So Vendors this year has been harder than other years. The thing is, this year we opened really early compared to previous years. So when we had to fill it in two weeks, now we have two months.

The vendor room is small. It has 18 spots. 18 spots means there will be a lot of demand for a small quantity of space. We can not make the vendors room bigger until we see a much larger population of attendees. Or 2017, whichever comes first (we said we wouldn’t for 5 years). So if we hit … I dunno, 3k or 4k, then we can justify a bigger room. I’m just pulling numbers out of the air for that, so I don’t really know what we need to hit.

I’m strongly considering making 2014 vendor area by invite only. This would mean we map out what vendors we want, let them know, and give them the option to attend or not. If we have extra spaces after x amount of time, then we open up to the old vendors for a time, then to the waiting list, then to the public after a while, as well.

I would not be stupid enough to say who I would invite or not invite openly, but it could be a thing.

The other option is to limit types of vendors but still make it first-come first-served. X spaces for this type, x spaces for that type…

I’ll discuss it with the vendor liaison and Nathan before making any decisions, but we have to do SOMETHING to ensure diversity in the room.

This last week I finally got tired of waiting for our shiny new vendor system. Although I’m pretty sure it’s really cool and easy to use and will make registration for vendors easy . . . I just can’t wait any longer. We told vendors May. May came and left and we put more pressure on Sammich to finish it early June. June came and left and when July was half over I finally said that he had until Friday, July 12 (3 more days) to get it done or I was going to open it via email like we’ve done in previous years.

He told me that he would have plenty of time to work on it before Friday and that was the last I’ve heard from him. As of this writing I haven’t heard another thing from him.

So, on Monday, July 15, I sent out instructions to all of last year’s vendors and vendor registration officially opened. It opened to previous year’s vendors first. We also have a couple of “waiting list” vendors that will have a chance at it in a week, and then after a total of two weeks, on July 29, the remaining vendor spots will open to the general public. If all our vendors get back to us sooner, then we will open things sooner, but the point is to give the previous ones a head start. We have an obligatory loyalty to them and we really don’t want to upset any of them.

We immediately received a response from a couple of vendors. Opening is going relatively well. We have over 2 months to fill the Vendor area and many vendors wanting space. =D

So everyone knows that registration is custom code. I started it, I wrote the bulk of it, then I eventually managed to trap people on my team who knew at least as much as I did to continue working on it. As it develops year after year, less and less of it is my code. It is starting to evolve beyond my ability to comprehend the code thanks to Sammich and his Vendor system which will eventually take over the site.

So the system runs on an online database. What happens for con is that we copy that database to one of the admin computers, and that computer serves the DB to all the registration computers. The “live” system is no longer online, it only exists (for us) in the GSR building on our computers. Now it would be really bad if someone logged into the online system and made changes to the database while the system wasn’t there. Well, not REALLY bad, but that’s why we close it. We simply don’t want someone making a change that we will later overwrite with the new DB. The database updates each time you log in, so the OCPD one (me) doesn’t want anyone even logging in to the wrong site.

At-Con we run a similar UI on top of the same database. In fact, the at-con system can be accessed via the web if you know where to go and have the proper permissions for it (which you don’t). IF we ever got reliable internet at the GSR we could run the system off the website instead of locally which would eliminate the need to shut the system down for staff members. We may even keep it open for con-goers with a few code tweaks (such as not being able to change any info once you’re checked in). Unfortunately, reliable internet is something we just don’t have at the GSR. We even found out that the GSR free internet (which is terrible) is worlds better than their paid internet. Facepalm. Seriously.

After con is over we make a few backups of the database and store them in a few cloud locations so that they’re safe until one of us has the time (usually a week after con) to put it online. Now, we could open the system back up, but this is the time when we let the system rest (or us, at least). We plan what upgrades and bug fixes we want to do before we open, and go to work. This year we had our last code party in November, and then started having them again after the holidays. This year there was very little to do on the general reg system except for make our system COPPA compliant, and verify that other system changes didn’t break reg. We added a panels system, updated some pricing stuff, added military discounts, upgraded the contracts code… Lots of cleanup and new stuff.

We kept it closed longer than we wanted to because we wanted a panels and vendors ready to go. We decided to open without vendors open because vendors was supposedly close to opening and it wasn’t going to be open for the general public, anyway.

I forced reg to open on 5/15. The team wanted to do more testing and things and I wouldn’t have any of it – I wanted to open!!! So we opened. There were some very small bugs in the reg, but really nothing I can remember. So, we had a really smooth opening! w00t!

Thanks to the mindless ranting of a staff member who was close to me and the process, a few people became under the impression that the reg system is “broken” and needs to be “fixed” every year. We are constantly enhancing it like any good piece of software. No code is ever finished and using someone else’s “finished” system means we’ll have to update/upgrade it anytime THEY feel like it. It also limits the stuff we can do with it when we want. So, our reg system does not need to be “fixed” although, like any evolving software, enhancing one aspect can accidentally create bugs in another area, and eventually large pieces of the code will need to be updated/revised/refreshed because they’ll be old and there will be better ways to do the same things.

Also, I’ve always been all about “does it work? Good. Launch. I don’t care if it’s not elegant. Launch. We’ll fix it later.” Because otherwise we’d never get anything done.

Vendors still hasn’t launched because it’s being done by our wonderful programmer perfectionist who writes really nice, pretty, correct code. It’ll be gorgeous when it’s done, but does it work now? As soon as I can get him to respond to me, we’re launching. >=[ (angry/serious Beta face)

Here’s why we do groups: in theory, they’re easier.

The theory goes that people group together and make one payment. Then we batch them together, and a group of 5+ people can now pick up their badges all at once. This moves the line faster.

We give discounts to encourage this, BUT I’m starting to think it’s only easier on paper.

First off, many groups add a person, pay, then add a person. This adds work as far as bookkeeping, and we get charged more in paypal fees that we would otherwise be charged for one large payment. I understand when you decided to add a person later, but I’m seeing four and five payments made by the same person on the same day, one after another.

The headaches really come when people want to split their group (especially once payments are applied). Then someone in the group who did not pay wants to volunteer to “make” money, which we don’t allow, so then there’s a headache there. Then someone in the group shows up to pick up their badge but the leader isn’t there and they don’t know what to do, and if they beg enough, we might split them out of the group and let them pick up their badge…

It’s actually becoming nightmarish. So, why should I be giving a discount to encourage people to do something that actually creates more work for me and my team?

I think in 2014, we won’t give group discounts. Depending on how that goes, we may remove the grouping option all together some day (if the headaches continue).

We need a meeting to distribute fliers.

The thing some people don’t realize is that meetings are happening all the time and they’re generally unscheduled. You get a bunch of us SNAFU people together and the discussion inevitably turns to SNAFU planning. So the wheels are turning all the time.

I also have some skype conversations going constantly. As of right now I am part of the Registration Code, Programming, and Cosplay staff Skype discussions. I do strongly encourage departments to have their own meetings and get planning done. Skype is an awesome tool. Get it and make progress happen.

If you have questions for me, then ask them – email me. Although I can’t vouch for Nathan, if I have an answer, I’ll answer. If I’m not the person to ask, I’ll forward it to who is. That is unfortunately where the email communication has broken down in the past – forwarding to someone who should answer who then ignores it. I hope to get people more on-board this year with that. I think if I CC the HR dept, then someone else can follow up if no responses are seen (remember to reply-all!).

That being said, I will schedule some all-staff meetings soon. Sometimes it’s the only way we get the right people together.