LFCC 2019 - An appreciation.

[TimDavidHunt]

We really enjoyed the 3 days we attended, all the guests we met were so nice and very chatty, the guests who stand out for us as being the best of the best were the Shining Twins Lisa & Louise Burns they were so nice. One suggestion is maybe for 3day and gold pass attendees to have their own entrance instead of queueing up with day tickets (no offence) maybe have 2 queues, day tickets queues up one side of Door H and Gold/3days wristbands queues up the other side. And also it would be nice if you can ban autograph dealers from holding up queues getting several items signed in one go I saw this happening on a couple of occasions maybe with a limit on Items to be signed. Apart from that keep up the great work showmasters and please get more Stranger Things guests and Marvel Guests.

[mpharris]

19 hours ago, TimDavidHunt said:

We really enjoyed the 3 days we attended, all the guests we met were so nice and very chatty, the guests who stand out for us as being the best of the best were the Shining Twins Lisa & Louise Burns they were so nice. One suggestion is maybe for 3day and gold pass attendees to have their own entrance instead of queueing up with day tickets (no offence) maybe have 2 queues, day tickets queues up one side of Door H and Gold/3days wristbands queues up the other side. And also it would be nice if you can ban autograph dealers from holding up queues getting several items signed in one go I saw this happening on a couple of occasions maybe with a limit on Items to be signed. Apart from that keep up the great work showmasters and please get more Stranger Things guests and Marvel Guests.

Why should 3 day people have a separate queue from 1 day people?

[Raylenth]

6 minutes ago, mpharris said:

Why should 3 day people have a separate queue from 1 day people?

I presume so they can just go straight in as it were.  As they don't have to have their ticket scanned it might be a huge queue of day ticket holders they have to queue with especially on Saturday, so it might be doable to have day tickets queue one way and weekend the other way around the building.

[mpharris]

1 hour ago, Raylenth said:

I presume so they can just go straight in as it were.  As they don't have to have their ticket scanned it might be a huge queue of day ticket holders they have to queue with especially on Saturday, so it might be doable to have day tickets queue one way and weekend the other way around the building.

I can understand that might make it easier but it's not really fair on the one-day people.

[Ravogd]

1 hour ago, mpharris said:

I can understand that might make it easier but it's not really fair on the one-day people.

It’s one of these damned if you do damned if you don’t things. Like you say separate queues wouldn’t be fair on single day people but then the current system isn’t fair on 3 day people who have to queue longer waiting for people getting things scanned so which do they go for?

[Chris1970]

13 hours ago, Ravogd said:

It’s one of these damned if you do damned if you don’t things. Like you say separate queues wouldn’t be fair on single day people but then the current system isn’t fair on 3 day people who have to queue longer waiting for people getting things scanned so which do they go for?

One of the perks with 3 Day is not having to scan and just move into the queue to get in. I support a 3-Day entry.

[Naboo79]

I just filled out the survey, but there wasn't a "free text" field to add additional comments, so I hope it's okay to share feedback about my experience here.

The pros:
- Great guests, including at least one legend (Martin Sheen), and some rare signers. Thanks to Showmasters for bringing over people like Martin Sheen, Bob Gale, Brendan Fraser, Val Kilmer, and William Zabka.
- I really enjoyed all the panels I attended. Especially William Shatner's was quite entertaining, and I loved "An Evening With" the Sheens, even though it was half an hour shorter than advertised (more on that later)
- There was a lot of seats at the main stage (aka super stage) which was nice
- Having a separate entry for YALC is really nice
- Lots of good stalls
- The app is brilliant. Makes it so much easier to see the schedule and plan your own days
- Not many cancellations this year! Especially compared to Collectormania.
- Olympia is central in London and easy to get to, and there are hotels nearby, etc. 

The cons:
- The “Evening” with the Sheens started half an hour late, and was cut by half an hour. In addition, there was no information about where to queue and crew didn't know where to go.
- The photo op areas are chaotic at best (see this pic from Sunday: https://imgur.com/HxDY906). For starters, why not put the current batch number on a board, like you do with the current VQ number in the guest area? Or, even better, for the popular shoots with many batches, make it easy to find out what the current batch is, for example by making the info available in your new app. Having a crew member shout out batch numbers amongst a sea of hundreds of people all stood cramped together in the photo op area is not the best approach, in my opinion.
- The big screen by the main stage was not particularly useful, due to the way they had placed the camera. It would be better if the camera was placed in the middle of the room and only filmed the guests instead of filming half the big screen itself, or the top of the heads of the people in the first several rows...
- The photo op prints are very small. I wish they were 8x10 like the autographs, and like at other cons
- I loved the panels/talks and they are my favorite thing. Kudos for having so many of them, and for having many free ones. However, I think they should all be free like at other cons
- There wasn't really a place to sit and chill inside the venue, except for the seating by the stages
- Digital photo ops should ideally be free (or cost less, like £1) and be available for download sooner than 2-3 months after the event. At some other cons, they automatically email you the digital version seconds after the photo has been taken. 
- The photographer in A was ... loud! With every single photo she shot, she would shout “Ready and lovely thank you next please” all day, lol 

 

[Raylenth]

1 hour ago, Naboo79 said:

The cons:
- The “Evening” with the Sheens started half an hour late, and was cut by half an hour. In addition, there was no information about where to queue and crew didn't know where to go.
- The photo op areas are chaotic at best (see this pic from Sunday: https://imgur.com/HxDY906). For starters, why not put the current batch number on a board, like you do with the current VQ number in the guest area? Or, even better, for the popular shoots with many batches, make it easy to find out what the current batch is, for example by making the info available in your new app. Having a crew member shout out batch numbers amongst a sea of hundreds of people all stood cramped together in the photo op area is not the best approach, in my opinion.
- The big screen by the main stage was not particularly useful, due to the way they had placed the camera. It would be better if the camera was placed in the middle of the room and only filmed the guests instead of filming half the big screen itself, or the top of the heads of the people in the first several rows...
- The photo op prints are very small. I wish they were 8x10 like the autographs, and like at other cons
- I loved the panels/talks and they are my favorite thing. Kudos for having so many of them, and for having many free ones. However, I think they should all be free like at other cons
- There wasn't really a place to sit and chill inside the venue, except for the seating by the stages
- Digital photo ops should ideally be free (or cost less, like £1) and be available for download sooner than 2-3 months after the event. At some other cons, they automatically email you the digital version seconds after the photo has been taken. 
- The photographer in A was ... loud! With every single photo she shot, she would shout “Ready and lovely thank you next please” all day, lol 

 

I'll only add a couple of comments for info as I appreciate these are your opinions .

The photo shoot size I believe is 6x9 rather than 8x10 because they are quicker to print IIRC and when you have hundreds of people coming through you want to get them dealt with and out of the way as quickly as possible.  I know it might only take a few seconds more to print a slightly larger size but I guess it all adds up.  It's not ideal if you want a larger size but if you do buy the jpegs you can get them printed larger if you want.

I agree that at £5 each if you want to buy a lot of jpegs it's really expensive but I think it's hard to suggest a reasonable price when we don't know the costs involved - they will have to pay the photographer for them as they won't be given them for free and they have to pay to host them as well which costs as well.  It would be nice if they were able to offer a mutli buy price to make it a bit cheaper though if they can.  They usually do have them up a bit quicker than 2/3 months but they have a lot of images to go through and upload  so it's probably understandable they take time to be added.

 

[Naboo79]

5 minutes ago, Raylenth said:

I'll only add a couple of comments for info as I appreciate these are your opinions .

The photo shoot size I believe is 6x9 rather than 8x10 because they are quicker to print IIRC and when you have hundreds of people coming through you want to get them dealt with and out of the way as quickly as possible.  I know it might only take a few seconds more to print a slightly larger size but I guess it all adds up.  It's not ideal if you want a larger size but if you do buy the jpegs you can get them printed larger if you want.

I agree that at £5 each if you want to buy a lot of jpegs it's really expensive but I think it's hard to suggest a reasonable price when we don't know the costs involved - they will have to pay the photographer for them as they won't be given them for free and they have to pay to host them as well which costs as well.  It would be nice if they were able to offer a mutli buy price to make it a bit cheaper though if they can.  They usually do have them up a bit quicker than 2/3 months but they have a lot of images to go through and upload  so it's probably understandable they take time to be added.

 

Thanks for the reply :)

I’ve been to a lot of conventions (some of which are bigger than LFCC), and they all printed the photo ops in 8x10. But you’re right I can print a larger version if I have the digital file.

 

[Mayhem]

There was no option in the survey if you attended two days heh. It was either one day or all three.

[spengler]

I'd rather not have an extra charge added to photo opps for 'free' digital prints, however I would be very happy to pay the £5 for one of my photos should one get damaged, or I need a reprint. I think many people just scan their photos as a backup anyway.

Edited August 4, 2019 by spengler

[Chris1970]

1 hour ago, spengler said:

I'd rather not have an extra charge added to photo opps for 'free' digital prints, however I would be very happy to pay the £5 for one of my photos should one get damaged, or I need a reprint. I think many people just scan their photos as a backup anyway.

So true. Scan as soon as possible and archive the originals for safe storage.

[gackty]

My only complaint is that I lost Christina Ricci's paid talk because nobody helped me with 3 chashes that I had at the same time. I asked the staff of each photoshoot and everyone told me that they could not put me before to avoid losing the next one. I had to sacrifice Christina's talk that came with my diamond pass.

[Ravogd]

13 minutes ago, gackty said:

My only complaint is that I lost Christina Ricci's paid talk because nobody helped me with 3 chashes that I had at the same time. I asked the staff of each photoshoot and everyone told me that they could not put me before to avoid losing the next one. I had to sacrifice Christina's talk that came with my diamond pass.

You could try contacting the shop as it is a clash between paid items (ie talk and photoshoot) but I wouldn’t think there’s much they can do now the event is over. Can’t hurt to try though.

[Queen_Sindel]

4 minutes ago, Ravogd said:

You could try contacting the shop as it is a clash between paid items (ie talk and photoshoot) but I wouldn’t think there’s much they can do now the event is over. Can’t hurt to try though.

From what I understand they used the photo tickets and the talk was part of the Diamond Pass. So I'm afraid not much that can be done now. Before it may have been possible to move a shoot.

[gackty]

22 hours ago, Queen_Sindel said:

From what I understand they used the photo tickets and the talk was part of the Diamond Pass. So I'm afraid not much that can be done now. Before it may have been possible to move a shoot.

I know. I tried to do the AM photoshoot of Alfie Allen and Brendan Frasser to avoid the clash.
But the Staff told me it had to be in the afternoon.
Then the photoshoot of Alfie, Brendan, Val Kilmer and Christina's talk came together in the afternoon.
I went to the first one, they told me that they could not let me go, that I would go to the next ... I went to the next and they told me to go to the first ... So they had me going around for a while. In the end I sacrificed Christina's talk (which I really wanted to go to) to complete the 3 photoshoots.
If only they had let me in at the beginning of any of the 3, I could have handled it. I really don't see much disorder in letting a person who has a clash pass before, I wouldn't mind.

By the way, I have another complaint.
All my photos of PHOTO A are somewhat blurred.
Philiph Zhao, Ricci and Patrick. The 3 a little blurry.
The rest of the PHOTO areas, no problem.
One does not expect this from the largest convention in Europe.

 

[GreenArrow2046]

30 minutes ago, gackty said:

I know. I tried to do the AM photoshoot of Alfie Allen and Brendan Frasser to avoid the clash.
But the Staff told me it had to be in the afternoon.
Then the photoshoot of Alfie, Brendan, Val Kilmer and Christina's talk came together in the afternoon.
I went to the first one, they told me that they could not let me go, that I would go to the next ... I went to the next and they told me to go to the first ... So they had me going around for a while. In the end I sacrificed Christina's talk (which I really wanted to go to) to complete the 3 photoshoots.
If only they had let me in at the beginning of any of the 3, I could have handled it. I really don't see much disorder in letting a person who has a clash pass before, I wouldn't mind.

By the way, I have another complaint.
All my photos of PHOTO A are somewhat blurred.
Philiph Zhao, Ricci and Patrick. The 3 a little blurry.
The rest of the PHOTO areas, no problem.
One does not expect this from the largest convention in Europe.

 

This year I found very little help being offered in terms of clashes, I won’t go into too much detail but because of all the push backs and moving of photos that happened on Saturday, a well planned schedule became a massive rush, a red shirt in one area did me a great favour by pushing me up one of my queues so I got that photo then I just had to worry about the others, I even ended being told by a member of staff at one point if I miss my photo shoot because of the clashes then it’s my fault  not even sure how that’s possible or how to react to that, I have been extremely impressed in the past with how helpful the Showmasters staff have been and don’t get wrong, some were very helpful, but some weren’t at all.

[Werewolfgirl]

That is strange. I talked to info desk about my Billy Dee Williams photo shoot and Christina Ricci talk clash ( I had batch 4 for Billy) and they happily let me go to the morning shoot. It even says above the schedule that you can go to the morning shoot if you have a clash. Email the shop, put down the ticket numbers and explain the situation they might be able to do something for you. 

[Werewolfgirl]

I really enjoyed this con. Thank you Showmasters  for letting me meet a lot of fantastic guests and helping me with my clash. Looking forward to next year!

[GreenArrow2046]

16 minutes ago, Werewolfgirl said:

That is strange. I talked to info desk about my Billy Dee Williams photo shoot and Christina Ricci talk clash ( I had batch 4 for Billy) and they happily let me go to the morning shoot. It even says above the schedule that you can go to the morning shoot if you have a clash. Email the shop, put down the ticket numbers and explain the situation they might be able to do something for you. 

It’s fine I was able to make it to all my shoots, it just ended up very disorganised 

[Raylenth]

It's never guaranteed that you will be able to go through earlier as they do have to deal with the people who have been called and if they all turn up when they should they might not be able to slot people in, that said they should allow it if they can.  Sometimes it may be that you have to get a refund on one item if a clash is impossible to do but it's best to go and speak to the Sales desk on the day if you can, or if this happens again find the area pit boss/red shirt if you can.  Being told clashes are your fault is not on.

[Werewolfgirl]

That’s good

[GreenArrow2046]

5 minutes ago, Raylenth said:

It's never guaranteed that you will be able to go through earlier as they do have to deal with the people who have been called and if they all turn up when they should they might not be able to slot people in, that said they should allow it if they can.  Sometimes it may be that you have to get a refund on one item if a clash is impossible to do but it's best to go and speak to the Sales desk on the day if you can, or if this happens again find the area pit boss/red shirt if you can.  Being told clashes are your fault is not on.

I was more told if I was to miss the shoot then it was my fault, I was quite shocked that a member of staff would say something like this, but oh well event is over and I got everything I paid for so all is good 

[Wrong Name]

4 minutes ago, GreenArrow2046 said:

I was more told if I was to miss the shoot then it was my fault, I was quite shocked that a member of staff would say something like this, but oh well event is over and I got everything I paid for so all is good 

You have to remember that most of the crew at LFCC are volunteers. Sometimes it has been known that they have gotten a little confused with some of the rules and procedures. In these cases you are best off finding a pit boss (red shirt) for assistance.

[GreenArrow2046]

4 minutes ago, Wrong Name said:

You have to remember that most of the crew at LFCC are volunteers. Sometimes it has been known that they have gotten a little confused with some of the rules and procedures. In these cases you are best off finding a pit boss (red shirt) for assistance.

I know the crew are volunteers, but when there are no red shirts available and you don’t want to waste time looking for a red shirt, then you have to get on with things and make do, looking at my previous post you’ll see I spoke to a red shirt who helped me out with one of my shoots