forward to next year.

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One thing I realy wish there had been a star gate talk. With three of the main actors I realy thought there would have been one.

 

There was a Ben Browder talk Sunday afternoon.

 

Ben's talk replaced the one Robert Duncan McNeill would have done on Sunday afternoon, but it was free. However it was originally set ofr 4:20 in talk A, then moved to 4 in Talk C.

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I think most has been covered already however just wanted to raise one piece of feedback for the crew.

 

Before anyone jumps down on me,i understand all are volunteers and under circumstances majority coped very well.

 

However let's not beat around the bush here, I'm sure Showmasters require honest feedback otherwise there is no chance to improve. Some of the crew were clearly way out of their depth and had no clue what was going on,and as such communication was poor. I heard on about 5 different occasions from different crew members "I'm not sure,I don't know sorry"or words to that affect.

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One thing I realy wish there had been a star gate talk. With three of the main actors I realy thought there would have been one.

 

There was a Ben Browder talk Sunday afternoon.

 

That was not a stargate talk. More farscape and other. :-) but it was Awesome! Also it was great that it wasn't in area A. Area C were much better :-)

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Overall I had a great time, as always, I just think changing little things like this could make such a difference :thumbup:

The Jeri Ryan photo is under-exposed. Look at the faces which are really too dark. Still can't understand the forehead flare though if they are using umbrellas properly.

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One thing I realy wish there had been a star gate talk. With three of the main actors I realy thought there would have been one.

 

There was a Ben Browder talk Sunday afternoon.

 

That was not a stargate talk. More farscape and other. :-) but it was Awesome! Also it was great that it wasn't in area A. Area C were much better :-)

 

Well it was a Ben Browder talk. If no one gets up and asks about Stargate stuff... ;)

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Was alright but definately prefer Earls Court. Also, the guy dressed as the eleventh doctor with the dalek was really rude. Honestly, if I'd heard him say one more time "MOVE OUT THE WAY, THERES A DALEK COMING" I was gonna say something. He was saying it when there were people with wheelchairs "in his way" and prams, and when people were getting photos with other things.

 

Also, the photo collections need to be sorted out, it was shambles :/.

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Be careful with hugs too...especially if you DO have a cold or something like it.....also PLEASE make sure you keep anti-bac handwash or wipes around if you have germs AND USE THEM REGULARLY!!....this is the 2nd Con in a row where within 2 days of returning home I've gone down with some sort of crud....I was as scrupulously clean with myself and washing my hands before touching things/people as I could be, but I've picked it up from someone again!...it's not pleasant and I think I'm gonna give these things a miss now unless I absolutely HAVE to travel to them for someone....

 

The Rules of Hygiene aren't difficult to adhere to, don't forget them in your excitement to go....I'm still reeling from the man I stood next to in a queue elswhere who sneezed and snorted all over the place and didn't "cover up"...bleugh!!!!..

 

I suspect this isn't due to people infecting each other as much as it's due to the strain on your body and immune system from getting up early, eating irregularly and standing for long periods of time. I get the same thing when I've been to a larp, and the ones I go to are usually attended by a few dozen people at most. I just accept it as a fact of life -- go to an event that messes with your system and your routine, and you'll get sick.

Edited by Berber Anna
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I heard on about 5 different occasions from different crew members "I'm not sure,I don't know sorry"or words to that affect.

I do understand your point, and it's always better to have crew well-informed than not, but I'd always, always rather hear "I don't know, sorry" from a crew member than have them trying to bluff their way through an answer and get it wrong! With such a large event, all the crew aren't going to have answers to everything.

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However let's not beat around the bush here, I'm sure Showmasters require honest feedback otherwise there is no chance to improve. Some of the crew were clearly way out of their depth and had no clue what was going on,and as such communication was poor. I heard on about 5 different occasions from different crew members "I'm not sure,I don't know sorry"or words to that affect.

 

not going to jump on you but i know i uttered that phrase quite a bit - i knew my section and my section alone - any queries about various other aspects of the event i genuinely did not know - not sure if id class that as being out of my depth tho - more of a case of how could i possibly know everything. i always sent people in the direction of someone who would know and where possible i was able to find out the information for the attendee.

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Be careful with hugs too...especially if you DO have a cold or something like it.....also PLEASE make sure you keep anti-bac handwash or wipes around if you have germs AND USE THEM REGULARLY!!....this is the 2nd Con in a row where within 2 days of returning home I've gone down with some sort of crud....I was as scrupulously clean with myself and washing my hands before touching things/people as I could be, but I've picked it up from someone again!...it's not pleasant and I think I'm gonna give these things a miss now unless I absolutely HAVE to travel to them for someone....

 

The Rules of Hygiene aren't difficult to adhere to, don't forget them in your excitement to go....I'm still reeling from the man I stood next to in a queue elswhere who sneezed and snorted all over the place and didn't "cover up"...bleugh!!!!..

 

I suspect this isn't due to people infecting each other as much as it's due to the strain on your body and immune system from getting up early, eating irregularly and standing for long periods of time. I get the same thing when I've been to a larp, and the ones I go to are usually attended by a few dozen people at most. I just accept it as a fact of life -- go to an event that messes with your system and your routine, and you'll get sick.

 

I think it's a mixture of both....I lost count of the number of times I saw people walk out of the loos without washing their hands...eww!...I've been going to these things for 6-7 years now and this is only the 2nd time I've ever caught Con Crud, the first being in February at Chevron 7.8...perhaps this year is a bad year due to the weather conditions...more germs flying around, less being killed off than they should be at the right time.. :(

 

Strangely have flown all over the world in confined space of airplanes and have never once picked up a cold virus... ;)

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Photo distribution, more care taken with the photos & make sure all the crew on those areas are wearing gloves!! My Alex Winter photo is creased in one corner, not what i expect from Showmasters!

 

I was on distribution for a couple of hours on saturday and no matter how many times we asked people to let us pass the photos, people just grab them. We did have gloves on saturday booth b but I cant answer for everyone else. However please consider that it is not always crew that damage photos, the other attendee's do just grab theirs and push other peoples out of the way.

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I'm writeing this from my phone so please excuse any spelling mistakes as there is likely to be quite a few

 

This was my first LFCC for 5 years (the last one I went to was when Dominic Monaghan attended in 2007) and the first time I did both days. And I have to say I loved it more than I remembered and seemed to avoid most of the major issues other people seemed to have. This was also the first time I opted for the early bird ticket and I'm so glad I did. It was amazing for the first couple of hours on Sunday, especially compared to the busieness of the day before!

 

Every guest I met was amazing and I even met a couple of unplanned guests outside of my fandom which I never usually do at these things. All of the Game of Throne guests were amazing, with Rose Leslie being my personnel stand out among them, she was so lovely! My only dissapointment in the regard is that I didn't get a photo with Gwendoline due to her photo shoot selling out before I arrived on Saturday and her not allowing any photos at the desk, but that's just the risk you take when you arrive later.

 

I also met Robert Maschio, Hayden Panettiere and Bai Ling. All were great, especially Robert! Bai Ling was also really great as well which, as mean was it sounds, I wasn't expecting. I've always had a bit of a negative opinion about her but decided as she was a Lost guest (and they're extremely rare nowadays) I would meet her and she was lovely!

 

The only negatives from the weekend I had were no fault of Showmasters (train cancelled Sunday, no Gwendoline photo etc.) so I have no complaints their.

 

So, thank you showmasters! I had a great weekend! Now please announce some Lost and Game of Throne guests for EMS so I have an excuse to attend!

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Some of the crew were clearly way out of their depth and had no clue what was going on,and as such communication was poor. I heard on about 5 different occasions from different crew members "I'm not sure,I don't know sorry"or words to that affect.

 

What you have to realise that that most of the crew won't know where anything is except for the area they met (Talk A) and the area they work in. And generally people assume if you're wearing a blue shirt you must know the answer to everything. Unfortunately if you ask me in the photoshhot B area where the Game of Thrones shoot was the answer would have been "I don't know" because I hadn't seen where it was. Or equally where someone was signing, or where a dealers stall is, or any one of a number of other things I got asked on Saturday. Best place for any enquiry is the organisers booth - they are more likely to know than anyone. But just because I didn't know the answer to any of those questions didn't make me out of my depth - as I'm sure you'll gather if you go through the threads here.

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Very disappointed with the photos taken on Saturday (Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin and Kevin Sorbo) - think they were all taken at photo area C. The lighting was absolutely appalling and everyone looked like absolute corpses! It wasn't very flattering for the guests , and Jewel Staite was the only one who.looked like she still had a pulse! I feel as if these particular photos were not worth the money I paid for them.

 

All the photos taken on the Sunday were of a much better quality and were on a par with photos we had taken at Collectormania earlier this year and I was thrilled with the way they came out.

 

The guy who organised the queue for the Anthony Head photo shoot was just awesome! He did a great job, everyone knew what was going on and where to stand and it all went really smoothly. Might I suggest that he teach a queue control class/boot camp for all new recruits crewing at these events? The lad doing the Adam Baldwin shoot on Saturday was worse than useless and we pretty much had to organise ourselves! He was flapping his hands and telling people to go away whilst they finished the previous shoot and all it took to get things under control was a clear instruction as to where people should wait. Once someone (a person waiting for the shoot, not a member of the crew) shouted loud and clear for the Adam Baldwin fans to wait to one side, everyone moved out of the way of the previous shoot and started forming a proper queue. The lad supposed to be in charge was more of a hindrance than any kind of help!

 

On the whole it was a great event but some of the crew were just too ineffective when it came to asserting themselves.

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