| worj01 | 26 Feb 2017 1:25 p.m. PST |
Game Masters! Online events registration will open on February 27 for Historicon 2017! You can go to historicon.org, log into the website and then click on the Game Master Information tile in middle of the web page. You will find instructions on the next page on how to submit your games, and pertinent dates related to events registration opening and closure, etc.. This year the PEL cut-off date is March 31 (that is, midnight between March 31 and April 1). If you have any questions please contact one of the two Events Managers on the Staff tile (just above the Game Master Information tile on the web page), simply reply to this message, or email one of us directly per below. Tx! Bill Rutherford
hmgs@comcast.net Tim Broome
pnzr12@yahoo.com Historicon 2017 Events Managers |
| TheKing30 | 26 Feb 2017 2:54 p.m. PST |
Hi Bill – can you remove the "," from the hyperlink? |
| worj01 | 26 Feb 2017 3:20 p.m. PST |
I just tried – apparently one cannot edit a message to which comment or reply's been received. For all and sundry, the correct link is: historicon.org with NO comma following it… TheKing30 – thanks! - Bill |
| worj01 | 27 Feb 2017 3:15 p.m. PST |
Oops – forgot to mention in my initial msg that the theme for Historicon 2017 is Tanks! - Bill |
| ACWBill | 27 Feb 2017 4:20 p.m. PST |
Who is handling vendor registration this year. |
| worj01 | 27 Feb 2017 5:51 p.m. PST |
Dudley Garidel continues in that role. - Bill |
| Ceterman | 27 Feb 2017 6:31 p.m. PST |
Thanks Bill, I already had to email ya w/questions! Yeah, I know… |
martin goddard  | 28 Feb 2017 10:51 a.m. PST |
Thanks for doing the job Bill!! |
| CalypsoCommando | 06 Mar 2017 3:25 p.m. PST |
Do the HMGS registration dates seem crazy to anyone else? Having a cutoff of the end of March for H-con event registration seems way, way too early. I don't even know what I'll be doing in July yet, how can I possibly commit to running a game? The pre-reg deadline cutoffs have seemed similarly out of whack for a couple of years now and only seem to be getting worse. I missed the pre-reg deadline for the last two HMGS cons b/c it didn't occur to me they'd close down so early (a full month ahead in the case of Cold Wars.) |
| Johnnyutah8000 | 07 Mar 2017 6:04 a.m. PST |
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| Poniatowski | 07 Mar 2017 9:22 a.m. PST |
Event registration is always open longer than the pre-reg bonus. There is a LOT of work to do as the shows have all grown… meaning more work on the back end to prepare for the show…. expect the same for Fall-IN! 2017 too…. event reg will open about 2-3 weeks before Hcon hits….
The theme is: "Fall-In!" the Yanks are coming… for the 1917-2017 100 year anniversary. The dates are not really out of line, we just want to get our crap together early enough so we are not going crazy and things are falling through the cracks for the shows. Like I said.. there is a LOT more work that goes on for the shows that no one really knows about unless you have done it….events is a huge bear…. it must be tackled early and often to be done correctly… |
| Poniatowski | 07 Mar 2017 9:24 a.m. PST |
A huge consideration is this…. a lot of the organizers have lives outside the hobby and no matter how dedicated they are to the hobby, there isn't always enough time to do the work all day long, every day before the shows…. that work needs spread out a tad to be able to meet other life obligations. |
| mindenbrush | 07 Mar 2017 2:27 p.m. PST |
Booked my two games to run back to back on Friday :-)
And the drive from Toronto the Fredericksburg is 2 hours less than than previous ones from Montreal :-)
Cheers,
Graham W |
| ACWBill | 08 Mar 2017 8:03 a.m. PST |
March is early for a July convention. |
| historygamer | 08 Mar 2017 8:09 a.m. PST |
Correct me if I am wrong, but the issue driving the advanced dates is the need to compile the info in a timely manner and get it to the printers for the program booklet. If so, the printing schedule is driving the dates. Correct? |
| Duncan Adams | 08 Mar 2017 8:22 a.m. PST |
There is a LOT of work to do as the shows have all grown… meaning more work on the back end to prepare for the show Dan, In my day we opened Hcon event reg the day after Cold Wars and the PEL deadline was 4 1/2 weeks after that (and I got complaints that we were too early). I know as well as anyone how much work is required on the back end, but I fail to understand how negative growth of Historicon (700 games in 2007 to 500 in 2016) necessitates three weeks more effort to get a PEL ready for mid May registration opening. Duncan Adams
Historicon Events Manager 2006-2008, 2010, 2011 |
| 47Ronin | 09 Mar 2017 5:52 p.m. PST |
As usual, Duncan has the last word and silences the crowd. Just by way of comparison, it's one week to Cold Wars and I notice on its web page that the "Events" sections for "Hobby U." and "Seminars" still say "Coming Soon." You can set all the deadlines you want for whenever you want, but they only matter if you adhere to them. |
| worj01 | 11 Mar 2017 6:09 p.m. PST |
All, The PEL deadline has been extended to April 4. Not much, I know, but still a bit later than it was. Several other posters have touched on the reasons for the (to me) really early PEL date but let me elaborate a bit, based on my (not omniscient) understanding.
As Historygamer correctly noted, downstream activities like printing all have an impact on event registration dates. And as Duncan correctly noted, "back in the day" online registration didn't even open until after Cold Wars. I liked this (post-CW opening) because if you're like me, you focus on only one thing at a time and if I were running a game at CW that's what I'd be focused until the day after CW. But the real driver of the PEL deadline is how long it takes the final pre-PEL events download (downloaded by the convention's events manager) to get into the attendee registration side of HMGS Online (aka YM for the vendor name "Your Membership"). The number of events submitted is something of a red herring because that has a lot less to do with anything than the system used to submit them. I believe Duncan used the CRS for Hcon10 and 11. We moved to YM sometime in 2013 or 14 (I'm not sure exactly when but I think the first time I used it was for Hcon14) and while I believe Paul Trani executed the events uploads into the CRS, we currently have to send the file to YM to upload into the attendee registration side of the system. So Paul can't pull an all-nighter or two and the upload simply happens. He sends the events file to YM and when they're loaded, they're loaded. This is neither necessarily good nor bad; it's just different. And it's impacting our events submission window. Last year we budgeted 3 weeks for the upload and it worked. This year, based on more recent experiences, the YM turnaround time I've been told to expect is somewhat longer. And every time something like this rears its head, the PEL deadline gets pushed up a bit more unless slack can be cut elsewhere. This may not relieve your stress at needing to get your events submitted by 4 April but it will hopefully at least give you an idea why the PEL cut-off seems (well, IS) early. And as Poniatowski noted, events registration remains open considerably longer; you need to submit events by the end of the first week of June to get into the program book. You won't be in the PEL and you won't get a free admission based on the game, but you'll be in the program book for the attendees to see. - Bill Rutherford
Historicon 2017 Events |
| Duncan Adams | 11 Mar 2017 6:24 p.m. PST |
and while I believe Paul Trani executed the events uploads into the CRS, we currently have to send the file to YM to upload into the attendee registration side of the system. So Paul can't pull an all-nighter or two and the upload simply happens. The fact is, Bill, that loaded the PEL games into the CRS and it took minutes, not weeks or even an all nighter. Updates were handled by some one else (once prereg started the CRS was out of my hands), but that also should have taken minutes. But, such is progress. Duncan |
| worj01 | 11 Mar 2017 7:06 p.m. PST |
Duncan, I can't argue with you there; I was only ever peripherally involved with the CRS. But as you say, such is progress! - Bill |
| ACWBill | 14 Mar 2017 5:36 a.m. PST |
To whom it may concern. I have made a valiant effort to register a game and use the contact us page through Google Chrome. My response to all entries is a big white page with ERROR OCCURRED I also am trying to get Good Ground Miniatures set up for the convention. I have logged in using the same password I have had for some time, but this also does not appear to be working. ACWBill@aol.com I am trying to comply with the deadline without success. |
| ACWBill | 17 Mar 2017 9:33 a.m. PST |
Anyone associated with Historicon, please contact me re the issue below.
To whom it may concern.
I have made a valiant effort to register a game and use the contact us page through Google Chrome. My response to all entries is a big white page with ERROR OCCURRED I also am trying to get Good Ground Miniatures set up for the convention. I have logged in using the same password I have had for some time, but this also does not appear to be working. ACWBill@aol.com I am trying to comply with the deadline without success. |
