Dear Fanime,
With utmost respect, please change your registration system for next year.
As an attendee to this con and several others since 2005, I've been in a lot of ridiculous lines. Fanime has taken the cake for ridiculousness the past two years. Conventions such as GDC or E3 have many more attendees but still somehow manage to make their registration fast and efficient. I have never had to wait in line at GDC or E3 for my pre-reg badge.
If you'll allow, some suggestions for improvement:
1) Automated check-in. GDC, for example, sets up about 30-50 laptops with a registration protocol that allows users to verify information. Once you check in, you walk to a booth and receive your badge from a person who verifies your ID with the just printed badge. It's fast and simple. You can rent laptops for short periods of time to avoid a humongous cost investment.
2) MAIL OUT BADGES. Please, please, PLEASE quit shooting this down! So many of us are willing to provide extra revenue to Fanime for this option. At 10-15$ a pop you'll make up for more than your time investment and mail costs to do this.
3) If registration of this nature continues, increase the incentives for pre-registering. Right now there are none, except a very small discount that is completely negated by the time waiting in line. I should not have to wait in line 3-4 hours to pick up my per-registered badge.
4) More registration personnel. I could not believe how few volunteers were manning the booths considering the number of attendees in line.
In short... Fanime, at this point you are no longer a small convention. According to many businesses in the area, this is SJCC's biggest convention of the year. You've got to put on your big boy pants and start considering new ways to manage your growing number of attendees. Assuming you didn't scare off a lot of long-time congoers, next year will only be larger. You have to anticipate this!
Fanime isn't wholly fan sponsored (I have a friend from one of the businesses who sponsors Fanime) and it shouldn't be treated as such any longer. No more excuses Fanime - step up to the plate!
With utmost respect, please change your registration system for next year.
As an attendee to this con and several others since 2005, I've been in a lot of ridiculous lines. Fanime has taken the cake for ridiculousness the past two years. Conventions such as GDC or E3 have many more attendees but still somehow manage to make their registration fast and efficient. I have never had to wait in line at GDC or E3 for my pre-reg badge.
If you'll allow, some suggestions for improvement:
1) Automated check-in. GDC, for example, sets up about 30-50 laptops with a registration protocol that allows users to verify information. Once you check in, you walk to a booth and receive your badge from a person who verifies your ID with the just printed badge. It's fast and simple. You can rent laptops for short periods of time to avoid a humongous cost investment.
2) MAIL OUT BADGES. Please, please, PLEASE quit shooting this down! So many of us are willing to provide extra revenue to Fanime for this option. At 10-15$ a pop you'll make up for more than your time investment and mail costs to do this.
3) If registration of this nature continues, increase the incentives for pre-registering. Right now there are none, except a very small discount that is completely negated by the time waiting in line. I should not have to wait in line 3-4 hours to pick up my per-registered badge.
4) More registration personnel. I could not believe how few volunteers were manning the booths considering the number of attendees in line.
In short... Fanime, at this point you are no longer a small convention. According to many businesses in the area, this is SJCC's biggest convention of the year. You've got to put on your big boy pants and start considering new ways to manage your growing number of attendees. Assuming you didn't scare off a lot of long-time congoers, next year will only be larger. You have to anticipate this!
Fanime isn't wholly fan sponsored (I have a friend from one of the businesses who sponsors Fanime) and it shouldn't be treated as such any longer. No more excuses Fanime - step up to the plate!