Comments

[Nightcrawler]

It's a forum - you will get good and bad comments and that's the nature of a discussion ?

[DavidB]

There's a difference between a discussion and arguments and name calling etc. It's a polite reminder that people can give their feedback either way and that we don't want it to descend into petty comments and rudeness.

[Nightcrawler]

True True

 

Where you say " we all know things went wrong " - what things went wrong in your opinion ?

 

Just curious

[AxelV]

Yeah - the majority of people politely put their concerns across which is fine but then there's a handful that do it in quite an aggressive way which really isn't needed as it only riles people up more.

David was clearly just pointing out that arguments won't get anyone anywhere.

[Oneiroi17]

Also curious, where has the thread titled "some facts not fiction or drama" (originally posted by the Showmasters account) gone? Am I just missing it? I thought it was on the first page still.

[Salemzorro]

I spent 14 hours a day over the past couple of weeks at least passing on every single piece of information on Twitter, so I've certainly been trying. I agree more things need to be clear on the website itself though.

The information on Twitter leading up to the event is great, thanks for your efforts but without real time updates for those actually there on on their way to the venue something is missing.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Salemzorro

[DavidB]

There's definitely things we can do more of certainly :) and those are things we'll think about developing going forward hopefully.

[Nightcrawler]

Yeah but what things do you think went wrong here ? just curious what you thought as an insider of SM as it were .. obviously much more closely associated than I am anyway lol just interesting to see in your opinion what you think as you mentioned it in your post initially really

[discodiva]

Also curious, where has the thread titled "some facts not fiction or drama" (originally posted by the Showmasters account) gone? Am I just missing it? I thought it was on the first page still.

*sigh*..yes it looks like it's gone..

[DavidB]

I'm not really in a position to comment on most things - I wouldn't consider myself an 'insider' - I do my bits but that's all :) I wouldn't want to comment on things I have no knowledge or experience about really as it's not my place.

 

That's where it's important to get the crew feedback as well as attendees - that way a whole picture can be formed of what happened where, why, and the knock-on effects on other things etc.

[RMC001]

Although I don't tend to go to any London events due to difficult parking, extortionate train fares etc, I was tempted to go to this event, due to the great celebrities going. However I'm glad I didn't on this occasion.

With many attractions, they tend to grow and grow, as more people become aware of them, then there tends to be a point where they just become too big, and when that happens they are no longer worth going to. One example is the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which appears to have so many people going in every day, that surely they must be playing sardines in there??

Looking at the reviews on these boards I feel this event certainly has become too big. Especially with celebs like Stan Lee, Carrie Fisher, John Hurt, Jenna Coleman, Ian McDiarmid, there is bound to be a very big crowd. I've always thought very highly of Showmasters with their ability to reduce queues by running virtual queuing systems, but find it shocking that people queued for four hours and gave up! It's the sort of issue that occurs with signing sessions run by inexperienced operators, and I've met a few of them myself.

My feelings are that there are several events around the country, such as Milton Keynes, Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, so why was it that all the big celebrities had to be sent to this one? Why not arrange for them to go to different ones around the country? One reason why I didn't go was that I could have spent hundreds of pounds in autographs alone! (I can't understand why Ian McDiarmid charges £70 per autograph!).

One point I was pleased about was that Natalie Dormier dropped out just before the event - which means hopefully she will attend a future one, preferably outside of London and I will get the chance to meet her.

[jakers77777]

Personally I had a fantastic time.

[stobbs]

I was there all 3 days from the first to last minute each day & had a fantastic time.

 

Yes it was super-busy but I got everything done that I wanted & more. Yes it was a tad too hot AC is the way forward and a little more spacing in the photo queues would be good, it was hard not trying to look to sweaty in the shots!

 

Biggest let down was the no-show of the special guest at the GoT screening, I will give this a miss if done again next year.

 

I'm missing it already .... when is the next show???

[Kuato_Lives]

I arrived at 7.10am on Saturday with an early bird ticket. Had 7 photoshoots, got 3 autographs & sat in on the Starship Troopers talk and caught the 2nd half of the wreslter's talk (Had a photoshoot so I had to miss to the first half) Bumped into lots of friends old and new. I had a good time, mostly down to being organised and heading there with a plan.

 

My only gripes are photoshoot area E running behind schedule on Saturday.

 

Some of the crew members being sheepish, meek and just having no clue. Make them wear name badges in the future so we can give feedback applauding the assertive ones who do a great job like the dude with grey hair and glasses controlling the crowd in Photo A (I think). And also present our concerns about the ones who just don't seem to be cut out for the task they are given.

 

The heat inside!

[Jumpyghostface]

 

Also curious, where has the thread titled "some facts not fiction or drama" (originally posted by the Showmasters account) gone? Am I just missing it? I thought it was on the first page still.

*sigh*..yes it looks like it's gone..

 

This is SM's forum, so they can do what they like in their own space - but it does look bad when they delete stuff like this. Pretending things didn't happen very rarely makes them go away.

 

I did have a really good time, but only by abandoning half the con I'd paid for.

[Salemzorro]

If Showmasters are genuinely interested in making the event better then, as festival organisers learned many years ago, they have a great resource here to help.

 

As part of the festival build up there was a fan forum, held in a pub with some members of their forums and event management to discuss the plans & offer solutions to issues raised the previous year.

 

It was amazing to see how much better the festival was after the promoter had taken on board the feedback in an open but dedicated way. Tweaks were made to avoid bottle necks, eliminating long walks, improving security etc. Not everything has to cost the earth if anything but all the hard work is there to be seen each year.

[aliv0]

I hope that someone does give us an explanation once we have all recovered from the event. We queued outside the event for over 4 hours before we gave up and left. We saw no signs telling us where to queue (we simply went for the massive one going around the entire building) and there were no staff around to ask what was going on or if we had any chance of getting in. Eventually (4 hours later) a crew member told us the venue was full to capacity and they couldn't guarantee us entry.

 

It needed more communication with the people queueing outside so we knew what was going on.

 

 

[Matty-lad]

Hey all,

 

I travelled 3 hours each way on both Saturday and Sunday (had a concert to go to Saturday night) along with my brother and had a great time on both days.

 

We both had a total of 12 autographs to get each and the only had 2 hiccups:-

 

1) Anthony Head was moved mid-morning and no one seemed to know what was going on. I tried the Organizer's Booth and they hadn't got a clue. For me it looked like he had gone. Managed to track him down - he had moved to the other side of the hall. I did get my autograph so was happy in the end.

 

2) I missed out on Jenna Coleman's autograph. This was my own fault since I had to leave at 2.30pm due the the concert.

 

Apart from these, we had an excellent weekend, worth all that travelling and will certainly be back for the winter one (expecially when we have more guests announced.)

 

Take care,

Matty-lad

[Murph]

I think SM should definitely steer clear of having so many pass holders ever again. I had a comic gold and managed to do everything I wanted (not without problems). I would never have got half of what I did without the pass, due to some guests being stuck on very low VQ no's due to being busy with all the passes.

[Kinggodzillak]

OTHER people had the worst time in their life. That doesn't make them evil or trolls.

 

I hope Jason remembers that when he's on here later deleting threads all over the place, accusing people of stirring up trouble when all they're doing is posting legitimate concerns and criticisms, and saying "well basically everyone had an amazing time and the next one will be even better c you there" and ignoring all the many significant problems that this weekend has highlighted to many many of his paying customers.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Kinggodzillak

[DavidB]

It can be a fine line. We are aware of people who do come on here just to stir things up and that is unfortunate because it can have a knock-on effect and make others look bad, and the genuine concerns can get missed underneath all that.

 

We're all reading these comments and the main issues will certainly come to the top and be looked at.

[eccheetham]

I hope not too many things are deleted on here later. what i think should happen is showmaster need to come on give a formal apology and admit that not enough staff were placed around the venue and take out commnts on board not as wining timewasters but as comstuctive critacisme on what went wrong and how to improve it for the next event. im not blaming any one perticular person. i do think if stan lee hadnt been there the numbers of people wouldnt have emassed to what they were but i would not go to the point of saying he shouldnt have been there. it was good for showmaster to get such AWSOME guests . keep it up but there needs to be more controll of numbers of tickets sold. how tickets are sold and making sure staff are asigned to specific jobs and know what they are doing and how to direct people to the correct places.

[Starbuck73]

Let me get one thing straight here... queuing for nearly 5 hours in the blazing sun with a 12 year old is no joke!!!

 

If it wasn't for the fact I had pre-booked Luke's photo with Stan Lee (which we were VERY lucky to get to!), we wouldn't have bothered going on Saturday.

 

There was very little queue organisation, no information at all... people passing us walking past & jumping into the queue ahead of us, with no-one controlling this at all.

 

Water points along the queue would have been so helpful, would have also stopped people getting dehydrated & leaving chairs strewn all over the car park & pathway!!!

 

A friend managed to get a VT for Stan's auto session (which was stopped at 400-odd tickets) & yet the VT was numbered at over 700! WHY keep handing out VT's???

 

We didn't even get into Brompton Hall because of timing & queuing issues... got to the paying desk just before 5pm & were STILL charged full price!!!

 

Then, to add insult to injury, the crew member on the desk (that I know, but shall remain unnamed) said "Oh, I wish I'd known you were queuing, I COULD HAVE GOT YOU IN SOONER!!!"

 

This is NOT what you want to hear after the nightmare of a day we had just spent waiting to get in!!!

 

I have said to Luke that "next time" we'll pre-book entry tickets as well... though after this experience, there is unlikely to be a next time after this time... sorry SM.

 

PS: For future reference, please make sure your crew members know how VT's work or at least have half a clue!!!

Edited July 14, 2014 by Starbuck73

[Nightcrawler]

Apart from bad language .. and name calling .. for which individual threads can be edited to remove those words ( which I do agree with ) .. why not just have an open and honest forum leaving all the positive and negative comments from customers ? It is a forum at the end of the day

[DavidB]

Sometimes things unfortunately spiral and people don't listen when we're trying to control things etc.

 

I'm obviously trying here, and most people are responding in kind by being level headed and commenting without arguments. Unfortunately that's not the case with every single topic on here.

 

Ignoring everything else, in the end it is SM's forum and if they don't believe something is appropriate, they're well within their rights to remove for whatever reason, whether we agree or not.

 

There's still plenty on here that hasn't been removed.