TAM 9 Dates

AdMan said:
Just got back from D*C and looked to this thread hoping I could start planning the next big skeptical trip... So no news? :(

Well, at least I'm subscribing to the thread and won't miss any announcements.
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6 weeks to London... need to break down and book my flight, I guess.
 
TAM9 shall be a VIP-only event. Only those of us who are worthy of knowing the dates will be allowed to know them. That way, we can keep the rest of you riff-raff from clogging up the place, all the time.

(Imagine that scenario!)
 
Wowbagger said:
TAM9 shall be a VIP-only event. Only those of us who are worthy of knowing the dates will be allowed to know them. That way, we can keep the rest of you riff-raff from clogging up the place, all the time.

(Imagine that scenario!)
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Yeah, I've known when TAM9 is for weeks now. :cool:

Oh no. I've said too much.
 
I just listened to Rebecca Watson talk about how they waited in line for two hours in the PRE-registered guest line at DragonCon. In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
Anyone who encourages TAM to grow to that level, I should slap your face.
 
LilaMae said:
I just listened to Rebecca Watson talk about how they waited in line for two hours in the PRE-registered guest line at DragonCon. In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
Anyone who encourages TAM to grow to that level, I should slap your face.
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If we ever are able to get 40,000 people to attend a skeptical/critical thinking event, as there apparently were at this year's DragonCon, I will NOT be complaining.

(And I had to stand in line for 3 1/2 hours for my pre-registered badge at DragonCon.)

So slap me. ;)

ETA:
LilaMae said:
In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
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I don't know what goddamn talks they attended, but this sounds to me like a probable exaggeration. Certainly this wasn't the case with almost all of the Skeptrack talks (except for maybe Randi's and a couple of others held in the ballrooms).
 
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AdMan said:
I don't know what goddamn talks they attended, but this sounds to me like a probable exaggeration. Certainly this wasn't the case with almost all of the Skeptrack talks (except for maybe Randi's and a couple of others held in the ballrooms).
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I waited in line for a couple Crystal Ballroom events; Brian Brushwood's magic show, the raising skeptical geeks panel, etc. Everything in the 205/206/207 room was pretty accesible.
 
LilaMae said:
I just listened to Rebecca Watson talk about how they waited in line for two hours in the PRE-registered guest line at DragonCon. In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
Anyone who encourages TAM to grow to that level, I should slap your face.
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You might find this interesting...

http://community.livejournal.com/dragoncon/2536647.html?thread=27336135#t27336135

First off, let me put the big bullseye right in the center of my forehead now.

I am the Director of On Site Preregistration for Dragon Con.

Let me first apologize for the waits in the line this year. We were trying a new system and it obviously did not work as intended. We were also limited on how many people we were allowed to have in the building at once by the fire marshal and hotel security. This only served to add to the delay as they would not allow more people to enter until so many lanes of the cue were emptied.

We are developing a bar code system for 2011's show. This of course means you MUST remember your post cards and if they are emailed to you, the print out with this individual bar code. If not, you will be in the main line only to be moved to the solutions line to be looked up and printed out. As it stands the plan is to have printers and scanners at each kiosk and NO MORE ALPHABET LINES. You will be in the main line and when you get to the front, you will move to the next available open kiosk to be scanned and handed your badge. This should greatly speed things up for everyone.
Please remember that the staff of Dragon Con are volunteers. They are fans like you who give their time to the convention. They are cursed at, abused, called names, and have had things thrown at them. While many waited 2 or more hours, remember also that Thursday this year alone, we were there at 9am or earlier and we did not leave until 1:30am on Friday morning and were still back again at 7:30am on Friday to work until 10:30pm on Friday evening.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions about the Preregistration process as well as shows we are working to streamline and change this so it is a faster process.

Troy Bradley
Director
Dragon Con On Site Preregistration
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LilaMae said:
I just listened to Rebecca Watson talk about how they waited in line for two hours in the PRE-registered guest line at DragonCon. In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
Anyone who encourages TAM to grow to that level, I should slap your face.
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Why don't they just charge everyone an extra $10 and mail them?

The closest thing I have to compare it to is the annual Berkshire conference. Your badge is mailed to you. You show up, you walk right in. They draw approx 30,000.
 
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The Central Scrutinizer said:
Why don't they just charge everyone an extra $10 and mail them?
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From what I've heard, it's because of counterfeiting problems. They keep the badge design secret until the very last possible moment to try to minimize this. This may be more of an issue at DragonCon than at other meetings.

In any case, the issue of how to deal with a large number of attendees is IMO not a good enough reason to limit attendance. You just figure out how best to deal with this.
 
AdMan said:
From what I've heard, it's because of counterfeiting problems. They keep the badge design secret until the very last possible moment to try to minimize this. This may be more of an issue at DragonCon than at other meetings.
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I think their fears are misplaced. Why inconvenience 99.9% of the people who paid, to keep out the 200 or so who will bother counterfeiting a badge?
 
LilaMae said:
I just listened to Rebecca Watson talk about how they waited in line for two hours in the PRE-registered guest line at DragonCon. In fact they waited in line for every goddamn event/track they went to.
Anyone who encourages TAM to grow to that level, I should slap your face.
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GenCon (26,000 - 30,000) gives you the opportunity to have badge and all tickets mailed to you for pre-registered events. I always choose this option and NEVER stand in line. And if you really want special service you get the VIG badge and your own lounge to hang out in with the ability to register for stuff in the lounge itself.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I think their fears are misplaced. Why inconvenience 99.9% of the people who paid, to keep out the 200 or so who will bother counterfeiting a badge?
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No, really, counterfeiting has been a significant problem in past years. Mailing out badges ahead of time would just give them more time to make a decent copy and put the images online for others to download.
 
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