Feedback on the Weekend

[elrond_peredhel]

First of all, this is the only place I could find to put my review. Secondly, I've left it a few days to make sure my review isn't spur of the moment annoyed.

 

PROS:

 

• The queue system worked so much better than it has in previous years. The extra staff on the queues meant I knew exactly what was happening and which line I needed to join, as soon as I arrived at the tube station. I arrived on Saturday at 8:55 and was inside at 10. Once the line started moving, it kept moving. Very pleased!
  
• Making some of the stairs into one way systems was a life saver on Sunday. No idea why this wasn't the case on Saturday!

• YALC had some really amazing guest authors and the panels were pretty good too. Glad to see this getting bigger!
  
• Free venue WiFi, very helpful when I needed to find a floor plan or schedule and didn't want to fight my way to a poster.
  
• The top floor layout improved on Sunday. More floor space in the atrium for sitting, chilling and eating was nice.
  
• The guests I did meet were lovely. Tim McInnerny, Iain Glenn and Paul Magrs were really friendly and happy to have a chat. From what I heard, Richard Dean Anderson could have done with being asked not to chat so much though!

 

CONS:

 

• The queues for lifts AND stairs on Saturday were ridiculous. Better signposting for the stairs that would go to all floors would have been nice, I spent a long time trying to find a set that went past the first floor.
  
• Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time. I was really hoping you'd learn from last year's debacle. A bigger venue doesn't mean you can then let more people buy tickets, when the same number of people from a previous year would have been comfortable in the bigger venue. Once again, I saw panic attacks, over heating (air con on the top 2 floors only? Really?), overcrowding and people literally fainting from heat exhaustion.
  
• Expensive guests. I know (and love) that you guys are now big enough to get some massive guests, but less diamond passes and more remembering the fans that aren't made of more money than sense would be lovely. (And yes, I know it isn't necessarily Showmasters setting the price, but some negotiation must go into it somewhere?)
  
• Where have the lovely free talks gone? I used to have to pick and choose which ones I went to. This year there were a handful of talks that interested me and only one of those was free, and then in the end the Doctor Who talk on Saturday didn't even take place!
  
• Maybe it's just me being overly picky, but I chose to go to LFCC, not a dedicated Star Wars or BTTF con. I get it was an anniversary, but less emphasis on those and more on a mixture of genres and shows etc would have been nice. A couple of years ago was the Doctor Who 50th anniversary and I don't remember any kind of big thing being made about that. Even just some kind of exclusive LFCC merch that wasn't BTTF would have been nice. (Seriously, a pin badge would cover it. The exclusive figures and art was nice, but what about those of us who aren't into BTTF?)
  
• No programme this year? I miss the programmes. There are never enough floor plans or talk/photo schedules in the venue and a booklet to keep with me would have been much easier than braving the scramble to see the few posters that were up. (Again, better signposting to the Showmasters desks would have been useful too.)
  
• Ticketing was diabolical. This comes under a couple of points:
  
  1) WHY do we have to pay £2.50 per order for the honour of printing our own tickets, or pay it to not even print them! At the very least, some info to say a PDF copy of the ticket on your phone would work fine would have been appreciated. Not everyone has an android or apple phone and the Eventbrite app doesn't work on Windows. >.< I didn't mind when the admin fee was for postage and packing. The old style tickets were much nicer to look at too. Bring back the old ticketing please!!!
  
  2) Telling everyone to arrive at a photoshoot area at the same time doesn't work when you then have to explain Diamond/Gold passes first, then old style tickets bought online, then Eventbrite tickets, then old style bought on the day. One tiny whiteboard next to the photoshoot area is not enough, especially when the poor crew member has to get into the queue to update it and the board is then hidden by the people queueing! I was told that batch 1 of Eventbrite should return half an hour later. Came back 15 mins to check and was allowed to queue. If I''d waited the right amount of time I would probably not have gotten through in the morning.
  
• YALC Workshops needed microphones. Trying to do the blogging workshop was very difficult, I was three rows back from the speakers and could hardly hear.
  
• Not enough room between rows of stalls.
  
• Crew weren't given enough information. In particular, YALC crew were only able to help with something in their direct line of sight, they didn't know where anything was on the rest of the floor. Crew didn't know where the stairs/lifts were, told people to go to completely the wrong floor for talks/photoshoots and could have done with knowing where everything was on their floor at the very least.

 

 

In short, I feel that LFCC is getting too big too quickly. Organisation is fine pre-event, but on the day it just doesn't seem to know how to run a large event well at all. I started coming in 2011 and thoroughly enjoyed it up until last year. I came this year because I thought the bigger venue would help, but it did not and once again I spent a weekend not really having fun at all. I will give one of your smaller cons a try next year and hope that they are still run well. I will not be returning to LFCC for a few years.

Edited July 22, 2015 by WhovianRingerTrekkie

[GrandmasterA]

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

 

"Expensive guests"

 

Some guests simply ARE expensive. Pay the money or they are not there at all. So your choice is "not at all", because YOU don't want to spend the money? I spent more than 900 Pounds just on tickets. It was worth every penny. Otherwise I would never have met those people. They don't come over to the UK for a 100 pounds...

 

 

"No programme this year?"

 

There was a programme. Available at the sales desk.

 

 

"Maybe it's just me being overly picky, but I chose to go to LFCC, not a dedicated Star Wars or BTTF con"

 

Again. It's not all about you.
If there wouldn't have been so many people from BTTF, I would not have spent 1700 Euros to get there. It was worth in a sum.

And I still think there have been numerous other guests.

Do I get you right, that you wouldn't have a problem, if there would have been 20 people from Doctor Who?

[Vegas Queen]

Our main and just about only gripe was the slow let in of gold passes on Friday, they should have been in before the normal queue. Other than that being organised and pro active gave us a very busy, hot and productive weekend. Oh and closing the gold pass room for the diamond talks needed to be mentioned as we used it as a meet up point. Poor husband was left sitting hot and bothered on the floor outside waiting for me, while I thought he was having a sit in a cool room with drinks and snacks. Our first LFCC and thought it was great especially for how busy it was. Just remember when people have paid a huge sum to attend they do need a little extra service compared to the cheaper entry tickets and I think SM pretty much did that. :)

[elrond_peredhel]

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

 

"Expensive guests"

 

Some guests simply ARE expensive. Pay the money or they are not there at all. So your choice is "not at all", because YOU don't want to spend the money? I spent more than 900 Pounds just on tickets. It was worth every penny. Otherwise I would never have met those people. They don't come over to the UK for a 100 pounds...

 

 

"No programme this year?"

 

There was a programme. Available at the sales desk.

 

 

"Maybe it's just me being overly picky, but I chose to go to LFCC, not a dedicated Star Wars or BTTF con"

 

Again. It's not all about you.

If there wouldn't have been so many people from BTTF, I would not have spent 1700 Euros to get there. It was worth in a sum.

And I still think there have been numerous other guests.

Do I get you right, that you wouldn't have a problem, if there would have been 20 people from Doctor Who?

 

I would hope that rather than making people wait outside, the overall number of entry tickets sold would be decreased.

 

This should have been announced then. Last year, I paid the £5 for my programme, but I knew I would need to do this in advance of the con. This year, I was told by the crew I asked that there was no programme and I found the organisers booth by the super stage purely by accident. If I had been told how to get a programme, I would have bought/ acquired one.

 

As much as not all of my feedback points relate to absolutely everyone, this was my personal feedback. I am entitled to tell SM how I personally felt the event went for me.

 

Yes, I felt there could have been less emphasis on specific fandoms, regardless of the others present. I would be happy with more guests of shows/films I'm interested in. Who wouldn't be? If LFCC did a massive Trek/DW/Torchwood thing next year though, I'd still be disappointed that GoT/LoTR or other fandoms were overlooked.

[colwot]

Firstly, I achieved most of what I set out to do, although Friday and Saturday were quite a slog. However for me Sunday was a breeze, pretty much all targets achieved by 12.00!

 

There have been plenty of comments on layout, stairs, and overcrowding, so I'll leave those to one side.

 

To explain where I'm coming from, I collect autographs, I'm not interested in photoshoots. Consequently I didn't buy any Diamond Passes. I like some prop shoots, if the Michael J Fox Diamond included the shoot with him and the De Laurean, I might have been interested.

 

I had a Gold Pass. This is the 3rd LFCC I've gone Gold.

 

Controversial suggestion coming up - everyone who is not a Gold Pass Holder will probably disagree with me. Letting Gold Passes in early was never much of an issue in previous years, as we did not need to collect VQ tickets. On Saturday the Gold Pass queue started moving at about 7.40 by my watch. This was great, it was a long way from the Gold Pass entrance to the Diamond Guests. However on the Sunday it was about 8.53 when Gold Passes were let in, so we arrived at the Diamond Guests at the same time as the first of the normal ticket holders, their entrance being much closer to the Diamond Guests. OK, I got a reasonable VQ number for Christopher Lloyd, but I think Gold Passes must be let in earlier when there is such a long way to go from their entrance to the Diamond Guests. 10 minutes is fine if we're going in the same door as the other queues.

 

I think everyone needs to accept that as the event is so much bigger, than it was a few years ago, you can't get as much done as you used to. More space has meant that queues for autos can be longer. While you used to be able to join the end of a queue of 20 to 30 people, now you are joining the end of a queue of 30 to 40 people, if not more. So it takes longer to get one auto! I didn't get to any talks this year. I also missed Michael J Fox's talk as I was queueing for Sigourney Weaver and I felt I couldn't risk going away and coming back later.
Also, now that almost all guests are doing photoshoots and some doing 3 a day plus talks, signing time is much reduced.

 

The queues for bigger guests need more crew members. On Saturday the chap on Bill Paxtons queue was giving out VQ tickets, checking VQ tickets, managing the queue, and trying to persuade people whose VQs were nowhere near being called, to go away and come back later. At least one or two more crew members were needed to keep the area around the queue clear.

 

Better communication to people standing in queues. I was in Richard Dean Andersons queue, on Friday at about 4.00, when he suddenly stopped signing and left. There were several crew members around his desk. It would have been nice if one of them had come across and told the queue what was going on.

 

On Saturday, a queue had formed for Alexander Siddig's auto before he got there. When the crew found out that he was running quite late, special VQ tickets were issued to those, who had been queuing for some time, with the promise that they would be moved to the front of the queue when they came back later. I have to say when I joined the queue in the afternoon, I was a bit miffed to see VQ ticket holders being shown to the front of the queue. But when I found out the reasoning for it, I think it was totally the correct and fairest thing to do. Well done to whoever came up with that plan.

 

We could have done with some outside of the box thinking in Robert Englunds queue at one point on Saturday, I joined the queue when the board said VQ 0-30, and yes, I'm well aware he is a slow signer. However after waiting for 25-30 mins the queue was hardly moving, due to Diamond Pass Holders being shown to the front of the queue. This of course was their right, however it was bad news for the VQ ticket holders waiting in the queue. I think what should have happened is:- the board should have been changed back to Diamond Pass Holders only, and the VQ ticket holders already in the queue should have been filtered through to Robert, say one VQ for every 2 or 3 Diamond Pass Holder. OK, this is slightly against the rules but it would have been reasonably fair to everyone. Fortunately my VQ ticket had not been collected when I was in Roberts queue, so I was able to leave and come back later.

 

This brings me to another point. The crew must get the basics right. The crew do a fantastic job, but there is so much info for them to take in, that it is probably impossible for them to remember everything. When crewing auto queues, do not believe someone when he says "yes my VQ ticket is below 70", you must see the ticket! Also, VQ tickets must be collected in, so they are not passed on, or even sold! I was speaking to Jason at about 4.30 on Saturday. I told him I had met Sigourney Weaver and he said he had not met her yet. If I had thought about it at the time, I could have given him Sigourney Weaver VQ ticket No 22. I know he didn't need it but, I would have made my point!

 

Overall, well done Showmasters, fantastic weekend. I'm saving for next year. Harrison Ford please, I'd even go for a photoshoot!

[talie]

• Crew weren't given enough information. In particular, YALC crew were only able to help with something in their direct line of sight, they didn't know where anything was on the rest of the floor. Crew didn't know where the stairs/lifts were, told people to go to completely the wrong floor for talks/photoshoots and could have done with knowing where everything was on their floor at the very least.

Not all of the people working at YALC were SM staff, just to flag, as for knowing where everything was they were certainly told where comics and gaming were (the only things on our floor as I briefed them) There were no photoshoots on our floor.

 

The venue, as you saw, is HUGE, its pretty hard for everyone to know where everything is, and things get moved around/changed on the day. There may be the odd person who forgets where something is but on a whole the entire crew knew what was on their floor at least.

 

 

[misskitten]

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

I think maybe this was a plea to bring back the early bird/regular system that we used to have. Going to e-tickets and wristbands is fine and all, but selling only one entry time means everyone is more likely to show up at the crack of morning (even those who would have preferred the later entry with the old system) making the venue overflooding with people from the very beginning. I didn't go last year, but the two years before that were very doable in terms of crowds in the morning. I never had any issues getting to what I had booked and I rarely had to do the afternoon shoots for a guest meaning I had that time to browse or get autographs instead. That would mean less crowded photoshoots as not every single one would flock around the first one making it hard to get to for those who genuinely had the correct tickets, and many of the early birds would not show up for the later shoot as they got through in the morning, meaning less crowded shoots for those opting for later entry.

[elrond_peredhel]

 

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

I think maybe this was a plea to bring back the early bird/regular system that we used to have. Going to e-tickets and wristbands is fine and all, but selling only one entry time means everyone is more likely to show up at the crack of morning (even those who would have preferred the later entry with the old system) making the venue overflooding with people from the very beginning. I didn't go last year, but the two years before that were very doable in terms of crowds in the morning. I never had any issues getting to what I had booked and I rarely had to do the afternoon shoots for a guest meaning I had that time to browse or get autographs instead. That would mean less crowded photoshoots as not every single one would flock around the first one making it hard to get to for those who genuinely had the correct tickets, and many of the early birds would not show up for the later shoot as they got through in the morning, meaning less crowded shoots for those opting for later entry.

 

Your notion might work, but it was more a plea to stop going 'hey, the official regs say we can let in x number of people, so let's do it' when clearly the feedback from those inside (not just me, a number of friends and other feedback posts have mentioned this) is that the official capacity is too high and the floor is very uncomfortable, even when under full capacity. :) Simply sell less entry tickets. With the massive guests SM can pull in, I can't see them losing too much money this way!

[TerraHawk]

Firstly, I achieved most of what I set out to do, although Friday and Saturday were quite a slog. However for me Sunday was a breeze, pretty much all targets achieved by 12.00!

 

I had a Gold Pass. This is the 3rd LFCC I've gone Gold.

Being gold I should hope you did achieve most of it. In past years that wouldn't have been a challenge at all.

 

It is worth noting though - we did loose a dozen more high profile guests. Had they been there too on top of everyone else, it would have been even more challenging.

[Zahariel]

We could have done with some outside of the box thinking in Robert Englunds queue at one point on Saturday, I joined the queue when the board said VQ 0-30, and yes, I'm well aware he is a slow signer. However after waiting for 25-30 mins the queue was hardly moving, due to Diamond Pass Holders being shown to the front of the queue. This of course was their right, however it was bad news for the VQ ticket holders waiting in the queue. I think what should have happened is:- the board should have been changed back to Diamond Pass Holders only, and the VQ ticket holders already in the queue should have been filtered through to Robert, say one VQ for every 2 or 3 Diamond Pass Holder. OK, this is slightly against the rules but it would have been reasonably fair to everyone. Fortunately my VQ ticket had not been collected when I was in Roberts queue, so I was able to leave and come back later.

 

This was a mistake - Diamond passes didn't give priority in autograph queues, only the ability to join the line at any time. They replaced the gold passes in this respect for diamond guests - i.e. Gold pass holders needed VQs but Diamonds could 'join' the line at any time but shouldn't have been moved to the front at all.

[GrandmasterA]

but Diamonds could 'join' the line at any time but shouldn't have been moved to the front at all.

 

Well, I was officially allowed to join the front of Christopher Lloyd's queue, using my Diamond Pass...

[Queen_Sindel]

The way it was outlined to the mods was that Diamonds get priority calling. If they arrive once regular VQ calling has started they get to join the back of the queue.

 

I'll put that on the list of things to be addressed.

[Count Fooku]

 

 

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

I think maybe this was a plea to bring back the early bird/regular system that we used to have. Going to e-tickets and wristbands is fine and all, but selling only one entry time means everyone is more likely to show up at the crack of morning (even those who would have preferred the later entry with the old system) making the venue overflooding with people from the very beginning. I didn't go last year, but the two years before that were very doable in terms of crowds in the morning. I never had any issues getting to what I had booked and I rarely had to do the afternoon shoots for a guest meaning I had that time to browse or get autographs instead. That would mean less crowded photoshoots as not every single one would flock around the first one making it hard to get to for those who genuinely had the correct tickets, and many of the early birds would not show up for the later shoot as they got through in the morning, meaning less crowded shoots for those opting for later entry.

 

Your notion might work, but it was more a plea to stop going 'hey, the official regs say we can let in x number of people, so let's do it' when clearly the feedback from those inside (not just me, a number of friends and other feedback posts have mentioned this) is that the official capacity is too high and the floor is very uncomfortable, even when under full capacity. :) Simply sell less entry tickets. With the massive guests SM can pull in, I can't see them losing too much money this way!

 

Not sure its as simple as that though, certainly the first two floors were very crowded, not surprisingly as that was where the majority of the guests and dealers were based but the YALC area and top floor were a lot clearer so it probably averaged out in terms of there being a reasonable number of people actually in the building at any one time. The question is probably not numbers of people but layout of the event in terms of easing congestion across all areas.

[Toxie]

 

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

I think maybe this was a plea to bring back the early bird/regular system that we used to have. Going to e-tickets and wristbands is fine and all, but selling only one entry time means everyone is more likely to show up at the crack of morning (even those who would have preferred the later entry with the old system) making the venue overflooding with people from the very beginning. I didn't go last year, but the two years before that were very doable in terms of crowds in the morning. I never had any issues getting to what I had booked and I rarely had to do the afternoon shoots for a guest meaning I had that time to browse or get autographs instead. That would mean less crowded photoshoots as not every single one would flock around the first one making it hard to get to for those who genuinely had the correct tickets, and many of the early birds would not show up for the later shoot as they got through in the morning, meaning less crowded shoots for those opting for later entry.

 

 

The problem (as I see it) with the old system was that there was no actual early entry per se.

 

There was early bird tickets which were just pre-paid tickets (the name change is good btw), but because people could purchase these on the day and arrived early - everyone was entering at the same time behind the Golds. Then you would have the standard entry tickets which would be sold to people who arrived later, but realistically they were essentially just at the end of the early bird pay on the day queue!

 

Also, having the multiple queues was always annoying - now at least we just have the two queues and it's nice and simple....

 

Just to clarify the old queue system for newer people:

 

Gold Pass - Queue 1

Early Bird (Pre-Paid): Queue 2

Early Bird (Pay on the Day): Queue 3

 

All of these looking a mile long as you approach the venue, often you would join the likeliest looking queue before realising you were in the wrong one and having to join the back of another!

 

I'm sure plenty of people will say they had no issues, but that was my experience for at least a couple of shows.

 

Moving forward it's likely that LFCC entry tickets will all be pre-paid, I don't see it ever going back to a pay on the door event. Perhaps introducing a true early entry ticket is a good idea, but wouldn't that further erode the perks of having a gold pass?

[misskitten]

 

 

"Once again, way too many people being allowed into the venue at one time"

 

So next time, you're the one who wants to stay outside? Or just the others?

 

I think maybe this was a plea to bring back the early bird/regular system that we used to have. Going to e-tickets and wristbands is fine and all, but selling only one entry time means everyone is more likely to show up at the crack of morning (even those who would have preferred the later entry with the old system) making the venue overflooding with people from the very beginning. I didn't go last year, but the two years before that were very doable in terms of crowds in the morning. I never had any issues getting to what I had booked and I rarely had to do the afternoon shoots for a guest meaning I had that time to browse or get autographs instead. That would mean less crowded photoshoots as not every single one would flock around the first one making it hard to get to for those who genuinely had the correct tickets, and many of the early birds would not show up for the later shoot as they got through in the morning, meaning less crowded shoots for those opting for later entry.

 

 

The problem (as I see it) with the old system was that there was no actual early entry per se.

 

There was early bird tickets which were just pre-paid tickets (the name change is good btw), but because people could purchase these on the day and arrived early - everyone was entering at the same time behind the Golds. Then you would have the standard entry tickets which would be sold to people who arrived later, but realistically they were essentially just at the end of the early bird pay on the day queue!

 

Actually there were early bird and regular entry tickets, both that you could order in advance and those that you could pay on the day. The pay on the day was removed, which was a good idea considering venue capacity and people queueing for hours only to be let in when people were leaving. Removing the early bird/regular entry bit of it, however, created the mess that was last weekend. People who would otherwise have arrived for the 11 am entry to save a few quid, instead had no incentive to arrive later, meaning nearly everyone who bought tickets for the event arrived before or as the venue was opening its doors. That part of the old system worked, and it really should be re-introduced as it would solve the crowd/chaos issue that arised from everyone arriving and trying to get in at the same time.

[Toxie]

 

Actually there were early bird and regular entry tickets, both that you could order in advance and those that you could pay on the day. The pay on the day was removed, which was a good idea considering venue capacity and people queueing for hours only to be let in when people were leaving. Removing the early bird/regular entry bit of it, however, created the mess that was last weekend. People who would otherwise have arrived for the 11 am entry to save a few quid, instead had no incentive to arrive later, meaning nearly everyone who bought tickets for the event arrived before or as the venue was opening its doors. That part of the old system worked, and it really should be re-introduced as it would solve the crowd/chaos issue that arised from everyone arriving and trying to get in at the same time.

 

 

I know standard entry was for sale in advance, but to be honest we always brought early bird. I think possibly now the event will be ticket in advance only, that system may work if the early bird ticket numbers were limited - essentially creating, as I said a true early bird ticket.

 

While this weekend's queue was long at times, I don't think it was chaos - although I'd love to know why on Saturday around 9.30, there was barely any queue outside the venue and station, yet we were queuing in front of people's houses!

Edited July 23, 2015 by Toxie

[Ribbleblue]

Firstly, I achieved most of what I set out to do, although Friday and Saturday were quite a slog. However for me Sunday was a breeze, pretty much all targets achieved by 12.00!

 

There have been plenty of comments on layout, stairs, and overcrowding, so I'll leave those to one side.

 

To explain where I'm coming from, I collect autographs, I'm not interested in photoshoots. Consequently I didn't buy any Diamond Passes. I like some prop shoots, if the Michael J Fox Diamond included the shoot with him and the De Laurean, I might have been interested.

 

I had a Gold Pass. This is the 3rd LFCC I've gone Gold.

 

Controversial suggestion coming up - everyone who is not a Gold Pass Holder will probably disagree with me. Letting Gold Passes in early was never much of an issue in previous years, as we did not need to collect VQ tickets. On Saturday the Gold Pass queue started moving at about 7.40 by my watch. This was great, it was a long way from the Gold Pass entrance to the Diamond Guests. However on the Sunday it was about 8.53 when Gold Passes were let in, so we arrived at the Diamond Guests at the same time as the first of the normal ticket holders, their entrance being much closer to the Diamond Guests. OK, I got a reasonable VQ number for Christopher Lloyd, but I think Gold Passes must be let in earlier when there is such a long way to go from their entrance to the Diamond Guests. 10 minutes is fine if we're going in the same door as the other queues.

 

I think everyone needs to accept that as the event is so much bigger, than it was a few years ago, you can't get as much done as you used to. More space has meant that queues for autos can be longer. While you used to be able to join the end of a queue of 20 to 30 people, now you are joining the end of a queue of 30 to 40 people, if not more. So it takes longer to get one auto! I didn't get to any talks this year. I also missed Michael J Fox's talk as I was queueing for Sigourney Weaver and I felt I couldn't risk going away and coming back later.

Also, now that almost all guests are doing photoshoots and some doing 3 a day plus talks, signing time is much reduced.

 

The queues for bigger guests need more crew members. On Saturday the chap on Bill Paxtons queue was giving out VQ tickets, checking VQ tickets, managing the queue, and trying to persuade people whose VQs were nowhere near being called, to go away and come back later. At least one or two more crew members were needed to keep the area around the queue clear.

 

Better communication to people standing in queues. I was in Richard Dean Andersons queue, on Friday at about 4.00, when he suddenly stopped signing and left. There were several crew members around his desk. It would have been nice if one of them had come across and told the queue what was going on.

 

On Saturday, a queue had formed for Alexander Siddig's auto before he got there. When the crew found out that he was running quite late, special VQ tickets were issued to those, who had been queuing for some time, with the promise that they would be moved to the front of the queue when they came back later. I have to say when I joined the queue in the afternoon, I was a bit miffed to see VQ ticket holders being shown to the front of the queue. But when I found out the reasoning for it, I think it was totally the correct and fairest thing to do. Well done to whoever came up with that plan.

 

We could have done with some outside of the box thinking in Robert Englunds queue at one point on Saturday, I joined the queue when the board said VQ 0-30, and yes, I'm well aware he is a slow signer. However after waiting for 25-30 mins the queue was hardly moving, due to Diamond Pass Holders being shown to the front of the queue. This of course was their right, however it was bad news for the VQ ticket holders waiting in the queue. I think what should have happened is:- the board should have been changed back to Diamond Pass Holders only, and the VQ ticket holders already in the queue should have been filtered through to Robert, say one VQ for every 2 or 3 Diamond Pass Holder. OK, this is slightly against the rules but it would have been reasonably fair to everyone. Fortunately my VQ ticket had not been collected when I was in Roberts queue, so I was able to leave and come back later.

 

This brings me to another point. The crew must get the basics right. The crew do a fantastic job, but there is so much info for them to take in, that it is probably impossible for them to remember everything. When crewing auto queues, do not believe someone when he says "yes my VQ ticket is below 70", you must see the ticket! Also, VQ tickets must be collected in, so they are not passed on, or even sold! I was speaking to Jason at about 4.30 on Saturday. I told him I had met Sigourney Weaver and he said he had not met her yet. If I had thought about it at the time, I could have given him Sigourney Weaver VQ ticket No 22. I know he didn't need it but, I would have made my point!

 

Overall, well done Showmasters, fantastic weekend. I'm saving for next year. Harrison Ford please, I'd even go for a photoshoot!

Edited July 23, 2015 by Ribbleblue

[Ribbleblue]

Gold were let in at 8.30 on the Saturday,not 7.40.

[colwot]

Sorry my mistake. I meant 8.40.

[Dreamweaver187]

Friday not sure I was around the corner and down the road didn't get in till 13:40

Saturday was 8:50 for golds

Sunday was 8:55 for golds

Edited July 23, 2015 by Gravitus