Headline heroes Jodie Whittaker and Richard E Grant pulled in the crowds at London ComicCon Spring .
Whilst not quite back to pre-pandemic levels the event was a “ return to abnormal ” for the Showmasters team .
Centre stage this year was an enormous tyrannosaurus rex dominating the centre of the Olympia ’ s Grand Hall on 26-27 February , promoting upcoming Universal Pictures release Jurassic World Dominion .
Thousands of Doctor Who and Star Wars fans came to meet the actors – as well as fans of all shapes and sizes celebrating their favourite comics , films and TV shows .
How important is visitor experience ? With Comic Cons it ’ s all about experience . It ’ s all about meeting celebrities and fellow fans . Our events have always been very socially based . We get fan groups meeting up , we get cosplayers meeting up . It ’ s a great day out for like minded people .
The geeks used to be the minority , and comic cons serve that purpose .
Is there a pressure to try new ideas to keep visitors interested ? We always try to evolve . There ’ s been new innovations we ’ ve brought to market over the years . We introduced photoshoots . It used to be all about signings . It took off .
We brough in virtual queing . We ’ d see people were queing up for hours because they didn ’ t want to miss that one guest . But while they ’ re queing they ’ re not walking around the stalls or meeting other guests . That meant they can get their place in line and still interact with the event .
We ’ re currently looking at VR and 3D experiences – we want to make the green screen better . We brought in the green screen a few years ago to place people in their favourite TV shows or films with the actor , and that was a big hit . Now were looking to take that one step further .
We ’ re always looking at how geeky we can get with things .
Back to abnormal
With the tag-line “ the coolest events in the world ” Showmasters are committed to making visitor experience top of the agenda for London ComicCon . Marketing director Jill Ubdegrove told EN how they make their exhibitions extra special
We introduced a Lego zone and realised it ’ s a thing people would like to see .
How do you assess whether you have the right experiences for visitors at your shows ? We are very fortunate that our community like to talk so we get a fairly quick idea how we have done . Even before the event . From the announcement of guest appearances we get good feedback .
Our visitors wear their hearts on their sleeves . It goes both ways but that ’ s a good thing .
Showmasters ’ managing director Jason Joiner always says “ we make mistakes but never make them twice ” but that ’ s what drives us on . If we do make a misjudgment we quickly fix it .
We are very fluid on how we operate , ready to adapt .
How do safety measures affect the experience ? We gave our guests the options of protective screens if they wanted them . But it ’ s also just as important to make sure our customers are feeling safe .
What is coming up next for Showmasters ? We have London Film and Comic Con ( 8-10 July ) at Olympia .
And hopefully going back to the
20 — April