Thoughts about show after our debrief & how to move forward

[sasari]

I really think the programme/raffle needs to be addressed too Jason.

[Starbuck73]

Great to read such an encouraging post, thanks Jason... after Saturday, I said I wouldn't touch LFCC again with a bargepole, but I may be persuaded IF everything that needs changing is dealt with.

 

I think the VQ system needs serious attention... I have no idea why over 800 VQ tickets would be given out for a 90+ yr old who already had a packed schedule...

 

Maybe a 500 ticket cut off point per day would be more sensible. If people know this, they wouldn't be so disappointed when they KNOW that there are no more available.

 

Also, I think NOT selling pay-on-the-day tickets on the Saturday is an excellent idea, but people need to KNOW these things for future reference.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Starbuck73

[USS_NOSTROMO]

A couple of interesting ideas but why are you just talking to your heads of crew about the problems?? The people you should be talking to are us! Value our opinion as well don't just send us all off to bed while the adults talk.

[timelord81r]

I like the idea of guest packages very much, BUT i dont think that should mean said guests photo ops wont go on sale online prior also, surely that just adds to the headache and queues on the day if big guests are restricted to packages only online prior?

 

I do have some suggestions,

 

having blank paper at guests signing tables to regularly test the pens, im tired of getting faded, faint watery autographs especially if im paying top $,

 

if a venue has multiple entrances then perhaps use them for the different queues. if the venue has other halls perhaps use them for queues on the saturday, or if they have bigger halls perhaps use them, LFCC summer has gotten bigger every year without fail.

 

on concerts sometimes they have water pumps set up so ppl can fill up their water bottles, at the official star trek con in the US they have water coolers in the main talk room thats free. i know there is a cost implication here but i think things like this would reduce alot of the complaints about heat ect on busy days and be a good gesture to the fans.

 

I think Eticketing would be great if set up well.

 

can multiple fans (not other human fans acting like roman slaves lol, but electric fans) not be placed in the photo studios? last thing ppl want is looking red & sweaty in a photo shoot, and with how hot it was on saturday at this lfcc that was happening, my wrists were hurting i was fanning myself so much with my plastic autograph holder lol. also a mirror in there is always good. neither of these are very costly in the grand scheme of things but would make the experience all the more comfortable for the attendees. (im saying the word fan too much lol)

[stobbs]

Had a great time over the 3 days, missing the show already.

 

It had problems but a big thank-you to you Jason and all the crew for doing the best in some difficult moments.

 

As a few people on here have mentioned I would also like to know what happened regarding the GoT screening?? Special guest ??, couldn't hear the episode (add the subtitles next time) & it was quite hard to understand what the 3 guests where saying & couldn't even see them. Have them on the front of the stage next time with there own monitor to watch the episode.

[timelord81r]

I too want reassurances that proper Health & Safety procedures are being met, locked escape routes is shocking to hear.

 

theres no way accessible fire exit doors were locked when the show was open in EC2, which ones are ppl saying were?

[alex_tomlins]

This was my first time at this event and I honestly had a fantastic time. Maybe because I had not been to an event like this before to compare, but everything I found this weekend seemed exactly as I expected it to be. I thought it would be exceptionally busy but I was in the venue both days by 9.20am and found moving between the two venues a doddle. I found if a row was heavily populated I could easily go down another row of stalls to get in and out without being in a crowd. I did think it was hot, but then again it is Britain so who can predict our weather! I didn't get to meet Stan but I had a fantastic time at his show and was so delighted to be able to see him in the flesh, such a rare opportunity were we given and I loved it!

 

All the guests I spoke to were funny, kind and definitely worth meeting and the photo ops were fantastic.

 

I definitely agree with ending pay on the day tickets. I think for most things nowadays you have to buy a ticket in advance, so that is what it should be to make it easier to know who is coming. If you have a known deadline for tickets being unavailable then there is no excuse for people to miss them.

 

I think it is a shame that some people didn't have a good time at this event, but from me a big thank you to all the staff for making my first con so amazing! :)

[LadyDeTemps]

can multiple fans (not other human fans acting like roman slaves lol, but electric fans) not be placed in the photo studios? last thing ppl want is looking red & sweaty in a photo shoot, and with how hot it was on saturday at this lfcc that was happening, my wrists were hurting i was fanning myself so much with my plastic autograph holder lol. also a mirror in there is always good. neither of these are very costly in the grand scheme of things but would make the experience all the more comfortable for the attendees. (im saying the word fan too much lol)

now you've given me an idea for a cosplay for LFCC 2015....toga and a giant fan.

[Hapfairy]

Thanks for this response Jason, I think it has cleared up some things but not all. Like others above have said, I'd really like an explanation for what went wrong with the GoT screening as many people are disappointed. I'd also like to know why the fire exits were closed, creating both a big safety issue and not making use of a good exit point - and also why the women's toilets were blocked off on one side. I think I spent longer queueing for the toilets than I did for the guests! Please consider guests with chronic illnesses etc for whom access to toilets, seating and water is even more important.

 

I think only doing pre-ordered tickets for the Saturday is definitely a good idea. And yeah, e-tickets are the way forward. I've been to many festivals that had huge amounts of people and they use the system of e-tickets and wristbands, seems to work well. Put that together with some big signs telling people which queue to get in and it'll go smoother. But yes, a "bigger boat" is a good plan.

 

Also I agree that is completely sensible to pre-order entry tickets, but I know some older people and people with kids who went to London because they wanted to get into the YALC. These were people who don't know about comic cons and all they had to go on was the website which said there were loads of entry tickets on the door.

[lingham]

From someone who only attended on the Friday I can only praise what I saw/was involved in.

 

I got there around 4 and thought i would be the front of the queue - how wrong I was - about 100th back. The queues all seemed manageable and wasn't out of hand and then when we all went out slowly but surely it was all busy but not hugely and I was there the whole time so really enjoyed myself and the only reason I went on that day was the first day (normally a week day) is always quieter and I know I will have a great time and I wasn't disappointed so I can only give huge love from me Jason and two HUGE points are: GET BULK AND SKULL BACK ASAP!! best guests ever and if you can please get a group shot of ghostbusters people for the next one and thats it for me!

 

Keep up the good work and I for one aren't annoyed or angry at my experience! roll on WLFCC

[blooloop]

Hi Jason,

 

Thanks for the mail and the clarification.

 

My experience at Comic con was, well, unusual. I took my son and daughter, aged 14 and 9 respectively and my wife. Taking our cue from your website, which said tickets would be available on the day, we arrived at Earls Court at 10 after a 2 hour train journey from Devon. We were immediately directed to join a queue, which we did. It was quite a merry affair, the sun was shining, the costumes were fun and there was actually a lot of fun to be had just people watching.

 

Around 3pm we were told by Showmaster/comic-con employees or volunteers there was a limited chance of us getting in. Many people left the queue who were further along than us, some of whom had spent hours and hours getting ready in their costumes. We chose to stay, we had a train ticket booked to go home at 7pm and nowhere better to go.

 

Finally after 6 hours of waiting (!) we got to the front and were pleased to realise we would at last get in the event, if only for the next two hours. However - and here is the big BUT - on entering the building via the one door and joining the final line to actually buy a ticket, it immediately became apparent that there were hundreds of people simply walking in using the other 5 or 6 doors and joining the very same short queue. Basically, we had queued 6 hours and these people, and there were a great many, only had to queue for 2 minutes. Both myself and the people with whom we had been queuing were understandably outraged by this but there was simply noone to talk to about this as the whole affair seemed worse than chaotic. We checked with some of these newcomers and it was indeed the case that they were all simply just arriving.

 

In summary, my family and I queued for 6 hours to get 2 hours of Comic con when we could have simply walked straight to the front of the building. The hundreds of people in the queue ahead of us who left after 4 or 5 hours wait saw nothing at all and again could have easily simply walked in had they not, like us, been told to queue up. While such a long wait is not ideal the fact that so many people could easily avoid the queue is madness, any thoughts/refunds/explanations??

 

Charlie

[LFCC2014Nightmare]

Long time forum stalker and event attender but first time poster.

 

First of all thanks for the update above Jason, the communication is grateful however there are a few concerns Im sure people still have. And perhaps most of all questions.

 

First of all let me share my take on what happen to me and then pose a few questions which I think everyone wants answers to.

I was a lucky one this weekend. I had a silver comic pass. I managed to get all the autographs and more.

 

However, I went to queue for Stan Lee on Sunday morning and I was told by a volunteer (heavy setin glasses tight hair on the sides and a long pony tail) that silver passes were being treated the same as standard tickets now.

 

I put up a challenge to him and he directed me to a red shirt who said that he was wrong and I could just join the queue as normal. Which I did. But what if I had believed that volunteer? And what if others had? Will they get a refund?

 

On Saturday morning entry and exit into the hall was a joke. I was outside and bumped into a young girl crying as she couldn’t get in for hours and she had an early bird pass. So, I walked her in the door. Nobody even bothered to check her ticket.

 

Look I love this show and the opportunity it allowed me to meet some amazing guests but there are some serious questions that need to be answered for people (not for me but Ive alot of friends who were badly affected by this mishandling).

 

And personally, I didn’t mind the dusty Batmobile !!!

 

So here’s my questions for Showmasters:

 

· It was stated that a surprise guest would appear at the GOT Commentary talk on Saturday evening. This did not in fact happen. This was false advertising on the. Are the attendee’s due a refund ?

· Will people who bought photo sessions, or talk tickets, who could not gain access due to the poor queue handling receive refunds?

· When was it first brought to the attention of showmasters that the firedoors were changed and what action did you take? Seriously, this was scary stuff.

· Showmaster stated that pictures would be provided to everyone who one an autograph at the sherlocked talk. Why did this not happen? Volunteers actually got angry with winners.

· Was there a change in training levels of volunteers this year as the standards had dropped?

· Why was photo area E in such a bad location?

· Why was there only one huge queue for refunds?

· Why were photo shoots not arrange in order of ticket ?

· Why was there not greater queue management outside?

· Was it intended to put a giant dragon skull at the entrance?

· Why are comments and threads by fans being deleted off the showmasters facebook pages and forums?

· Why queue was for gold and silver goodie bags not arranged better? You could have handed out packs to those in the queue?

· Finally will Showmasters issue an apology to fans over the “drama thread” from last Saturday?

 

 

Look thanks again for all the positives. Just maybe communicate better to fans over the negative stuff.

[Zagreus]

I've been going to Showmasters shows for a decade now, and always enjoyed them to some degree, but I didn't enjoy this weekend. I enjoyed meeting my heroes for autos and photos, but the overall weekend experience was just not enjoyable at all.

 

I made a list of all the things that made it an unpleasant weekend, and to be honest the things within Showmasters control all relate to the sheer number of attendees. That in turn, is related to their desire to run the biggest show with the most guests...but is that really necessary? The air conditioning wasn't coping with the numbers, the toilets and cafes weren't coping with the numbers, even the local quiet restaurant I like to eat in after comic con was mobbed. Even our budget's were not coping. If the 100+ guests had been spread over several shows, we wouldn't need to miss out on people we want to meet purely because we can't afford it. The large numbers required new photographers be recruited, which resulted in a variation in quality (some soft and poorly framed photos, and area D's photographer not doing vertical shots of Jeremy Bulloch in costume because his technique was to have his camera on a pole rather than hold it and adapt to the situation). The already overworked sales desk was impossible to get to unless you're willing to surrender a lot of your time, or wait till afternoon.

 

My carefully planned schedule of photo shoots being useless with guests re-scheduled or moved to another location (or both), and no clear announcements informing of this.

 

Missed meeting Ben Aaronovitch & Paul Cornell due to their limited one-hour signing not being revealed anywhere beforehand.

 

Unable to get through the tightly packed crowds, especially to/from the talk area and next to photo areas D & F.

 

Trying to buy an Ian McDiarmid talk ticket and the person on the sales desk trying to tell me that there are no tickets and that his talk must therefore be free. It’s seriously up to ME to tell Showmasters crew what they are selling??

 

I AM grateful for the guests you brought over, for the green-screen photos, the hard work of the crew members, the Friday Stan signing.

But just because you want to make the shows massive, doesn't mean you have to, especially if the fans are going to suffer as a result. Yes, big guests are welcome, but not all at once so that all of Europe descends upon one show.

[Salemzorro]

 

 

I too want reassurances that proper Health & Safety procedures are being met, locked escape routes is shocking to hear.

 

theres no way accessible fire exit doors were locked when the show was open in EC2, which ones are ppl saying were?

It's come up in a couple of threads that there were locked escape routes but I'm not sure which ones.

[timelord81r]

The obvious issues are with capacity and venue. As pointed out, Earls Court may well be closing at the end of the year, is the con still going to be at EC? Has LFCC outgrown it anyway? Opening for a 3rd full day is essential, it will spread the crowds out allowing for a more pleasurable experience. How much money was lost from those who didn't get in or those who didn't even bother trying to?

 

The other issue has to be real time updates via social media and your website. If the event is full people need to be told, allowing many to wait for hours with little hope of actually getting in was very unfair.

 

 

EC1 ground would work for an LFCC, though i guess there are additional costs involved there. EC1 also has the added benefit of connecting internally to all the other halls & levels.

 

i agree, a full day Friday would be great especially for those of us who work weekends.

 

olympia i think can handle a big LFCC, they have multiple connecting halls, but with the issue with the future of EC, they are taking on alot more bookings so SM would need to hold the space early i think

[Guest johnson1970]

I really like the idea of exclusive packages. Personally I think it should be a more isolated version of the Gold package with similar benefits. I would also take issue with your H&S Officer as personally I think he was presuming a lot rather than early intervention.

[BeatrixKiddo88]

Yeah maybe even London is getting too small for events like this Only a few places can fit these events, and one is being demolished. So even less venues between all the events London holds over the space of a year.

 

And like I said pages back, the very few that are big enough now for LFCC are going to cost SM way more than EC does, so that would have to transfer to us attendees in some way.

 

America has way more convention centres and they are way bigger. As a country we are just a little behind in this in general, and now it's starting to hurt these events a bit.

 

 

Also, to address a really weird one I've seen so far: people with shoot tickets and whatever but no entry? 1) who would even try that? lol seems like a recipe for disaster anyway.

 

But 2) how about doing what Star Trek London does and have it so you cant access all the extra tickets and things without an order code from buying entry?

Edited July 15, 2014 by BeatrixKiddo88

[Murph]

 

 

- 'Package deal' tickets for A list guests=good idea (assuming the price is within reason)

- .

And assuming it doesn't undermine the value of the gold passes further and that those will still work, and keep the numbers more limited again. It will get very expensive if you have to buy a special package to meet each "big" guest on top of any other tickets/passes you might need etc. Should be thought about very carefully.

Soon it won't be how much you want to meet a guest, but how deep your pockets are. Sad times if some fans get priced out of getting to meet people they admire. Edited July 15, 2014 by Murph

[Longsightboy]

one last fact that i forgot to put on the post at the top

 

we killed the EE network from Saturday after 11am till around 4pm and again on sunday as the volume of people phoning each other and sending photos to each other was just to much for it to cope.

 

also we created gridlocks outside earls court with the volume of fans attending

 

as i said i think we need a bigger boat.

I knew it! I was fine all day Saturday but Sunday, I couldn't send/receive texts or use mobile internet either until well after 4pm on EE!

[timelord81r]

 

America has way more convention centres and they are way bigger. As a country we are just a little behind in this in general, and now it's starting to hurt these events a bit.

 

 

 

 

thank borris, the torries and capco for that as they are demolishing one with the biggest history to line their pockets

 

 

how about football stadiums with massive tents as alternatives?

[timelord81r]

 

 

- 'Package deal' tickets for A list guests=good idea (assuming the price is within reason)

- .

And assuming it doesn't undermine the value of the gold passes further and that those will still work, and keep the numbers more limited again. It will get very expensive if you have to buy a special package to meet each "big" guest on top of any other tickets/passes you might need etc. Should be thought about very carefully.

Soon it won't be how much you want to meet a guest, but how deep your pockets are. Sad times if some fans get priced out of getting to meet people they admire.

 

 

this is a worry yes, in some cases its already here

[DavidB]

A couple of interesting ideas but why are you just talking to your heads of crew about the problems?? The people you should be talking to are us! Value our opinion as well don't just send us all off to bed while the adults talk.

To be fair, Jason and everyone will be reading about everything on here, but there's PLENTY to be learnt from those involved in the event and what went wrong. Makes complete sense.

[BeatrixKiddo88]

As I said earlier Murph, I assume the exclusive tickets will be limited to a number. So yes, you could pay £50/75/100 for a guest pass and get them for sure, or risk it (a little) and pay the normal over-the-table prices.

 

And we cant always blame SM. I'm sure a lot of agents/managers or even guests up their appearence fees now and again and so SM have to compensate. If the price of gold goes up, so do the prices at the jewelery store.

 

And as always, these events and how much you spend/get are YOUR choice. You dont NEED anything SM offers. It's just nice stuff to have and do. So you afford what you can. Like everything else in life that isnt essential.

[nerdherder1]

I had an amazing week-end as always. I expect every year to get bigger and busier and i psych myself up for this and it was as i expected it to be.

 

Thanks Jason for the honest and frank appraisal of the week-end. With the event now growing at an unprecedented rate, i agree that Saturday and probably Sunday should be limited to pre-sales only. No walk-ins allowed. That way, you can comfortably set the limit inside the building and eliminate the chaos outside the building.

 

I also agree that the Friday should be a full day. It would be so much easier for alot of people and alleviate some of the stress of trying to cram so much into two days and a few hours on the Friday.

 

I have no problems with the exclusive packages for A-list guests. As a regular gold pass buyer, would the gold pass still get you the privileges of joining the A-list autograph queue without a vq and priority in the photo shoots, or would i also have to buy the exclusive package on top of the gold pass?

 

Also, word on the street is that with the gold, comic gold and comic silver passes, there were anywhere between 800 - 1000 of these at the week-end. No wonder alot of the standard entry tickets couldn't get their autographs done. This desperately needs to be scaled back to the 150 limit that it used to be. Much fairer for everyone in attendance.

[BeatrixKiddo88]

And yeah as someone who's never needed a gold pass to be able to get 15+ people, I'd welcome the exclusives if I REALLY wanted a guest but only felt it was needed for that one guest.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2014 by BeatrixKiddo88