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I said what I wanted to say on the FB announcement for SMs "Some facts not fiction or drama" post and I'm going to try not to repeat myself. Our experience of the eent was horrendous. Friday queuing was ridiculous and the whole of Saturday was downright dangerous. Sunday fared better although it started to feel very clustered again around lunchtime (that may come from some anxiety after Saturday). I didn't get most things I went for, and couldn't get near any of the stalls until Sunday. I felt terrible for everyone who was left outside in the heat and my experience was so bad, that I had to be convinced to go on Sunday and that was despite me already having a talk ticket for Stan Lee. The queuing for that talk was also terrible. We were told to start another queue near where Stan was signing and it cut across another one that snaked from the super stage itself. It was to follow on from the original queue. We were somewhere near the middle of the whole queue and were rushed in BEFORE the people who we had cut across. I felt terrible, some of them had been queuing for over an hour and as a result they ended up sitting at the back, while we were somewhere in the middle. I think there were some misleading announcements on the forum too regarding the trailerfest, and the autograph raffle for the Sherlock preview.

Showmasters weren't prepared despite the fact they knew what to expect. Inviting such big guests to the event, announcing that they expected 80,000 people to come over the weekend (call it 30,000 for Sat and Sun each and 20,000 for Friday). The venue only holds 15,000ish. I assume they thought that everyone who attended would leave at some point allowing the other attendees to go in which was reckless. As many people have already said, they advertised it as the biggest event ever, but were never going to be up to the job. Many people on the forum expressed concern over whether certain guests were going to be able to live up to all the commitments being made and it was just glossed over, on the day those people were proven right.

My last comment on this goes to the moderators and DavidB, you guys do a great job, I might not agree with the methods sometimes, but you do it voluntarily and don't deserve the flack you guys get (the same goes for the crew-not their fault many of them were very poorly trained and they still tried their best). However, Jason might not want to respond to the attendees yet for whatever reason, but if he had an ounce of respect for you guys he would because you are all holding the fort and taking the stick and anger from people when you have no control and it isn't your fault. What he did do was add fuel to the fire for you lot to put out by putting up THAT message.

I hope I haven't offended anybody, but I want those accountable to own up and explain themselves.

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Like OMG it's a good comment! :smile:

 

Ok I went on Saturday and Sunday, Before LFCC 2014 I had only been too LFCC 2011 on the Saturday because I went before I kind of knew what to expect with the long queues and big crowds. Both days we had Early Bird tickets and I'm so glad we had them. Saturday walking up to Earls Court 2 was crazy but we soon found what line we where suppose to wait in, I think we waited around 30 mins to get in, Which is fine with me. We got inside and I soon realised the layout was like 2011's layout so we found the sales desk easily. We had to wait in another long queue but I was also fine with this. The crew made sure we got in the right lines and where happy to help us. When I got to the desk they where quick to find the photoshoot tickets I wanted, Tho if Showmasters get late quests they should try to do a quick update to help the crew know what prices guests autos are (I know guests have a price on their desk but it's not always easy to see this) They also have a list but I found that some of the late guests where not on this list. I wrote down all my photoshoot times and what area they where in before the day. Most of my photoshoot lines moved down really quickly and was so happy about the instant photos! In 2011 we had to wait until they end of the day to get them. Saturday was pretty stress free for me except when I had to rush to get Isaac's (Bran Stark) autograph, He was only there from 1-5pm but I managed to see him and he was so nice :D Later on I had to get a refund on card because Isaac had his solo shoot cancelled and that's fine but I had to wait for ages because hardly none of the crew knew how to refund on card, I was in no rush so it didn't bother me to much but a guy behind me got really snappy with me :no:

 

Sunday was waaaaaaay better. We pretty much got in straight away and as I bought photos and auto money tickets the day before we could pass the sales desk and go straight for the autos and because we got to the guests early they where more than happy to take photos with us. Sunday was way more chilled out and even the crew seemed more chilled out. At one point we queued for the Iron Throne which got delayed because of faulty printers or something but the crew told us this and we where fine with this. The throne was awesome and well worth the wait :king: At 4pm I went along to the Carrie Fisher photoshoot. There was a lot of people as she was late getting to the show but I was number 59 so once everyone started moving I got my picture pretty quick. (Cookies for the crew member in charge of that queue. He said everything loud and clear and was really helpful)

 

Highlight of the weekend goes to all the Game of Thrones guests. I met and had autos/photos with most of the GoT guests and ALL of them where so friendly and chatty and except Lena (Who was more busy so it's understandable) all where happy to take photos. Finn Jones was adding all sorts of silly stuff to his picture. (I asked him to add the goatee :angel:) Kristian Nairn melted my heart when he came out from behind his desk to hug a man in a wheelchair. Gethin, Finn and Daniel are also so much more lovely in person :blush::blush::blush:

Anyways I LOVED my weekend and I'm already excited for next year :dance:

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I agree expecting to sell 30 thou tickets in a day to a venue that only holds 15 thou is sort of IMPOSABLE people go for the day for a day out they want to meet several people often ant that means they will often have to stay the day to get everyone's autos and photos in especially when they're are huge numbers of fans so the queues are long. I certainly wouldn't leave till the day is over- meaning id got all my autos, photos, souvenir's/merchandise and taken pictures. Showmaster eihter needs a bigger ventue to acomedate that amount of people or they need to scale down their numbers. But PLEASE dont scale back down the guests.

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I know stuff was removed, which is why this topic was made by me, and things are still going.. albeit slightly off-track now ;)

Well umm... I thought Friday was perfect, Saturday was horrific and Sunday was great!

 

In regards to the issues, I think SM have forgotten that they do have control over how many people turn up. It's their biggest job. Not enough and they make a loss, too many and they have big issues. The fact is if only 50 guests had been there, no where near as many people would have turned up. The guest line up and other show activities are directly linked to how many people turn up. So given the venue size, it's 100% on SM's head that too many people turned up. The guest line-up was too good and/or the venue too small for it.

 

I will not accept the "more people turned up then we were expecting" excuse for the Saturday because many people including me predicted that exact outcome. With their years of experience they either HAD to know..or were (and I don't like saying it) incompetent at organizing the event this time around.

 

As for some early birds still not getting in till gone 11. I think they are owed £7, since they actually got in at standard ticket time. People say to each other "well you should of got here earlier then" but that doesn't fix anything. No matter how early people turned up there would still have been the same amount of people in that queue at 9am and some people still wouldn't of been in till gone 11.

 

With all that said and done, Friday and Sunday was brilliant. I arrived at 2pm Friday. Queued for about an hour and then met the legend Stan Lee. Perfect!

Sunday..all my little complaints had been fixed. Met everyone I wanted and loved it. If I block Saturday from my memory it was truly the biggest and best show I've ever been too :)

Edited by LogicTheory
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Bad language is just one issue with some posts.

this is why we have mods to edit posts... but as it's a forum I do think all threads should stay and not go into hiding - I put good comments and bad comments ( never swear ) but do think it's a more honest approach to leave the entire thread in place minus the bickering / swearing
If a thread is removed it is for a reason, even if not known. Some may disagree with it but at the end of the day this is Showmaster's forum.

 

Effectively 'you' are a guest in their house and it is just plain rude not to respect the rules of the house, even if you may disagree with how it is run. The moderators, while here to help, also have a role to uphold the rules. Posts will be edited or removed. As will threads if required. That will not change.

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If I'm a guest in someones house then I expect that house to have adequate entry and exit points and to feel safe, I also expect that person to respect me aswell if I am respecting them by being a guest and following their rules, surely they have to follow some basic rules too???

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Bad language is just one issue with some posts.

this is why we have mods to edit posts... but as it's a forum I do think all threads should stay and not go into hiding - I put good comments and bad comments ( never swear ) but do think it's a more honest approach to leave the entire thread in place minus the bickering / swearing
If a thread is removed it is for a reason, even if not known. Some may disagree with it but at the end of the day this is Showmaster's forum.

 

Effectively 'you' are a guest in their house and it is just plain rude not to respect the rules of the house, even if you may disagree with how it is run. The moderators, while here to help, also have a role to uphold the rules. Posts will be edited or removed. As will threads if required. That will not change.

excuse me ? I know 'you' was to all ... but I am not a guest in a house , I am a paying customer and this forum is an extension of the services provided by the company who has a duty of care and legal obligations to me

 

I find your reply particularly rude to be honest

 

This is a forum and yes certain language cannot be tolerated but this is how SM customers can talk and share experiences - I post good & bad but do not agree with hiding all the / majority of the bad just to save face ( as that is how it appears )

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OK, I enjoyed LFCC but it was obvious that some things need improving. I'm going to try and avoid saying what others have said already, but there will be some overlaps.

Entry queues - the problems here come up every few shows. Yes, improvements do get made but then the show gets bigger and the old problems come back. I understand that the venue staff are in charge of the queues outside. Unfortunately a lot of them do not understand the different tickets available. "Gold Ticket you've pre paid? Yes, that's the big prepay queue left hand side of EC2!"

Suggestion 1 - Venue staff man the queues with support from Showmasters. 1 blue shirt at the end of each queue making sure people are joining the right queue. Venue security staff positioned where there are queue breaks, making sure no queue jumping. eg early bird queue just round the corner from the front of EC2 there is a queue break. I've stood here in the queue a couple of times and have spent an hour or so pointing queue jumpers to the back of the queue. One day last year there was an EC security man at this point and he did a great job.

Suggestion 2 - 3 or 4 blueshirts per queue walk up and down the queue from say 7.30 or 8.00 onwards until the queue has dispersed, just making sure things are OK, and answering any questions, passing any info onto the queuing masses.

You really do need to look at barriers for queues.

Suggestion 3 - Do not sell talk tickets or photoshoot tickets to anyone who does not have a prepaid ticket. You already do this for DSTL! I'm tempted to say only sell to those who have gold or early entry tickets because times are often not available when tickets are sold..

Suggestion 4 - We need barriers for Auto queues.

Suggestion 5 - So Carrie Fisher got stuck in traffic on Saturday and was an hour late. Nobodies fault, these things happen. Don't sell auto tickets for guests who are not in the building. I would have been happy if there was a queue say vt 1-20 up to the pay table,once she was in the building start taking money. But once you have paid you are stuck there. This leads me on to:

Suggestion 5 - Better communication between those that know whats going on and the crew at the signing table. This should lead to better communication to the people in the queue. I read somewhere that pit bosses have radios. Do they use them? Do they work? Do more crew need them? Would mobile phones work better?

Suggestion 6 - You have got some fantastic crew, surely for a sci fi show you can clone each of them 100 times? No!? Well you certainly need far more crew. Every queue needs more crew, especially if it does not have barriers or if it is not moving. If you are on your own in the middle of a queue which is not moving, you are stuck you can't go and ask someone what is going on, you'll lose your place. More crew and better communication.

Suggestion 7 - More space required. Yes, you did add an extra hall but you also added a lot of extra attractions, and thus a huge amount of extra people! Jason was surprised that early bird people did not leave earlier on Saturday. I usually leave about 2.00 or 3.00pm but you had put on so much extra I didn't leave till 5.30pm.

Suggestion 8 - Talks - either get the sound right or don't have the talks. I love the talks. Over the years the sound has improved and I think the guy who comperes them, does a great job. It was embarrasing before when there was no compere. Great idea to have a bigger talk area, but the sound was awful.

Suggestion 9 - The front page of the website needs big letters saying there is a lot more info in the forums. All adverts need to spell out go to the website for more info. The forum needs a few locked threads at the top of the page that are info only eg the faq thread should only have the faq, and be locked so that only mods can update it. Sure, have a second thread for questions, but keep the updated info easy to find. Its difficult trawling through lots of posts to find something.

I don't bother with photoshoots, I consider them to be a necessary evil that takes guests away from signing tables. But they are obviously a great popular opportunity, so what do I know! The introduction of printers has been a fantastic improvement. But once again queuing needs a rethink.

I know the rules so maybe you'll delete this, but I stopped going to a show, which was not a patch on a Showmasters show, because of bad entry queue handling, overcrowding, and appalling auto queue handling.

To end on a positive note, I learnt my lesson some years ago at Milton Keynes, when I got there too late to meet Carrie Fisher. To get the best out of these shows, get there early and have a plan. I got a gold pass this time but I still needed to get a VT for Stan Lee. When I saw that you were going to hand out the gold passes in the queue half an hour before opening, I decided get there early on Friday, get my gold pass and then go straight to the gold pass entry at Brompton Hall for my VT.
I turned up at about 4.30 and the gold pass queue was about the same length as the early bird used to be at 7.30am! Gold passes were handed out almost straight away. I was surprised that nobody else was leaving the queue. I went to the gold pass entry at EC1 and there was nobody there. Went for a coffee, at 6.00pm there were only about 12 of us in the gold pass queue, got VT No3 and straight in for a Stan Lee auto!

So to sum up, I enjoyed the show and did everything I wanted, but the problems were there for all to see. A lot of thinking and planning is required before the next one.

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Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments and constructive criticism. That was what I was trying to encourage initially, not an in depth discussion on the dos and don't of forum moderation.

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excuse me ? I know 'you' was to all ... but I am not a guest in a house , I am a paying customer and this forum is an extension of the services provided by the company who has a duty of care and legal obligations to me

 

I find your reply particularly rude to be honest

 

This is a forum and yes certain language cannot be tolerated but this is how SM customers can talk and share experiences - I post good & bad but do not agree with hiding all the / majority of the bad just to save face ( as that is how it appears )

When I sign up to a forum I consider myself a guest. As do others I know. It's just an analogy.

 

Users who sign up to a forum agree to follow its rules. That is normal practice.

 

Bad language is actually a small percentage of things that get edited. Threads don't get removed because of bad language. Threads are removed for other reasons.

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Just trying to keep the peace a little. Constant arguments and all that isn't going to help either side really. No event organiser has ever put on a perfect event.. there's always something they could do better.. so as long as it's all pretty level headed on here, I see no reason to be messing around with stuff :)

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Just trying to keep the peace a little. Constant arguments and all that isn't going to help either side really. No event organiser has ever put on a perfect event.. there's always something they could do better.. so as long as it's all pretty level headed on here, I see no reason to be messing around with stuff :)

and thank you for it :-)

 

just wish certain people didn't make ridiculous comments stiring the pot, but hey we all learn from our mistakes I guest ... I mean guess

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colowt i like many of your ideas. here are the ones i really think showmaster should adopt- only sell photo tickets to people who have pre paid tickets. i wouldnt go as fat as making it only gold and early bird but definitely prepaid. it would solve some problems, idea 2 blue shirts patrolling the lines preventing queue jumping and answering questions,4 barries/rope off auto lines to make sure you stay in the correct line,5 better communication between staff,7more space,& 9 locked threads for updates so people can find the info they need quick.

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How many people actually work for Showmasters? I keep seeing the word volunteer, from door people to forum mods...How many actual staff does this company have? And whatever the number is, guess it's time to increase that number, and invest time and money in training just like any other company. I'd say even producing a handbook for your volunteers to refer to would go a long way.

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I have some comments i would like to make as I attended all three days. i WONT make any comment on the entrance queues as i had press pass and was fortunate enough to gain entry prior to opening each day for photographs etc.

 

I do however have other comments i would like to make:

 

1/ The Sales desk queues were horrendous. I was queued in one particular line from 6:15 until 7:50pm to buy one photo ticket on the Friday evening pre-show. I commented several times to blue shirts that ALL other queues were moving and mine was at a stand still. The replies were "Oh someone was buying bulk tickets of 10 per guest". This may have been true but i and others in the queue noticed that a nother line and group had formed out of nowhere and they were being seen too first. I fully understad the popularity of "buying photoshoots on the day" but the queue jumping has to stop as it is costing more than just time, tempers were running VERY high.

 

2/ Guests were leaving before the event finnished: I don't know if anyone else expereienced this but a number of guests were leaving before 9pm (I went to Terry Farell's queue on Friday night at 8:40 only to be told the queue was closed!!!

 

The following relate to Saturday and Sunday:

 

3/ Over capacity! I commented to a blue shirt that there were too many people in the EC2 and that it was dangerous, he informed me that "yeah, it is a bit crowded in here". I recommended he let a red shirt know and maybe do something about it, not sure if he did. This was at about 11:42, just after I had got Carrie Fisher's autograph and I was on my way to her photoshoot. After the photoshoot i was gasping for air and tried to make my way to the front door. After moving only a few feet in ten minutes going against those coming in, i turned around and made my way to an emergency exit which was guarded by an event sec security person. I went to open the door and he said it "was for emergencies only, you cant open it, go to the front of the hall" When i told him i had tried to exit through the front he simply shrugged and said just move to the front of the hall. That was it it!! Totally deplorable! This was basic health and safety, too many people in a crowded enclosed area and i was unable to leave the venue either by emergency exit or the front door!

 

4/ "Kettling" at photoshoots/special guests boxes: This is another issue regarding crowds in tight enclsed spaces. You contsantly tell everyone to "Move right up, move right up" until your are brushing shoulders with people in the opposite direction in the same queue! There is NO personal space, and due to the heat in the hall, there was virtually no room to breath. This must be redressed urgently as it seems to get worse at every con; hundreds of people toe to toe, back to back breathing in everyone else's air is not healthy, not comfortable and especially in the case of photoshoots, you are ending up in a sweaty miserable state before your 5seconds to smile and "Snap", next please!

 

5/ Trailerfest: Three trailers is not a Trailer fest, especially as one of the films has been in the cinema for nearly two weeks!!! Trailerfest was widely hyped and i and others ended up extremely disappointed. Plus side though was that i was able to get a seat:)

 

6/ Talks: I love talks but i found it extremly annoying when you cant hear what the guests are saying! These talks need to be in another area, preferably in a room, seats are limited anyway so it shouldnt be a problem, but if you are attending a talk (especially a paid one), you need to be able to hear what the guests are saying and not have thumping guitar music blaring! Another point, which was made at last years LFCC was that your "compere" (the scottish chap) is simply not good. Last year he spoilt the walking dead talk by asking them not to talk about episodes that he hadnt seen, This year he was biased to questions from one side of the room, and thats when he wasn't hogging the mic for mundane and silly questions from himself. Please, if its a genuine Q&A for attendees, then just let the attendees ask all of the questions and have someone just do the introductions and brief bio!

 

7/Smoking: There are laws in place that state it is illeagal to smoke unless you are in designated areas, yet right on the front steps of both of the halls, people were openly smoking in front of staff and crew! Its bad enough that you were struglling for breath due to over capacity, but to get out side and be smothered by nicotine, carbon monxide and other chemicals from tobacco is simply outrageous! Please enforce this more thouroughly for your next convention!

 

I do however have a few plus points from the weekend:

 

1/ Personalisations: I am so pleased that i was able to get personalisations from Carrie Fisher, John Hurt and Ian McDiarmuid on the autographs. Though i made sure i was in the first group for autographs for each of the above guests, this certainly made my weekend, thank you.

 

2/ The crew lady at the Carrie Fisher autograph signing on Saturday and Ian McDiarmuid on Sunday morning, thank you; you were very kind, courteous and helpful and great at letting me and others get personalisations.

 

3/ The Auction: True that its not really a silent auction, but you have really put the effort into this and it shows. Great selection of items, clear list and descriptions and when the auction started, the Scottich lady gave the bidders and prices in a clear and loud tone, brilliant:)

 

4/ Retro Gaming: This was a brilliant addition to LFCC, well done for the those who came up withthe idea. The machines were in great condition and working order (complete with lighson the 10p coins slots:). Considering the abuse and use they received from the whole weeekend, im surprised they are still functioning. Please can these be brought back again, with perhaps some new multi player games such as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, The Simpsons and Operation Thunderbolt:)

 

My overall experience would have been extremley disappointing if it wasnt for the guests personalisations and also having friends literally bump into me. In a room full of thousands of peple, several of my friends found me and vice versa, miracles do happen and it really brightened up my con weekend.

Edited by phil_wilce
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I have some comments i would like to make as I attended all three days. i WONT make any comment on the entrance queues as i had press pass and was fortunate enough to gain entry prior to opening each day for photographs etc...

A very good review ! Check mine ( I put a new thread of a review good bad & ugly )

Edited by DavidB
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3/ Over capacity! I commented to a blue shirt that there were too many people in the EC2 and that it was dangerous, he informed me that "yeah, it is a bit crowded in here". I recommended he let a red shirt know and maybe do something about it, not sure if he did. This was at about 11:42, just after I had got Carrie Fisher's autograph and I was on my way to her photoshoot. After the photoshoot i was gasping for air and tried to make my way to the front door. After moving only a few feet in ten minutes going against those coming in, i turned around and made my way to an emergency exit which was guarded by an event sec security person. I went to open the door and he said it "was for emergencies only, you cant open it, go to the front of the hall" When i told him i had tried to exit through the front he simply shrugged and said just move to the front of the hall. That was it it!! Totally deplorable! This was basic health and safety, too many people in a crowded enclosed area and i was unable to leave the venue either by emergency exit or the front door!

 

i had all the same problems.as i posted somewhere on the forum urlier i am epileptic was almost at a state of having a panic attack or a fit and the earls court staff not the lfcc staff were down right rude and turned me around when i was trying to get outside telling me i had to go out the fronw when clearly someone before me had gone out the fire exit.

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Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments and constructive criticism. That was what I was trying to encourage initially, not an in depth discussion on the dos and don't of forum moderation.

But if members of this forum want an indepth disscusion on forum moderation(and it seems like they do) then why don't you just let them? its not really for you to "encourage" what members want to talk about is it? that in essence is what a forum is for, for the members with a shared interest to talk about what they want. The mods on here can dance around as much as you want talking about "Swearing" and "arguments" but you have been instructed to remove posts that don't show SM and its events in a wholely positive light, however slight, that is the 100% truth,end of.

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I never attended a con this big before. In fact, I only went to the Doctor Who Celebration back in November before. I've been reading this forum and following the official twitter everyday or several times a day to get all the infos and advices possible to really enjoy my day. I arrived early (7am), printed all the plans and schedule, brought a bottle of water with me. These are my only complaints (except the usual overcrowding & heat):

 

  • I'm sure I'm not the only one coming from a different country. I don't think it's really fair to close the shop down for non-UK attendees few days before the UK one. As plenty of people here already mentionned, e-tickets would be a better option.
  • Speaking of e-tickets it would be easier for you, just to avoid huge queues to buy autographs/photoshoots and talks on the day!

 

  • There were so much people on the alleys that I didn't get to the chance to see any of the merchandising properly without being pushed or carried away!

 

  • I remember reading in here that tickets numbers mattered. Saturday, the staff only aknowledged tickets numbers from 0 to 100. Leaving the rest of the attendees waiting in a random order. What is the point then of giving ticket numbers if it's not really respected? It was only respected for the GOT screening.

 

  • The staff was ovewhelmed by the end of the day, which is completely understandable due to the number of people here. The issue is that by 5pm some of us had photoshoot clashing issues and when we asked for more info on that particular issue, the staff only listened and didn't care at all/ didn't answer. In the middle of the day, there was a change with the Anthony Head photoshoot. His photoshoot time was cut in half and the second half was at 5:20pm, during Jenna Coleman photoshoot session 2. I was told that Anthony session 2 was will only last 5 minutes and that I would have time to join Jenna Coleman queue later on. At 5:30, there were about 50 people waiting for Anthony and I had to chose between missing Anthony or Jenna photoshoot. I'm a massive fan of Jenna and she was mainly the reason why I attended lfcc this year so I gave up Anthony's photoshoot. Here again, I grew up watching Buffy. I was a massive fan and I was really looking forward to met him. Giving up on him was such a disappointement but it was wasting £35 or £15, so...

 

  • My boyfriend is a massive fan of Game of Thrones so I decided to go to the screening with him. I was fun, it was great but nonetheless, what is the point ofaving actors commenting on an episode at the con if we don't get the chance to see them properly. I know the screening was the event but I would have love to properly see the actors and their reactions instead of guessing where they were in the audience! By the way, I don't think it was well played to announce a special guest to final have a Joffrey Pinata. Funny, I admit but not so special!

 

  • Last thing, the sound on the main stage was awful. Guests and us, attendees, barely understood people questions and some guests answers!

 

I know you don't have a great feedback but I had a great day nonetheless, especially thanks to Paul McGann! You can only grow stronger and better now! I would have love to spend another day there but I had to come back to France to work! I will definitely consider going back to a lfcc again (especially if there is Billie Piper, or again Paul McGann (Can you tell how I love him yet?)

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I was one of those that had a bad time on Saturday but at least i got in even if i only stayed for 40 mins due to the overcrowding.

Im hoping in time the organisers come forward and put their hands up and sorry we got x wrong and listened to everyone and this is what we will do.

A few hopefully constructive comments\suggestions.

1)Completely seperate the mechandise area from the autograph area. whilst i suspect the majority of customers visit both there are some like myself who are only there for one or the other.
This may ease overcrowding and give the sellers more foot traffic as it was impossible to browse or buy from 11am on Saturday as the aisles were completely gridlocked.

2)Have queue marshalls at spaced intervalls to advise visitors where to join the queue.If you need seperate queue for gold\pre-purchase customers and on the door punters have the queues at seperate areas of earls court and cleary signposted and also noted on a map on the website.

3)Have a set number of tickets for sale which the venue can safely accomodate during the day.If any are still available for purchase on the day make it clear online how many are available as people would rather save themselves the hassle if they know they wont get in rather than queue for 4 hours plus and still miss out.

4)im not sure how easy this is to implement but maybe have an agreed limit of autograph packs with your guests im not sure what would be a sensible number a celeb would be happy to agree to but if you have to limit it for cetain celebs then do it at least everyone knows where they stand and if they miss out then everyone is in the same boat.

5)use a tannoy system in the hall to communicate any important guest info.

 

6)Dont sell early birds if delays mean that there is no real benefit to an early bird just charge the standard admission as it feels like a bit of a rip off being charged double the entry fee when you get in 20 mins before standard entry.

7)Maybe have one "super" attendee rather than this years multi "superstars" unless the venue can accomodate the interest they generate and then maybe have them stationed in seperate areas so that crowd control is easier.

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ChrisF i agree with all you say as for number 4 there already is a limit to how many autographs you can get in 1 go its 5 its just some people were flouting or not enforcing the rule.

at the Stan Lee preview the girls selling tickets had the maths written down on paper to make it easier so if someone said four please they had the cost in front of them ... this paper went all the way up to 10 autographs = £450 , don't know if this was just for Friday or just for press passes ... but certainly 5 was not the limit there ( never noticed it any other time )

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