2014 is the 30th Anniversary of Transformers. We’re getting new releases of old toys, a new movie, a new television series… it’s going to be a special year all round and Auto Assembly is going to celebrate the year in style! Auto Assembly 2014 is going to be our most ambitious event ever with our best ever guest line-up, plenty of surprises in store and a packed programme that will leave you wondering how you’ll have time to see and do everything over the weekend!
Auto Assembly 2014 is taking place over the weekend of Friday 8th – Sunday 10th August 2014 at the four star Hilton Metropole Birmingham Hotel, Birmingham, England. It is a massive hotel with 790 bedrooms and it is one of the largest convention hotels in the UK and is large enough to hold Botcon… and with our plans, we’re going to need it!! With a convention of this scale, we want to make sure you have enough time to plan, so you can book your tickets online NOW!!
To book, just choose the type of ticket that you require, enter your name and date of birth details and then add it to your shopping cart (this will open up in a new window). PLEASE make sure that you add each person to your cart separately as we need to know the names and dates of birth for each attendee so we can prepare passes for them properly. Without the names and dates of birth of each person, we can not issue your personalised pass for the convention, nor can we comply with our policies for attendees regarding age and to cover ourselves in terms of security and health and safety.
If you don’t do this, it will delay the processing of your booking as we will need to get back in touch with you for this information. Once you have booked all of your tickets and ordered any additional items that you may want, go to the checkout to pay!
Please note that Auto Assembly does not store any of your personal details online, nor do we have access to any of your credit or debit card details during the booking process.
PRICES / PRICE STRUCTURE
As our costs rise each year running the convention we try to keep the ticket prices down as best as we can. However, we have FROZEN full weekend ticket prices for Auto Assembly 2014. Unfortunately, because many of our costs for the convention have risen, and the increase in interest in the convention for those who want to join us for as weekend attendees, we have had to increase ticket prices for single day ticket prices but we have tried to keep these to a minmum.
Prices are £50 for an Adult and £38 for Youth or Elderly weekend passes and £35 / £23 respectively for single days tickets. As before, admission to the convention for Under 6s will be FREE! Sadly, because the option had been unfairly abused during 2013, we will no longer be offering Partner Passes for Auto Assmbly 2014. For those of you who are undecided about whether or not a weekend pass is for you, just take a look at the programme that will be on the website shortly or some of our Youtube videos showing some of our Saturday night programme items (that are exclusive to weekend pass holders) and see what you might be missing out on! As we have said in the past, Auto Assembly is much more that dealers tables and guest autograph sessions and in buying a single day ticket, you will miss out on much of the convention!
TICKET BOOKING DEADLINES
Tickets will be on sale throughout the year, but pre-registrations will close on Tuesday 5th August 2014 at 10:00 am GMT. After this point you will only be able to get tickets for Auto Assembly 2014 if you come along and pay on the day. However, just because we have set this as our cut-off date, it doesn’t mean that you will be guaranteed admission if you leave booking until then! Even though the Hilton is a large hotel, it does not have sufficient accommodation to hold all of our attendees should everyone wish to stay on-site so we strongly recommend that you book earlier to ensure that we can process your booking before we leave for the Hilton and you have the best chance possible of securing a hotel room should you need it.
Tickets have been selling considerably faster than in previous years and we expect a turnout signficantly higher than that of Auto Assembly 2013 and with the increased interest with the 30th Anniversary year, we expect Auto Assembly 2014 to be our biggest year ever. We do have a cut-off in terms of attendance in our current halls at the Hilton and once this is reached we will close bookings, even if it is before the cut-off date so you don’t want to leave getting your tickets until the last minute! Also, the sooner you book the quicker we can pay all of the costs we need to cover for the convention which then means we will have spare funds to invest in additional guests, better displays and to bring you an even better convention!
Apart from guaranteed admission, why should you pre-book? Benefits of pre-registration include:
- A personalised pass
- Early pass pick-up from 12:00 noon on Friday 8th August 2014
- An A2 lithograph limited to the first 1,250 attendees who arrive to collect their passes over the weekend
- A copy of the Auto Assembly 2014 Exclusive Comic, Reflection, for the first 1,000 attendees
- and a few extra surprises subject to availability
Some on the door places may be available but we do not recommend that you leave booking until the last minute. If you wait until the day itself, you will have to wait while we process your booking so you won’t gain admission to the convention as quickly as our pre-registrants!
WHAT HAPPENS ONCE YOU HAVE BOOKED?
We’re sure that once you’ve made your booking you want to know what happens next! Well, if you don’t know, Auto Assembly is run on a non-profit making basis by Infinite Frontiers, a science fiction fan organisation founded by Simon Plumbe in 1989. Auto Assembly is organised by a small team in our spare time (see elsewhere on this site for more information about us) so as you can understand, this means that our time can be stretched with running the convention, work and family life. For the bookings side of things are processed by committee head Simon Plumbe and his wife Trish.
Anyway, back to the bookings and once your booking comes in it’s allocated a ticket number (to ensure that we don’t overflow with attendees!). Within 14 days, you’ll be sent an email confirming your ticket numbers, the names of everyone you have booked for and some general information as well as information on how to book discount accommodation at the Hilton itself which will have rooms for £53 a night for single rooms and £64 for twin / double rooms. At present the Hilton has actually sold out of rooms over the convention weekend, but there are alternative options near to the convention hotel and in nearby Birmingham City Centre and we have produced a Hotel Accommodation Information Page to help all of you attending. After this, we may send out a few other progress report emails but the most important email you will receive from us is your booking confirmation email so keep this safe and print out a copy of it as you will need it later on…
Please note that these confirmation emails will be sent to the email address that your PayPal account is linked to so please ensure that this is the email account that you check for your booking confirmations. If this email address is no longer valid, please email us at the time of booking so we can correct our records.
Elsewhere on this website, we will be uploading our Auto Assembly 2014 Convention Information Pack and nearer to the convention, we will also email it to all of you who have booked. This is the information magazine with all the important details you need to know about the convention. This pack will also have a beginner’s guide to Auto Assembly and will answer all of your common questions about the event and will be your one-stop point of information for the event and will hold everything that you may need to attend the convention and will have the information you need to attend the convention.
GETTING YOUR PASSES
Rather than sending out your passes in advance, we will be running a pass collection system at the convention which is where your confirmation emails come into play. You will need to bring the print out of this to the convention and then you will be able to pick up your pass, your information pack for the weekend containing the convention programme, plus your goodie bag which will contain a selection of gifts and the convention magazine. If you lose your confirmation email between now and the convention, please contact us as soon as possible and don’t worry if you forget your email on the day as we will have back-up systems in place to ensure that everyone will be able to get in! Please note that Auto Assembly will not mail anything out to you.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Your ticket will gain you admission to the convention and all of the activities for your chosen day(s). You will only be able to enter the Friday and Saturday evening programme if you have a full weekend pass but apart from that, everything is included in the ticket price – guest talks, workshops, autographs etc. All you need to pay for is your travel, accommodation, food and drink and whatever you want to spend!
All of our paying attendees (Adult, Youth, Senior Citizen and Dealers) will also receive our convention Goodie Bag which will contain a selection of free gifts. This will include at least four convention exclusive postcards, a copy of The Cybertronian Times Issue 15 and other gifts that we will be announcing nearer the convention!
REFUNDS AND OTHER QUESTIONS
Please ensure that you are able to attend Auto Assembly 2014 prior to booking your tickets as we are unable to offer refunds except in extreme circumstances. Our past cancellation policy piloted in Auto Assembly 2012 was abused by many attendees and as such this is not being repeated. If you book and are no longer able to attend, we can assist in transferring your ticket to other attendees as long as this is done at least three weeks in advance of the convention or arrange to transfer your tickets to Auto Assembly 2015, but no refunds can be given apart from in exceptional circumstances and these will be subject to approval.
Also, please note that if you purchase a single day pass, it is only for use on the day that it is intended and is non-transferrable. Saturday tickets can only be used on a Saturday, and Sunday passes can only be used on a Sunday so please choose carefully. There will be different activities and guest panels taking place on each day so choose which is the best day for you to attend.
AGE LIMITS
Please note that we have an age policy in place for the convention, and we insist that all those attending Auto Assembly 2014 on their own are 16 or over. Anyone attending Auto Assembly 2014 who is under 16 must be accompanied by a parent / guardian or other adult aged 16 or above. This is also the Hilton’s policy of not allowing any unaccompanied children on the premises so we must comply with the venue’s terms and conditions. Anyone booking tickets not adhering to this policy will have their booking cancelled and a full refund issued.
We have had unaccompanied under age attendees try to gain entry into the convention in 2012 who were turned away. If you are attending the convention and are approached by any children asking you to assist them in gaining entry into the event, please refuse this request. Our insurance for the event would be invalidated by having unauthorised attendees present and you would be taking responsibility for someone you do not know.
ATTENDEE LIMIT
Fans have often said that they love the atmostphere at Auto Assembly compared with Botcon and love the fact that the convention isn’t too crowded and that they have plenty of time to socialise with their friends and meet the guests. Because of this we are setting a maximum limit on the number of attendees for Auto Assembly 2014 to approximately 1,200 fans. The hotel can hold a LOT more than this, but for 2014 we want to keep things friendly and cosy so book early to avoid disappointment!
SECURE ONLINE BOOKING
Pre-registrations for Auto Assembly 2014 are now CLOSED. On the door tickets are available at the prices listed about. Simply come along to the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel on Friday 8th August from 10:00 to purchase weekend passes or from 09:30 on Saturday 9th or Sunday 10th to purchase single day tickets.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there.
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