If you want to steward the event can you please email:-

loki@midgaard.demon.co.uk

Thank you

On another point I was about to email Stuart today about someone selling tickets on ebay until i relised it was Jola/Superstar autographs.

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by JtB
On another point I was about to email Stuart today about someone selling tickets on ebay until i relised it was Jola/Superstar autographs.

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LOL -

To be honest I wouldn't have come across those, I would have been using a search on the word "convention" or "tickets"

For example - Buffy Convention

If you relist hun, I'd take out the "meet the actors" bit and replace with convention (and event) if it fits.

You might get more natural hits then

From the Sector 14 Mailing List:-

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This is not an easy e-mail to write, because what I have to say is one of the hardest things I have had to in several years of running events. At this point, Valhalla is looking very much like it will be unable to run. The ticket sales for the event are very low, and as things stand to run would simply cost more money than we can afford. We are prepared to lose money to keep the event running (indeed, we will lose thousands of pounds anyway if we don't run), but given the current level of ticket sales, if we run, the amount we will lose is just too great.

I have never had to cancel an event before, and I don't want to now. The reason I have not been on the list the last couple of days is that I have been trying to discuss options with the actors to see if we can salvage the situation. But at the moment, the only chance the event has to run as advertised is if we see a massive upturn in sales - if we can sell another sixty tickets by the event, then we'd still lose money, but we'd be able to run. However we'd need to see that things were looking better on that front in the next few days, because one way or another, the final decision has to be made before Friday morning. If you know people who are planning to book, but have been leaving doing so for any reason, tell them they need to book now or there will be no event.

I'm aware that telling people of the situation will probably have the opposite effect, and stop them booking. My first priority has to be the people who have booked though - anyone who hasn't already booked travel or hotel rooms would be advised to hold off doing so until we know what is happening. Those who have booked the hotel through the event block booking need not worry on that front; if it becomes necessary to cancel your rooms, you should not be charged by them, so long as you cancel before the 23rd. If we do have to postpone or cancel, then every ticket holder will be entitled to and get a full refund for their tickets, as fast as we can physically post them out.

The worst thing about this is that the people we will be letting down the most if we have to cancel are the very people who bought tickets and put their faith in us. Sadly, there simply haven't been enough of you.

I know that if we have to cancel there are going to be people very upset. I know how I would feel in their shoes, I know how I feel at the prospect of letting down those people. However, if anyone is going to be angry and lose their temper at anyone, please don't do it over the phone line to Jola. It's not her fault, or at the end of the day, her decision (and there is just a chance you might be tying up the line when someone is trying to book, and thus keep the event running). If anyone is going to lose their temper, do it to me.

Stuart

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It would be a great shame to see the event cancelled at this stage Hoping it all pulls through for you *hugs*

Yes it would be a shame for the event to be pulled for Stuart and Sector 14. I have no real involvement in it and haven't had for some time now.

Lets hope those ticket sales come through - it would be a shame for a reputable organiser to have to cancel. Too many events have fallen by the wayside recently.

Hope it goes ahead for Stuarts sake and my hotel rooms through PL are nonrefundable.

Hope things work out for everyone thats going and also for Stuart who, unlike some Con organisers, seems like a decent guy.

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by Milky
Hope things work out for everyone thats going and also for Stuart who, unlike some Con organisers, seems like a decent guy.

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Ditto

That is a great shame. My first ever con was a Sector 14 one (Eclipse) and it was the best con I've been to. If I could make it to Valhalla then I would, but sadly I am unable. *fingers crossed* that everything goes ahead and is a great success.

Well the support of the fans to try and keep this event running is wonderful - just read the Sector 14 Yahoo Group to see.

Fingers crossed "geek power" will see it come good - keep spreading the word!

Hot off the Sector 14 Yahoo Group:-

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I'm afraid the news is not good. Sadly, we have no option left open to us now except to cancel the event.

As everyone on the list knows, ticket sales are extremely low. We have sold just over 130 tickets - that amount has barely changed in the last three weeks (I think it has gone up by about ten tickets). Two weeks ago, just before I
announced the risk of cancellation, the actors had a deadline for providing flight details - over the years running the events, I have gained a few contacts who can, on occasion, get discounts on flight costs, given sufficient notice.
Given the current financial situation, I needed those discounts to be able to afford to run. Losing those discounts would make it impossible, and the contact I had who could get the flights at a price I could afford was going on holiday.
Sadly, most of the guests missed the deadline, for a variety of reasons which I am not going to discuss. I knew we had most likely lost the discounts, and hence announced to the list the risk of cancellation. I had a deadline on various deposits which would need to be paid which was due on Friday just passed, and my flight contact would not be back until today; given the likelihood of the flight price having risen sharply, I would need to pull before Friday unless I felt ticket sales had improved sufficiently to survive the increased flight costs we might face.

Most of the people on the list have been amazing. I didn't want to let you down.
So although the ticket sales hadn't noticeably improved, I managed to convince the people who were due deposits on Friday to give us an extension - better to give us that and hopefully get paid in full if we ran, than to refuse the extension and have me cancel on Friday. Thankfully, all of them were reasonable, and granted us the extension. However, even with the extension, we needed the flights to come in at the lower price, because the ticket sales had not improved.

Today my flight broker came back from holiday. They confirmed to me late this afternoon that we have lost the chance of the discounts - my flight bill would treble if I were to run. I have now informed the actors, we have discussed the options, and none of us can see a way ahead that allows the event to happen. I don't want to leave anyone hanging any longer, hence this e-mail to inform
everyone on the list.

To cancel will cost me over £10,000. If we had got our discounted flights, running would probably have cost me £15,000 by the end of the day (that is taking photo sales and the like into account - it'd be more without them). Now, without the discounts on the remaining flights, to run would incur a loss in the region of £30,000. There is simply no way we can do that, and no amount of photo
sales would make it survivable.

Refunds will be posted out to everyone in the next few days.

Stuart

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Very sad to hear, you never want to see anyone putting themselves into debt for an event not running

Even though I didn't have the finances for this one, it would have been nice to see Sector14 on an up this year. I still had my fingers crossed to win the Sendit competition for tickets!

Hopefully they can sort something out for next year

Its unfortunate but best of luck or the future to Stuart.

However bit of constructive critism next time start selling your tickets long before May (this is when tickets went on sale) as man other conventions have announce events and attendees have already spent their money, and a bit more advertising would be nice as Id be suprised if you didnt have internet access that you would have heard of Vahalla.

As im £100+ down or this event due to non-refunables (dread to think about people who booked flights) im entitled to a bit of critism

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by JtB

As im £100+ down or this event due to non-refunables (dread to think about people who booked flights) im entitled to a bit of critism

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people have been talking of going anyway rather then just letting them (them being hotels and travel companies) have the money and making a weekend of it (i was going to be one of them but now i cant anyway), why not put up a thread or ask on the egroup whose still going?

(Edited by bipolar 13/07/2004 22:51)

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by JtB
and a bit more advertising would be nice as Id be suprised if you didnt have internet access that you would have heard of Vahalla.

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I know Stuart took out advertising in four magazines, and flyers were distributed around the country. So it wasn't just confined to the internet.

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by bipolar
(quotes)why not put up a thread or ask on the egroup whose still going?

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I've started on in meets just on the offchance as I imagine nobody would have ideas on where other people are staying or where to meet up

Thread is HERE

Hope it helps, not sure how many other T21'ers live in the Manc area who might join in

So sad to see this con go down...even though i decided not to go.
a bit of advice though next time (hope there is a next time, as Sector 14 events were some of the best)
organise a con in a time when there arnt a load of cons already running.at least a year ahead.
organise an event that isnt the same theme as the load of other cons running at the same time. the fans of that show can only afford so much.
run cons with themes from shows that have a fan base interested in seeing the guests. I dont think shows like 24, CSI, Westwing etc..although VERY good shows have the kind of fans that want to attend events. they have no sense of fantasy, no costumes, no makebelieve.this is the basis for fandom at conventions.
Maybe run an event with the theme being old shows, with guests that havent been here in ages. many people are only just getting into shows like B5, Xena, Farscape,SAAB,EFC due to dvd release and would love to meet the stars of those shows.hey sector 14 got its name from Babylon 5 didnt it? lol

Hope that Stuart doesnt give up. as it will be a great loss. Just needs a lot more forward planning.