Firstly, welcome to the site.

Yes we had heard this information too, but generally we don't post anything on here until we see evidence on websites with proper details

I had been checking out all the sites prior to you posting.

I suspect too that as Michael Shanks was advertised by Wolf Events at SG5 for May that'll he'll be one of the first guests unless its a separate event.

With regards to the London Expo - I just hope there's more dealers stands there next year as I did think the event was very small in comparison with Memorabilia events. Even for me I'd walked around most of it in 2 hours and then found myself bored.

(Edited by Pegasus 03/11/2002 00:22)

fair enough, i fopund london expo very good, with great guests, i also went to the dinner on the saturday night which was great as well! I think considering that was the first london expo they did very weel, as i heard that there were alot of people trying to stop it going a head, i and my friends will be supporting it, especially now that there will be 2 events there that weekend

Well I guess that's the difference, I went to London Expo for the dealers, normally spending extras on seeing the guests doesn't bother me. I prefer conventions where I can couple seeing the guests with 3 nights of partying with my friends.

If the SFX is at the docklands how's that working? It won't be inside a lovely warm hotel?

Well I know that expo are doing the saturday night dinner again, also that sfx are running the awards there, aolong with from what i hear from sfx there will be a party at an hotel! A lot of this information can be had from calling sfx, i spoke to the organisers of london expo this year and just asked them about dealers and numbers, there answer was that considering that this was the first show and that memorabilia has been established for a long time, then the number of dealer stalls was good, everyone has to start some where, i am sure that over a period of time the amount of dealer stalls will rise, but what i am impressed about is the fact that it is in london and that i do not have travel a million miles to get to it! Also the fact that sfx will be there next year, where normally i would have had to pay twice to go to sfx and london expo, sfx attendees get into london expo for free, how good is that.

I went to sfx this year and found it to be a major mess, probably the same as many people did; but as a phone call or two to sfx confirmed, sfx will not be running the event themselves, but London Expo will be running it, as you know London Expo is run by Wolf Events and Scifi Shows, whoi have been running shows for a long time, with a good track record. So i am sure that it will be a lot better

Also think of all the extra dealer tables there will be available to people who go to sfx, they have access to all of the tables in expo for free, which gives them a far bigger choice.

I am all for helping new ideas and shows, i can see the benefit of having the 2 shows run together, as an attendee to sfx i will get all the guests at sfx, with the talks and so on, also all the extra seperaste guests that will be london expo with the larger amount of dealers, the saturday night dinner, the awards ceremony, plus the proposed party!

So to be honest if it is a toss up between getting on a train and trudgin up to blackpool to stay in the rubbish Norbreck or going to London and getting all of the extras involved and the fact of helping a show get better, i know what i am going to do, so are a lot of my friends.

Blimey that was an answer and a half, hope it does not bore you, but i do feel strongly about some things, especially if i think that they will benefit both me and other fans.

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by thefan
What i am impressed about is the fact that it is in london and that i do not have travel a million miles to get to it! Also the fact that sfx will be there next year, where normally i would have had to pay twice to go to sfx and london expo, sfx attendees get into london expo for free, how good is that.

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I think everyone down South is always happy when they don’t have to go past the Watford Gap Personally I think it’s a shame that the con organisers have to go to London to pull off something that should be able to be done everywhere. It’s not their fault, I just don’t think that facilities further North either exist or make themselves known to the market and that’s a shame

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by thefan
I went to sfx this year and found it to be a major mess, probably the same as many people did; but as a phone call or two to sfx confirmed, sfx will not be running the event themselves, but London Expo will be running it, as you know London Expo is run by Wolf Events and Scifi Shows, whoi have been running shows for a long time, with a good track record. So i am sure that it will be a lot better

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I didn’t go to this event, but I think most folks will agree that Wolf Events is a big name in the sphere, whether it’s a good name or not, I couldn’t say.

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by thefan
Also think of all the extra dealer tables there will be available to people who go to sfx, they have access to all of the tables in expo for free, which gives them a far bigger choice.

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I think the internet has pretty much made dealer stalls obsolete and turned it into an opportunistic market preying upon it’s captive audience at these events. Other than autographs, which are always better to get personalised from the stars themselves I don’t think there’s much merchandise that I’ve not been able to find at a better or equal price online, also in today’s global village, getting more exclusive/elusive stuff sent from the USA or Japan is easier (and often cheaper) for me than a trip to the capital. Mind you it does no harm to thumb through the dealers stash looking to see if they know their market as well as the fans do

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by thefan
I am all for helping new ideas and shows, i can see the benefit of having the 2 shows run together, as an attendee to sfx i will get all the guests at sfx, with the talks and so on, also all the extra seperaste guests that will be london expo with the larger amount of dealers, the saturday night dinner, the awards ceremony, plus the proposed party!

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I think you’re right here, collating all the stuff into one weekend would be great as long as you don’t have to miss out on stuff at one half to attend the stuff at the other.

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by thefan
So to be honest if it is a toss up between getting on a train and trudgin up to blackpool to stay in the rubbish Norbreck or going to London and getting all of the extras involved and the fact of helping a show get better, i know what i am going to do, so are a lot of my friends.

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To be honest, if it is a toss up between getting on a train and trudging donwn to London and not going, I’ll well… not be going.

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by thefan
Blimey that was an answer and a half, hope it does not bore you, but i do feel strongly about some things, especially if i think that they will benefit both me and other fans.

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It’s always good to see folks here who are passionate about their sci-fi, keep us posted if you hear any more from the organisers

Hmm- not sure what to feel, really. There are good things and bad about the change- London is more of an incentive for overseas guests and it might be for the best to involve experienced convention organisers. On the other hand, I quite liked being in the convention hotel- able to stay up dancing etc and not have to worry about getting back to bed.

We'll see, anyway.

Incidentally, the great news that Wolf are organising the SFX 2003 may seem slightly less shiney when you realise that Wolf did most of the work for the SFX con at the Norbreck this year too...