"Continental Inn Changes Ownership" Topic

Agreed; I just hope the bathrooms are clean………….;)…

I think the bathroom issues have a whole lot less to do with the venues and a lot more with the attendees and the quantity of men to women.

My wife always says that bathrooms are very clean…

John, thanks for your comments. It goes without saying that all of us appreciate the effort for BOD members and CD's to come on TMP and give us updates. That's such a refreshing change.

Hopefully something can be worked out at Hershey

For me, having non-convention attractions nearby for the family was always a big selling point for attending a convention. Good luck with Hershey.

I'm always amazed at how people find it irresistible to be contrary just for the sake of it…just to argue a point and avoid acknowledgement of reality at all costs.

And I'm amazed how people can KNOW the motivations and intentions of people they have NEVER met, using just a simple slip of writing.

Incredible.

But really, what we have here is a "failure to communicate".

And that's ok. Life rolls on! More important things to focus on, no doubt.

The site selection will be what it will be….all will be revealed in good time, no doubt, as John indicated. Perhaps at the membership meeting at CW.

If it looks like a duck…

And I'm amazed how people can KNOW the motivations and intentions of people they have NEVER met, using just a simple slip of writing.

The people write down their intentions sometimes. That's how that works.

historygamer wrote:

"Well, one could argue that attendance has been flat to falling at the two cons currently at the Host, but then that begs the question, why? "

I don't think this is the case. FI attendance has been increasing the last few years. Cold Wars may be off a bit but bad weather 2 of the last 3 years probably has a big impact on that.

Most vendors have a limit on where and when they can go as most of us run our businesses as second jobs requiring us to take vacation.

If the attendees show up at a venue within the radius I can get to in the time allotted, I will be there.

That said, there is something to be said for location stability and what gamers like. I imagine the retail adage about moving a store location and losing half your customers has to have some basis for reality when a convention is moved. When one does it takes time to build back up. However, for various reasons sometimes that doesn't happen.

I appreciate the effort being made by the HMGS BOD to get the convention plan on track.

That said, let us hope for a great Cold Wars.

Brigadegames said:

"I don't think this is the case. FI attendance has been increasing the last few years."

I'll defer to Dan on that, though I am positive he was disappointed with both the attendance numbers and the ton of no-show GMs/games at the recent con. In short, FI seems to have a ceiling and there seems no going past it, for whatever reasons.

"Cold Wars may be off a bit but bad weather 2 of the last 3 years probably has a big impact on that."

It doesn't matter what the reason, numbers have been off, and looking at CWs historically, it hasn't grown either.

My point (apparently lost in the numbers game) is that HMGs runs essentially the same three cons, three times a year, with roughly the same attendance. Point being, if you miss one, so what?

John:

Thank you for the excellent update and facts on challenges selecting con locations. It is all greatly appreciated. One thing you posted that caught my eye:

"Some have noted, and rightfully so, that HMGS needs to focus on improving our core product, games at conventions. …….I'm copied on a lot of new plans for this Cold Wars, and I think there will be some very positive and noticeable enhancements."

So that begs the question, how is anyone to know what these new things are? HMGS no longer has a functional newsletter of any sort. HMGS no longer has convention mailers. HMGS no longer has any open webpage to post such information to. HMGS no longer has a yahoo group. HMGS has two facebook pages, but I'm not sure what one does over the other, or which I should be looking at for organizational news – if either.

The YM site is not user friendly and annoying as heck. Having just joined some new part of it, I now receive robo emails from everyone else who joins with a boilerplate response about "how excited they are to join the group." I've had 9 of those emails to my inbox in the last week. Annoying.

I am not sure if HMGS is relying on ESP to convey what new things it is planning, or relying on word of mouth after the fact to tell everyone what great things they missed.

I, like most here, want HMGS to succeed. But is sure seems to me, after belonging to the organization since the late 80s, that things have regressed instead of gone forward.

Please advise if this information has been posted somewhere so people can go look. One month out, seems a bit late though at this point.

Again, I greatly appreciate you posting here and your volunteer efforts.

HMGS no longer has convention mailers.

What do you mean? As an HMGS member I still get convention notices in my mail.

I haven't seen anything for cold wars. Caveat, if I did then it wasn't very memorable.

But since you did, can you list some of the new things listed happening at the convention John referenced? New stuff, not same old same old.

But since you did, can you list some of the new things listed happening at the convention John referenced? New stuff, not same old same old.

I just checked the mail pile, and I couldn't find it, so it likely went into the recycle bin with other old papers since it was about a month ago.

Hopefully someone else still has it.

Thanks for making my point. :-)

The Daisy Weekend update

New date and location
April 19 to 22nd, 2018
Rodeway Inn, "Lantern Lodge"
411 College St. ( Rt. 501)
Myerstown PA. 17067
717-866-6536

Three weeks ago out of the blue and with no warning we learned the Continental Inn, where we had based The Weekend for nine years had been sold to the Dutch Wonderland and would be closed for nine months for renovations. This of course invalidated our contract and date for our convention. Immediately we began the process of recovery and we were able to quickly find a new location which in many ways offers a bettter deal than we had at the Continental. We have finalized it and are happy to announce that The Weekend will go on with only a slight glitch.

The Rodeway Inn, a small 70 room hotel offers all we need and we can easily fit into its facility. It has a 4800 square foot ballroom giving us ample space just like the Continental had, and the ease of access is almost as good. More than that, we were able to get a room rate of $85 USD a night, which is $25 USD less than we would have had at the Continental this year. The Rodeway Inn and Suites, has been recently renovated and had been "The Lantern Lodge. The rooms are beautiful and each room has a refrigerator and microwave. The hotel has a Restaurant which is only for banquets and events and is not open all the time, but in the same building is their :"Lantern Lounge" Pub which is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 5 to 9 pm.

There is a continental breakfast served free every morning including a waffle maker. We tried to get a full breakfast but it would have been too expensive so we settled on giving you a cut -rate on the room. There are several local eateries where you can get a good breakfast, including the Country Fare Restaurant less than half a mile from the hotel. There is an excellent Italian Restaurant, Tosco's, next to the hotel, a Chinese Restaurant, McDonalds, Hardees, and others. More of this in our next update bulletin.

MOST IMPORTANT! THE HOTEL HAS NO OBJECTION TO OUR MUNCHIE PIT, THE ONLY RULE IS NO OUTSIDE ALCOHOL CAN BE BROUGHT IN.

To get to the hotel is easy. From the Host-Continental, take Route 30 West, then take 501, Lititz Pike North 24 miles to College Ave in Myerstown. It's a little more than half an hour away. You can't miss it. The Myerstown municipal water tank stands like a bloated Martian Fighting Machine from the War of the Worlds, near the traffic light. From the South turn left and from the north turn right at Tosco's Restaurant. The Hotel is next to the Advanced Auto Parts Store.

That's the highlights. I wanted to get this out to you as soon as I could. A full update booklet will be sent out in a week. When you reserve a room be sure to ask for the
The Daisy Weekend Gaming Event.

John Spiess wrote:

"Some have noted, and rightfully so, that HMGS needs to focus on improving our core product, games at conventions. While I'm not involved as much in all the work that's required here, I can say that I'm copied on a lot of new plans for this Cold Wars, and I think there will be some very positive and noticeable enhancements."

John: So unless the plan is to tell everyone about the wonderful things they missed, what are these new things? Seems like HMGS would want people to know more than just a three weeks out from the con.

Thanks guys for the input. John updated what he could and what we do know for certain… thank you!

It is a very hard pill to swallow for me…
I have been heavily involved with Fall IN! for almost 10 years now.

When I became a CD, attendance was still flat and a tad low because of the move back to Lancaster from Gettysburg.

The Fall In! team worked very hard to step up the show… and, numbers did grow. BUT…. they did plateau…. every year I try to get better… I really want to break that 2000 mark… when I took over, Fall In! numbers were around 1200 I believe.

With hard work and some marketing and other factors (lets not address them here please) and thanks to you folks, numbers grew (THANK YOU!)… Fall In! got as high as 1985…. but the general number over the last 3-4 years put the peak attendee numbers around 1880. As I said, it is a very hard pill to swallow for me.

In MY very personal opinion.. there is a HUGE take away here.

1. Attendance has a ceiling. No matter who I brought in guest speaker wise… they didn't push the numbers up by much if any.. and I have brought in a few "best in the field" speakers…. on both WW1 and The War of 1812. At some point, the ROI in attendance is not worth the cost to bring in high value folks sometimes as, even with decent advertising, it doesn't impact the numbers much on attendance to make it worth while. I know many folks do appreciate this.. I am only making a point on ROI for attendance numbers.

2. The perfect amount of games for a show like Fall In!… (located at the Host) really is about 320-350 and you are out of decent space or games go without being filled (due to the attendance being pretty stable at 1880ish). The trend has been come earlier and leave earlier… again, the show isn't big enough to have Thursday as an official day… So really that leaves us with Friday and Saturday… Sunday is negligible as the trend over the last 10 years has been to get up, eat, shop and leave on Sunday. I can say that Fall In! and even CW rarely has over a dozen games going on any more on Sunday…

3. The increase in the vendor hall by $10 USD and the flea market tables is negligible and impacts the show very little. As an organization, HMGS attendee costs are negligible compared to other shows.. some smaller that last less time even. We are NOT Origins or Gen con.. we never will be.. we are a dedicated Niche…. Historic Miniature Wargaming Society… yes we have other stuff.. sci-fi and fantasy, but we pride ourselves on our niche… We need to argue less and figure out how we can grow the hobby more…

Back on topic.. costs rise… it is life.. and HMGS cost increases have been negligible at best. You really get more bang for your buck at an HMGS show than many others… If the costs are really hurting you, please, come and volunteer… that will help defer your costs greatly and still give you plenty of time to game, sell, shop…

Somewhere I lost where I was going with all of this…..? Oh, yes… one thing… Come to Fall In! 2018… lets get over this 2k mark so I can retire!!! I am dreadfully afraid that Fall In! 2018 attendance will suffer heavily this year because of all 3 shows being in the same location… so please come and prove me wrong!

I guess that I also wanted to demonstrate that things are not as bad as everyone always claims… staying stable can be a good thing… we are growing the hobby too…. as numbers remain stable… we know folks retire form the hobby every year.. some even pass on… they are missed, but for the numbers to remain stable, that means others have joined in and taken up the banner of our fallen comrades.

I would like to have closed with some actuals, but as we all know, these do take time to define.. calculate, etc…

I know Fall In1 2017 did well, I do not have any numbers yet on financials, but attendance was roughly 1880. (again-ish)…

Thank you all for making this happen… I have said this many times and will continue to do so… without everyone, we do not have a show! Thank you for your support!

Dan

John: So unless the plan is to tell everyone about the wonderful things they missed, what are these new things? Seems like HMGS would want people to know more than just a three weeks out from the con.

Why not wait until Cold Wars and ask John? He's very approachable and he'll share what he knows and what he can share.

So far this BoD has been much more responsible than the previous one. Let's get behind and support them.

@Poniatowski – you've worked hard to make Fall In the show that it is. Everytime I go I have a great time. Hopefully the attendance will finally break the 2K mark!

King: Reread his post. He was talking about Cold Wars. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to have announced them weeks ago?

King: Reread his post. He was talking about Cold Wars. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to have announced them weeks ago?

Point taken. However, I know the BoD members don't always answer on TMP for obvious reasons. This was the reason for my suggestion to speak to him directly at Cold Wars (I know – it's not in advance but hey…. we can't always get everything).

I do know one of the changes…. they're bring back the GM Help Desk. That's definitely a step in the right direction!

Wouldn't talking about it at CW be too late? Shouldn't the BoD/CD/etc, be touting any changes here, there, and everywhere in the hopes of attracting more attendees? I'm only saying this as I want the con to succeed, but communications seems like it is at an all time low.

Depending on ESP is a poor communications plan IMHO.

I would also point out that I suspect TMP has a far greater reach at this point than any other medium HMGS is using. John and Dan come on here regularly, and people seem very appreciative of them doing so. Point being, with the lack of any meaningful newsletter, meaningless con brochures that contain only bare bones registration info, no public website, the miserable and user-unfriendly YM system – how on earth is anyone to know when new things are planned at any HMGS con? Perhaps posting on TMP would be a good start given its reach across the hobby.

Just saying. :-)

"I know Fall In1 2017 did well, I do not have any numbers yet on financials, but attendance was roughly 1880. (again-ish)…"

Dan – thank you for all the work you do on the cons. You're very responsive and are integral to the success of the conventions you support. Also, thank you for using TMP to get the word out on issues, etc.

Guys, first off, thank you for the kind words, the show couldn't be a success without the volunteers, etc… and please remember.. I am only human.. I am afraid of the day I make another mistake like the advertising of the event sub for 2017. I will try NOT to do that again.

As for news channels… I know some things were advertised differently this year. Some things I learned about through emails from HMGS. I do know pretty much most of the changes were emailed out to everyone.

The announcement of the GM helpdesk, change in flea market, etc… were all communicated months ago through the HMGS group email, just like the online Brochure.

This brings to mind a lot of thoughts though.. we need to reach everyone.. if you are not getting the emails, then there is an issue. I know some folks label HMGS.org as spam, but that is a mail line of communication for the organization. You can alter your filters to make sure you only get the news or updates you really want too.

If you every have questions about this or want help, please ask! I will do all I can to help, but honestly.. someone in the reg area is probably better at filters than me…. I get all of the emails, even if they are ones I don't need.

I just thought… as an event manager I sometimes notice folks use a variety of emails for things.. please be sure to check all of your accounts and especially log into your HMGS YM account to make sure the email there goes to one you want and will check… even if it is a side account just for stuff like this and not your main one.

Hmmm, please feel free to reach out to me also… I don't know everything, but I am always glad to help if I can.

dan

So I am seeing lots of HMGS Digest emails in my mailbox. Lots. Most simply have form messages of people joining the group. Honestly, if HMGS's plan is to fill up my mailbox with lots of annoying robo emails generated from the YM site, and leadership expects people to wade through those to find actual useful information – then good luck with that communications plan.

No doubt some in management will blame us, the members, for not staying informed. I have looked through some of them and found no useful info referred to above.

On another matter, FI in 2002 had a reported all time high of 1,954 attendees. It feel the next two years to 1,500 then 1,300. Yes, I think FI has a ceiling. It didn't help for some years it fell on the Halloween holiday weekend for a while either. Long story there.

Dan, thanks for being here and speaking about this stuff. I like that you and the club are open to try new things.

As vendor, here is my take.

I want customers. Scads and scads of them.

Personally, I think having badge checkers on the vendors hall only penalizes the vendors who it costs a crapload to attend.

Badge checkers should be on the gaming rooms.
I have a feeling there is a contingent of gamers who come and do pickup games and never pay the club a cent. Or a few members register games and flea market tables and the rest play and sell stuff at those tables. The club asks GMs to scrutinize badges and I have not once seen that happen for walkups.
Something to consider.

Why not have a members reception at the Friday night flea market? Each member with a badge gets a ticket for a free draft beer at the Flea market.

IMO, if the club is making money on the cons, then do an experiment regarding attendance and lower the entrance fee for HMGSE members.

Publicize this fact as much as possible.

Analyze the results.

If attendance increases, then you have a potential winning combination. More bodies through the door cover the mainly fixed con expenses.

If it does not increase attendance then try something else.

One thing to remember about conventions like GenCon and Adepticon with growing attendance. Attendees typically pay about $100 USD or more for their ticket and more for each game they register in (or some base level of say 1 or 2 games comes with the ticket.) So these attendees value coming and playing in the games they register. I bet there are not many no-shows.

However, for this high ticket price they also get a swag bag filled with product from vendors worth a lot more than the ticket. Vendors who provide product get a discount on their booth rates.

These are things to think about regarding this business model. It may be time to start experimenting with variations on some of these concepts to see if attendance can be increased.

Historygamer –
HMG digest emails. That is all controllable in your settings in the new site. Yes, granted, the default should not have those emails coming from member registrations.
The FI halloween weekend disasters were just poor judgement by those who committed to those dates. Vendors knew it would be bad for attendance and sales and it was.

Just a small point about "swag bag full of product worth more than the ticket" the 3 times I have been to Gencon this has not been the case. You get vouchers offering discount but I have never seen them full of product.

The bag itself was pretty good on a couple of visits. I get better product at hcon with the free figure.

Just a small point about "swag bag full of product worth more than the ticket" the 3 times I have been to Gencon this has not been the case. You get vouchers offering discount but I have never seen them full of product.

Have you tried Adepticon? I heard their swag bag is worth the price of admission. Plus I heard it's a great convention. Less geared towards historicals, but so is Gencon.

No not tried that yet, this year I am experimenting with WBC which is just after HCon, will be good to see how the venue compares with the host and to see what the open gaming is like.

Not expecting goody bags at WBC, maybe another year I will see about Adepticon..

The swag bags at Gencon were pretty good when I first went in 2004, but these days they're minimal (a bag + a voucher booklet and sometimes a couple of promo cards for whichever CCG is big that year).

Brigadegames said:

"Personally, I think having badge checkers on the vendors hall only penalizes the vendors who it costs a crapload to attend."

At the Host, the only area that HMGS can control access to is the dealer hall, thus why they do that there. Some years ago HMGS conducted a survey, and if I recall correctly, the respondents said that the #1 place they all go to is the dealer hall. That said, if there was no charge to get into the dealer hall, and attendance to that and accompanying sales increased dramatically, HMGS would likely be able to charge more per booth/table. Interesting idea. I bet it never happens.

"Badge checkers should be on the gaming rooms."

Too many entrances to cover. You'd need dozens of people doing that as opposed to one badge checker for the dealer hall. The Host is porous.

"I have a feeling there is a contingent of gamers who come and do pickup games and never pay the club a cent."

You'd never know it by all the empty tables. See Double G's previous comments (and mine, as we were sitting together observing Friday night) on the subject. If your theory is correct, then HMGS cons are in huge trouble.

"Or a few members register games and flea market tables and the rest play and sell stuff at those tables."

Not sure I followed that.

"The club asks GMs to scrutinize badges and I have not once seen that happen for walkups."

I remember many years ago when Pat Condray said he did not want to be the badge police. As a GM, neither do I. I don't want to get into a confrontation with people over HMGS lack of enforcement. Not my job. Just as you want scads of customers, GMs want players. It is up to HMGS to enforce its own rules and as I have noted before, they have shorted managing the gaming areas for years. It is a management decision.

"IMO, if the club is making money on the cons, then do an experiment regarding attendance and lower the entrance fee for HMGSE members."

Being a member gives a slight discount, thought it didn't for day trippers for HCON, thus one of the reasons I stopped going.

"Publicize this fact as much as possible."

What a unique idea (LOL). My own opinion is that HMGS has hugely regressed on advertising efforts. I suspect the budgets have been cut over the years to the bone. It was a way to reduce costs but not effect convention operations. When was the last time you saw HMGS even buy a banner ad here on TMP? Seems like a no-brainer. Or have an open webpage with lots of pictures of the cons. Instead they are intent on "capturing" people's personal information to feed the YM monster. How has that worked out?

In my opinion, HMGS has come up with Cadillac solution (YM), for a VW Bug problem (open advertising, promoting its cons, showing people why they want to be there). I think the results speak for themselves.

"I have a feeling there is a contingent of gamers who come and do pickup games and never pay the club a cent."

My friends and I resemble that to a partial degree. We almost exclusively do open gaming outside of the PEL. The reason is that we have a usual group of players that fill in the positions in all of our games. We plan these ahead months of advance (right now we are organizing lists and armies for Historicon). The difference is that we are all members of HMGS and we all pay our entrance fees. We come from as far as Illinois and Canada, and without income for the HMGS there is no place for us to play.

"Badge checkers should be on the gaming rooms."

Historygamer has this correct. Gms need players. If someone who avoids joining the HMGS or doesn't pay for his entrance fee, there is not much that we can do beyond catching them at the choke point of the dealers hall entrance. (Some may even share badges just for shopping). The best way to get these people to pay up is to run a good game and make them see the value in laying out the small amount of cash needed to off set the costs of running the cons.

This also bothers me with the "we only want to shop, why do we have to pay for the privilege?" contingent. It cost money to put this on, buy a clue!

Yikes.. well… that is a lot to think about, but at least one thing is consistent… we all seem to want to work toward the same thing.

@Historygamer… yes, what Brigade Games said.. you can control what emails you get from HMGS and can tailor it to just what you want to see, so no spamming of email updated you don't want.

@Brigadegmaes…. always full of insight and thoughts! Both you and Historygamer have given me lots to look at and review and you know it isn't falling on deaf ears.

To try to cover the badge issues or thoughts… I know all of the prices for the show. I have never NOT done well as a dealer… (my definition of well is not the same as others)… Checking badges EVERYWHERE would be difficult at the HOST for sure, but it is a thought… just as much as folks try to get into the dealer hall, others try to get into gaming, etc… My eyes are always open to look for badges, etc… it doesn't mean I always see…

In the future, we may wind up at locations other than the HOST where this kind of scrutiny is doable with ease.

But both points are the same… as much as GM's want/need gamers.. dealers want/need customers.

As I said, I am very familiar with the costs… even as a dealer. I have spoken in depth to some of the larger ones… it is easy for someone to claim they make a lot… but that is all relative…. to a one table dealer, costs tend to be much lower… as are operational and overhead… When you get to the bigger dealers who have much larger booths.. their expense increase considerably… not only in tables, but product.. which could mean so much… if they are a general store… but costs are even higher when you are your own manufacturer, dealer, etc….

Yes, it does cost money.. and please do not forget, not all shows make huge sums of money… AND, what money is made… well.. HMGS has other operating costs too. It isn't all simple black and white math.

As for "paying to play or the privilege to shop"…. we do not need to address this… believe me… no one is getting rich here. HMGS does what it can to mitigate its own costs and then that dictates what we need to charge based upon operational costs, etc…. we try to keep that balanced.

It is not an easy thing to evaluate.

Again, thanks folks for the input!

For years WBC has relied on GMs to check badges for events and it has never been an issue – you just get used to showing your badge when you sign into an event. I've been going for 20 years and never seen any sort of confrontation. I think a handful of people over the years have been booted for freeloading, always in the open gaming area ( where there are periodic badge checks . Even events where the same GM and players show up and they show each other, they still show the badge. Its just accepted. . If a player doesn't have a badge , they don't play. Period. If a GM or other players are willing to let freeloaders play, they are just slitting the conventions throat.

The dealer hall is a separate room and doesn't require a badge.

Is having people show up without badges to games really a major issue? I have been running games for at least eight years, and can only remember one person that didn't have a badge. That was me.

It was at a Fall In convention and I arrived about five minutes after the registration had closed on Friday night (5PM). I had a full game of players for my Friday night game and figured that if anyone said anything then they would have to go retrieve the badge. I ran the game and picked up my badge in the morning.

I know I have said this before, but the badge pickup on Friday night, should be open until at least 7PM. You might not need the full come in and pay registration there, but anyone who has paid, or is a GM, should be able to pick it up later. Many people can't get out there on Thursday, or can't take Friday off. I got stuck in traffic due to construction that year.

I would like to see some sort of electronic badge generation system or even an option where we could pay something extra and have it mailed to us. That way you wouldn't have to wait in line (which I haven't had an issue with. It would speed things up for people that are preregistered. I would be willing to pay the mailing cost. Let people either use an old badge holder (I find them all the time in my gaming bags), provide their own, or sell HMGS holders at the conventions.

I would like to see some sort of electronic badge generation system or even an option where we could pay something extra and have it mailed to us.

You mean like being able to print your boarding pass at home for an airline.

I would like to see some sort of electronic badge generation system or even an option where we could pay something extra and have it mailed to us. That way you wouldn't have to wait in line (which I haven't had an issue with. It would speed things up for people that are preregistered. I would be willing to pay the mailing cost. Let people either use an old badge holder (I find them all the time in my gaming bags), provide their own, or sell HMGS holders at the conventions.

Oh, that's a great idea! Print your badge at home and you wouldn't have to wait in line. I wonder how feasible that is for HMGS??

@pvi99th… unfortunately, yes, having folks who don't pay show up to play is a big deal….

Costs are not "free"…. there is an expense to run a show.. and if we let everyone in for free, the organization would go broke… because everyone would come to play without paying…. with no money, there would be no more shows…

Also, pre-reg and badge pick up will be open later, it already is now I believe.

So, yes…. we should be charging and checking badges.

Are there 21st Century techniques for generating admission credentials without having to stand in line to pick up a preprinted badge from an individual? QR codes? Scanners and label printers out in the lobby for walk-up service? Self scan (like grocery stores)? Send links on line or auto entry?…..anything? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

"Are there 21st Century techniques for generating admission credentials without having to stand in line to pick up a preprinted badge from an individual? QR codes? Scanners and label printers out in the lobby for walk-up service? Self scan (like grocery stores)? Send links on line or auto entry?…..anything? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?"

Getting ourselves tattooed with a HMGS barcode?

"Are there 21st Century techniques for generating admission credentials without having to stand in line to pick up a preprinted badge from an individual?"

Mail them out ahead of time.

Branding.

Mail them out ahead of time.

So gamers can lose them and have to get them replaced onsite…

Are there 21st Century techniques for generating admission credentials without having to stand in line to pick up a preprinted badge from an individual? QR codes? Scanners and label printers out in the lobby for walk-up service? Self scan (like grocery stores)? Send links on line or auto entry?…..anything? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Sure, if you've got the money for it. Anyone willing to spend more up front for the convenience? Given how cheap most gamers are, not a chance….

Branding.

Careful… Some might be into that sort of thing!

Microchipping!
Hey, it works for my dog, so I am sure it would work on us less-evolved critters.

How about registering online and getting a "print at home" registration sheet indicating your membership status, your registration, whether you bought a T-shirt, and what games you are signed up for? This you fold up and put in a lanyard for the convention.

The line up is then for late registrants, and guys who pick up their T-shirts.

Of course you'd need a bar code reader so someone doesn't print out 10 copies of his registration for his friends. This is why we can't have nice things.

@rmcaras… how insightful of you! Why yes… HMGS is TRYING to0 move into the 21st century…. they are working on "on demand printing" to speed things up.

Believe me, we really are trying. All of us!

Of course you'd need a bar code reader so someone doesn't print out 10 copies of his registration for his friends. This is why we can't have nice things.

Buying a bar scanner wouldn't be expensive at all. Or we can put our pictures on these registrations. NOBODY would want to save the 25.00 to look like ME!