Sherlocked 2017 Thoughts and Improvements
After two weeks and having still not fully recovered from the tiredness and post-con blues, I’m finally ready to discuss Sherlocked Convention 2017. As you are probably aware, I did attend and review last year’s event (which can be found here), but was not too complimentary of the event overall, thus making me somewhat sceptical of this year’s event.
A key change that the event undertook this year was the venue – from Excel Centre, London to The Hilton Hotel, Birmingham. To me, this did offer a quieter and more intimate event than last year, and did mean that you often bumped into guests whilst walking around, thus creating a very casual atmosphere. On the other hand, however lovely the venue was, I did feel a little trapped, not to mention the fact that I don’t think I could ever afford it again. The room pricing offer was great, and the hotel quality was fantastic, however, it was largely the cost of food and drink, as well as minimal vegetarian food choices, which did create a large amount of the cost.
Due to my experience last year, I did invest in a Platinum pass this year, and I do feel that for autographs especially, the platinum privilege has died down a bit comparison. Although this was frustrating due to me now having the pass, I’m glad that this occurred; however, the signing allocated times were still not overly friendly for people with standard tickets. On Saturday, most of the autograph time slots were dedicated to people with specific passes, meaning that if you only had a standard ticket for Saturday, it appeared unlikely that you will have the opportunity for autographs from the bigger names.
As a whole, I felt as though the Platinum Pass was still largely worth it, mainly due to the drinks receptions and meet and greets – both of which were incredible experiences. For the number of photos and autographs that I had time to receive, as well as entry to the three-day event, it would have cost over £400, and the additional perks such as merchandise and platinum only events really did boost the value. My only note of improvement would be having the event as a full three days for Platinum, as Natalie and I did have to miss the photo opportunities on set due to other events and sessions running at the same time.
Other key elements that I really enjoyed were the Friday and Saturday night parties, which were great fun, and the auctions for meetings with certain guests. It is worth noting that these auctions are open for everyone to bid on, and offers an intimate discussion with some of the show's stars. Personally, I won a place on the set tour with Arwel Wyn Jones, which I, as an aspiring filmmaker, found to be one of the most incredible experiences of all my life.
Speaking of guests, I must admit that I was disappointed with the lack of major names in comparison to last year. I will not complain too much about this, as the guests who did attend were all incredible, and genuinely lovely people; however, I feel as though the organisers did continue to play on the promise of more guests, whilst know that this was not possible – especially with the Marin Freeman clause within Platinum ticket. Obviously, every guest is a possibility, but I feel that there should be an indicator that their attendance will be unlikely, as it otherwise felt like a false promise.
I don’t have much more I wish to add to this, as this post was largely just here to accompany my vlog, but the final thing I do want to mention is the working crew for the event. A vast majority of the crew were lovely, friendly and genuinely decent people. Positive and willing to help, they avoided the usual stereotypes for these style of events (with the exception of two members I encountered) and really helped to keep the convention in order without ruining the atmosphere.
Overall, I honestly did enjoy the event, despite this blog post displaying a mix of emotions. The purpose of this post was to accompany the vlog (linked here), as opposed to being a standalone review, and I have opted to add in some additional thoughts and feelings that were not mentioned in the video.
This event was a vast improvement on last years, and deeply enjoyable, so here’s hoping that it continues to grow and develop over the years. I am likely to attend the event again, dependant on what changes appear to be made, as well as whether or not they clash the date with comic con again, as it is an incredibly fun weekend to be part of; however, there are still some areas of improvement.
Find out more about the event on their website:
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