So we're probably getting a fall SDCC badge sale

6 AUGUST 2019

It is way too soon to think about Returning Registration for SDCC - for me, at least, but not for CCI. Because here we are: they've sent out their usual email about converting your child's status to "junior badge" eligibility if they were 13 or older on 31 July 2019. The deadline is 5 September.

So why do we care? This obviously applies to a small number of attendees who were 12 at Comic-Con a few weeks ago but now are the magic age of 13. I'm guessing most of us aren't/don't have a kid in those parameters. However, this email does line up nicely with last year's email - which went out on 8 August and had a deadline of 6 September. So that points to a possible alignment with last year's Returning Registration, which fell on 13 October.

An October badge sale isn't guaranteed, but it's worth keeping in mind as you make your fall travel plans and scheme with your buying group. Every year there are people complaining about not being financially prepared for the badge sale - if this is you, start a badge fund now.

And if you do have a youngster who just turned 13? Create a Member ID just like you did for yourself, but choose "Junior" and be sure to have their 2019 badge handy.

Going to San Diego Comic-Con 2020

19 JULY 2019

 

This might seem like an odd moment to direct your attention to next year - but there's a good reason for it. Two, actually.


If you're kind of new to SDCC but going this year:

• Note the different hotels so they're not just names on a list, but you know where they are and the restaurants and advantages they contain.
• Make friends. Look for people in your fandoms but also look for people from your hometown. (Your comic shops, cosplay and fan organizations and local Con will know people as well.) Assemble your SDCC tribe for future badge sales and teamwork.
• Chat up other attendees and find out what they're excited about. Expand your awareness of Con possibilities and file them away for next year.
• Figure out what doesn't work for you so you remember to avoid it next year. Maybe you don't need to go all 4 days or maybe you're not suited for major commitment lines. This is good - it frees you up for fresh terrain next year.

If you're brand new and interested in going to Comic-Con next year:
These are the days when complete outsiders watch all the SDCC coverage and decide that they're going next year, goddammit! If this is you, I'm not kidding when I tell you to start preparing now. Open Registration (where you'll try to buy a badge for next summer) could be this fall.

You'll want to:

• Create a Member ID. You'll need a separate ID for anyone who's going with you. Only people with Member IDs can participate in the badge sales.
• Get active in the online SDCC community. Study up on all the advice (there's a lot) and talk to veterans who can steer you into actual attendance. Build relationships. Connections make the SDCC world go round.
• Accept that you may not go to the full 2020 show - and may not go at all. People do get shut out. But if you get even a partial badge, definitely go. You'll find plenty of offsite action on the days you don't have a badge.
• Investigate a more local Con. Some people think SDCC is the cat's pajamas and that's fine, but it's not the only Con in the world. If you've never been to one, start with a local Con in your neck of the woods.

Good luck! We'll be staring Returning Registration's spinning blue circle in the face before we know it. As Virgil said, time flies, never to be regained - which is why SDCC badges go to those of us who watch the calendar.

Dealing with your post-Ret Reg grief

31 OCTOBER 2017

Happy Halloween! In addition to being the season of candy and inappropriate costumes, it's also the season of darkness and grief - so it's fitting that some of you are currently reeling from a loss in Saturday's badge sale.

Initially the mood was one of jubilation on Saturday - it seemed like everyone was getting in super quick, people were surprised by getting picked for Preview Night or 4 days for the first time in years, and the smoothness of the sale itself was a welcome change for those of us who remember the days of crashed sites and constant error messages.

But not everyone got in. Not everyone got a badge. Some wound up staring at a receipt for Sunday only. So it's to you I'm speaking today. Just two things to remember:

• Open Registration is brutal, but it is still another chance to upgrade. Work with a group if you're not already. Reach out to online Con communities and ask for help. Even if you don't wind up with the badge of your dreams, you'll still have more Con friends who might be able to help in other ways. Don't forget Volunteer Reg as well.

• Don't dismiss your Thursday/Sunday badge. I know a lot of attendees were disappointed when Nerd HQ pulled out last summer, but everyone can admit there's still plenty to do outside the Con. I can't even count the number of people who insisted they had to have a full 4-day badge and then by Saturday they were too tired to get out of bed. Do the offsites, sleep in, round up your pals for a long eating and drinking extravaganza. If there's a panel you absolutely cannot miss on Friday or Saturday, see if someone will loan you a badge for a few hours.

And if you're reading this because you've never even been to San Diego Comic-Con, let alone participated in a badge sale - fear not, because I'm going to post on how you can squirm your way into the Con next summer. For now, read these basic steps and create your Member ID.

Till then, have some Halloween fun and try not to feel too gloomy over your dismal luck on Saturday. You'll find a way to triumph.

The pros and cons of Open Reg in December

20 OCTOBER 2017

Buried in all the hoopla over Returning Registration was CCI's tantalizing suggestion that Open Registration - otherwise known as the Nerd Rites of Spring - will be more like the rites of early winter this year. If CCI stays on track, they say - and to give them credit, they do seem to be on top of their game lately - we might get an email in late November or early December about an Open Reg sale before the end of the year.

We also might not. But for now, let's assume they pull this off. How do we feel about it?

A few ways your thoughts might go:

• For nerds on a budget, it's a tough time of year financially. Whether you're trying to pay for airfare for a trip home, throwing a lavish holiday party or putting gifts under the tree, December is already a spendy month. 

• On the other hand, if you manage to somehow secretly create a Member ID for your best friend/soulmate AND get them a badge - what an incredible Christmas present. Maybe since CCI created those snazzy boxes and pins last summer, we'll get a special Christmas certificate option? With little Professor Toucan in a Santa hat?

• Of course, if you wash out in both sales, you'll be extra grinchy over the holidays...

• ...But you'll have time to stoically accept your fate and find an alternative Con. Which is better than deluding yourself straight up through June that you'll get a badge from someone who knows someone whose cousin works for Dark Horse.

• And if you do get a badge, you'll have more time to land a non-sketchy Airbnb or find roommates for that expensive non-discounted downtown room. 

• Finally - cynically - with so many people associating Open Reg with spring, maybe this will slightly reduce the number of combatants? I can't imagine anything ruining your New Year's like someone telling you SDCC Open Reg already happened and you missed it, so I guess I'd feel bad if that happened ... but not really.

Regardless of whether you dread or welcome the thought of a December badge sale, one thing is certain: any friends who want to go to SDCC with you next summer need to create their Member ID profile now. We know CCI shuts all that down before the badge sale - and with this new over-achieving phase that they're in, who knows how fast they'll move in the next six weeks.

In other words, we all need to get our friends and finances organized now. This may be the first year ever there were 4 San Diego Comic-Con badge sales. Be ready to say you triumphed twice at this historic event.

Make sure you're eligible for Open Reg

3 APRIL 2017

                                          

If your mind has been awhirl with thoughts of taxes, Spring Break and the Final Four, you may have been able to forget - sort of - about Open Registration for San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. (But probably you've been obsessing over it like any normal red-blooded attendee.) If you've been online at all today, you know that some people are already getting their emails that say, "Congratulations! You are eligible to participate in Comic-Con 2017 Open Registration!"

Some people haven't gotten them yet; if you're in this category, don't worry. But there is something you might want to do: log into your Member ID account and see if you're marked as eligible for Open Reg. If you are in the attendee category - you're not a pro, a vendor, etc. - your account should show the green sign up top unless you got a Preview Night badge in Returning Reg. Then your account will show the red NO sign.

If you log in and don't see your eligibility indicated, and you believe you should be eligible, contact CCI now. Once the emails with the codes start going out later in the week, they'll be far busier and may not have time to get you sorted by Saturday. Contact them now.

And if you and your friends made your accounts a long time ago, it's a good idea just to make sure you all have the right Member ID names and passwords, and that your addresses are correct. (Your badges will be mailed to you and you can't change your address after a certain point.) If this is your first badge sale, don't put this off. Be sure your finances are in order as well.

I'll post more advice about Open Reg in the coming days. Good luck.

You made a Member ID account, right?

24 MARCH 2017

Because if you didn't, you can say goodbye to your dream of going to San Diego Comic-Con 2017.

The ability to create new Member ID accounts for SDCC 2017 has been shut down; we know from that Open Registration is nigh. If you never got around to making one, well, there's a reason Victor Kiam said procrastination is opportunity's assassin. Go in and make yours now and get ready for SDCC 2018.

Everyone else - the final round of your Comic-Con badge fate is almost here. 

4 steps to attending San Diego Comic-Con 2017

26 JULY 2016

The night before I went to SDCC, I met someone who had never heard of it. That doesn't happen too often these days, and I found myself at a loss as to explain it adequately. "Pop culture convention" doesn't really cut it, after all; doesn't describe the cosplay, the panels on space and science fiction and diversity and culture, the rare comic books, the activations, the camaraderie, the parties, the sheer size of it all. So I rambled on about the Conan taping I was going to, the action figures and comics I wanted to buy, and the screenings I wanted to see, and he just said "huh." In other words: it didn't appeal. Then he called last night and immediately said, "I saw your thing on the news. How do you get tickets to that?"

San Diego Comic-Con has that affect on people. As soon as they see the cosplay photos, the celebrity interview snippets, the newcasts of the crowds, they want to be part of it.

If that's you, I have good news and bad news. The good: anyone can try to go to SDCC and that includes you. The bad: it's very difficult to get a badge, so don't count on it.

What matters is that you start preparing now. Don't file this away in the back of your mind until next year, because the next time you hear about badges going on sale, it'll be too late to get one. So here's what you need to do.


#1. Sign up for a Member ID.

This is the easy part - and it's mandatory. Only people with a Member ID can participate in the Open Registration badge sale, which will likely happen next February or March.  Do opt in to receive 3rd-party emails; I know that sounds like you're inviting a flood of annoying spam but in fact that's key to finding out about attendee-only offerings like the Conan O'Brien tapings.


#2. Study up on the art and science of SDCC. 

Managing the logistics of SDCC - navigating the badge sale, the hotel sale, parking, understanding when to line up for panels or get autographs - requires knowledge and skill. Try to be impromptu about it and you'll just wind up empty-handed. You do need to prepare. I recommend reading blogs like this one and the Unofficial SDCC Blog and others, as well as the Friends of Comic-Con forum. You don't have to get a PhD in Con life, but you will find out valuable tips. 


#3. Build relationships. 

You might be one of the lucky few to try and get a badge all on your own.  But you'll greatly increase your chances by making friends with other attendees and joining a buying group. Same goes for getting tickets to a Nerd HQ panel, or trading your Conan Pop for an exclusive, or getting into an invite-only party. The way I'm describing it sounds rather heartless and quid pro quo, but the fact is that SDCC attendees are a fun and supportive group of people who go out of their way to help each other. Get to know us; it'll make your SDCC 2017 experience so much better.


#4. Figure out your finances.

You don't have to be wealthy to go to SDCC, but having money set aside will be an enormous help. The badges are pretty cheap - 245 for a Preview Night badge this year - but the hotels are a different story, and you will probably want to buy quite a bit while you're there. Start a fund. Hope that you get lucky in the hotel sale when rooms are offered at discounted rates, but prepare for the possibility you won't.



I know July 2017 sounds so far away. But Open Registration is probably only 7 or so months from now, and once you've got your badge, the following months will fall like dominoes. Do your homework today and next summer you won't be wistfully watching SDCC coverage online - you'll be right there in the thunderous splendor of Comic-Con.

You've got your Member ID, right? Just checking...

8 FEBRUARY 2016




If you're new to San Diego Comic-Con, so new that all you know is you want to go and that's it, you need to do something right now: create a Member ID.

Open Registration - where you can try to buy a badge, emphasis on try - will happen fairly soon and they'll shut down the Member ID area beforehand. You need a Member ID to get a badge, so go do that now.

Once you have that buttoned up, you'll get the same email as everyone else explaining when Open Registration is - the date, the time, the link, and so on. You won't necessarily obtain a badge but you will at least be in the running. And that already puts you way ahead of all the vague wanna-be attendees who get excited when they see all the badge sale hoopla on Twitter and then realize they missed the boat again.

Reminder: update your Member ID address now

31 OCTOBER 2015




Happy Halloween, Samhain and Dia De Los Muertos. We all know the scariest thing lurking in our near futures is the possibility of not getting an SDCC badge in Pre-registration. And in case you missed it, just to toy with our emotions and make us dream even harder of next summer, CCI has announced our badges might possibly arrive in the mail.

Maybe. Can you imagine? It'll add another layer of anxiety to the entire San Diego Comic-Con experience - you'll stalk your mailbox, develop a paranoia about mail theft crime rings, accuse your housemates of accidentally throwing out an envelope with your name on it - but finally it will arrive. You'll attach your badge to your favorite lanyard and wear it around the house. You'll take a picture of it and smugly post it all over social, then get nervous about inviting a home invasion. You'll store it somewhere safe, then keep checking to make sure it's still there.

Finally you'll arrive at Comic-Con and stroll inside the convention center, having eliminated the Town & Country and one more line from your SDCC experience.

Maybe that'll happen, maybe it won't - but to facilitate this process, CCI is urging you to update your mailing address now in your Member ID account. They want you to do this before Pre-reg, which might be as soon as a week from today, so do it now. Logically there should be a way to update your address post-badge obtainment, because in real life people move, but I'd still do it now just to be safe.

Obviously this invites many questions on fraud, security and badge registration - but we can speculate on that later. For now, let's share a hallelujah with Charles Darwin and welcome this (possible) new future of evolution and convenience.

How to get a badge for San Diego Comic-Con 2016

9 JULY 2015

There are 3 groups of people in the world right now:

1) People at San Diego Comic-Con
2) People who tried and failed to get a badge for San Diego Comic-Con
3) People watching all the San Diego Comic-Con coverage and wondering how they can get in on that action next summer.

There is no other group.

If you're in group #3, you might be wondering how you can become a 2016 attendee. It all seems so mysterious and impossible, doesn't it? But it isn't - not really. It's just difficult.

Here's what you need to do.

• Go to CCI's site and register for a Member ID.
• Have your friends/family members who might accompany you also create a Member ID.
• Wait for an email that will arrive probably in February 2016 notifying you of Open Registration. It will give you instructions for participating in an online sale that is swift and often frustrating. Member IDs are chosen at random to buy badges; each person can buy for 3 people. Most people do not get a badge at all.

At least, that's the current state of affairs. CCI could change up the whole shebang next year. But they probably won't alter the process too radically.

So it's simple, on the whole - just not terribly likely. Be prepared for the fact that you probably won't get a badge, or at least not the badge you want.  Do not try to buy from a scalper or from any of the numerous online ads promising badges. Those are scams. If you see talk about "Pre-registration," ignore it - it only applies to current attendees so you won't be able to participate.

In the meantime, read up on the blogs, read my SDCC FAQ and try to gain a realistic understanding of what Comic-Con really is - it's not all zany costumes, glittering premieres and friendly celebrities like they show on the news.  You might also attend some smaller Cons if you haven't already. Salt Lake, Emerald City, Denver, Boston - there are a lot of great Cons out there that have a lot to offer fans. It's not SDCC vs Mediocrity, I promise you.

Good luck.

Open Registration emails are going out

19 FEBRUARY 2015


If you haven't gotten yours yet, sit tight. I'm sure you will shortly.

Please note the part where you have to go into your Member ID and retrieve your registration code. I've already spoken to several people who had no idea that was part of the deal this year.  Unlike other years, where you just need your Member ID and last name and follow the link CCI provides, you do need to do a little backend work and get that code out of your profile.

As maniacal as most people are about Open Reg, it wouldn't surprise me if a small portion of potential attendees missed this. You could call it culling the herd, or you could call it "improving everyone else's chances" - either way, I feel morally obligated to make sure people don't miss this step. And of course, there's the other difference this year; the whole shebang kicks off at 8 am PST, not 7 am PST.

If you don't have your email with the link by tomorrow, contact CCI.

Get your SDCC Member ID now or else

18 SEPTEMBER 2014



A word of caution to SDCC hopefuls still in the embryonic stage of Comic-Con life. On their Purchase Badges page, CCI has a special section that addresses those of you who have never signed up for a Member ID.

It goes through the usual yammer about signing up, but then it says - pointedly - "We strongly suggest that you sign up for a Member ID now if you are interesting in attending Comic-Con 2015." Later it mentions that the Member ID system will close "without prior notification" in advance of any badge sale event.

I doubt it's going to close next week or anything, but since they probably wouldn't mind capping the number of badge sale participants (and neither would we) I fully expect them to seal that portal at some point well before next spring's Open Registration. So go ahead and get your Member ID if you're one of those procrastinators who just hasn't yet for some reason.

You're not obligated in any way by doing so - if you decide you never want to have anything to do with San Diego Comic-Con again, you can just leave your account hanging. But it's a good thing to have on the off chance you might want to try for a badge.

You do have a Member ID, right?

10 MARCH 2014


Saturday night I met someone who informed me he 1) was going to San Diego Comic-Con this summer and 2) had no idea what a Member ID was.

I think I'm preaching to the jaded choir here, because if you read this blog, then you've read the term "Member ID" about 7,149 times - but I'll say it again. If you want to get a badge for Comic-Con, you need a Member ID. And it's too late to get one for 2014. It'll open again after Open Registration, but for this year, if you dragged your feet on getting a Member ID, you're out of the running. There is no way for you to participate in the online badge sale.

Sorry. Everyone else, you can rejoice in the number of competitors being capped.

We still don't have a date for Open Reg and I don't think we will until the official announcement, which will probably go out on a Thursday-Friday. Stay tuned.

Get your Member ID now

2 JUNE 2013


I find it hard to believe that anyone out there still hasn't signed up for their Member ID - but if that's you, and you're pinning your hopes on the June Badge Resale, then sign up today. CCI is warning that the whole Member ID system will shut down "without notice" before the resale, so sign up now. It takes less than a minute.

As for how many badges will go up for sale - I have no idea. Sorry.

Last day to get your Member ID is 11 February

8 FEBRUARY 2013


I kind of hate myself for even potentially adding to the number of people trying to get a badge this coming Saturday - but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't remind you stragglers that Monday, 11 February, is the last day you can apply for a Member ID. Which you need to buy a badge for San Diego Comic Con.

At least, I think Monday is the last day. The site just says Member ID applications are shut down as of 12 February, but doesn't say if that's at the start or end of the 12th - so it's best to be safe and assume Monday the 11th is the last day you can register for one. Once you have it, you'll be added to the list of people who get emails telling them the link to Saturday's badge sale.

You can get your Member ID here. Trust me, it's a painless process.

Comic Con Member ID Registration is open

11 JANUARY 2012


You can now register for your Member ID. There's no rush; there's no limit to how many people can sign up for one and you have until 28 February. Of course, we all know there will still be a massive rush to sign up because this is Comic Con and panic is in our blood, but there's no cause for anxiety at this point. Save that for Registration Day and Hotel Day.

To be very clear, registration for attendance itself is NOT OPEN. I've seen this shouted excitedly all over the web and it's just not true. You cannot register for a badge today. When can you? That I don't know, given the incredibly late date of 28 February for the Member ID deadline; that puts the badge sales after that, which puts Hotel Day even later. Maybe this is all part of CCI's grand plan. I just don't know.

One good thing will come out of this Member ID registration, and that's the empirical number of people who want to attend Comic Con. It's quite possible we the public will never know that number (though hopefully it will be leaked) but it will tell CCI exactly how many people are going to be flooding the system on Registration Day. Maybe this will help them organize better. Or maybe it will be fodder for moving to Vegas in 4 years.