Auto Assembly has undergone a number of changes to its team since its first event back in 2000. Right now, we honestly believe that we have the strongest team that any European Transformers event has ever seen. We have taken the best that Transformers fandom has to offer and pulled together a group of people representing all corners of Transformers fandom in the UK – people from all the major Transformers websites, forums and fan organisations along with people with a variety of skills and experience making for an incredibly varied and knowledgeable team.

Our team is constantly evolving and changing to adapt to the needs of the convention and demands of our attendees and after Auto Assembly 2010 we felt that it was better to have people overseeing specific areas of the event over the weekend as well as having dedicated jobs in the run-up to the convention so over the weekend you’ll find a lot of our
team focused in specific roles.

They will be on hand all weekend to help out and answer any of your queries unless they are “off duty” (all of our team will be wearing committee t-shirts when they are on active duty) so feel free to come up to any of us if you need anything. Some of them may be familiar to you if you’ve attended Auto Assembly before, but if you’re new to the convention, just look out for any guys with grey strips at the top of their passes during the convention or most importantly their committee t-shirts to indicate that they are on their duty shifts (as we will all need breaks or to be able to spend time with our families!) or any of our volunteers (red strips on their passes) who should be able to point you in the right direction and since 2011 they will also be wearing yellow armbands to identify themselves more easily to all of you.

Anyway, on with the team introductions…

Simon Plumbe – Committee Head

The founder of Infinite Frontiers, the science fiction fan organisation behind Auto Assembly that he started in August 1989, Simon is pretty much handling all of the organisational side of the convention ranging from the planning, bookings, website design, marketing, press liaison, guest negotiations… and almost everything else in between, he’s probably doing it! Just look out for the most tired-looking member of the team over the weekend and the chances are it will be Simon!

Simon is one of the most experienced members of the team and has had over 22 years experience in running conventions, fan clubs, and producing fanzines covering a wide range of subjects and not just Transformers, including running Doctor Who and Star Trek clubs, a Star Trek convention and even an officially sanctioned supporters club for a major sports team! He has also been a Transformers dealer, a professional freelance writer in the science fiction and computing/gaming fields, a software producer… you name it, he has probably done it over the years!

Trish Plumbe – Committee

Simon’s long-suffering wife, Trish works behind the scenes all year round assisting Simon with processing the bookings for the convention. In addition to that, Trish is the one responsible for the production of all of the attendee passes, convention packs that everyone picks up on the day and putting together the goodie bags… even though it means for several weeks before the convention each year the living room ends up looking more like a warehouse than a home!

Trish has organised charity events away from Auto Assembly, and used to run a small animal rescue charity herself which had to close because of a lack of funding, so she knows only too well the problems that some of the smaller organisations face who have been supported by Auto Assembly over the years through its charity fundraising activities.

Trish is one of those rare people in the Transformers community who openly admits to loving the Michael Bay movies, has a fascination with Blackarachnia, Waspinator and Rattrap, loves Beast Wars and is starting to get into Transformers Prime. Just don’t get her started on Scott McNeil…!

Billy Edwards – Deputy Committee Head

Billy lends his legal knowledge to several of the organisational phases of the convention, working closely with Simon on issues such as venue hire and guest negotiations.  He also oversees our Charity Auctions and Cosplay competition.

During the convention Billy liaises with guests, dealers and attendees and generally helps out wherever needed. Which basically means he runs around a lot.

Billy has been organising events for over 10 years, meaning that whilst he is an experienced event planner, he is still a lot younger than Simon!  However, Billy will be the first to admit that his prior organisational endeavours are a little boring when compared to the geektastic toyfest that is Auto Assembly.

Steve Mapes

Steve’s main contribution to Auto Assembly is the toy displays though he has also sponsored the event. During the show Steve can be found trying to help out wherever is needed and generally stumbling into the way when people are trying to take photographs.

Over the years Steve, and his twin brother Dave, have featured on UK terrestrial TV, in national newspapers and magazines as well as supplying content to Madman for their release of the Japanese Transformers series.

A self-confessed workaholic, many say that Steve must be mad and it’s probably true, he’s been certified 5 times.

David Mapes

Dave is the other, less technical, half of the Mapes Brothers who, along with his twin brother Steve, run various websites including Transformers At The Moon, The Visionaries.net and other projects.

Dave loves toys, and with his brother, has been arranging toy displays at Auto Assembly since 2005.  There have been hundreds of different toys shown, costing tens of thousands of pounds including thier astonishing collection of rare “Lucky Draw” toys.

Dave’s attended Transformers conventions since 1999 and tries to bring some technical knowledge to the team, but more shameless promotion of the event whenever he can.

Come convention day Dave excellently performs his role of a “floater”, floating around the hall performing various tasks from photography, running security, looking after stalls and buying toys … ah, that one isn’t part of the role is it?

Adam White

It’s highly probable that come convention day you could find yourself cornered in the dealer’s area by a one man wall of lenses. Do not try to escape, because you simply cannot avoid capture by our own Reflector, Mr Adam White.

A late and invaluable addition to our 2011 team, Adam will be taking a leading role behind the camera in 2012.  Putting his professional filming experience to excellent use, Adam will be ensuring the events of Auto Assembly 2012 are recorded and documented, both for posterity and for use in official convention paraphernalia. That, and he has plans to take over the world, for which blackmail material is essential.

Prior to the convention, Adam assists Billy and Simon in speaking with potential sponsors – an extremely important task which he hurls himself into with the same amounts of enthusiasm and dedication as displays during his on the day jobs.

Adam Slater

The gentle giant of the team, Adam can usually be found at Auto Assembly running somewhere, and if he isn’t he’s probably just taking 5…

Almost dropping in as a ringer for Auto Assembly 2011, Adam’s level headedness and unabashed love of crazy antics (you would think those two would conflict) meant he hit the ground running to ensure the event went as smooth as silk.

Though young (ish), Adam brings an eclectic background ranging from running gigs to bars to just plain running around. Last year saw him being Billy’s right hand man (his was all bandaged up you see). 2012 will see him pretty much doing everything he can once again to keep everyone smiling. Though we hope he gets more sleep this year because the zombie look was scaring people by Sunday.

Mark Brady