Constructive Criticism

[Anubis278]

Saturday was my first ever comic con and I had a Fantastic day. Got all the photo shoots I planned plus a couple of extra autographs. Didn’t get to any of the talks but that was down to my bad planning, going to have to do both days next year with early bird tickets to get more in. Already planning my cosplay, (Thinking of going as a browncoat). Yes it did feel overcrowded but there really isn’t anyway to predict how many people would turn up to pay on the day, by the sounds of it, attendance this year exploded. I’m sure Showmasters will look at what worked and what didn’t. Here are a few suggestions.

 

1) Space. Use earls court 1 as the main venue

 

2) Crowd control. Use barriers at the entrances to separate people who are queuing to get in from those who are walking between buildings (seemed a bit like a free for all at the entrance). Will also stop queue jumping which I saw plenty of including people just walking straight into the venue because the Showmaster volunteers were simply overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people.

 

3) Signs. Very few signs existed for routes, entrances or queues. Confusion simply annoys people and makes any existing problems worse.

 

3a) Louder and bigger presence of Showmaster staff. Directing people to appropriate queues or various locations they need to be loud and proud. Most people will not approach a member of staff to ask and it would be impossible due to sheer numbers if they did. Only one member at the start of the underground entrance was even trying to be heard over the crowd and direct people. Soon enough there was nobody to direct anything.

 

4) Planning. Poor planning on stands, photo shoots and layout produced bottle necks and mass gatherings of multiple people and queues mixing too many groups together. Have the sales stand nearer the back of the venue, having it so close to the front caused bit of a bottleneck. Have queue entrances originated in different directions so only in extreme cases the queues will overlap.

 

5) Have a cap on the number of autograph tickets handed out (Summer Glau stopped at 600 at the end of the day but I had a ticket for 1195)

 

Hope this is helpful rather than just complaining.

 

Thanks again for a great day looking forward to seeing the London Film and Comic Con becoming more awesome as time goes on, already counting down the days Until the winter con

[Kuato_Lives]

I don't think a cap on VT tickets would really work though if I'm honest.

 

Some people pick 'em up and don't use them.

 

Some guests offer a better meeting experience than others so it's hard to know how many they'll be able to get through in a day.

[jediwarrior]

Agree about the cap on vt tickets. Each guest is different and some chat more than offers. Showmasters could cap someone and that guest could of done all them number by midday then what happens? Yeah reopen the queue but some of those people who wanted that auto but didn't get the Vt ticket and therefore might have left thinking they could not get the auto might gone home and miss out. Instead if you got a number you can judge by yourself during the day that if you hang on for a hour or two you will get to meet that guest.

[hollyb83]

maybe have separate team for twitter manning queue lines photo ops etc so people have a real time idea of whats going on

[Salemzorro]

maybe have separate team for twitter manning queue lines photo ops etc so people have a real time idea of whats going on

This is great idea, if the queue is wrapping round the building and the venue is full it might be worth letting those who haven't arrived what the situation is?

[hollyb83]

completely agree

Ill take the job on myself there should be a team or even just a group who cover the queues, photo shoots and autograph queues. could easily update virtual queue numbers or if a guest has gone for a break to save upset so peoples time can be spent wisely

[Salemzorro]

I was getting my rather sporadic updates via other attendees via Twitter while I was on my way to the venue. Something official would have been far better and would helped both the public and organisers as people with no chance of getting in could go and do other things.

[hollyb83]

its something that can easily be organised through one account ive done this before then you would know what is happening live and not with a delay

[Pod0509]

The problem is saturday and sunday has the feeling of showmasters wating maximum money and doing it on the cheap by still using volunteers.

 

I have said before that I would like to crew a show but they now need to actually get paid staff in to control the crowds and they need barriers at the entrance so they can compact and make the queue separate and stop queue jumping.

 

Inside again things are done on the cheap. Sticky tape on the floor is ok when its not that busy like last year. But when you have a 1000 people turning up for a stan lee photo shoot sticky tape is almost useless.

The only thing that saved the stan lee photo shoot today was the guy in glasses shouting and arranging things. He was awesome at crowd controll.

 

Sunday was much better than saturday but still massively understaffed and a lot of areas were confusing and people were just queue junping.

[ripper2256]

1) Get rid of this Ticket/Stamp System. Use Wristbands instead. One for all days and one for day guests.

2) Make some doors Entry Only and others Exit Only

3) It should be possible to preorder tickets for autographs. maybe just a small amount would be enough to make die hard fans happy.

4) Don't oversell!!!

 

Just my 5 cents...