Reg Feedback Thread

ewu · May 27, 2009, 11:16:01 AM

Hey all!

Please comment on the process, the materials, the people, and the experience:)

gackt_2003 · May 27, 2009, 11:20:48 AM

i just have a comment on the laminated badges of 2009. yeah, the lamination did make it look a little better but it looked like EVERYONE'S name was "member".
our real name was in even smaller font, and our fan name was even smaller in a dark blue color...AGAINST A BLACK BACKGROUND. do you know how hard it was to see my own fan name? [btw, i'm not yelling out of anger, just emphasizing]
it seemed like the fan names were really pointless. i thought that at cons, fan names/nicknames were what ppl recognized you by. you can put your main cosplayers name, your forum name, whatever that ppl knew you by.

what i think should've happened was fan name on top, being the largest, then the real name under it in smaller font, then "member" under that.

just mine and a couple of my friends' opinion.

Kertus · May 27, 2009, 11:38:00 AM

I agree with Gackt about the fan names. They were pretty much impossible to see. As well as it would be nice for the fan name to be larger with the real name being smaller. I know some people who would take off their badges during pictures or try to conceal them because of how big the real name was and easy to see, especially since it was white on the black.

I had a fine time waiting in the reg line, met some cool people and had fun, so that was no problem for me. Pre-reg went off just fine I thought. I liked how though although the line was long it seemed to go at a good pace. I'm sure alot of people want the regular reg line to go faster, I've seen how large it is every year but I bet the staff has already optimized the process as much as they can.

I knew a few people who wanted to pre-reg but their only method of dealing with money is cash, so maybe if Fanime sets up a system where early reg can be done by mailing in cash? Not likely, but an idea.

Mordyan · May 27, 2009, 11:40:34 AM

Thursday reg line seemed to move faster and started on time. Awesome!

Liquid · May 27, 2009, 11:50:59 AM

FYI - The gentleman running Fan Services was extremely rude and unprofessional. He forced me into shaking his hand everytime I saw him and when he came to B&W Ball he wasn't even wearing a real tie! Come on, caution tape tie? Wtf. (I heard he ripped up his own reg line for this!) On top of this...he got ketchup on it to boot. ::)

Other then that...I didn't really have an issues with reg or reg people. Just saying...you may want to have a talk with that guy. :D

ewu · May 27, 2009, 12:56:10 PM

*shakes fist @ Liquid*

OGIGA · May 27, 2009, 12:58:08 PM

I went on Friday morning at like 10-11 to the pre-reg line and it only took like 5 minutes. I was surprised at how fast it took... then I saw the normal line and I thought, "Oh, there's the rest of the people. LOL"

SOawesomeness · May 27, 2009, 03:36:46 PM

@Kertus & @Gackt: I'm not sure about the font color, but every year we do get suggestions to have fan name bigger than the regular name. We can try to make the names in general bigger for next year, but legal names need to be bigger than fan names because of security purposes. Also, in a lot of cases, cosplayers take off their badge because it takes away from the authenticity of their cosplay.

@Kertus: Um... pre-reg or early-reg? We accepted cash and credit/debit by pre-reg and early reg we accepted paypal and/or money order as long as it was before the deadline. If it was sent after deadline, then there would be a chance we wouldn't receive the money and everyone would be angry and confused... which is why we put up a deadline for early.

Ssry for any inconvenience, though. o: Keep the feedback coming, so we know what we can improve. ^^

Kertus · May 27, 2009, 04:24:04 PM

Oh yeah I know pre-reg done on Monday takes cash. I suppose early-reg is what I meant. I suppose that shouldn't be too much of an issue though because mainly the people that only want/need to pay by cash are young or paranoid about money online. Like I can understand if you'd stop accepting cash from mail like 5 or more months before the con, I just think it might possibly work for some people.

But yeah I was just thinking that if it was possible it would be a neat thing. I've done it before dealing with online games like KingdomOfLoathing and just thought I'd put the idea out there if it hadn't been before. :P

Sen · May 27, 2009, 04:36:18 PM

Mailing cash is not secure. If it happens to get lost it's untraceable and it sucks for both parties. The alternatives are check and money order which we do accept.

chifunii · May 27, 2009, 06:09:58 PM

I got my pre-reg badge on Sunday...
Sadly, they already ran out of Fanime lanyards ( I heard they ran out Friday/early-Saturday), which is really sad for me. xD I had nowhere to clip it.
I hope there will be a better stock next year, at the very least for pre-reg people.

Line was pretty quick...people knew what they were doing...Maybe because I was the only one there. Some people at the pre-reg place was working realllly slowly. xD It should be a simple "Hi. Can I see your ID?" -show ID- "Okay, I'll go get your badge"..."Here's your bag and your badge. Have a great day!"
Depending on how many badges they had to sift through, 2-4 minutes tops, right?
I was the only one in line...and it was Sunday, so there weren't that many badges to begin with. But it went slow. Like the train's chugga chugga's just starting up slow.

Good thing I was too excited to care. xD Just a little something to point out.

---

I also agree, to make our real name smaller, if not the same size, as our fan name. It's hard to take pictures and not have them show our real name to the world. >,<

---

It was a little sad how only 2 people were manning the pre-reg for 2010 station. I would think lots of people would want to...maybe bring in another 2 people? It'll go 50% faster! The girl that stood behind me in line kept cussing at the people running Fanime, how the line was f***ing slow...etc.

I don't think swearing will make the line go faster, and creates a weird atmosphere for the kids [that came with me...].

---

Other than that, I had a great time!!! YAYY.

fma4theworld · May 27, 2009, 09:31:09 PM

Ohayo minnasan~

the registration line for people hwo didn't preregister was REALLY REALLY slow! i waited so long in that line! maybe you guys should get more people to work there so the lines would go faster.

chifunii · May 27, 2009, 09:33:54 PM

Quote from: fma4theworld on May 27, 2009, 09:31:09 PM
Ohayo minnasan~

the registration line for people hwo didn't preregister was REALLY REALLY slow! i waited so long in that line! maybe you guys should get more people to work there so the lines would go faster.

That depends on where in line...? You mean at the computers, or later where you pay? :)
Because if it was at the computers, more people wouldn't be the solution...

ewu · May 28, 2009, 02:21:24 AM

thanks guys!

1) there were no lanyards available for members this year. those that you saw were either from last year, on a guest of honor or staff

2) 80-90% of the pre-reg was picked up by friday, so we had minimal staff on that side.

3) pre reg 2010 must be balanced with atcon reg. we only have so many stations capable of taking payments and so many cash boxes. by 11 we had 4 people on the 2010 reg.

4) our max wait for at-con was pretty much 2 hours. that is a profound improvement from 2007 with a max time of 5-6 hours. it looks like we have maxed out our current scheme as both 2008 and 2009 were at roughly 2 hours max. We may look into additional payment stations and data entry stations, but we really do not have the staff for more payment stations. This year i know the average time worked was something like 8 or 10 hours a day with some staffers putting in 12 hours day after day, FAR surpassing our 24 hour staffiing requirement.

If you can staff, please help us out in registration.

Dracil · May 28, 2009, 11:51:58 AM

Just one thing while I was waiting in line. If you don't want people to go under the tape, REMOVE the tape till the line actually gets to that point.

I mean seriously, even airport security isn't as strict about that (but usually they already do my suggestion so people don't have to do a bunch of needless zigzagging to reach the line). :P

FanFicGuru · May 28, 2009, 08:31:49 PM

Quote from: Dracil on May 28, 2009, 11:51:58 AM
Just one thing while I was waiting in line. If you don't want people to go under the tape, REMOVE the tape till the line actually gets to that point.

I mean seriously, even airport security isn't as strict about that (but usually they already do my suggestion so people don't have to do a bunch of needless zigzagging to reach the line). :P

I can understand this point but I think it's important that they have the lines taped off beforehand.

Still, don't look at us funny if we go under the tape. If we break the tape then feel free to yell but either have some big piece of cheese at the end or let us duck underneath. lol

ewu · May 28, 2009, 09:25:06 PM

yah caution tape is mandated by the fire marshal, but it does not nicely retract like the stanchions...and are alot cheaper:P

we have had a problem with line cutters and such, so crossing the lines is strictly monitored. and re-running the tape is a biznitch...

Online · May 28, 2009, 09:28:19 PM

i had early registration and got there around 2-3 too pick up my badge and it went by smooth and quick

Charis · June 01, 2009, 11:30:52 AM

Pre-registration lines felt really, really long. Might have been due to comparing them to last year, when I got there on a Friday and almost no one was around, but it was a little surprising. On the other hand, the line moved fairly quickly once you got into it, which was nice.

Would have been good to know there would be no lanyards this year ahead of time, so as to know to bring one along. I had a hell of a time figuring out where to put the badge on some of my cosplays. T_T

Would also be nice to see fan name printed larger, as some have said. All else aside, it makes one less worried when one forgets to remove/hide a badge during photos (yeah, some of us fret about this).

Actual registration, once I got to the booth, also went wonderfully fast. However, I wish the reg guy hadn't snapped at me about moving out of the area NOW when I was waiting a minute for a friend to finish and had paused all of about fifteen seconds.

Kyra_Maverick · June 01, 2009, 04:04:19 PM

Quote from: Charis on June 01, 2009, 11:30:52 AM
However, I wish the reg guy hadn't snapped at me about moving out of the area NOW when I was waiting a minute for a friend to finish and had paused all of about fifteen seconds.

Same thing happened to me. You pause a few seconds to look at your badge and all of a sudden you're getting yelled at? I understand the need to clear out after you get your stuff, but yelling really wasn't necessary. The other staffer/volunteer who was there yelled at the guy for yelling at me and apologized, so I was grateful for that.