The Official Celebration Horror Stories... post/complain here.

I think part of the problem is a lot of us didn't understand all the factors that contributed to some of the problems.

It's only natural for peopole to seek out why something didn't go as well as hoped, but this sort of thing can turn into a witch trial all to easily.

Now that we have people from the other side of this equation here to fill in the gaps of what we actually know, perhaps we can all come to more reasonable, constructive terms.

Despite the problems that arose, things could have gone a lot worse, and it's a testiment to all of us that so many volenteer fans bothered to help in the first place.

There will be a C4, because we as a fanbase are more resilliant than that. We will bounce back and we will enter the next convention with the same kind of anticipation we had for these past conventions. We will all be a little wiser, from the event organisers, to the fans who like to wait in line all night as a show of support for the guy who made all this possible in the first place.

I will agree some of the lines were horrendus, but at the same time, they were all volentary. If I waited in a line for 5 hours to get a figure, it was because I chose to do that instead of participate in the other activites that day.

Just remember, whenever you are pointing a finger at someone else, you have 3 more fingers pointing back at yourself. There were issues, but it was a result of both the fans and the organizers combined.

 

Azeem...I have never been to Gen Con, but my understanding is that the crowd dynamics are very different, much more room space for games where people are playing, not as much wandering and buying. Also the commone element in all 3 celebrations is GREED.

Gen con had ample chances to pre plan this party better, from limiting the intial sales, to planning more inventory, to hiring more security and experienced workers. But instead they relied on over worked and undertrained volunteers, crammed as many people as they could under existing laws for fire safety, and decieded to underorder merchandise to make sure that they sold everything and did not have any losses on inventory, even if it meant unhappy fans. They are a business and are supposed to make money, but if this is the way they are making their money we should defintely make it known that we do not appreciate being used like this<<<
On a gaming con, where more is concerned with gaming, there's a wide spectrum from something like C3 and I figured out that Gencon wanted to 'look good' by the numbers (how many passes sold) and maybe beating cons that do more than just gaming essentially as main thing like Comic-Con and Dragoncon as saying, "See, we made a lot of money."
They weren't prepared or understood enough allowing more than one could handle, not until Saturday when sales stopped and that was way too late. Even reopening up that three-day window after Lucas said to be coming to C3 was not the best thing they could have done. I could tell you how many 'after April 1st' people came to the Will call window I vounteered at than those who had to pick up as they registered after the beginnning of march date. Thsi was on Wednesday.
On thinking volunteers at the store, those on registers I heard were people who worked in the convention, like one lady in the kitchen notmally--actually, logically, better if ask any of volunteers if had training or do a job working in a retail store like Walmart or supermarket and give them this job.

Except for the few hours I gave to volunteering on Wdedneday (and the lady in charge of us thanked me, saying I had helped alot--but then I know customer service, having done it for years at jobs in retail and that's all Will Call was basically) I didn't and saw what I wanted to, plus did get into C3 store Sunday (through hubby's volunteer staus in that area for volunteers and such and got what we didn't get when he did work as volunteer Wednesday night for when opened up for VIPs and exhibitors (he called me late at hotel and asked what I had wanted--if he had said needed more help I and one of roomies with me would have gone and offered our help). On Sunday and since he did all his hours Wednesday, Thursday and the Lucas hours Saturday morning (in trooper armor, and yes, he froze-underarmor is not made for below freezing weather), we did, thanking to forthought of planning of mine go see what wanted to left after the store and made it, plus the one autograph hubby got for our soon to be 27-year-old son (who turns that tomorrow)--Ray Park's.
But Gencons biggest mistake was selling too many passes and not really thinking 'Can we handle all thses masses?" And to plan ahead, for mistakes and unexpected things happen at any con.
And what happened to that Fastpass thig for the lines? Didn't see it in those I stood in.
JMD

 

Very well said!

Volunteers did a fantastic job to the best of their abilities. GenCon dropped the ball by not hiring enough people, poor store planning and set up, poor line anticipation and set up, over selling.. everything (except for the Star Wars Breakfast's)

Is Indianapolis a great City for Celebration IV (If is happens)? YES!

Should GenCon be given the chance to organize it? Yes! BUT only if they learn from their mistakes!

Should the Star Wars Fan Club be held to blame for anything? Only for not forseeing the problems that arose and the store inventory.

Did I have a great time? YES!

Would I go again? YES!

Would I wait in line again for 5 hours to buy stuff or pay to go to another Celebration at Celebration event? NO!

 

My only complaint is running into "The Guy"
(An annoying local of Buffalo, NY)

 

"The Guy" isn't DJ BobaFett is it, cause that guy is totally annoying!

 

Are we talking about the dude with the boom box?

 

Sandi Finlay(Sly Moore), went up to the guy with the boombox, and said "your Music Sux", and remember Sandi is a professional DJ from Australia. Boba Fett is a Bounty Hunter not a DJ,he's a hunter not a spinner!!

 

What's wrong with DJ Fett? He appeared to be an okay dude.

 

Several people I know find him attitudenal, and that is me being nice

 

The only crap I got was when some dude accused my friend of sneaking into line. He was terribly rude. Next thing we see his entire family coming into line with him. What an a--.

 

That blowup between Sandi and Morgan (Supergenius/DJFett) didn't end there. I won't go into details because I don't want to gossip on someone who trusts me, but let's just say that guy rubbed different people in very different ways. He was real nice to me, but he was clear about his motives (and who knew he was that old? Sheesh, man's been into the formaldehyde.). Others, he worked into a tizzy. I pretty much saw an agent get fired kinda involving that. What'd he do to you guys? Now I gotta know.

On a related note, a lot of the talent didn't like each other, which is human. It WAS funny however, as a fan, to see some actors' guards hauling others out of gettogethers in the wee hours of the 'morn.
*Tee-hee* You zany Brits/Aussies!

 

Fett bling bling? Come on now his act is starting to get a little tired. Sure he painted the old helmet silver like Jango, but that was new 3 years ago. Also noticed the absence of his little leia hanger on, now at least she gave the guys somethign to look at while he boomed his loops.

I said it before and I will say it again, I want Sandi Finlay to kick my ass, that woman just rocks!

Also had a few sightings of my own of actors stumbling out at closing time.

 

My only complaint is running into "The Guy"
(An annoying local of Buffalo, NY)

If it's who I'm thinking of, JediXXL....I ran into him too. *shudders*

 

"The Guy"?!
The suspense is killing me.
Somebody PM me a pic or something. I wanna know if I'm in on this. I mean, I met some "guys", but I don't know if I met "The" guy.

 

My mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all...
Dj Fett...the 'supergenius'well...

...


... ...


Enough said.

 

IowaSabre said:
"Volunteers did a fantastic job to the best of their abilities. GenCon dropped the ball by not hiring enough people, poor store planning and set up, poor line anticipation and set up, over selling.. everything (except for the Star Wars Breakfast's)"

-Actually, GenCon hired temp agencies who assured them that the temps provided would have cashier and customer service skills- the temp service obviously did NOT provide what they promised, but by then it was too late- the event was underway... As far as Overselling...no again... Saturday was sold to capacity- which is to say they sold NO MORE badges once the capacity was reached- oversold, no. Capacity, yes.
As for planning the store- at SWC2 there was an issue with the store as well, so what GenCon did was rent an ENTIRE hall for just the store itself...this was not poorly planned, it was just executed badly due to the OVERWHELMING crowd response to the store...which could not be predicted. Interesting thing to note: SWC2 was Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast- Most of the people who worked at SWC2 did work at WotC...and went to Gen Con after SWC2 so the things that were improved at SWC3 were a direct result of 'learning from our mistakes' ...so the statement below is already 'true'.

"Is Indianapolis a great City for Celebration IV (If is happens)? YES!"

-Agreed- it has the housing and restaurants, as well as alternate activities (like the Zoo!) and shopping...it is a bit 'middle of the road' for me (I'm a bit more of a freak...) but it is fine for a majority of people.

"Should GenCon be given the chance to organize it? Yes! BUT only if they learn from their mistakes!"

-Well...see above...but keep in mind Lucasfilms organized it, Gen Con ran operations... this is the major difference that most people seem to miss on this board- I hope this clarifies things...but people will believe what they want.

"Should the Star Wars Fan Club be held to blame for anything? Only for not forseeing the problems that arose and the store inventory."

-Ha! Um...I mean, NO! Fans are NEVER to blame for anything, right?

Did I have a great time? YES!

-Great! That was the goal,

"Would I go again? YES!"

- Also great! Maybe by then I will as well....but While everyone seems to say there is a 4- only Lucasfilm makes that decision...

"Would I wait in line again for 5 hours to buy stuff or pay to go to another Celebration at Celebration event? NO!"

-Well, hopefully some of the constructive discussions here will help that process!

-Just my opinion from where I sit... FYI to those not aware- I have been working with Gen Con for many years as a Senior Volunteer. Before that- Hasbro, WotC, and Andon Unlimited. Total yrs experience- 13 yrs. I usually work Ops in the Exhibit hall (or Dealers room) and was in Exhibit Hall D (or Dealers room) at both SWC2 and 3

 

Arsinoe got it right! (Sorry, you had to be there)
Dj Fett? He didn't bother me a bit, and even gave me a sticker!

 

I know who he is talking about.

But I won't say, lest I get trampled by the unwashed masses.

 

Quoted: "As for planning the store- at SWC2 there was an issue with the store as well, so what GenCon did was rent an ENTIRE hall for just the store itself...this was not poorly planned, it was just executed badly due to the OVERWHELMING crowd response to the store...which could not be predicted."

Could not be predicted? Of course it could be predicted! CII should have been an excellent learning experience!

I run meetings for a living. Whether I've got 300 or 30,000 attendees, I've got staff adequate to handle that number. If volunteers are available, fine; but they can't be the backbone of your convention staff. That's meeting planning suicide.

Also, I've gotten the impression both at CII and CIII that the Indy CONVIS bureau was never asked to provide any help, which I find extremely puzzling. That's what they're there for, folks.

Heck, I've even contracted for temporary help, based upon information provided to me by the convention city's convention and visitors bureau. The Bureau will provide recommendations, and then you do interviews and evaluations, and pick the company(s) that will provide you the service you require. You run a meeting, you gotta know what you're doing -- doesn't matter who or what it's for, doctors, tractor salesmen or Star Wars fans. The mechanics still apply.

 

Quoted:
" Could not be predicted? Of course it could be predicted! CII should have been an excellent learning experience! "

If you read the whole thing, it was... which is why and entire hall for the store was rented and queueing for thousands inside that hall was planned, as well as outside queueing. There were just more attendees at the store than last Celebration.
The point of my post was not to say it went well, it was to say that there was extensive planning involved, not a throw-away "let's just put the store here..." kind of thing.
Look at the SWC2 debacle over the autograph signing done in the Exhibit hall...see how much better it went with the autographs in a separate hall? Learned experience... Fan events in a separte hall? Again, Learned experience...
I know it is human nature to focus on the negative, but c'mon people...there were a LOT of improvements over 2... As I was at both, on the Gen Con side of it, I can attest to this. So much at SWC3 went smoother than 2, but again, the negative is what sticks out, because that is what people focus on more.

Btw- With your experience, I'm sure we could have used you as a volunteer... (unless you did, then thanks!)

It's easy to blame, not so easy to solve.
The best suggestions I heard was to separate the figure from the other products, or to put the figure as part of the badge pickup... I have even heard switching the halls the store was in and autographs were in with eachother so the queuing could run out the doors and not block the traffic flow inside the event. (this wmakes sense to me, but does not solve the long line issue)
Regardless, this would only be assuming there even IS a 4...right? I keep reading about SWC4...until this is a actual reality announced by Lucas...why cling to it? Rumors and discussions are exactly that. I've seen posts that seem to think it is already a go...hope does weird things to people, not that I hope it doesn't happen, but assuming there is a 4 (and I hope it's named something different too) It would absolutely use anything learned from 3 to try to improve... just like 1 to 2, 2 to 3... It just makes sense.

 

Well sure you might consider C4 to only be a "rumour"; but I heard it directly from Steve Sansweet.

If he says there is going to a C4, then you know thats what they expect to happen!

So therefore the speculation is not so much if there is a C4 then, its when and where.

I do agree though, the store was the weakest point. If the figure was pre-sold similar to the breakfasts/Celebration @ Celebration, and you were given a coupon to exchange for the figures in a seperate store it would have seriously saved on line ups. Plus since you know your figures are already paid for, no fear of them running out so you can pick them up anytime during the convention.

The rest of the convention I thought ran as well as it could. Autographs seemed to go smoothly, but could you imagine if they had Mark Hamill and/or Carrie Fisher in that room? In a way the autograph hall lucked out in that a large number of the guests were people regular con attendees have had a chance to meet over the years.

The only other part, which was hard to avoid, was line ups for the really large rooms, like Sagamore. It seated 3,300 people, and all those people had to line up outside the room beforehand, giving the impression that the lines were terrible, yet I'm sure they were all seated fairly quickly once the doors were opened.

The only solution I could suggest as a possibility for that is to space the events out in that room further apart, open the doors say an hour ahead and then allow people to wait inside for the next event instead of snaking their way all over the place and discouraging people by seeing the huge lines.

 

Quoted: "I have even heard switching the halls the store was in and autographs were in with each other so the queuing could run out the doors and not block the traffic flow inside the event. (this makes sense to me, but does not solve the long line issue)"

I thought about this too, but then I checked the square footage of the rooms that were used (as a meeting planner, I notice these things). It would make perfect sense (this is assuming of course that Indy is the venue for the next convention), but the square footage utilized for the autograph hall this time (where I volunteered, BTW for three different shifts) was vitally necessary. AND you need a big room for the store. So, while this is an excellent suggestion, logistically, it might not work out.

 

A better solution to the Sagamore huge line problem, Have C4 in a different place.

Again with that damned store. Square footage they had, Space to have people they had, A location away from causing traffic problems they had, a whopping 8 cashiers they had, enough merchandise they did not!

 

But... I was going to the Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!
[image=http://www.bobafettmp.com/celebration3/day2/images/IMG_3236.JPG]
The line was capped and Cami ran off with Deak & Windy! Or even Prince Charles!

 

A better solution to the Sagamore huge line problem, Have C4 in a different place.


Or leave it alone, realize you're at a convention and not a freakin toy store, and enjoy yourself.

Give up on the non-collectible-worth-nothing-everyone-on-the-planet-has-three figure and "move along".

Problem solved.