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Fantastic day thank you.


OurDek
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Just a big thank you for a fantastic day today, really relaxed yet professionally organised. I got to meet all of the guests I wished to see with no big queues, so was able to spend more time than at other events chatting to them. The venue was also great, I haven't been to a Heathrow Autographica for a few years so it was nice to see that it is still easy to navigate around the event.

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Second that, had a great yet brief day (one day I'll get organised & spend a whole weekend at one of these things).

I've been lucky to meet Buzz Aldrin, Al Bean & Bruce McCandless at previous events so gave them a miss. But all three looked to be busy all day.

 

Rhea Seddon, Hoot Gibson & Greg Johnson were fantastic to meet. Especially enjoyed Hoot telling me he had told his crew on STS-71 that NASA would never go for a fly-by by the Soyuz spacecraft, then NASA agreed to it.

 

It was a lot quieter in The Atrium but Jeremy Bulloch is always fun to meet while Barbara Bain looked to be very popular.

The thing I really like about Autographica is chatting to like minded people while not having to fight through crowds of people all day. Thanks for putting on another amazing event.

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I agree, today was excellent all round, the guests I met were all very friendly and chatty, the lectures covered a lot of different ground and were all well attended, the queues for the photo shoots were a bit long but in many ways that does bode well for future events if it shows the interest is still there.

 

I think I am going to revise my approach of trying to fit everything in to one day in the future though, I feel like a zombie right now, god knows how the guests, crew, stallholders and organisers must feel!

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Thankyou for a fantastic day. Largely, hugely enjoyable. Great atmosphere amongst customers, guests and staff. A day to remember.

Ok... Now for the constructive criticism...

1.) Wristbands. Mine was checked once. In the queue for the Buzz photoshoot. That was it. All day. People walking in & out, at will, who clearly had not paid for admission. I would have thought you would want to protect your event & your current customer base by ensuring entry fees are paid by all?? But clearly not, as I've queried this same problem in previous years & nothing appears to have changed.

 

2.) Seemed to be less dealers this year. My nephew wanted to buy a Bruce McCandless poster or canvas, but unlike previous years, there were no dealers of this nature onsite.

 

3.) The individuals who turn up at signing tables with 50+ posters to get signed (yes.. They're already on eBay, I see...). It's not fair on genuine fans & customers to have to wait behind these people, whilst they conduct their "business". It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. I appreciate these people must be good business for you but you're losing custom from the fans who leave the queue in frustration, behind them.

 

I hope you read these comments & take them for the constructive criticisms that they are. I love your events & your business model. You bring a lot of pleasure to many people & in general do a magnificent job. Best wishes.

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Agree with you on the wristbands and the lack of dealers Leacroft, my band also wasn't checked until the photoshoot queue.

 

Only problem was, with so many hotel guests going in and out who were not there for the event, and with the fact that the event was scattered throughout several rooms, it's not so easy to place someone on every door.

 

Last year I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour for the second time, just to purchase something from the shop, only to find that, unlike last time they wouldn't even let me into the car park without already having tour tickets for everyone in the car, so I had a completely wasted journey, and spent a load of money in petrol for nothing.

 

Better to purchase tickets in advance.

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I know last year my tickets were checked pretty much every time I either paid for autographs or went to a photo shoot. That said, my understanding was that a slightly different approach was taken with lecture and photo shoot tickets this year in that none were sent out unless you ordered entry tickets with them otherwise you had to pick them up from the desk, so I assume there you had to buy entry tickets at the same time or at least show you already had an entry ticket.

 

I'm not sure how easy it would be to check tickets at this location where guests are spread across different rooms and in some cases in public areas of the hotel.

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I have been in many different venues but I this is the first time I attend a show at the Radisson. That was a pleasing experience, although the parking experience lasted too long :smile: I agree all guests were great and a pleasure to chat with them. I agree with Leacroft on point 3, I wrote about this on the dedicated topic. :thumbdown:

All in all, I am happy bunny and look forward to next Autographica. :thumbup:

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I thoroughly enjoyed my second Autographica and agree with most of what has been said above.

 

My wristband was only checked once when going for my Buzz photo - not for autographs or the lecture. I appreciate with an open layout/multiple rooms that was going to be difficult. That said when I did the Birmingham show last year (my first one) my wristband wasn't checked at all and all the guests/dealers where in one large room. It would have been simple to have a couple of staff members posted on the door?!

 

The only disappointment for me was the lack of dealers. The front page of the website states "Over 200 tables of merchandise". Really?!

 

Praise from me goes to Greg H. Johnson who gave a fascinating presentation ('lecture' isn't the right word!) on his Space Shuttle exploits.

A few comments:

- I know the first 4 rows were reserved for VIPs but, with less than half the seats taken up, why not allow us commoners to fill them after VIPs have entered? Looks better than having everyone spread out to the back

- the projector needs looking at - everything had a pink tint!

- why not invest in a remote pointer? A simple £20 USB wireless pointer would allow the presenter to control the slides instead of having to say "next slide please" constantly

 

Overall, thanks Showmasters for bringing us these guests, particularly the astronauts. Looking forward to seeing what Birmingham has in store in September!

Edited by NeilPearson
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Well, I had a brillent Autographica, checked in hotel early and soon was getting the autos I wanted...

 

SR-71 pilots where brillent, one punter in front of me could not stop asking questions, some may moan, I just stood and listened, it was priceless...

 

Rhea Seddon and Hoot Gibson where fantastic, talked about fish and chips to Rhea! and said the best ones are in Yorkshire while 'her lad' discussed his watch and we compared bling...

 

Greg Johnson was another great guest. The punter in front of me had a pile of things to sign and yes some may complain, I watched and was amazed at what I saw, a shuttle poster with gazillions of signings, to see it was really nice and to see Greg take time and sign it carefully was something to watch. This punter said sorry to me but I replyed 'go for it, its a pleasure to watch'. The pen Greg used was to say not very good and he made sure the signing was right. That I noticed with the five guests I 'visited' - they asked how I wanted the signing, what pen to be used and any dedication.

 

All-in-all a excellent day (Saturday).

 

I would add, wrist bands, I was not asked but wearing a tee-shirt and the band been bright green, it certainly stood out and any one could see it was on me... Where do you lot wear them? I would add, it is a hotel, and perhaps other guests just wandered in not knowing what its all about.

 

Some one mentioned about Russian cosmonauts, no chance, watch the news, see whats been happening since around 2008... Russian navy for the last two Christmas's have been making 'visit's' of Scotland and the Russian AF have been flying down the North Sea. Our government does not like this, you think we are going to issue visa's? think not...

 

Oh, had a laugh to me self about some customers moaning about hot plates at breakfast, some of you lot are very funny... don't stop ;o)

 

See you all in September... ...and well done Showmasters on another excellent show...

 

von Dawson's Express

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Enjoyed it. Well run, showmasters staff were very good as always, met some real nice people in the queues, there was free water (sounds small but was very welcome) hotel was easy to get around, busy but not manic. Venue is still a pain to get to, and one of the signing rooms had a strong smell of wee?!?! (me and my mate and another noticed it) so gawd knows what that was about But all in all a smashing day out. As always, thanks Dave and co.

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This was my first Autographica (although I've plenty of experience with the bigger LFCC and Collectormania events) and very much enjoyed it - as everyone else has said, much more relaxed as an event! I came just to meet Robert Davi, so was only at the event for an hour or two - so very much worth it; it was an absolute pleasure to meet him! Thanks for the event, guys!

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Agree with all of the above, Had a really nice time. This was my second time to Autographica. Found Venue no problems. It was so nice not to rush around like a lunatic. My Highlight was meeting Barbara Bain wow Space 1999 guest for me. Everyone else was a bonus. Looking forward to the next show and lets hope lots more 1999 guests pleaseee. :dance:

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I had a great weekend. Although I had been to dozen other Showmasters events this was my first Autographica and I am sure I will be back! I decided to go to this one when Buzz Aldrin was announced. I was annoyed with myself for not going to Autographica in 2012 as I assumed that had been my last chance to see him but luckily we were given another chance! I couldn't justify spending £350 on his autograph (although I spent roughly that on other autographs over the weekend) but did get my picture taken with him.

 

I did get Alan Bean's autograph however, I thought his was good value and I found him a very pleasant guy. I was one of the last people to meet him on Saturday at around 5:45 and he must have been shattered but he was still in good form. He felt he had messed up my autograph and decided to try again and sign another 8x10. Unfortunately the one he 'messed up' was ripped up ^_^

 

Another highlight was Robert Davi. I consider him one of the bigger guest I have met at the various cons I have visited and I thought he was a very cool guy. I also thought he was a bargain at £25. Loved him in Goonies, Raw Deal, Licence to Kill, Predator 2, Die Hard, Maniac Cop and many more. and he is now following me on Twitter...result! :dance:

 

I also thought the Deluxe Weekend Pass was great value but taking part in 10 photo shoots is hard work :P I decided to go for all the astronauts on Saturday and also had a ticket for the Aldrin/Bean photo shoot (I had bought that one last year before I know about the Deluxe Pass) so I queued for a total of about 3 hours I think from 2:30 till 5:30 on Saturday.

 

Next time I will stay at the venue hotel however. I had decided to save a few pounds and stayed at the Jury's Inn. A very nice hotel only a short free bus ride away from the Radisson but it would have been so good to go back to your room once in while to wait for a photo shoot etc. or to freshen up.

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I have to say I really missed not having a hotel room I could pop back to during the day, I think next time is definately going to be a weekend stay for me, doing the one day thing is fine and it does save cash but it does make for a very long day!

This surprises me. With no virtual queues in operation. I'd have thought that it would be easy to get everything done in a day. But then we're all different.
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This was my first Autographica event and found the experience pretty good, I was only there for the Sunday but managed to get all the ones I wanted (5) in 1 hour so queuing wasn't a problem, but this didn't include any astronauts. The guests all were very friendly and found out a few facts about the movies they were in which was great.

Cant wait for the next one in Birmingham especially as I only live a 20 minute drive away :clap:

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I have to say I really missed not having a hotel room I could pop back to during the day, I think next time is definately going to be a weekend stay for me, doing the one day thing is fine and it does save cash but it does make for a very long day!

This surprises me. With no virtual queues in operation. I'd have thought that it would be easy to get everything done in a day. But then we're all different.

 

I don't think there is a problem getting everything done in a day, that much is fairly easy to accomplish, it was just that come 5pm, after the last photo shoot, it would have been quite nice to slope off to a hotel room rather than having to start jumping around on buses/trains etc for a couple of hours to get home.

Edited by Count Fooku
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I wanted to add my thanks for a great event. I only went on Sunday and was just after a few autographs and photos from Barbara Bain, Robert Davi and the Shining Twins. I found all the guests were wonderful taking their time with attendees and making it a personal experience for everyone. They all happily posed for photos over the table and were good fun and friendly in their photoshoots too. Robert Davi was my favourite guest, he's such an entertaining guest I do hope you bring him back to other events perhaps with a talk too. He was very popular on Sunday with a big queue most of the time.

 

I know a few people have commented that people were not being checked for wristbands. But I have to disagree on Sunday. The photoshoots were very well organised and there was a person checking as we went in and a person double checking as we queued in the photo area. They were very discreet but when they picked up a query they spoke to the person. I think they did an excellent job. I also heard them talking to a hotel guest who had wandered into the area to see what was happening and they politely explained the admission and ticket process. I felt the crew all did an excellent job and I was impressed that the hotel staff were also well briefed and knew about attendees purchasing tickets, photoshoots and the discounted parking. All very impressive.

 

I prefer the layout of Autographica Birmingham as this did seems a bit more sprawled out but it was an excellent event very well organised. Well done to everyone involved. :)

 

 

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I had a great day and many thanks to the SM staff who were very helpful and professional.

 

I met Barbara Bain and Robert Davi who were both superb- Robert in particular was one of the best guests I've ever met and I'll be picking up his Sinatra style album for sure!!!

 

First time at the Radisson, really nice hotel and well clearly laid out across several rooms. I did find some of the rooms a bit dark for photos, but the atrium was more than well lit!

 

No issues with the wristband as this was checked several times. Also no issue with the multiple items signed, but I can see how this would have annoyed people. Nearest I got to this issue was when I was queuing for Barbara Bain but was told the guy in front had 38 items, so I ran off to my photoshoot and came back afterwards, but this was no hardship for me.

 

I really enjoyed the day and would definitely consider going back to this venue, but as ever the calibre of guest is the defining reason!

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