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I'm back. It looks like the main problem is that we're dealing with irresponsible people (aka. kids). They lose/break things, complain, and need people to bail them out all the time. We can deal with this several different ways:

1. Treat everybody like kids. Put limits and safeguards on everything.
- Pros: Things don't go wrong. Punishes the responsible people in general.
- Cons: Longer lines. Responsible adults have to suffer along. Rewards the irresponsible people in general.

2. Treat everybody like adults. Everybody needs to be responsible. Lost badge? Pay to get it replaced.
- Pros: Things move along a lot smoother and faster. More time to enjoy the convention. Rewards the responsible people in general.
- Cons: Lots of kids crying, unhappy customers. Seriously need a customer service desk for the people who did something stupid so they don't hold up the normal line. Punishes the irresponsible people in general.

3. Treat kids like kids and adults like adults. Adults can do group registration, have other adults pick up badges for them, etc. Kids have to be in the slow kids' line where the whole group has to get in line.
- Pros: Adults get in faster. Rewards the adults and punishes the kids.
- Cons: Kids get in slower. Coordination among staff needs to be really good. Adults aren't necessarily responsible and kids aren't necessarily irresponsible.


Personally, I would opt for #2 or #3 because I consider myself a responsible adult. However, I think that most attendees are going to be irresponsible kids so #1 actually makes more sense. :(

Partial payments being broken up logistically becomes harder to track as you might get some paypal payments, some checks, some money orders. It all adds up to extra work, for little extra benefit because you still have to sort through it all making sure the accounts in question gets credited the right amount, the payment amounts are all correct at the end, etc.

Honestly, I don't know how the organizers tracks the payments. It all just boils down to data-entry. (I can already imagine what the database tables would look like.) Yes, there would be more items to enter and more checks to deposit. But beyond that, I really don't see what the other difficulties are. Yes, I'm assuming that the software to track this is (or will be) all in order.

What I wrote in the above paragraph would be the cost. The benefit is that it'll be more convenient for some people. Does benefit > cost? The organizers can decide. Either way, I think a bill/email should be sent out anyway in case something went wrong or someone didn't pay. Stop accepting payments a month (or whatever) before the convention and only take payments at the convention from then on. You know, things get lost in the mail, checks bounce, etc.

There's variety of reasons. If you have been to Fanime, you know the biggest reason Group Reg is nice is because of the lines. This doesn't help the line congestion.

I will offer my suggestion. Feel free to critique it. Have two lines. One line for groups and the other line for individuals. (You guys probably do it already.) The leader may authorize group members to pick up the group's badges. The assignment/authorization must be done beforehand so people/kids don't spontaneously go, "My leader told me to come pick them up." It's the leader's responsibility to allow only responsible group members to pick up badges. If desired, only offer this option to leaders aged whatever (18? 21? 25?) and up. Have a "customer service" desk for the unlucky groups who chose someone irresponsible to pick up badges so they can wait. Don't know who picked them up? That's why customer service desks are useful. That might actually help some people "grow up".

Benefits: Group pick-up will be faster than if only leaders are allowed to pick up badges.
Costs: A tiny bit more programming.

By the way, I really suggest charging a fee to replace lost badges.

...we encourage you to join staff, however much of our staff is volunteers. They have lives in addition to their normal Fanime responsibilities...

I'm honored to receive such an offer. Because of the reasons you stated, I won't be able to volunteer. :( Not to mention, I'm about 3 hours away from San Jose. Seriously though, I started doing programming when I was in high school and this convention is in San Jose, where most of California's geeks are. A lot of programmers are now unemployed too so I'm sure you can find a good deal nearby. I'm willing to help, but I can't help as much as I want to... unless I get laid off.  :P That would be bad news.

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'm starting to get the feel of this. I'll be back to post something. Yeah, gotta go to sleep because yes, I do work full time. Fortunately, it's 40 hours rather than 50 per week.

Hmmm, a vendor can make some real money doing repairs at a convention. That gives me ideas. :)

Just wondering... do dealers generally accept credit cards there? I hate carrying cash.


Mod edit: title

In case any like studying microeconomics, lower demand (recession)+higher ticket prices+high elasticity=low attendance. It doesn't compensate for lower revenue unless tickets were under-priced in previous years. Can someone comment on how much it costs for the facility?

Okay, I really apologize if I offend anyone, but from reading this thread, I seriously think that whoever is organizing the registration process can't or won't get their act(s) together. Unfortunately, I haven't actually been to Fanime before so I guess my arguments can't carry much weight. However, I'll give reasons for my opinion.

No group registration: I say having the option is far better than not having the option. A group can choose to have everyone register separately, but there's still the option of registering as a group.

Only group leader may pick up badges: I don't see why this limitation needs to exist. I think the group leader may assign a member or any member(s) of their choice to pick up badges. They can pick up only their own, for them and their buddy, or for the whole group. I don't see what's so difficult. The assignment should be done before the convention, otherwise, members will just start going, "But my leader told me to come get it."

Payment: I'm assuming that people have to pay in advance. So what's so difficult about separate payments? Is form with account names or numbers too much to ask for when people submit their payment? I mean, people can pay all at once if it makes it easier for them, but how is it that difficult if partial payments come?

Finding 300 badges in a pile of 4000: Why in the world is it a pile?! Sort the badges! Okay, maybe it's already solved since it's so simple.

Okay, maybe I'm misunderstanding something. Maybe the registration is done the old fashion way (paper and pencil). Now that makes life really difficult and I'll understand why everything is so difficult. But............ I think we're in the 2008/2009 and computers are everywhere. If you need the software to make the registration process run, I can probably write it for you guys. But out of 13,000+ people going, there's no way that I'm the only one capable of programming.

Please offer some constructive criticism (You can tell me that I'm stupid but you must say why). I'd also like someone to elaborate on what's so bad about group registration. What are the things beyond the staff's control?

That's what I was thinking. They did, however, wear shinigami clothes in Soul Society.

I'm planning to go as Ishida Uryuu in school uniform and in Quincy form.