Forum - View topicNEWS: Anime Boston Congoers Report 9-Hour Registration Waits
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W-General
Posts: 280 Location: Ithaca, NY, USA / Taichung, Taiwan |
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I went to both this past AX and Anime Boston/
I thought waiting at AX (for badges...I got there at 6am) or waiting for SOS concert was bad enough. Then there's Anime Boston, then I truly knew what a poorly organized con is. I didn't pre-reg (didn't plan to attend until Pillows were announced) and I got there Friday at 12pm. Didn't get my badge until 10pm. Way to go wasting a valuable Friday of my spring break. Sorry, but in terms of con organization, Otakon >>>>>>> AX > Anime Boston. Otakon was run smooth as butter. |
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Unknown Memory
 Posts: 155 |
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That's crazy. O.o A 10 hour wait!? I'd be doing something more productive than standing in a line for that long. Edit: Nevermind. It appears they allow Paypal.
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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Since I'm not sure if you're being tongue in cheek or not, they're talking about The Pillows, a J-rock band (best known, at least to me, for their work on the FLCL soundtrack) |
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KabaKabaFruit
 Posts: 1883 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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9-10 hour wait?
 I sure hope the majority of those congoers had their Nintendo DS's to play around with to kill time. 
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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No. I was serious.   This is the first time I've heard of Pillows...but then, I don't pay attention to J-rock.
Thanks for clearing that up...I thought that it was rather weird that they'd hand out/sell pillows! 
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uLTraCarL
 Posts: 40 Location: Garden Grove, CA |
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Posting for HeadlessCow about his experience at AB
* WorkCow floods slightly with SMS logs <WorkCow> 1:54 PM Bay: You're not at con and near the front of the pre-reg line, are you? <WorkCow> 1:56 PM Me: Almost to con. <WorkCow> 2:43 PM Me: Now in line 
<WorkCow> 3:04 PM Me: Pre-reg is slow
<WorkCow> 3:06 PM Bay: Yea, been here two hours. Still in Hall A, 2nd row, middleish. <WorkCow> 3:09 PM Me: Just got my badge in room 100. <WorkCow> 3:12 PM Bay: What the... How so quick? <WorkCow> 3:19 PM Me: Dunno. Line moved in big jumps. Up at Funi now. <WorkCow> around 4PM I discovered I had accidentally cut 95% of the line <WorkCow> and "In my defense, I walked in to the con and asked the security guard where to go to get my badge and she said "Go all the way down the hall and into the room on the right." So I followed the directions until I found a line and joined it. Many other people joined the line there as well, and the guards at the end never said anything about the fact that we were joining the middle of the line." |
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GTO Neko
 Posts: 94 |
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I definitely hope that they've learned from this fiasco.
I've been in 3 types of lines for Anime Weekend Atlanta, Otakon, and Megacon in Orlando, and all 3 of them weren't so bad. Only one I had to really wait in was in Megacon and at least it kept moving, whether for those who pre-reg'ed or were just getting their pass for the day/weekend. For there to be a near 10 hour wait, there's definitely a sign of some sort of failure of communication. I just pray that those who try to get things set for next year paid close attention to what went wrong and make sure the wait time can at least be cut down to the very most 1-2 hours. |
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Brakus
Posts: 130 Location: Virginia |
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Okay, how's this: If the convention were a ticketed event, the price would have to include possible facility surcharges or sales taxes per ticket as mandated by the city of Boston/state of Massachusetts. The price of the ticket would have to go up to account for those charges. The whole "registration" avoids this entirely - you are registering to be part of the organization that runs Anime Boston, and the badge allows you to attend the annual members' meeting of the organization. And that is why most conventions -- regardless of genre -- go this route in charging for admission. |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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***CRAP. I had a hueg post but a time out lost it. I hope I acan address everything in short order.***
Sounds like this was a cluster this year. Is this how they normally operate registration, something new, or changes without adequate testing? As far as dormcat's remarks about holding onto the individually named badges, I like the system (part of it is tradition and part of it is easier networking) but obviously, the system is failing if its causing 5 - 10 hour-long waits. Our local anime convention has numbers similar to Anime Boston's this year and I've never waited more than 30 minutes (and that's an awfully liberal estimate). I have also worked for a non-anime related show with individual name badges issued. There are controls that need to be taken into account though; pre-reg badges need to be printed ahead of time with all of the information already present. At-the-door registration should have cookie-cutter badges but make space available for those who desire to have their name/alias written on it. Writng utensils are up to the attendee to acquire. Pre-reg lines should have staff equipped with a checklist of names of pre-reg attendees; attendees should have an official confirmation form mailed from the con organizers, as well as a photo ID of some acceptable fashion. Check in with registration, name crossed off the list, and handed con-packet (program, badge, goodies, etc.). Window transaction - five minutes. Line waits will be dramatically reduced. At the door should move even faster - pay your desired attendance fee and get your packet. I agree with calling BS (even going as far to say Blistering BS) on samuelp's response that it's too expensive to acquire bulk mailing. I'll lay out a couple of reasons: bulk mailing on a Class A letter (standard letter; all a confirmation needs to be) is about $0.21 USD. If about 4000 people showed up as at-the-door, then the mailing costs for the remainder would have been about $1260 USD. Now, how much did AB lose in terms of people walking away without paying because of the lines? Would that have off-set the postage cost for increased efficiency? Second, was this little gem:
Computers? Honestly. I've only been to one show which used a computer for pre-registration; it was a security conference which had all of the badges pre-stored on them for printing and less than one hundredth of AB's attendees. I think someone at AB needs to look at a concept called "single-point-of-failure". Like I said above in response to dormcat, if you're going to do labeled badges, they need to be done ahead of time. Also, some of the most low-tech solutions are probably the easiest to implement and swap staff around to manage volume. In short, the system employed apparently failed and failed HARD. Something needs to be changed but the fact that individual name badges can be issued at other cons of similar size with fewer issues and much shorter waits, I don't think that it immediately calls for issuing only anonymous badges. |
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Yoda117
Posts: 406 |
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Apparently you go to a different Otakon than I do. The last few years I've noticed that the organization has been going downhill, and don't get me started on their security. I'll save that rant for another day, since this thread is about AB. Personal observations was that AB tried a new system, but didn't properly test it from what I'm gathering. Taking a peek at the pre-reg lines and chatting it up with the staffers indicated that the system had failed on several occasion, AND they underestimated the resources required for proper operation. That it took AB so long to mount a response to the situation didn't help any either. To their credit, AB did eventually change things around to get people through as fast as they possibly could and everyone from the gofers to the con organizers were genuinely apologetic for the problems encountered. To me, that's a lot more than I've seen from most cons. Every con has it's ups, and it's downs. The new registration process simply couldn't content with the demand. It wouldn't surprise me that they're already figuring out how to make sure it doesn't happen again. If it's one thing I've learned from the folks at AB, it's that one they identify an issue, they're pretty big on fixing it as best they can... a lot of cons cannot say the same thing, and could learn a thing or two by emulating that practice. BTW: on the flip side of the coin, I've got to give props to the hospitality staff at AB. They were everywhere and making sure everyone was having a good time
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Zoe
 Posts: 898 Location: Austin |
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It can be helpful from a security standpoint if real identifying information is somewhere on the badge. But nobody bothers to look at that anyway... |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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If your ten hours worth only $2.50 (Massachusetts has a 5% sales tax) then so be it. 
If someone is in trouble or is making trouble, the first thing securities should do is to remove the person from the exhibition ground; identities should be checked later and conducted at a different place. Furthermore, a badge issued at an anime convention has no security feature (sometimes it only has a nickname), thus it is not and should not be considered as a form of valid identification. |
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Kyjin
 Posts: 126 Location: Los Angeles |
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The waits sound insane! I think the longest I've ever had to wait for a con was my first Otakon when I didn't prereg, and I was in line for maybe 2 hours. Since then, never more than an hour/hour and a half wait. (Otakon reg may not run smooth as butter, but it does seem to be a lot better run than AB/AX. o.O)
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LydiaDianne
Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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You know, the badges are great and all that but I'm beginning to see dormcat's point. Perhaps the tickets like he suggests. Most tickets like that have part torn off, so after that is done then walk by groups of volenteers who have badge holders to put the ticket in and more volenteers who have the goodie bags.
I'd be willing to pay a bit extra if that meant I didn't have to spend hours in line. I think that my time is more valuable than that. |
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Wing_Goddess
 Posts: 75 |
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Lined up for up to 10 hours?! that's ridiculous! I would NEVER wait in a line that long for a convention, unless they had a guest that i REALLY wanted to see.
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