Feedback

[LMedza]

Smokers get their stress and nicotine fix, the non-smokers avoid inhaling their smoke. Win win, and hopefully not too much of a hassle for anyone. That would be ideal, for everyone to be happy with minimum fuss.

 

Easier said than done, with the crew squashing everyone in as tightly as possible it really is impossible avoiding to inhale all the smoke

[RainbowDisney]

Whatever next? Lets all make people who sneeze, hiccup, burp or fart leave the line too?

[Stenun]

Whatever next? Lets all make people who sneeze, hiccup, burp or fart leave the line too?

 

If you can prove that someone burping will bring on my asthma or contribute to cancer, then yeah.

[amber08]

Kinda works both ways, I'm asthmatic but I have friends that smoke I make sure I stand up wind of them so its not blowing in my face and they make sure not to breath it in my face. If everyones considerate to each other then there wouldn't be too much of a problem, also I found as a crew member, ask people, no one will bite, I asked a 4 lovely guys if they minded holding someones place in the queue so they could go and do something and they said it was fine.

[Salemzorro]

I had a great time on Saturday but to add my 2p to the pot I do wonder if the event has become too big for the venue? As someone who mainly goes for the comics I found the dealers to be quite poor with the main choices being either expensive Silver Age or cheap tat. Therefore would it be better to have 2 events and keep the film and comics separate?

 

If not then I wonder is there a larger venue to move to? Looking at the stands was a nightmare with so many people in there, I bought far less than in previous years. I also think the lighting is poor in there too which is a real pain.

[Gordon The Gopher]

Agree with the Peter Mayhew comments, he was actually quite rude to me I thought. Even the crew member sort of mouthed sorry to the person in front who had a similar experience.

[scotty16]

Having not read the entire thread apologies if what i say is irrelevant or repeating.

 

Had a pre-paid ticket for Saturday, arrived at 9.05 and got in 9.40. Would have been disappointed at paying double price if got in after 10.30, but the staff did an excellent and organised job. Did exactly what the ticket was meant to. Entry before 11.

 

As for people queuing up to buy tickets on the day and going straight in, whilst the pre-paid line was still stretching round the building, it would be unfair to make any individual queue twice on the day to get in, queue to get ticket and then join the back of the pre-paid line makes no sense.

 

But i do see the valid point that if you have your ticket and turn up on time, why should you be put into the longer of the two queues, thereby missing out on extra time inside.

 

However, just a thought out loud, perhaps having the box office open from 7/8 in the morning allowing people to purchase early bird tickets and then being able to join the pre-paid line would be a completely fair system. Rather than having two separate queues.

 

Overall, i had a really great time and the staff went out of their way to be accommodating to both public and the guests, perhaps some air conditioning (if there was any, then i certainly didn't notice) wouldn't go amiss next year if we get weather like we did this year.

[scotty16]

well i pre booked mine, still got in!! had a great day , friendly chatty staff, fantastic guest as always!! and got to meet a hero of mine from aliens al matthews, made my year!! thank you showmasters!!

 

I so wanted to meet him, but having Bill Paxton's autograph already, I just know i'd have to go and get the rest of the cast

[andrewrolar]

Re: queues to get in.

 

Having been to two SM events now, i've been impressed with how quick the queue to get in, moves. I have no problem with my experiences in entry queues at either SM events ive attended.

 

However, i'd like to share my experience with a similar show's queueing system.

 

There are two queues still. The main queue is for everyone , but pre paid ticket holders go straight in . Pay on the day people join another queue to buy a ticket. After they buy their ticket they then join the BACK of the main queue.

 

They even tell you on their site, and i quote..." Early Entry’ tickets are available both in advance and on the day ....... (If purchased in advance then you will gain entry before people buying them on the day)

 

Plus, their general entry ticket is not available in advance. Only on the day.

 

This is not a criticism at SM, just an attempt to show another point of view.

 

I love the SM events ive been to.

[Merlanthe]

I dont have any complaints about the queueing system. I purchased a standard entry ticket online couple months back arrived shortly after 10am and joined the back of the queue which was right round the other side of the building and fairly stationary until 11am when it suddenly zoomed along and i was in the hall by 11:15am. The buy on the day queue was a lot shorter but they were all lined up waiting to pay for their tickets at the desk just inside the building as the prepaid queue entered and were still there after the prepaid queue were all inside. Also I assume the reason the buy on the day queue was so short was that anyone showing up before 10am ended up being sold early bird tickets.

 

That happened when i went with a friend to another event we planned to get standard entry tickets on the day and made sure to arrive nearly two hours early so we wouldnt have to wait long in the queue only to be sold early bird tickets and shuffled in an hour and a half earlier than planned.

 

It was a fun event though it wasnt until the sunday when i finally located the drawing tables. The gaming area seemed nonexistent and the cosplay area didnt seem that big or to have much going on but i wasnt too interested in those areas except to look round at peoples costumes. The rest of the place was great particularly the comic area they had some good talks going on there particularly the ones where they had various guests participating in a discussion on a particular theme like 'death in comics'. I did wonder why all of the talks in the main area seemed based on the guests being form the same tv show or franchise like walking dead or wrestling or were single person talk. Granted walking dead, game of thrones, DS9 and stargate are all great franchises and having talks just about them is great but you also had guests like David Warner who had been around a while and played various roles who werent involved in doing talks but would have been wonderful to listen talk about their experiences as an actor and ask them questions. You could even have done a couple talks involving tv/movie actors from different franchises discussing themes or genres that they had in common then we could have gotten some interesting discussion and questions that might not usually happen. Like someone already said some of the actors at the signing area werent doing much business and appeared bored just sitting there.

 

I only had one photo shoot, the DS9 group photo, which did seem a bit like cattle herding with the speed at which people were put through. The attitude of the crew running the photo shoot was quite efficient but also seemed very hurried and made it feel like you shouldnt try to speak or interact with the guests even to say hello and i felt like i barely had time to get a good smile on my face before i was being shooed away to wait for my photo to be printed. When i approached to sit down despite being very nervous i did manage to say a cheerful hello to all of the DS9 actors and they all responded with a very cheerful hellos back but i noticed other people ahead of me had sat down had their photo taken and headed over to collect it very quickly without exchanging a word with the actors. Maybe they were too nervous or maybe the crews hurried attitude made them feel they couldnt say hello without holding up the line but i know having the actors just saying hello in response to my own nervous greeting was great.

 

I do have one grumble that with my DS9 photo i have a shadow over a fair amount of my face making my features hard to distinguish because of the angle of the lighting. The DS9 actors surrounding me are nicely illuminated with maybe a little shadow from the left but my face is so dark i assume its because im not very tall and the lighting was set to shine upon people slightly taller than me. It is meant to be a picture of me with them i am a little disapppointed at how i appear. My first reaction upon recieving the photo was omg why do i look like that? I considered asking for a reshoot but the crew seemed in such a hurry to keep the line moving i felt like i couldnt. I can understand that a one lightning angle for all makes things move quicker than having to adjust it but if someone is paying a fair chunk of money to have a picture with a bunch of people they admire/idolise they should be able to see their own face clearly in the resulting image. The iron throne photo was much better lit and more fun as the guy taking the pictures seemed more relaxed and willing to wait until you were perfectly comfortable in whatever pose you were doing before taking the picture.

 

I hope this feedback is helpful. I did have a really great time this weekend though my biggest suggestion is that next time have face painting. face painting is fun and brilliant.

[jael001]

Sorry Mark but that's not quite true. I was in that pre-paid queue on Saturday which stretched all the way around EC1 and didnt get in the doors til 9.32 and since I had a Danny Glover photoshoot at 9.30 I had to literally run for it and when I did get there there was no queue, it seems that everyone else had already been through the photoshoot (or were still in the queue outside).

[cunningham1471]

I think the reality is this issue will never go away unless drastic changes are made. I say drastic because that is exactly what it would be.

 

1) Too many Earlybird/Prepaid tickets are sold hence the queues getting longer and longer and resulting in slower movement of the line.

 

Answer: Restrict the number of tickets sold to 100 max. Each ticket is numbered or has a barcode. At the entrance the number/barcode is read and ticked off on a laptop saying that person is in. The barcode is the best and faster option if it can be scanned and it would help stop photocopies being used.

 

Result - people complain they couldn't get a ticket, won't line up to pay on the door so don't bother going.

 

2) Too many people attending now so the venue can't deal with so many people coming using seperate doors with different types of tickets.

 

Answer - Have one day as prepaid tickets only, no on the day sales. On the other day haev it pay at the door only.

 

Result - People will complain that some guest are only appearing on one day and so they have to buy two tickets (as weekender tickets will no longer be issued) and they don't wat to line up why can't I buy two prepaid tickets one for each day, it's inconvenient, I don't want to line up to buy a ticket (when they are lining up anyway to get in the door) blah blah blah.

 

Both would work, both will be wrong and upset people. However if something is going to change it needs to be accepted that some people are going to be angry and upset but tough titties!

 

Showmasters are in a no win situation with this one. Can imporvements be made? Yes of course. Better signage, better explanation on the description as to what the ticket is and means. Rather than call it an Early Bird ticket just call it and advance purchase ticket. and clearly print on the ticket this doesn't guarantee early entry and you may not get in quicker than on the day ticket sales.

 

Someone suggested megaphones. I agree this would help, from experience of the chaos that happens with people not knowing which line is which, however this too causes a problem. if I lived near the venue and I had people on megaphones disturbing my morning from about 8am I wouldn't be too happy and would start making complaints to the venue, the local council etc. It would be annoying at anytome of the say, especially first thing in the morning.

 

The perfect venue would be somewhere like the O2 in London, but way too expensive. Not only are they equipped to deal with vast numbers of people, they can have electronic boards above the entrance saying whilch line is which, there are plenty of places to get food etc, lots of seating inside the arena for people to rest if they need too and best of all, should megaphones be needed to be used outside the venue there is a good distance between it and local housing so it would causse less disturbance for local residents. It's just a shame it costs so much to hire..

 

If used occasionally.. one megaphone used once, making one announcemnet every half an hour I could probably live with at a stretch. Continuous every 5 minutes would p**** me off very quickly.

[DavidB]

There's a range of reasons why people pre-book. The majority that I know pre-book are because they want to spread the cost etc, not because they think buying entrance tickets before will get them in earlier. So to change the system because of a few that want it to be different would be unreasonable.

 

Could they keep it how it is and have a fast track option added too? For those who want to pay more and get in quicker guaranteed. Who knows. But then you'll get everyone buying that one, and we start again..

[angiebaby]

Sorry Mark but that's not quite true. I was in that pre-paid queue on Saturday which stretched all the way around EC1 and didnt get in the doors til 9.32 and since I had a Danny Glover photoshoot at 9.30 I had to literally run for it and when I did get there there was no queue, it seems that everyone else had already been through the photoshoot (or were still in the queue outside).

 

You are right jael001, which is why I felt the need to bring this issue up.

 

Re: queues to get in.

 

Having been to two SM events now, i've been impressed with how quick the queue to get in, moves. I have no problem with my experiences in entry queues at either SM events ive attended.

 

However, i'd like to share my experience with a similar show's queueing system.

 

There are two queues still. The main queue is for everyone , but pre paid ticket holders go straight in . Pay on the day people join another queue to buy a ticket. After they buy their ticket they then join the BACK of the main queue.

 

They even tell you on their site, and i quote..." Early Entry' tickets are available both in advance and on the day ....... (If purchased in advance then you will gain entry before people buying them on the day)

 

Plus, their general entry ticket is not available in advance. Only on the day.

 

This is not a criticism at SM, just an attempt to show another point of view.

 

I love the SM events ive been to.

 

Glad I'm not the only one who believed this

 

I also was NOT complaining about people with disabilities getting priority I am a carer so it's not fair to say I was, if you took it that way sorry but I never singled anyone out.

[DavidB]

I'm still quite surprised some people thought they'd get in before, if I'm honest.

 

Like the example above says "(If purchased in advance then you will gain entry before people buying them on the day)" so of course you'd expect that, but if it doesn't..

 

Oh well we're all different

[Salemzorro]

I'm still quite surprised some people thought they'd get in before, if I'm honest.

 

Like the example above says "(If purchased in advance then you will gain entry before people buying them on the day)" so of course you'd expect that, but if it doesn't..

 

Oh well we're all different

 

It seems it's the wording, early bird is getting confused with early entry. Change the name and solve the problem.

[markymark66]

well i pre booked mine, still got in!! had a great day , friendly chatty staff, fantastic guest as always!! and got to meet a hero of mine from aliens al matthews, made my year!! thank you showmasters!!

 

I so wanted to meet him, but having Bill Paxton's autograph already, I just know i'd have to go and get the rest of the cast

HAVE MET MOST OF TNE MARINES NOW EXCEPT BILL PAXTON!!! ONLY ONE I NEED LOL!!!!

[Gurulazer]

^{I can't speak for the entry queues because I went gold, but I have to say that my weekend at LFCC has been a very enjoyable experience. All crew people I encountered were very helpful and always managed to fix any problems brought to them. I had to rebook Alexander Siddig after he didn't arrive on Friday, which was a simple ticket swap, and they arranged for a reshoot with one of the actors after another photo shoot went over time. They must have been dying of the heat and rushed to exhaustion but everyone was still full of smiles and happy to help. This was my first LFCC and I loved every minute! If I had any suggestion, it would be to echo what others have said about more talks or more group shots. The DS9 one was such a good experience!}

Edited July 9, 2013 by GuruLazer

[lunglock]

My main issue with the queues wasn't anything to do with who got in faster, just the worry that I wouldn't make a 9.40am photoshoot (which eventually wasn't an issue on the day for me, but I see was for others) perhaps maybe not have photoshoots start until after 10am, so that those at the far end of the queue don't have to worry about missing anything?

[dazzlerjames]

Early bird is technically early entry as the show starts at 11am officially.

 

Maybe as an experiment come along to the event as a pair and one join pre paid queue and one joins pay on the day queue and see what the time difference is, remember that the pay on the day queue once inside the building have to queue again to actually pay.

 

Anyone turning up to pay on the day before 11am still has to pay early bird price.

[DavidB]

The idea of starting photo shoots later is an interesting one. I wonder if that's logistically possible now they've got instant printing so people don't have to wait around for hours after each one. I understood the need for early ones before when they needed to get them out and printed etc. There might be a reason for starting them so early still anyway, what do I know

[MrsEllacott]

The idea of starting photo shoots later is an interesting one. I wonder if that's logistically possible now they've got instant printing so people don't have to wait around for hours after each one. I understood the need for early ones before when they needed to get them out and printed etc. There might be a reason for starting them so early still anyway, what do I know

 

Obviously as I don't work for showmasters, but I would had thought that they start earlier so they don't finish so late as not everyone can hang around till the end. Admittedly I did prefer that the guests who had double shoots had their first ones before 11am this year. I did not feel like I needed to rush up there like I had last year as I was able to go to second shoot instead.

[Spectrum]

Every guest who had a shoot before 11am had a second shoot later in the day so no one would have to buy early bird, or panic if they couldn't get through the queue in time. I don't think it would be feasible starting later because we were running all the way through the day, with the last shoots scheduled to finish just before 6pm - there wouldn't be time to get through everyone if we didn't get a head start on the bigger guests in the morning. :)

[DavidB]

True, they were running pretty much up to the end, and you'd need that time in case something goes wrong earlier :)

[spookyuk]

One minor constructive criticism to add, that shouldn't be taken personally by anyone, plus some other bits:

 

Please could there be more signage either inside the cordoned off autographing areas (big guest) or outside them (staff communication could also be used to assist this) to indicate the process for people paying for autos with vouchers. I pre purchased vouchers for mine and went in having no idea that I had to go to the separate desk to get another voucher to submit to the staff member adjacent to the guest. I therefore queued only to be told rudely by the crew member that I had gone wrong and needed to go to the other desk. This situation was then made more uncomfortable by the fact that there was already a queue to get to the 'voucher desk' and i either had to push back in or go outside to the back of the 100 person queue. When I originally entered, I couldn't see what was happening at the voucher desk due to volume of people so assumed it was perhaps another guest signing or where cash payments were taken.

 

Lastly, for all the talk of the wonders of the two queue entry system (and i still can't see the difference between having one or two queues in terms of organisation, in fact one is easier to manage than two) I thought the signage to indicate what queue you should go in was non existant. Half of the people around me in the queue were all asking each other 'are we in the right queue?'.

 

I think it is right to consider and review the queueing process every year as the event is clearly getting bigger (particulalry Saturday) and people will be re-assesing their buying options and arrival times etc accordingly.

Edited July 9, 2013 by spookyuk