Telford Feedback

[Granny Gertrude]

Angel you are so wrong as there were as noted above many more tables than there were last February.

I think they meant there were fewer artists or stands doing art or portraits, rather than traders overall.

One of the nice things about the Masq being in the open hall is that we don't have to worry about tickets and so on to try to contain the hordes like at London ^_^;

[Lloyd_Irving]

Angel you are so wrong as there were as noted above many more tables than there were last February.

I think they meant there were fewer artists or stands doing art or portraits, rather than traders overall.

One of the nice things about the Masq being in the open hall is that we don't have to worry about tickets and so on to try to contain the hordes like at London ^_^;

With the sheer volume of attendance at London, it could be an interesting idea to rent out a hall entirely for the masquerade.
Set up a stage and a crudload of seating, maybe charge entry to it to subsidise, but it'd could be relatively cheap coz there'd be god knows how much seating available.
It could allow for the masquerade to run longer and get more people involved and watching, run several at different times of the day, maybe catering to different themes/categories/ages/etc?
I dunno, just an idea?

[theclaw]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say that I am glad you all enjoyed the Midlands Expo, it was a blast for me and it was a great way to begin the Expos 10th Anniversary year. I am glad people liked the increased number of freebies that I gave out on stage and I had a great time interacting with you and the word association game will go down as funny moment for me, although I doubt Manga and MVMs' marketing departments will be happy, lol.

It was also great to see and meet those who travelled from outside the UK, Switzerland, America, Ireland and so many more countries, many of whom where experiencing their first UK event.

As for the Masquerade and the level of Cosplays by everyone, this was once again eye opening and you really did the Midlands proud, you just seem to top the year before each time and this years winner was outstanding! As for the timing it was put on at that time as requested by a certain OAP(:P) and allowed for the processing of all the entries, which once again was up on the year before

Once again thanks to all who attended and made this event the best Midland's yet. I hope to see you all in 2012 if not at the other events before it.

Stuart (aka The Freebie Guy as someone called me in an album on deviant art, lol)

[Granny Gertrude]

Re Lloyd_Irving: Are you aware we now have a Cosplay Stage at London Expo in the Totally Cosplay area?

I'd also note that when we had to extend the Masquerade in May 2009 the overwhelming feedback we got was that the Masquerade was Too Long from the cosplayers, audience, and staff so I'm not sure longer Masquerades are desirable ^_^;
A seperate hall also means another staff and security team for the entrance and exit.

I reckon the Cosplay stage and greater audience capacity is the right measure- the size of the MCM Theatre audience was roughly in line with demand last October I believe.

[VickyAngel]

I loved Telford, as I always do, it's always so much more laid back and friendly than London! No-one bashing into you and destroying your cosplay... ¬.¬

But yeah,I agree that the Masquerade was really crowded this year.
For the first time since I've gone (about 4 years now?) I could not for the life of me get a view of the stage.
I've never actually got a seat,I quite happily sit on the floor near the front,but this time a few people decided to stand near the front? This made me pretty gutted as we're not all tall people and it kind of ruined it for a good crowd of us jumping around trying to catch a glimpse,so we just left early... bigger area or more chairs or something please D: Btw, we weren't late for the Masq or anything, we tried to get our place a good half hour early. Suppose next time it'll have to be an hour.

But also I noticed a really high standard of cosplay and it was fantastic. :3

[FreyaCrescent]

I thought the placement of the stage last year was a good area for the stage. I think being in a corner, more people were more likely to sit around rather than everyone crowding standing up so more people could get a view. Unfortunately, being so close to the door this time around meant that the people who could actually get to the stage were limited, because everyone ended up being in the way one way or another. Being in a corner meant that people could avoid the stage altogether if they wanted and I thought it was good for pretty much everyone considering it was so out of the way.

Maybe you guys should reconsider that next time? I remember a few years back the stage was right in the middle of the hall, which ended up being bad placement because that limited the number of people who could see even further considering it was closed off... but yeah, last year was great. It'd be good to see it there again.

[Admin-2]

Funny how different people see the same thing and come to different views.

Last year it was towards the corner but it had crowding problems with the dealers at the back and the Manga Alley on the right.

The placement this year gave more room at the back and both sides.

But in the end it is still an issue and I am sure its going to be looked at again.

[xMooWithMehx]

The only problem I had with the masquerade was the fact people decided to stand near the front. I was in a position where if everyone infront of me had sat down, I could have sat and still seen perfectly fine. I still had to stand though and I could barely see what was going on, and ended up watching most of it through camera screens when other people took photo's or video's; My friend couldn't see at all and gave up and started reading some manga instead ^-^'. I don't think the stage itself was a problem, just the fact people stood so close to the front.

[chronicwhimsy]

I had a great time at my first Midlands expo! I liked that there was place to get food inside the venue, and I felt it was all nicely spaced. As a dealer, access was much easier than in London as well! It was nice to be within 2 miles of my car during the day!

I did have a slight problem with some of the staff at the beginning of the day - they were wearing red button-up shirts, so I think they were venue staff. Is this something I should talk to one of the MCM admins about, or is there someone at the venue I can contact directly?