Sorry to hear your time wasnt so great Jola.

Ive heard before (one of the reasons I didnt go) that it was going the way of Creation in the US i.e ran purely for the hard cash, and the organisers dont give a damm about the attendees.

Well, I enjoyed myself...although I'd have to say that it was my first professionally organised convention. Again, admittedly I had a low ticket number so I was in a better position than most, but I didn't find getting information a problem.

I can appreciate, however, that anybody who wasn't staying at the hotel or had a full weekend ticket might have had a different experience- some of the photo shoot tickets did go very quickly and it did help to be in the main hall as much as possible. Nobody approached me with a petition or anything like that and I was there until gone 6pm on the Sunday.

The guests were great, yes, although I felt a little bit sorry for Shiri Appleby in particular- I don't think she really knew what was expected of her and could probably have done with an interviewer to bring her out of her shell a bit, then spending most of Sunday just signing autographs- it probably wasn't much fun for her. Victoria Pratt was a revelation and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the amount of work that James Marsters and Emma Caulfield put in- remember that Emma wasn't feeling too brilliant and I think that probably made things difficult organisationally because nobody knew on Sunday morning how much she'd be able to do if anything.

I suppose I'd just point out too that this was a first go and it's a little bit harsh to criticise people for not getting everything right first time. I'm sure they'll learn from their mistakes. But I came away on the train thinking that I hadn't had such a good time in ages...perhaps it's also that I'm less materialistic than I used to be, so "getting" autographs and photos is a bit less of an issue for me.

There was a petition going around at SFX but it wasn't anything to do with SFX. It was a petition to get the Neutral Zone conventions in Newcastle back on the circuit...Unless there was another petition going around.
I know there were alot of people there who were annoyed by the queues and the fact that they didn't get the autographs that they wanted but you can't please everyone all of the time.
There was a distinct lack of communication at the event, maybe they will learn from their mistakes and it will be a little better the next time.
I on the other hand was busy all the time and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Don't get me wrong - I did actually enjoy myself with the company I had over the weekend - Big hellos to everyone I met

Its just I thought that they could have been more organised

---

by Igsy

I suppose I'd just point out too that this was a first go and it's a little bit harsh to criticise people for not getting everything right first time. I'm sure they'll learn from their mistakes.

---

mmm, I can put up with a little bit of dissorganisation at fan run conventions as these aren't run by professionals, but these conventions are becoming quite expensive, so If I forked out sixty quid (or whatever it was for the weekend), I'd be full of criticism if I didn't get my moneys worth.

---

by CJL
(quotes)

mmm, I can put up with a little bit of dissorganisation at fan run conventions as these aren't run by professionals, but these conventions are becoming quite expensive, so If I forked out sixty quid (or whatever it was for the weekend), I'd be full of criticism if I didn't get my moneys worth.

---

As far as i know, the weekend ticket wasn't only 60 quid but 75!! I was thinking about going and dint because it was so expensive. Now i am kinda glad i didnt go. although i'd like to have seen Mr.Marsters.

Oh, btw GERMANY IS IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP FINAL!! *g* sorry...

Another one here who was disappointed

i actually went up to one of the staff and made them tell just what had i paid £75 for. They didn't have much of a comeback.

Last thing on Sunday i did just manage to get something signed by James - although that might've been cause most had gone home.

i was no. 1166 out of 3000 so i was well within the first half. But i only just got something signed by James and nothing signed by Emma (though we asked and were later told that she was feeling really ill and tired after the 27hr plane journey)

It was sooo expensive for such a disappointment.

Although, i did get my photo taken with James (and having to get up at 6.00am was worth it ) but that wasn't even included in the price.

However, the talks we're great - i really enjoyed them


And i couldn't believe people we're paying UPFRONT for next year - when no guests, venue or even date had been confirmed!!!

Well this was my very first convention and over all I had a jolly good time.I was lucky enough to have my photo taken with both Emma and James which was fantastic especially when James said my T-shirt was cool, a fray one I made myself.(I'm still smiling at that now) I also got James autograph on the Sunday. But I was waiting around for hours to get Emma's and I know she was ill and she did really well staying as long as she did and I'm not moaning at her but at SFX because I along with many others in the main hall were waiting for the next numbers to be called (I was only 14 away :upsetand no notice came up on screen saying that she had left, after a while I went to the little written board at the back where it said she had gone so I don't know how long I'd been waiting for no reason.
I also had to choose between a talk between Joe Pantaliano in the main hall or Brian Talbot in the 2000 AD room I chose Brian and went up there to be told by brian himself that he had been told by SFX to wait an hour until Joe had finished his talk, so I lost my very good seat in the main hall and half of the Joe talk. So over all I'm going to have to say that all the guests were great. James Masters, Victoria Pratt and Robert Rankin were just fantastic
. I met some very lovely if slightly crazy people. But the event was let down by the lack of organisation.
I don't want to end this post on a bad thought so I'll leave you with my second best moment of SFX. (my best was at the top.)
The Harlow effects guys are on stage having just made up a guy dressed as Spike into vampire Spike. He's strutting around the stage very much enjoying having his photo taken, when from the balconay above we here "yo Spike" we all look up to see the real Spike, James Masters. The crowd goes wild, he stands, he waves,he smiles. We are all very happy espcially me.

i was quite disappointed.

i did manage to get photos with both james and emma but i got there really early to register on friday.even though i had a quite low ticket number (547) i still had to wait till sunday to get my autographs.by then,james wasnt personalising autographs and only two items could be signed.i felt sorry for him having to sign so much,it was like they were always doing something.

when i queued to get emmas autograph,i queued for an hour only to get to the front and be told that she wasnt signing anymore till later on.

i had a few things to say about the organisation.when i registered on friday,the steward took my registration ticket and that was needed to get any autographs,so after a panicked hour,i finally found out i hadnt actually lost my ticket and i would be able to get my autographs.i didnt like the way in which if you wanted to know what was happening with photos or autographs you had to wait in the main hall to find out,it seemed like most of the weekend was spent queueing or waiting in the main hall for your ticket number to be called.

i knew people that registered for next years event but after waiting so long for an autograph,he went and cancelled his registration.i dont think i would return to a sfx event like that unless they had someone i would really like to see.

---

by Ferretgirl
And i couldn't believe people we're paying UPFRONT for next year - when no guests, venue or even date had been confirmed!!!

---

I never attended this particular event so have no views on it. But I have been known to buy tickets for the next events whilst attending a convention.

I usually do this just so I know that its done and paid for but normally in the hope of getting lower tickets for autograph queues as I prefer to get my autos done early in case I have to leave on the Sunday night or in case the guests run out of reasonable time.

It maybe that people booking tickets generally enjoyed themselves (give or take the way things were set out) and wanted these advantages for next year. Although if you are a con-virgin it can be very difficult trying to satisfy your own cost for a ticket - if you get your autos then all well and good the ticket is paid for - if you don't it seems like you have paid money just to queue all weekend.

---

by Ferretgirl
It was sooo expensive for such a disappointment.
Although, i did get my photo taken with James (and having to get up at 6.00am was worth it ) but that wasn't even included in the price.

---

A lot of first-timers always seem to be surprised that photo sessions etc aren't included in the price and many people try to turn up earlier in the hope of getting tickets for that - a few friends have said it would be nice to have the option of buying photo tickets as an add-on to ticket cost but I guess that until the event occurs you can't confirm whether a guest will be doing photos or not.

I sympathise with Ozroo for losing a good seat - that can be the most annoying thing at conventions when going to queue for photos/autos whatever if you are by yourself. How many rooms were the talks split into?

Sometimes I find that the choice of venue can make all the difference (but I'm not surprised that 3000 would make for a very crowded convention if that was indeed the number of attendees!!!) My personal choice best venue so far for me has been the Heathrow Park as all the rooms are on the same floor and within a reasonable area and makes finding things out and queuing easier - although it seems to be smaller than some other hotels. I thought the Paragon was a good sized venue recently with some good surrounding food outlets and excellent at shortnotice - it would have been better though had it had 500 empty rooms to book all the con-goers into (but every hotel has its downsides too - early closing parties and the positioning of the activity room obviously didn't help)




(Edited by Pegasus 26/06/2002 01:29)