Anime Boston

Let me know your thoughts!

Overall, I had no problems.

My only suggestion is to make it clearer on Friday morning where the entrance for the line was, and if possible, do it somewhere inside the building. Having to leave the building and walk around the corner to what I'd consider a fairly secluded service entrance (which I almost missed) was a bit unnerving.

If we do have to use an alternate entrance, a sign at the main Sheraton door telling us where to go would be very helpful to those of us who aren't staying at the Sheraton and come in from the revolving door instead of the mall entrance.

Still, quick, simple, and efficient was the name of the game this year. Well done!

Color me surprised at how quickly registration was. The staffer who dealt with me had problems understanding my Alien Registration Card but eventually she figured it out :p

I also liked the pouches - good way to hold business cards/Masq tickets/that sort of thing.

One thing that I imagine was an issue; at a quick glance it's really not easy to distinguish between the Weekend badges and Friday/Saturday/Sunday badges, and especially hard to notice staffers who weren't wearing their blue shirts. Perhaps you guys should add a colored stripe or something for next year's design?

Registration was super fast, and I love that, but one thing happened that was just......very stupid.

You know those bars that divide the line? Well, the line was wayyyyy over to the far left of the room, such as like this in this little doodle:

http://i40.tinypic.com/4rbx20.jpg

The red dots are people in line, black is the room walls, silver is the registration splitters, and green is the way we traveled to get to the back of the line. Well, to cut time, two people ahead of us, as well as my group, just went underneath the dividers, to avoid just walking back and forth through the line maze. For some reason, the people had a bit "baw" over it, and forced us out of the line, walk out of the room, and re-enter for that. Last year, there wasn't even barriers, it was tape, so in that case, shouldn't they have done the same for people cutting over the tapes? Really, it isn't like any linecutting happened.

I was happy about how well it went this year. I thought it was a bit of a strange setup having to go from one room to another, but the staffers who guided the line did a great job directing us. Not like it was a far walk anyway. :p

It went quickly even when the line was long. And also, please keep the Express Pass booths forever; they are so awesome.

Good job and thanks, guys. After 08, you've really stepped up your game. Waiting in the registration line for the past two years has been painless.

I really really wish there was a different badge system. The strap I got had a lose clip at the end (I asked for another and was just told to get moving, it was early Friday morning) and my badge ended up falling off Saturday, making me purchase a second badge (goodbye $30 for the day pass, I had a weekend but w/e). As far as speed/line goes, it was great this year

I came to preregistration an hour late on Thursday and was prepared for a 3 hour line. I had my ipod, snacks, a few friends to talk to, and a camera for the early cosplayers.

4 minutes later, I was outside with my ticket and looking at everyone like "woah"

Good Stuff!

In regards to the registration line. The entire idea for the registration line was thought up by the Sheraton. We had little to no input as to where the line went. We were told this on the tue before the con and this was followed up by a walk through on thurs afternoon. We were left with little choice but to roll with it. Our original plan was thought up several months prior to the con, but went out the window.

It was confusing for many people, us as well and we did our best to direct people and at the same time control the lines. I think the line went well overall, but i will apologize that for the confusion as well as the cutting that did happen. Next year is another year and we hope to improve the way things have been handled.

Best reg line I've ever been in. Went up on thursday and it took maybe 15-20 minutes total. The express pass was freakin Wonka Golden Ticket. Scan...print...show ID...done! Fantastic. :laugh:

I heard there was a line on Friday morning that went outside, but I never saw it. I showed up at 1PM and got waved into the reg hall when I presented the door guy my bar code. I saw a row of registration terminals in the distance and they were all full. By the time I negotiated the maze of line dividers, half the spots were available. I got my badge immediately after presenting my ID.

Technically, I waited about 0 seconds in a line. Last year I waited about 30 seconds in a line to get my badge, so this was an even BIGGER improvement!

I just want to say I love whoever implemented this system. Good times.

I got my pre-reg Thursday night... after 6 I think?
Was in and out in 4 minutes flat! Fastest receiving of badge EVAH! (and I didn't even have the lil print-out scan thing. Only my ID to show)

___
Only suggestion can think of: make some kinda color stripes or maybe different art to tell staff badges apart from normal people

My only criticism is that, on Thursday, we had to walk too much to find the actual registration room. We went to the lobby bathrooms first, and didn't realize that we were right next to the escalator until we walked all the way outside, around the building, and back inside. I hurt my leg earlier in the day and was limping around, so that didn't make me very happy.

In short: remove the barriers meant to keep people in line on Thursday, they're not needed at all.

I'll agree about the walking thing. My feet were ready to KILL me by the end of the day, considering I didn't have a hotel room on Thursday night (our fault, yes, but still). But my friends and I were the third group or so, and once we finally got to registration, things went quite smoothly.

My biggest problem with registration is the fact that my badge name was misspelled, and that absolutely nothing could be done about it. I had preregistered last year, at Anime Boston, and I'm quite sure it wasn't the fault of my handwriting. They had also gotten part of my address wrong, so there may have been an input problem.

I'd like to suggest a confirmation for badge names, or at least the chance to return one that is incorrect. I'd have gladly given the misspelled one back, or ripped it to tiny little pieces, just to have my name straightened out.

I don''t want to have to walk around with a backward-facing badge all weekend just because the spelling angers me again.

- Otaku 'Emeress'

Come a long way in my opinion. I can still recall 'LineCon' in what I think was '08. 6 hour lines X_X

Registration has definatley become quicker and simpler, a massive improvement in which I can't really think of any real major complaints. Perhaps it would be a good idea to provide a schedule while you are picking up your badge instead of the massive bag being on the otherside of the room. In all fairness it's kind of a pain to carry around all day and not many people even bother to go check it out.

I remember that. I'm pretty sure it was 08. I got lucky and pre-registered..but some people had to wait 8-10 hours in line.

Me and my sister got to the con on saturday at 7:40 or something, and we only had to wait an hour or less, and we didn't pre reg. SO much faster this year and had no issues. I was very happy.

Yes, 08 was the one deemed line con I believe. Luckily it didn't bother my group since we all preregistered and showed up when registration opened Thursday.

The set up in the Sheraton was confusing but we eventually found our way thanks to the staff. I think we may have cut in line accidentally somewhere though because we were waived into the moving line by a staff member. So I'm sorry if we cut you accidentally!!

Other than that it moved quite fast. I think I was in line for about half an hour or so though. The original group getting in line at or around 4 (thursday) was probably why.

My only suggestion is that if you don't have your barcode (my comp kept freezing when I tried to print mine >>;) and you need to get in line at a booth, have someone telling you which line you should get in. Rather than "pick one" and have it be a bit of a booth free for all. Then you end up with line a few people deep and others that have no people "I can help someone here!" I think a staff member or even a regular volunteer could help keep that even.

I was kinda surprised by the line this time; last year I literally walked up to the desk and got my badge in under a minute. I guess my only prior experience with waiting for reg was two years ago, and this was lightyears ahead of that.

One thing I would've liked would be a sign on Boylston St. directing to the prereg line (if there was one, I didn't see it). As I recall, the directions from the website as for how to get to the con via train said to take the green line to the Boylston stop, which actually lets out on Massachusetts Ave. Couple that with people coming from various colleges in the area (both BC and MIT are very short walking distance away, and others are in the area), and you get a lot of foot traffic along that route.

Of course, maybe I didn't see the sign; other people I was walking with turned at the corner because of word of mouth, so I don't think they saw any signs either. But if there were, then completely ignore that part

Another thing of note: it wasn't very clear what the point of the barcodes was. Several people in front of me with the barcode printed out never got the chance to use 'em. I think they were supposed to speed up the reg process, but it really didn't do any good. =/

Very minor qualm; it got rather toasty in the room with the windows and mirrors. Would it be possible to set up [more] fans along the line route to add some more circulation?

None of the above actually ruined it for me, though. The line moved quickly (or at least frequently), and if it was really two hours it certainly didn't feel like it.

It was really fast! My sister and I pre-reg'd, and we only had to wait in line for about ten minutes on Friday morning.

My only qualm about the whole thing is the parental consent thing. If you weren't going to use that online form thing, why bother with it at all? I had to wait an extra ten minutes or so in line for customer service because apparently being nineteen isn't old enough to watch my eleven year old sister for a day. Next year, if you could have a better system set up for that, I would highly appreciate it.

It was very easy, I had gotten there around 4:30-5pm on Friday and was able to register with my brother and boyfriend in less than 5 minutes. We didn't even have to wait in line. :3

my only complaint was how much of a runaround it was finding the reg line on Friday. I ended up walking almost the entire way back to my hotel just to find the side door the line began at, seemed a little bit inefficient to me

Trying to find that random side entrance Thursday night for picking up a pre-reg badge felt incredibly sketchy, but the movement of the line wasn't bad at all. Our group was in and out within 30 minutes.

AB staff/security working the line were awesome, informative, and friendly. Sheraton security/staff...seemed to be very angry for no reason at all (if there were shenanigans/horseplay in line, I would absolutely understand, but this was not the case).

Unfortunately the issue with finding the end of the line was something Anime Boston couldn't really control. We had a line plan in place and then the Sheraton decided to change it last minute. We did our best to work with it. The Sheraton people did recognize some problems with the line and they definitely want to work to improve it for next year.

Hey im planning on going to my first con in 2011 and my plan was to take the train there and purchase my registration day of i was also planning on taking the train there daily does anyone think that wouldnt work i live about 30min drive from boston

If you don't mind looking/paying for parking space.

This thread is/was for registration feedback for Anime Boston 2010. Please put discussions for the current convention in the non-Memories forums. I'm locking this thread for now.