Feedback - Saturday problems and other things

[Iloveyouiknow]

The trolls included in the bag were great my lad loved them for all of 30 seconds before removing their heads. But a little underwhelmed with the goody Bag, a convention programme or even a collection of flyers that they were handing out all weekend at the talks would be been nice fillers 

[BarcaScot]

Just a few suggestions and don't want to come across as having a moan; was there on Saturday and loved it. SM do a great job and I don't envy QS and all the others behind the scenes who make it happen; personal thanks to them, is a genuine highlight of the year for me and almost counting the days till next year.

VQ Tickets

The VQ tickets are a constant issue every year - this year they didn't count for anything with the bigger guests (which I get since Platinum and Golds should have priority) but John Rhys Davies and Gemma Whelan were unticketed and their physical Qs ended at around Hammersmith Station. Also, us speed walkers kept getting shouted at for running for them and yes, one day there will be a bad accident if there hasn't been already (I hope not). So, maybe getting autograph tickets onto EventBrite would save a few hassles. Not sure of the logistics but would mean a less stressful start to the day and allow people to be better organised and less manic when at the con.

Photo Qs

Firstly, cords/barriers could be used for these. The tape on the floor is a bit of a problem with people pushing forward - I think the fella trying to organise John Cleese's afternoon shoot must have seen a tidal wave of people slowly getting closer and closer every time he blinked, like marginally less psychotic weeping angels!

Also on this point, microphones for the SM people so us waiting to join a Q know what's happening (or not as the case may be). Either that or the whiteboards like what they use for autograph Qs.

Lastly on this, something to identify batch numbers on e-tickets would be great. My batch was called for John Cleese and the girl checking them thought I was taking the mick as it didn't show the batch no. on my mobile. Thankfully she didn't throw me out but it could happen to someone and be mighty unfair.

 

Apart from that, I thought this year was great. Opening up that hall for photo areas A-D was brilliant - never realised the Olympia was that big! A bit more organisation and it would have been better still.

Edited August 2, 2017 by BarcaScot
Typo

[U1RiC]

I know there are a lot of unhappy gold pass people recently.

The first thing is due to the price that keeps going up but you get less and less for your money. Why even bother with autograph vouchers. I think you should just take the amount off the gold pass price or allow people to put them towards autographs.

The second thing was due to the fact that General Entry were let in at the same time as I know for a fact that a lot of GE actually got VQ tickets before me and I was near the front of the gold pass queue - due to our queue being on the other side of the building to the guests. 

The third thing is the queue for diamond pass guests. Is there a possibility of having 2 queues: 1 for diamond and another for gold and VQ. That way tou could manage the diamond people better. 

Also if the VQ ticket necessity for diamond guests is scrapped for gold pass it would make a huge improvement. 

[D4vem88]

Overall, I had a great weekend. 

I do have a couple of gripes though:

Photo A/B and C/D were very congested with a number of big guests having their photo ops at the same time. Coming out of photo B in a wheelchair and having to use a Dalek as a snowplough worked on one occasion, but it was far too congested.

Also, the noise coming from the main stage overpowered the calls for batches and guests at the photo studios.

The signing area on the concourse (where Jeremy Bulloch, Pilou etc were), the queues for the guests were far too long and you couldn't get along the concourse itself. It didn't help that people were chilling by the barrier opposite the guest, it just caused a mess.

On Saturday it was very difficult to get through the guest are which had the likes of Natalie Dormer and Ian McDiarmid facing Michelle Harrison and Wai Ching Ho, as all the queues backed on to each other and with attendees stopping to get a glance at guests was very infuriating on the way to Photo E/F.

People chilling along the slim walkway alongside Photo E/F. Damn! It amazes me why people think that is a good area to sit and stretch their legs across the walkway, there's a perfectly good open area to sit in behind F.

On a positive note, all the blue and red shirts that helped me over the weekend were very pleasant and helpful, and at no point did I feel I was being a nuisance in the wheelchair.

Only time I kind of did, was when I was being ushered out of the way in the photo area, but there's very little room to wait for my photo to print out, at which point sitting over at the side, the crew member can't see me as I was sitting back in the chair. 

[Persephone1]

5 minutes ago, U1RiC said:

 

Also if the VQ ticket necessity for diamond guests is scrapped for gold pass it would make a huge improvement. 

This has been discussed a lot. It would devalue every diamond pass. I personally buy diamond passes for the guests I want to see so I don't have to worry about the VQ situation. I bought two this year and would have been three if Mike Colter hadn't cancelled. I would never buy a diamond pass again if I knew I could pay for a gold pass and get access to every diamond guests queue. The reason I buy a diamond pass for a guest is to get access to their autograph queue as I can easily buy the photoshoot and talk separately. 

Maybe Showmasters should look at including some sort of ultra limited VIP pass that gives people access to all diamond guests? It certainly seems to be what a lot of people want. But I imagine the price tag would be very hefty.

[wjbleming]

The main gripe for me was more a victim of circumstance, really, and wasn't that major. Chris Judge's AM shoot on Saturday at Photo area F had to be temporarily paused to get the flash sorted out because with E and F being essentially back to back, E's shoot was causing F's flash to go off at the same time, bringing Chris's photos out overexposed until the shoot in E was finished by the looks of things. Don't know if other shoots were getting similar results, and it was likely fixed after that as Sean Biggerstaff's went without a hitch later that day, but Chris looked like he was a bit drained at one point, bless him.

But the crew were great, being patient and apologetic during this.

[Raylenth]

53 minutes ago, Persephone1 said:

This has been discussed a lot. It would devalue every diamond pass. I personally buy diamond passes for the guests I want to see so I don't have to worry about the VQ situation. I bought two this year and would have been three if Mike Colter hadn't cancelled. I would never buy a diamond pass again if I knew I could pay for a gold pass and get access to every diamond guests queue. The reason I buy a diamond pass for a guest is to get access to their autograph queue as I can easily buy the photoshoot and talk separately. 

Maybe Showmasters should look at including some sort of ultra limited VIP pass that gives people access to all diamond guests? It certainly seems to be what a lot of people want. But I imagine the price tag would be very hefty.

The best solution is still to just allow Golds access without VQ's AFTER diamond.  Diamonds still get priority and Golds can just join the queue as usual once it opens to VQ.  Most people aren't suggesting that Golds get access at the same time as Diamonds and still doesn't mean that they will get to see the Diamond guests if they are very slow or very busy with the Diamonds.

[MAGIC MONKEY]

Raylenth, some good points you've raised there. I echo what has been said previously about the vouchers in the Gold pass being used to offset against an autograph price or they have them start at £15 not £10. Most of the guests in attendance, the smaller ones seem to start at £15 anyhow. I can foresee a time when there will be no-one I'd want with the £10 voucher thus rendering the part of the Gold pass obsolete. 

[Marie-Loup]

I had a great time this year! I am mostly happy with the organisation. I think there are a few things that could be improved, but nothing that prevented me from having a blast. Thanks, Showmasters.

PROS

- The Gold/Diamond passes collection on Thursday was a great help and was better organised than last year.

- The layout was similar to last year, which was great, more space and even though Saturday was very busy, it didn't feel like 2015. 

- The volunteers were doing their best to help and were friendly (especially the French girl managing Dave Prowse's line on Friday morning and the black-haired girl who nicely held my phone during the Sean Biggerstaff photo session on Saturday, as I left my bag with my friends and forgot to put my phone in).

- The guests I met were all lovely and there was a great selection this year, lots of movies/tv shows covered and lots of comic artists/writers too. 

- The Gold Pass, a few cons too for the Gold Pass, but the entrance was better managed than last year (except on Saturday, there were only 20/30 persons in front of us in the Gold queue and we got a VQ ticket 70 something for Benedict Cumberbatch, as GA were let in early and the Gold entrance is far away) and the Goodie bag was not that bad, actually some things I can use instead of memorabilia from 10 years old movies (a programme and a lanyard would come nicely for the price). 

CONS

- The Gold Pass. The entrance needs to be sorted, the value is going down with the increased number of Diamond guests and no chill room this year, so the least we can expect is to enter the building before the GA on all 3 days. It worked well on Friday and Sunday, but not Saturday. Better than last year, but not enough. The only talk I assisted was the Alan Tudyk Diamond talk and the GOT evening (not included in the Gold), so I don't know if the Gold seating was sorted from last year. The Gold Pass worked well for photo queues, except on booth A on Sunday. I was told to join the end of the general queue for Mark Williams' session (I said to the volunteer nicely that I paid a lot of money for the Gold Pass and that I would like to be in the Gold queue, he was friendly and guided to the end of the Gold queue so I don't complain, same happened with the Valene Kane/Mads Mikkelsen duo. It was the only booth I had to ask to get what I paid for). 

- Diamond Pass prints. I think it should be handed when collecting the passes or check who collects it with the numbers, as some ran out..

- The volunteer seated next to Alan Tudyk on Friday afternoon was very rude and should work on her people skills, if I spoke to a customer like that in my workplace, I would be fired. She asked me to show the Diamond Pass, no hi or anything as other volunteers do (I had Mads Mikkelsen's and Alan Tudyk's on a lanyard and didn't realise Mads' was showing and also I didn't expect the question as the volunteer who took the payment checked the Pass already, so I just said, sorry? And she said aggressively "Show me your pass") Luckily, Alan Tudyk was great just after that.

- We tried to change a 20£ voucher we just bought for a 10£ and two 5£, as I wanted to get Valene Kane autograph who costed 15£ and the person at the sales desk told us it was not necessary, that they would give us the change at the autograph table. Once, at the autograph table, they told us they couldn't give the change, that the information we were given was wrong and there was an awkward conversation with the volunteer (she was nice, though) in front of the actress. The volunteer was helpful and I don't blame her, it is just important that everyone gives the right information. Valene Kane politely ignored the conversation and put some make-up. And then, we had a great chat about The Fall and Lyra Erso, one of the nicest guests I met. 

 

 

[tenaciouspirit]

1 hour ago, Raylenth said:

The best solution is still to just allow Golds access without VQ's AFTER diamond.  Diamonds still get priority and Golds can just join the queue as usual once it opens to VQ.  Most people aren't suggesting that Golds get access at the same time as Diamonds and still doesn't mean that they will get to see the Diamond guests if they are very slow or very busy with the Diamonds.

The only real downside I could see to this is that it further affects non Diamond GA people. If a gold can just walk straight up to a guest and join a queue (after diamonds), it will keep the queues at capacity, preventing people with low VQ numbers from joining. This means that the guest will likely see less VQ people. At least with the current system, if a gold gets a diamond pass guest's autograph, they use a VQ ticket, so the VQ keeps moving (in theory). The golds still get the priority they pay extra for (providing they are let in on time), whilst the non golds percieve the queue as moving quicker. People have already been complaining a lot about SM giving out unobtainable VQ numbers (ie 500 +) and about VQ numbers remaining low, and I think this would only aggrivate them further. 

It also may be a bit difficult for volunteers to follow, given that I have already read reports of people not allowing gold passes to join the back of non diamond lines, giving extra priority to diamonds by moving them to the front etc. It may just be best to keep it as simple as possible to avoid any issues. 

P.S as a guy who always gets GA with a handful of DPs, the opinions above are not ones I share. I've never had a single problem with the current system (providing everyone gets what they pay for) i"m just offering my two cents from what I have read. 

Edited August 2, 2017 by tenaciouspirit

[Raylenth]

12 minutes ago, tenaciouspirit said:

The only real downside I could see to this is that it further affects non Diamond GA people. If a gold can just walk straight up to a guest and join a queue (after diamonds), it will keep the queues at capacity, preventing people with low VQ numbers from joining. This means that the guest will likely see less VQ people. At least with the current system, if a gold gets a diamond pass guest's autograph, they use a VQ ticket, so the VQ keeps moving (in theory). The golds still get the priority they pay extra for (providing they are let in on time), whilst the non golds percieve the queue as moving quicker. People have already been complaining a lot about SM giving out unobtainable VQ numbers (ie 500 +) and about VQ numbers remaining low, and I think this would only aggrivate them further. 

It also may be a bit difficult for volunteers to follow, given that I have already read reports of people not allowing gold passes to join the back of non diamond lines, giving extra priority to diamonds by moving them to the front etc. It may just be best to keep it as simple as possible to avoid any issues. 

P.S as a guy who always gets GA with a handful of DPs, the opinions above are not ones I share. I've never had a single problem with the current system (providing everyone gets what they pay for) i"m just offering my two cents from what I have read. 

I did say the same earlier as well.

[tenaciouspirit]

31 minutes ago, Raylenth said:

I did say the same earlier as well.

Oops, sorry about that. I did a quick check to make sure that I wasn't covering other points, but I must have missed that :/ 

[Clyde]

On 29/07/2017 at 8:43 PM, Dreamweaver187 said:

Like i have said

Take away gold pass holders having to get VQ tickets and i dont think 1 person would complain about getting in early or not 

I have gave above some thought and agree this would be better but does mean it could result in less diamond passes being sold then have a knock on affect of the quality of diamond pass guest.

Maybe a solution would be where the silent auction table was have a vq table for diamond guests orderly queues no mass scrum 

At same place have large info board telling people which vq no up to to save all the milling about at end of queues

Larger and clearer signage to show vq numbers 

Keeping themed  from same TVs shows together 

Move silent auction back to same place as 2016

The improvement in the comic area was fantastic 

[Dent_1]

LFCC 2015 with Sigourney and MJFox headlining was the most badly run scrum of a show I have ever been to. Apart from the superb guests, a horrible event.

LFCC2016 was a massive improvement. More space, better organised. So much easier.

LFCC2017 seemed like something inbetween those two events, and a step back from last year. I only saw 8 people for autographs (Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Roy Scammell, Tricia Helfer, David Morrissey, John Rhys-Davies, Dave Prowse, and Ian McDiarmid) and 1 photoshoot. None of them were 'big' guests but what an ordeal it was trying to get them all....

I don't have a problem with Diamond Passes for rare (expensive) guests who genuinely wouldn't attend otherwise, but it does annoy me when Showmasters make certain guests Diamond who don't need to be, which further decreases the chance of seeing them on VT. Additionally, autographs feel something of an afterthought these days. Talks are ok, but often not that different than interviews that can be seen on either DVDs or online, and take away time from the autograph table. Photoshoots, whilst nice personal momentos, again take away more time. I think they are a good way to guarantee you meet a guest, but the cynic in me says the organisers see it as an easier way to make money than via autos. I mean come on, 28 batches for Cumberbatch on Saturday? Has there ever been as many for a guest in a single day?

Getting autographs at these shows seems to get more difficult with each passing year, and it is sucking the fun out of it for me. I remember when Gillian Anderson first attended at LFCC 2012: an insanely popular guest who had 2 photoshoot sessions on the Saturday, and blasted through almost 1,000 VTs as I recall, and went to open queue at the very end of the day. She even personalised! And only £45 too. A bargain for a guest of her calibre compared to offerings in the years since, and I imagine many fans of many budgets got to see her. It feels like those days are almost gone.

My biggest annoyance at this show though was the poor layout of certain autograph areas. On the concourse it was a nightmare queuing for anyone as people would always be cutting through the line (because they needed to actually move around the event), plus there was not enough room for the queues themselves.
Then you had the auto area around Dormer and Conleth where the queues collided with the ones for guests on the other side, and then on top of that are the people attempting to move through that area. I am amazed at the comments saying how well organised the show was! This being one of the two main auto areas, was an utter shambles. That area is simply not big enough for the amount of guests and attendees crammed into it. It needed to be more like the autograph area where Morrissey/Mads were, because those lines were allowed the space they needed..

I can only reiterate what others have said about crew not taking VTs from people who joined the lines. I joined several queues and was not asked for my ticket. If I had wanted to, I could have also joined several queues without a VT and been unchallenged because the crew had no awareness.

All in all, I really enjoyed meeting the guests I did, but did not really enjoy the show at all.

* VERY annoying the cloakroom was not open on the 1st floor like last year. Sorry I'm not interested in excuses they are handled by the venue. Showmasters choose this venue, run the event, and more than one cloakroom was open at previous shows.

** The so called bag-check on entry did not happen for me. I find it bizarre to suggest some people where not checked because they may not 'fit' a suspicious looking 'profile'. What utter twaddle. Not even the most experienced member of security can read the minds and intent of thousands of attendees accurately. I was there and the reason for inconsistent checking was obvious: poor organisation. Not enough staff to do it/not set up in such a fashion to catch/stop everyone going through before being searched (like last year). As I went through, I found there were people getting checked on either side of me, and I found myself walking down the middle between them. Nobody asked me to stop, or open my bag. No-one even looked or came near me. I wanted to get in the show, not stand still and beg someone to rifle through my things, so I just kept walking. In light of recent events in this country, I found this very concerning.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Dent_1

[fissijo]

A couple of points now I can think a bit clearer after the weekend.

 

- 'You are here' stickers on the map (I mentioned this to one of the pit bosses while in a queue as well, he thought it was a good idea and wrote it down, but it never hurts to repeat), so many times I had to try and work out what area we were in by where a staircase was. Not good when you are rushing trying to remember where the photo areas are!

- In addition to this, some "this way for..." signage, it took forever and a day to find the right staircase to get up to the haven that was YALC.

- Some sort of central position with a board of some description showing what number VQ guests are up to - A couple of whiteboards and a roving crew member updating when they could would save a lot of people milling around the guest area seeing if their number is up.

- Ditto that for photos - something small the crew can hold up/hang up with what batch they are calling at that time (or even what guest in some cases) - would save a lot of shouting for the crew.

 

 

[Persephone1]

16 hours ago, Raylenth said:

The best solution is still to just allow Golds access without VQ's AFTER diamond.  Diamonds still get priority and Golds can just join the queue as usual once it opens to VQ.  Most people aren't suggesting that Golds get access at the same time as Diamonds and still doesn't mean that they will get to see the Diamond guests if they are very slow or very busy with the Diamonds.

That would still mean you'd never need to buy a diamond pass again.

OK so you would lose the "guaranteed" aspect of the autograph if the guest was a very very slow signer (although none of my diamond passes were called by number) but I buy diamond passes specifically so I don't have to get VQ tickets for those guests. If I can get access to the queue without a diamond pass and without having to get up at the crack of dawn by paying a relatively low sum and getting access to every single guests queue then why would I ever need to buy a diamond pass? 

My biggest gripe from previous years was that it was working precisely how you've suggested. Although of course in practice what happened at every queue was that the person in charge saw people with diamond passes, saw people with gold passes and just let them join at the same time (therefore of course given GA much much less chance of ever meeting the guest). I was actually pleased to see that that didn't seem to be happening this year. 

Perhaps I should shut up. If they go with your suggestion everyone will be able to get access to everyone for a real bargain price!

[Raylenth]

3 minutes ago, Persephone1 said:

That would still mean you'd never need to buy a diamond pass again.

OK so you would lose the "guaranteed" aspect of the autograph if the guest was a very very slow signer (although none of my diamond passes were called by number) but I buy diamond passes specifically so I don't have to get VQ tickets for those guests. If I can get access to the queue without a diamond pass and without having to get up at the crack of dawn by paying a relatively low sum and getting access to every single guests queue then why would I ever need to buy a diamond pass? 

My biggest gripe from previous years was that it was working precisely how you've suggested. Although of course in practice what happened at every queue was that the person in charge saw people with diamond passes, saw people with gold passes and just let them join at the same time (therefore of course given GA much much less chance of ever meeting the guest). I was actually pleased to see that that didn't seem to be happening this year. 

Perhaps I should shut up. If they go with your suggestion everyone will be able to get access to everyone for a real bargain price!

Unless I've really missed something and don't even understand what I've typed (possible  )I haven't suggested that at all.

[Persephone1]

3 minutes ago, Raylenth said:

Unless I've really missed something and don't even understand what I've typed (possible  )I haven't suggested that at all.

You said "The best solution is still to just allow Golds access without VQ's AFTER diamond. " And as I pointed out that's really how it was working in previous years with people running the queues thinking diamond and gold get access without VQs and just letting them join when they wish. 

Golds just need to be let in at the correct time. Perhaps 10 minutes before to ensure they get the appropriate VQs they need.

[Raylenth]

8 minutes ago, Persephone1 said:

You said "The best solution is still to just allow Golds access without VQ's AFTER diamond. " And as I pointed out that's really how it was working in previous years with people running the queues thinking diamond and gold get access without VQs and just letting them join when they wish. 

Golds just need to be let in at the correct time. Perhaps 10 minutes before to ensure they get the appropriate VQs they need.

Right, I get it now, apologies from slow me!

I think they used to get 10 minutes and it was reduced to 5 this year. 

Yes ultimately all that needs to be done is for it to be ensured that opening runs as it should whether that be have the Golds in the same entry hall but in a separate queue so there's no issue about when they can enter or having a senior crew member there early every day to ensure entry is handled properly.

[Queen_Sindel]

14 hours ago, Dent_1 said:

The so called bag-check on entry did not happen for me. I find it bizarre to suggest some people where not checked because they may not 'fit' a suspicious looking 'profile'. What utter twaddle. Not even the most experienced member of security can read the minds and intent of thousands of attendees accurately. I was there and the reason for inconsistent checking was obvious: poor organisation. Not enough staff to do it/not set up in such a fashion to catch/stop everyone going through before being searched (like last year). As I went through, I found there were people getting checked on either side of me, and I found myself walking down the middle between them. Nobody asked me to stop, or open my bag. No-one even looked or came near me. I wanted to get in the show, not stand still and beg someone to rifle through my things, so I just kept walking. In light of recent events in this country, I found this very concerning.

Thank you very much for your Kind comments on the only Response I can give as no matter how much "utter twaddle" I Keep repeating. The security is handled by the venue. The complaints have been forwarded on to SM so they can speak to someone. But if you want to make sure it is covered appropriately you are very welcome to contact the venue yourself and leave your comments.

I am certainly not an expert in security. But I have been to both France and Munich after the attacks there. Not immediately, but security was still up. France by car. My friend and I (both female) were terrified because we had several suitcases, most of them full with Disney Pins as we were going to an Event. As I have a small car several bags were even clearly visible on the backseat. We saw ourselved delayed for Ages because we expected them to go through all bags.

Security at the border (policemen for the record) took one look at two females in Disney Shirts with two Disney Teddy bears on the lap to the Person in the co-drivers seat. They didn't even want to see our passports, they waved us right through. Any car with a Dutch or Belgian license plate was pulled. Any car with Middle-Eastern looking men was pulled.

So yeah, no Profile that they were looking for for sure. But what do I know, I only speak utter twaddle.

[DavidB]

I had my bags checked both days. I don't think I looked that suspicious.

[Queen_Sindel]

10 minutes ago, DavidB said:

I had my bags checked both days. I don't think I looked that suspicious.

Who knows, maybe they follow you on Twitter. *runs*

But yes, my camera bag always goes through an extra check at every Airport too. I learned to accept it.

Generally - Profile or not - I tend to believe at least most security guards know what they are doing.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Queen_Sindel

[Wrong Name]

I had my bag checked all 3 days. I am shifty looking though. Handsome, but shifty.

[Raylenth]

I was checked Friday and Saturday but not Sunday.  Mind you I did give Benedict a whack to quieten him down so my giant holdall wasn't wiggling any more when I sidled nonchalantly through.

[wjbleming]

Had my bags checked going in first time round all 3 days, but waved through when re entering again on the Sunday when I asked if they wanted to check in them.