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A change for next year - VQ tickets


Murph
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37 minutes ago, wortsie said:

I strongly disagree with the idea that EVERY guest automatically requires a VQ. There'd be even more of a stampede early morning, and it would mean anyone not getting in by 9.30 might as well not bother turning up at all. Not everyone can get there at stupid o'clock as dawn breaks over the horizon. I for one wouldn't attend if this was ever introduced.

Then I suppose you'd have the option of buying a Gold pass, which would give you priority over all VQ holders regardless of number for non-Diamond guests, especially since those are the guests we are talking about here. If queues run too short or dry up then they could be opened to higher numbers much earlier, rather than batching them in 50s or 100s. That would be equally as flexible as at present, enabling crew to keep each guest's physical queue at the optimum number, probably 20 -30. I saw only a few non-VQ guests on Saturday, so if you didn't want to join in the VQ system and limited yourself to just those guests with open queues it might have ruled out a lot of possibilities. 

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One observation from today , could guests that are in an enclosed area have an identification poster on both ends of the "cell" ? Depending on which way you approached it you had no idea who it was , I missed out on a couple due to not finding them and the vq tickets being quite high when I did 

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One thing I would ask to be put forward is in regards to the stairs.

can it be sorted that one side of the stair isgoing up only and other side going down only.   some people were going down one side then having to move over as people coming up their side which slows things down a bit.    not sure how easy would be to enforce but even a basic sign at the top and bottom saying stick on x side. 

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4 hours ago, posey1234 said:

Would there be a possibility of putting a sign up where guests are signing because thhey were moved other places from friday would be easier to find them 

That is exactly the same reason why only the General signing Areas are announced. Guests may even be moved the morning of the Show. I don't think this ever will be done, sorry. It would likely be outdated before even put up.

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8 hours ago, HeartDT said:

One thing I would ask to be put forward is in regards to the stairs.

can it be sorted that one side of the stair isgoing up only and other side going down only.   some people were going down one side then having to move over as people coming up their side which slows things down a bit.    not sure how easy would be to enforce but even a basic sign at the top and bottom saying stick on x side. 

Left hand rule all round, as in.....drive on left, walk on left, climb stairs up and down on left. 

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24 minutes ago, Jonny Average said:

Left hand rule all round, as in.....drive on left, walk on left, climb stairs up and down on left. 

Oop North ascending/descending stairs and escalators is always done on the right, some places even have signs up to guide those that don't know.

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In regards to the VQ thing, I don't really see the need as I didn't have a problem getting to see anyone. As far as I'm concerned it's all about planning your day and setting reasonable expectations. These things always change and that's just the way it is. Everyone being on VQ isn't a bad idea as such, but not necessarily needed. I always find if I plan my day, and head for the places that aren't going to be popular first, I can get through loads of things quickly. I didn't rush in/run, I wasn't one of the first ones in and I got reasonable numbered VQ's. But I suppose that was my own experience and everyone's is different.

On a slightly different subject, but certainly something that could be considered for future cons, and I have certainly seen this suggested elsewhere on here, but having a digital display for every photo area saying who it is for and what Batch number they are up to would save a lot of people a lot of time, especially the crew. Doesn't need to be anything major, just one like they have on trains. Several times I was at a photo shoot and the crew would shout what was going on, 10 seconds later a few people would turn up and ask who was there and what batch they were up to which must be frustrating. I would free the crew up to manage the queuing a bit more effectively.

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1 hour ago, Jonny Average said:

Left hand rule all round, as in.....drive on left, walk on left, climb stairs up and down on left. 

 

50 minutes ago, Stassy said:

Oop North ascending/descending stairs and escalators is always done on the right, some places even have signs up to guide those that don't know.

Which side of the stairs do you walk on?
In the UK, we drive on the left. It is, therefore, logical to walk up, or down, the stairs on the left hand side. This is polite, it leaves little room for that ridiculous dance affected by those who have no concept of logic which leaves them dodging one another on the staircase.
 
Ive always known it as the left, but if there were arrows people would in theory follow them but dont understand why its so hard to figure out anyway!
Edited by lesleynile
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Hey guys,

to start off I'd like to say how incredibly well-organized the event was. The crew was lovely and there was so much space that even the sold out Saturday never felt over crowded.  I've massively enjoyed the weekend and will be back for sure.

The only issue I ran into was the VQ tickets. Getting them was a bit of a nightmare. As soon as the gates opened there was a massive stampede to get upstairs to the autograph area. I'm a wheelchair user and even though we got a 5 minute head start, that was not enough time to walk to the lift on the opposite side of the venue and back over to the autographs before everything went crazy. I tried to get a VQ ticket for Benedict and the scene there was pretty bad. I don't understand why people aren't told to queue for the VQ tickets? They we're just swarming around the crew member. I made the mistake of getting in there to get my ticket and promptly got smacked in the head by a DSLR camera around a blokes neck as everyone was pushing and shoving. It was mayhem. Safe to say that I ended up with a very high VQ number and I only got my autograph because a lovely con goer offered to swap for their lower number. There were some super lovely people at LFCC.

So my suggestions/questions:

  • Wouldn't it be better to have people queue up for VQ tickets once upstairs? So nobody gets injured?
  • Is there any way to make this process a bit fairer for people who need to get the lift to get up to the autograph area? As a disabled con visitor, this whole set up made me feel rather disadvantaged.
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11 hours ago, wortsie said:

I strongly disagree with the idea that EVERY guest automatically requires a VQ. There'd be even more of a stampede early morning, and it would mean anyone not getting in by 9.30 might as well not bother turning up at all. Not everyone can get there at stupid o'clock as dawn breaks over the horizon. I for one wouldn't attend if this was ever introduced.

This isn't what we meant.  Whilst no system is perfect the current system means that you go to a guest to be told they aren't on VQ but you can't queue then because either the guests isn't there yet and/or you need to go and get other VQ's so you decide to come back in an hour and get the auto.  when you go back the guest has been put on VQ's and they are high.

If they gave them out for all guests then when you go and get it you have your ticket and know you should get through later and won't be screwed if they suddenly get busy and loose out because you didn't know to go back and collect one, and if the guest remains quiet they just go to an open queue system and you don't need your ticket. 

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Just got back from an awesome weekend but one thing that really grinds my gears is the fact these VQ were still being handed out for David Bradley with numbers in 400's and later even 590 region !

The poor guy had not even made 120 at closing time ...... for the life of god why don't you stop handing out tickets when you can clearly see it will be impossible to reach him.

Hand out say 200 and then when it looks like he may get through more then hand out some more.

I witnessed on Sunday complete chaos at closing with one little girl being refused entry to David's line with number 29 ! .... he was on 1-120 all afternoon and several people were shouting how disgusting it was.

Another little girl with 92 and tears streaming down her face after waiting all day.

This VQ system runs well 95% of the time but staff should not still be handing out 400 + when at 1pm numbers 120 still have not being reached , just absurd and then you wonder why you get large amounts of people massing at times and blocking up area's.

People get false hope and keep returning asking questions.

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1 hour ago, rkemp78 said:

I also strongly disagree with this. A lot of the people I like to meet are the smaller guests, it is great to just walk up and queue to meet them whenever you like (after a very short queue). On Friday I met Sylvester McCoy and a few other guests, all within twenty minutes of arriving at 10am. Had there been VQ for everyone then I wouldn't have met them until late afternoon, after a whole morning of hanging around waiting doing nothing.

I know quite a few people arrive early and collect VQ tickets for EVERYONE, just in case they decide to meet them later, in most cases the tickets remain unused. Also, making everyone VQ means that everyone will arrive first thing, which will mean an even bigger scrum at the start.

I don't think I'll bother going any more if they do VQ for everyone. It's a rubbish idea.

 

 

 

This isn't what is meant.  You start them off on VQ's then put the quieter guests to open queues and you can still walk up and join the queue as you want.  It just means that if the guest is busy everyone already has a ticket and doesn't loose out because they didn't know they needed a ticket for them now.

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17 minutes ago, Bingo Boy said:

Just got back from an awesome weekend but one thing that really grinds my gears is the fact these VQ were still being handed out for David Bradley with numbers in 400's and later even 590 region !

The poor guy had not even made 120 at closing time ...... for the life of god why don't you stop handing out tickets when you can clearly see it will be impossible to reach him.

Hand out say 200 and then when it looks like he may get through more then hand out some more.

I witnessed on Sunday complete chaos at closing with one little girl being refused entry to David's line with number 29 ! .... he was on 1-120 all afternoon and several people were shouting how disgusting it was.

Another little girl with 92 and tears streaming down her face after waiting all day.

This VQ system runs well 95% of the time but staff should not still be handing out 400 + when at 1pm numbers 120 still have not being reached , just absurd and then you wonder why you get large amounts of people massing at times and blocking up area's.

People get false hope and keep returning asking questions.

Once the VT reach a certain numbers volunteers should let attendees know that it is unlikely they will be seen. I can only imagine no one thought David would be signing this slow and so the warning started too late.

Handing out 200 and then wait is not an Option. Have you seen the other Posts about attendees complaining when a guest suddenly went on VQ tickets? That Situation you suggest would be even worse. People would never leave the area hoping that they could grab a ticket when given out again.

The line getting closed and someone with ticket 29 missing it is really bad luck. But the lines have to be closed at a certain Point to make sure the venue is cleared, especially on breakdown day.

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Just a thought but is there a way that people could get a virtual VQ ticket. No money changes hand, but you could log in somewhere and apply for a VQ ticket and get one on your phone. Obviously it would take a bit of work and money, but it would save the pushing and rushing and all that nonsense. You could set a time people could apply for it for, set a time Gold Passes can apply earlier for etc. All the rules could be incorporated. Just a thought - haven't really thought through it properly so there may be a reason why it wouldn't work.

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1 hour ago, Queen_Sindel said:

Once the VT reach a certain numbers volunteers should let attendees know that it is unlikely they will be seen. I can only imagine no one thought David would be signing this slow and so the warning started too late.

Handing out 200 and then wait is not an Option. Have you seen the other Posts about attendees complaining when a guest suddenly went on VQ tickets? That Situation you suggest would be even worse. People would never leave the area hoping that they could grab a ticket when given out again.

The line getting closed and someone with ticket 29 missing it is really bad luck. But the lines have to be closed at a certain Point to make sure the venue is cleared, especially on breakdown day.

I know they were with Benedict, when I stopped by Sunday the chap giving them out was telling the requestee that it was beyond unlikely they would get through.

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12 hours ago, The Pink Lady said:

Then I suppose you'd have the option of buying a Gold pass, which would give you priority over all VQ holders regardless of number for non-Diamond guests, especially since those are the guests we are talking about here. If queues run too short or dry up then they could be opened to higher numbers much earlier, rather than batching them in 50s or 100s. That would be equally as flexible as at present, enabling crew to keep each guest's physical queue at the optimum number, probably 20 -30. I saw only a few non-VQ guests on Saturday, so if you didn't want to join in the VQ system and limited yourself to just those guests with open queues it might have ruled out a lot of possibilities. 

In theory, but I suspect that would mean the price of a gold pass would increase dramatically, and/or so many more attendees would buy one it could negate the benefit of having one if they were oversold. The fact gold passes haven't sold out for 2 years is down to the introduction of diamond passes which has considerably undervalued golds as a result.

Plus, SM would need to double up on staff for every guest, not sure that's viable either...

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