Fandomfest was this past weekend in Louisville, KY and whether or not it was a success is largely up for debate. I was in attendance for my third consecutive year and have seen it’s growth from a horror convention known as Frightnight Filmfest to a “comic and toy expo” in that short amount of time. They have brought in some great celebrities, which has increased the amount of people attending, causing a change in venues. Growing pains are to be expected when a convention goes through so many changes in such a little time. However, based on the volume of dissatisfied attendees, vendors and even celebrities from this year, Fandomfest is broken and is need of some serious help.
Natasha Collier, better known as Kentucky Geek Girl, is a local blogger and has experience with Fandomfest and its promoter. She wrote an article that goes in depth about her problems with Fandomfest and it shows that this years disaster was telegraphed for a while. She’s collected information from people that were at the show and it is pretty damning evidence of how disappointed people were. Follow the link and judge for yourself then come back and read my tale:
http://www.kentuckygeekgirl.com/2013/07/fandom-fail-fandomfest-makes-stink-in.html
I’ve only attended Fandomfest as, well, a fan. I’ve never had any experience with the promoter and can’t speak to any of the things that are present in the above article about him. However, I can share my experience as an attendee and, perhaps, combined with all the other articles and posts, will instigate change for the future.
My 2011 experience was fine, but there were complaints about the air conditioning going out, however I didn’t experience any issues. I met celebrities and walked around and had a decent time. In 2012, they changed locations and I soon found out they changed much more. Almost all celebrities had been moved behind closed doors and you could not get in with just a general admission ticket. The tables were still in place with their names on them, but they were nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until I tried to get into the room that I was told I wasn’t allowed. That left a sour taste in my mouth and I left saying it was my last time.
Then soon after they announced Stan Lee was coming for 2013. Crap. I figured this would be my one and only chance to meet him so I convinced myself to go again. I’ll be honest, the actual part of meeting Stan and getting his autograph went very smoothly. This is where I expected to wait in line and I did, but not for a long time. It was about the only thing that I cannot complain about.
The rest of the time there was just a bad feeling everywhere. Signage was a huge problem mainly because there was none. There was nothing that I saw that told you where to pick up or buy tickets and I just guessed right and went to the right building. Once there all I saw were lines. I did what I thought was smart and asked for help on where to go and a volunteer, who seemed very sure of his decision, pointed me to a line. I soon found out directions, or perhaps, listening were not his strongest trait. I asked two other staff people if I was in the right line and was told that I was, so he was not alone in his incompetence. After getting to the front I was told to go somewhere else because it was the wrong line. Of course it was. Strike 1.
I moved to the other line and, once again, was told it was wrong. Strike 2. Thankfully, this person didn’t push me off and got me to the right place. I wish I had her name, I think I will call her ‘Hope’, because she did help me calm down and I was ready to put it behind me. After getting my pass, I ran to the photo op, which I was lucky to find because there were no signs. This line was incredibly long, but they soon pulled out the VIP’s and we moved pretty quick. (Funny aside, after my photo op, I ran around the corner and totally plowed over Butch Patrick. He was just standing there by himself and we were soon face to face. Well, face to chest, he’s a little short.) I was given a number for my photo, but no directions on where to pick them up, but I read online that it usually takes 2-3 hours before they were ready.
I moved on and stayed in this room for a while and met Neal Adams, got my autograph from Stan Lee and also Colin Baker and John Barrowman. I was having a pretty good time and none of these lines were too long and then I left this room. I should have never done that. I made it to the second venue to go to the Timey Wimey Doctor Who Panel. Once again, signage was barely there, but I stumbled across the right room after a few wrong turns. Colin Baker was supposed to be a part of this and then his own panel later, but after 20 minutes of being told he was coming they said he wouldn’t be there for another hour. He never showed up and, in fact, they cancelled his panel without any notice. Something they did several times that day. Cancellations were never communicated. Nothing on Twitter or Facebook. Nothing over intercom. Just silence. Keep in mind, people had been waiting in line for an hour or longer for some of these panels only to find out they were cancelled. Strike 3.
I waited another hour to get in to the Stan Lee panel, again, not unexpected, and it was worth the wait. It was entertaining and it was great to sit down for an hour. Afterwards, I went to pick up my photo from the photo op. Again, no signage and no indication of where I should go, so I went back to the same room I started. There was a HUGE line that wrapped around the room and was merging with another line going in another direction. It was like a snake eating its tail. I found one of those people in a yellow jacket and asked where do I pick up photos and he pointed to the conjoined line and said ”there”. Real helpful. I asked the people in line and finally determined where the line I wanted ended and the other began and squeezed in. An hour went by without seeing another volunteer. We never moved. Everybody was afraid to get out of line and we all witnessed the joys of line jumpers that went up and just walked right up the to table and got photos while we continued to stand. We yelled, we fumed and nobody listened. Finally after an hour and a half, someone yelled, “Stan Lee photo ops this way” and I ran like the wind. I managed to beat most people and was fifth in line. The first two people gave her their ticket and, surprise, no photo. Great. As I got up to next in line I noticed who the lady was handing out the photos. It was ‘Hope’, the lady the helped me at the beginning of my day. I looked down at the stack of pictures and immediately saw my number sticking out from the stack. I grabbed it, thanked her for the second time that day, and left Fandomfest behind.
Later that night I vented a little on Twitter and soon found I was not alone. It was a non-stop flood of hate. Rants from guests, rants from vendors and most surprising, and I would say even most damaging, from the celebrities. Us fans can forget if there is a compelling enough reason for us to return. However, if celebrities are treated poorly, like being left at the airport for instance, or canceling a panel, they won’t return. You combine those things and Fandomfest has a huge concern for next year. To make it even worse, their response the last few days have blamed everyone except for themselves. On Facebook today, they pretty much blamed everything, including the great weather, for their troubles instead. There is no acceptance of guilt and they make it sound like it was only a minimal issue and they will get a bigger facility next year. I truly don’t think they understand that the vendors and celebrities were also upset. Heck, John Barrowman called them out during his panel and told people to demand refunds. Until they fix the organizational issues, the poorly trained staffs and volunteers, and figure out how to treat their vendors and celebrities, these things will continue to happen.
Update: As I posted this, a story came out on the local news concerning Fandomfest:
http://www.whas11.com/news/Frustrated-fans-take-to-social-media-after-long-waits-at-FandomFest-217633561.html
Typically, the organizers state growing pains as the problem. I think Natasha summed it up perfectly on Twitter:
Pretty sure Ken & Myra Daniels should change their names to Jason and Maggie Seaver for as many "Growing Pains" as Fandom Fest has.
— Natasha/KY Geek Girl (@GeekGirlinKY) July 30, 2013
