feedback and some thoughts from jason after this years LFCC

[showmasters]

hi all

 

sorry it has take me so long to get back on here properly its been a very busy last week and after what was the biggest and busiest LFCC it took a lot out of everyone in the office , things are getting back to normal now here and we are finishing off the last few things from LFCC and starting to get on with new things from EMS .

 

anyway here are my thoughts and things i thought worked and a few things that we have worked our how to make work better for the next shows .

 

info and thoughts

 

 

1 this years event was the largest paid entry event of its kind in Europe

 

2 it was the largest event of its kind in Europe and when we booked the hall going from last years

9000 sqm to this years 17000 sqm we thought this would be big enough space for the next two years

, we we were wrong it was full at 1 pm on saturday , so we are going to need a bigger boat :-)

 

3 we tested out our new LAB for processing photos , this was a big test , on saturday we has some

issues with the software missing off the odd image this created major issue for us combined with us

still using an outside LAB to produce photos, also had an issue where we did not know what LAB

was producing what images , that combined with some other internal issues created the problem

we had on saturday , that night my team and i went over what we had learnt and came up with a

way to resolve most of these issues , this was implemented and worked for the sunday.

 

this week the team involved with the photo ops zone had a big debrief and went over what we had

learn,t and also how we could make things work better.At the meeting we discovered that there was

a major way of improving the turnaround time on the development of the photos and we looked into

a system were we can get the photos back fast and affectively, we have worked out this new

system and its going to be introduced into the shows over the next few months and will work very

well .

 

lots of people have commented on here how we should try this or that but what a lot of people do

not see or understand that there is a lot more to rolling out a new system than just jumping and

changing something to a new way of doing things , last weeks LFCC did have some issues but 50%

of this was down to the old way of doing it not being able to keep up with what was needed , and

some of the odd issues with colour was down to us still using the outside LAB and the cameras

being tuned into the on site printers so this will not happen again as we move over to on site

development all together , i would also at this point point out that having the LAB on site cost us

more money not less , so we are doing this to make the quality of the product better not worst and

after last weeks show we can all now see this is the right way forward for you the fans , and we will

have it right for the next event , so thank you for your understanding on the day and this week and

we look forward to you all being happy with how we run this aspect of the show from now on.

 

4 film screenings , this year was the first big screening we have had and its something we have found

hard to break into , but after this years show we have now cracked into this , it all came in at the

last moment , and thats why we had a few things like the lights in the signing zone to deal with , but

we got it all together in time and i think went down well, we are working on more of these things

for future events , so keep an eye our for more.

 

5 the friday night preview night worked very well again numbers are up on last years night by double

and even though we did not have a VQ system in place it all worked out well , its a great way to

avoid the crowds on the saturday and get any last moment photo ops etc you need before the

saturday crowds come in and it takes a bit of pressure off the guests over the weekend and the

guests do have more time to chat to you all and it get the guests and crew warmed up to the next

day so this is something we will keep on doing and maybe the year after we will make the friday a

full on day but we will see how things go over the next few months .

 

6 our crew , well what can i say , we had the biggest amount of them this year , around 220 in total ,

there were around 30 newbes there all making the event happen , they held this" big jump in size of

event" together and they did do an amazing job , even though they were tired and also the fact their

bus got stuck on the M40 and did not get back to the hotel till around 11pm they stuck by us and

looked after the running of the show , great job each and everyone of you.

 

7 the comics aspect of this years event grew an amazing amount this time thanks to the hard work,

and their love for comics, of Mike and Cassandra Conroy , they have helped us meet and book lots

of comic writers and artists and with out these two great people we would not have had so many

guests attend LFCC , both Mike and Cassandra are going to be with us at Collectormania Glasgow

and EMS and they plan to help get us more comic guests for this show and our other events for the

foreseeable future , so its looking very good on the comics front at all our events.

 

8 SIZE is bigger better :-) ok since we started running events in the 80s the events have gotten bigger ,

and because of this we have bigger budgets to play with and that means when like this year we are

asked to pay for two upper class flights at the last moment for £12,000 we can find the money to do

this and be able to book a big guests, so the bigger the event the bigger guests we can have attend

, also we can buy more space for the show which in London cost a fortune and also we can spend

more on free things like the film batmobile etc , so its good its getting bigger and more people

attend , but we also want things to work as well as if it was a smaller show , this time the event

grew about double the size from last years show , so we just make it work as we were stretched a

lot , this has happened before , collectormania 4 with the hobbits was crazy , CM5 was just as busy

but we fixed the parts that did not work , then the next big jump for us was the LFCC with the

Heroes cast again the show jumped a big amount , the next years event was just as busy but we

fixed the aspects than need looking at and it worked that next year , as the person that is at the end

of the day responsible of the events when things go wrong its all down to me ,and I do not put on

events to make people have a bad day or make people unhappy, i want you all to have an

amazing day and for me to have been a part of a team that has given you all a day to remember for

the right reasons , so if something does not go right , we will get on top of it and try to fix it the best

way we can , and we learn from it and make it right next time , we very rarely make the same

mistake twice, its one thing we try to do is get it right for you , so yes these events are getting bigger

but off the back of that you will have much more of a chance to meet people that you may have

thought you would never get the chance to meet , at least now the UK has a big event to invite the

stars you have wanted to meet .

 

9 feedback these events are getting bigger and because of this we do not see every thing thats going

On as it's a really big place , so if you have an issue over the weekend it's best to tell someone , it

helps us to get it right and stop something that happening at the time its happening also it stops

someone else having the same issues as you are having, and sometimes it can be just be

something you may have misunderstood or you have been told something wrong, ether way we are

all here to help and get it right and make your weekend work for you so you can have fun. Now it's

fine to come on the forum and give constructive criticism as that is one of the reasons we have a forum

, but its much better to fix it on the day there and then , our crew it the red tops are the best to talk to

about this and if that does not work you can talk to someone at the organisers booth.

 

10 sound in the talks , this is something we are working on , this years new venue we thought it

would work better being in the lower roofed hall , this did not work how we thought it would and its

something we will range for future events , we are also looking at other rooms off of the main hall

for future events this is something we are aware of and are looking to improve.

 

11 the signing zone worked well this year the more signers than before at a LFCC and i did not see a

time that i felt it was not working well

 

12 the queueing system outside and the running of the lines outside the venue was down to a company

called showsec and it was them that managed to not keep the line running well on saturday , on sunday

showmasters crew took it over and it ran fine , we do not plan to use this company again , we have felt for

many years we are best at running the lines but have been told that we have to use a outside company , i

think this year we have proven that we can look after the running of the lines on the mornings better that

others so this should not happen again

 

13 i have to say that the increase of fans attending this years event was great as we are taking the

show on a new journey to amazing places and its the stepping stones to an incredible event that is

on the horizon , we did have way more fans that we expected and because of this it took us by

surprise but we do did get through the weekend , but most of the issues that did happen over the

weekend are down to the extra volume of fans attending this years event , we now know this and will

be ready for the next few shows and the growth that may occur , thank you for being there backing

us, supporting the show and making it what it is today , we will listen to what you have to say we will

improve and learn and together we will bring you the most amazing event europe has so that you

can come and play and meet your friends and collect things and meet some incredible guests and

do things that you just cannot do anywhere else .

 

i know i have lists more to talk about this is just what came to my mind right now , thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for letting me run these events for you all , its the best job in the world and its you that makes it posable

 

thank you so much

 

yours

 

jason

Edited July 17, 2012 by Rhianydd

[touchthesky]

<3 thank YOU Jason. Thanks to you, we the fans get to meet people, our heroes, that we could only have dreamed of meeting before. I know we moan, but deep down, we wouldn't attend the events if we did not 100% support you.

Edited July 16, 2012 by touchthesky

[gunners65]

Thanks for the feedback Jason and thanks for a Great show looking forward to the next

[miss_vic81]

i think its fab how you give feedback at the end of your events.

[Muthur]

Thankyou for everything Jason.

You really are an incredible man for taking all of this on.

And of course, thankyou to every member of the crew for helping make it possible.

[Kuato_Lives]

Film screening? What was that of?

 

Great event though, To me it's the attitude of the guests that make the event and everyone I met came across as very fan friendly, had a very good time and experience meeting them.

[Indestructible]

Thanks for the update, although I guess it is down to spell check that some of the words don't make sense...resins, posable, sins etc, might be worth reading it again. :)

[Sorock]

Thanks for the feedback.

[jael001]

Thanks for the update, although I guess it is down to spell check that some of the words don't make sense...resins, posable, sins etc, might be worth reading it again. :)

 

Jason is dyslexic, I know he often gets someone to proof for him but obviously on this occasion he didnt. You can still work out what he's trying to say.

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

The problem I had, personally, was, there was sooo many guests with sooo little time.

 

I enjoyed the whole event, keep getting big names like Karl Urban, Gillian Anderson, Jeri Ryan (and so forth). That way LFCC will end up bigger and greater than the convention on the west coast of the US (realised I can't name other conventions). Soon, guests will be begging to come to LFCC.

 

Long live LFCC....

[girlingray]

i think its fab how you give feedback at the end of your events.

I agree.

I think it's another indication of the fact that you obviously care about us fans having a good experience.

And it's great to see an organiser take ownership of problems and work to fix them.

Thanks for the feedback Jason.

[showmasters]

i am discolexic as well i cannot dance ether :-)

 

j

[showmasters]

and if any of the mods want to have a go correcting it be my guest thanks j

[claire316]

Why so adamant that bigger is better?

[Avengers7]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

It was a great event and meeting Freema and Gillian was a dream come true for me.

 

 

 

I'd just like to say that Naomi on the organisers booth was excellent, however, I did speak to someone in a blue top about another matter who then said I should email Showmasters as they couldn't do anything on the day.

 

I just wonder though if there was a real need for 4 photo shoot areas as only two of them on Saturady seen to give perfect photos due to lighting issues etc.

Edited July 16, 2012 by reddragon

[millie31]

THANKSSSSSS!

it was my first convention outside of France and of the little French girl loved your convention! honestly, thank you very much!

I have done photoshoots with Jeri, Gillian, Kevin, Hayden, Holly, Chris and Anthony in costume, I made the autographs with Brian, Holly, Anthony and Robert Maschio (it was for my boyfriend), and photos are so great! and one that touched me the most is humanly Anthony Head, and he even told me a few words in French, it was great! After the other of guests were all very nice! I do not regret one moment my choices of guests!

My boyfriend loved to talk a while with Robert Maschio, being a fan of him in the series Scrubs!

The team of the convention was really nice and available; there, where I had the most difficulty is to get the autographs because it really was not easy! I was lucky to not have clash with photoshoots at this level so no worries!

The only remark: the team that deals with pictures as wearing gloves when retrieving the files, half the team was not wearing gloves!

Thank you so much for this dream weekend that you have permitted me to do!

kisses from the frenchie

[lizz36]

thankyou for the feedback jason and taking the time to write...... personally i had a fab day as usual and as for the queues thats part of the day standing there in anticipation waiting to meet the stars i love it bring on the next one xxx

[sdad]

You're still not seeing it from our point of view.

1) It is no good saying you rarely make the same mistake twice. You should plan and organise so that there are no mistakes in the first place. For example, it is better to be overstaffed and have to send some home than to be caught out by even a 100% increase in fans.

2) It is no good saying that the photos will be correct next year. People have paid good money to stand with their idols THIS year and been disappointed. Why synchronise your cameras to the on-site printers and then send the work outside? You need a few more checklists and backup plans.

 

BTW, I am grateful for the stars you brought in. Once I found the right queue on Friday and got in, I had a great time (as you say you want) but I wouldn't go back and spend more money on Saturday because it was obvious what was going to go wrong (from our point of view). I think it was a good location with the signing area (my main interest) being particularly good, especially when going armed with the floorplan (although why would this have to be published at the last minute?)

[del-boy]

Thanks for the feedback Jason.

[danvader123@hotmail.co.uk]

Cant wait for the shows to gorow bigger and have bigger names Jason you do a fantastic job and the crew do as well thank you for gettign star wars guests as im a big fan of star wars and cant wait to see what you have install for us maybe some more batman or games of thrones.

[amfly]

Thanks for all these info! Can't wait for the next event!

[lordschweizer]

Jason,

 

thanks to u for getting all the stars of our fav tv series year after year. Also for getting those special appearances of people you never would think you'll see at a con.... Either they're VIP or people who does no cons / are con "virgins". Speaking of Iron Mike or Gillian Anderson.

 

Keep up with suprising us, ur doing a f'n awesome work (pardon my words)

 

I big thumbs up from my side for bringing Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause to LFCC. Definitely made my day, never thought of seeing then in person.

 

In addition to that... Please bring more charmed cast and more of TNA

 

The other things were mentioned enough so i will not point on this. I'm pretty sure and confident that you will find a solution that'll accommodate mostly everybody. Like u said... "i want you all to have am amazing day"

 

U and your staff are always kind and willing to work their a... off to help the ones in need. As off myself i had a very big issue last year prior to the LFCC, at least i thought it was a very big issue, and Hazel as well one of your staff at the venue then (think it was Gemma) helped within an instant and always made me feel "hey don't worry everything will be good".

 

So with that beeing said... Can't wait to 2013

 

 

Greetz

[TankerCaptain]

Thanks for the feedback Jason its nice to see!

 

I lost my con virginity to LFCC this year and I think caught the bug as I will definitely back next year due to the amazing weekend I had

[dee]

You're still not seeing it from our point of view.

1) It is no good saying you rarely make the same mistake twice. You should plan and organise so that there are no mistakes in the first place. For example, it is better to be overstaffed and have to send some home than to be caught out by even a 100% increase in fans.

2) It is no good saying that the photos will be correct next year. People have paid good money to stand with their idols THIS year and been disappointed. Why synchronise your cameras to the on-site printers and then send the work outside? You need a few more checklists and backup plans.

 

BTW, I am grateful for the stars you brought in. Once I found the right queue on Friday and got in, I had a great time (as you say you want) but I wouldn't go back and spend more money on Saturday because it was obvious what was going to go wrong (from our point of view). I think it was a good location with the signing area (my main interest) being particularly good, especially when going armed with the floorplan (although why would this have to be published at the last minute?)

I have to second this.

I appreciate that things went wrong, and that you can fix that for next time, bu that still doesn't solve the problems that went wrong this time. We paid our money this time, and this event can't be repeated to correct what went wrong.

 

Do you have any idea when they might start responding to emails? We sent our first one on Saturday 6th and have sent others since then for separate issues we had, but none have yet been answered.

[madcap_magician902]

i am discolexic as well i cannot dance ether :-)

 

j

 

Ok so you cannot do much about the dyslexia, but isn't it time you did something about the dancing?