Returning Registration is here

28 OCTOBER 2017

10:39 am

So we lived through the 3rd SDCC badge sale of 2017. And it seemed oddly benevolent. Most - not all - people I know were pretty lucky. My ex-boyfriend's group of 4 people got picked for Preview Night and all 4 days. My own group did incredibly well. A group of 2017 first-timers picked up their first Preview Night badges. And so on.

I have heard from people who weren't so lucky, of course. But overall, this Returning Registration was downright cozy. I have a feeling that:

• CCI slowed the sale down slightly. Maybe it was better for their processors, maybe there was some other reason.  It took Preview Night slightly longer than normal to sell out, but it really took Saturday a while to go, and then Friday vanished almost immediately. I think this was less stressful for people - it can feel a bit demoralizing when everything is selling out right away.
• CCI converted more single days badges into 4-day badges.

One odd thing: I got in when Thursday and Sunday were live to buy a friend's badge. It showed there were 3 Thursday badges and 3 Sunday badges. The numbers dropped to 2 and 1 while I was typing. I freaked out and assumed someone else would grab them before I could finish, but it all went smoothly .... and then someone else in my group bought additional badges. Lesson learned: between inventory being held for people while they complete their purchase and other systems, don't stress too hard over whatever quantity messages you see. Just complete your session and assume CCI will honor it.

9:53 am

So Saturday and Friday sold out almost on top of each other. I'm guessing that CCI made more 4-day badges available and fewer single days. Just a theory.

9:43 am

This has been a rather peculiar badge sale. It started almost immediately after 9, yet Preview Night took slightly longer to sell out than last year. By now I would have thought we'd seen more "sold out" notices. Are they processing people more slowly? Not a bad idea.

9:09 am

Well, that was fast. Hello, Preview Night badge.


 8:36 am

One of the most important days of the year is here - for the 3rd time in 2017. Today is your best chance to go to San Diego Comic-Con 2018, which means you're probably already logged into the waiting room, watching the spinning circle and practicing yogic breathing.

You know the drill - don't refresh, screenshot everything, don't crowd half a dozen browsers onto one device.

And let me say something about Preview Night. I know that's the Holy Grail of badges. But don't be too disappointed if you don't get one. The pilots shown that night are screened a second time; while some exclusives are only gettable then, they're few in number. Most booths now offer pre-sales, daily allotments, or rig the whole system so Preview Night isn't enough anyhow.

I used to feel like I HAD to have Preview Night or I was a failure, but I no longer feel that way. I'm actually perfectly fine this year with anything from 3 days on up. That's probably me being a jaded old veteran whose grip on SDCC is starting to fade, but I would advise you to try to keep a similar perspective. These days a partial badge experience isn't much different from a Preview Night badge experience if you're doing offsites, staying out late or focused on hanging out with friends. So whatever you get today - as long as you get something, you're doing pretty well.

And let's be honest, it's the hotel situation that's the bigger panic zone these days.

Good luck. I'll live blog the sale as much as I can.

Getting ready for Returning Registration

8 MARCH 2017

After months of waiting and wondering, our (first) day of reckoning is almost here: Saturday is Returning Registration, which will tell some of us that we are definitely going to San Diego Comic-Con 2017. And others will half-expire with anxiety as the badge sale minutes tick away and they don't get anything - but they'll still have a shot in Open Registration.

Chances are, you've been through an SDCC badge sale before, and you know how brutal they are. There's no reason to think this weekend will be any different, and there's a possibility - given some of the backstage changes - it'll be worse.

Here's how you can prepare yourself on a practical and psychological level.

• Talk to your buying group. Make sure everyone's legit and aware of the process. Make sure you trust each other when it comes to Paypal. Last year, the buyer got all the badges so if someone shafted you, you could just keep their badge. This year, every attendee gets their own badge - so having a certain level of trust for the stranger whose badge you're buying is a good thing.

• Don't double-cross or desert your attendee comrades. Some people will join multiple buying groups to increase their chances without any intention of helping others. Then there are people who join a group but shut down all their sessions the second someone gets them a badge. Stay in the game until the end to fight for your associates - and be loyal.

• Test your devices. Last year my friend's dog chewed through his Macbook cable, and it was only discovered the morning of the sale as the laptop was uncharged. Be sure all your devices work, are compliant with CCI's requirements, and won't be commandeered by your housemates or partner.

• Make sure you have room on your credit cards. If somehow you're lucky enough to get picked twice while Preview Night badges are available, and you buy 6, you'll need to pony up $1590. CCI will come back to you later if your card fails and give you the option to put in another one.

• Use separate browsers for each session and adjust your power save settings.

• Don't flounce off in a huff if you "only" get Thursday/Sunday or just Sunday. You can try to upgrade during Open Reg, and even 1 day at the Con is worth it unless you're flying in from Antarctica or something. 

• While it looks like the waiting room and buying process will be mostly familiar - the spinning blue circle, the inability to refresh - it's always possible that some nefarious new glitch will crash the system or sabotage you in some unfair, individual way. Don't lose your mind if this happens. Screenshot everything, note the time, and immediately contact CCI with your story and evidence. They are pretty good about helping people when they're given the right information.

• Finally, be good to yourself. Plan something indulgent Saturday night so you can shake off any bad mood from not getting a badge, if that happens. And don't overdo it Friday night; you don't want to be hungover during the sale. Your reflexes need to be sharp.

• No matter what happens, remember that you have another shot in Open Reg, and that there are many Comic Cons that are magnificent in their own ways while being easier to access. San Diego is not the only acceptable option.

I'll live blog the sale, and answer any questions. If you're a lone wolf and want to join up with a pack, see me and I'll try to connect you with someone. Be as confident and prepared as you can and keep all outcomes in perspective. In the heat and tumult of a badge sale, it's easy to lose your religion over Comic-Con - but SDCC is only 5 days a year. Sometimes not getting a badge just means discovering something even better.

SDCC registration hangs tantalizingly in our future

1 FEBRUARY 2017

We know Returning Reg is almost here because CCI was thoughtful enough to tweet at all of us lovesick, desperate nerds today. They're working "diligently" on registration and they want you to make sure your Member ID is up to date.

Anything to get paranoid about or analyze obsessively over? I'm going to say no, even though the general mention of "registration" and not "Returning Reg" (what used to be Pre-reg) gave me slight pause. But that's my dark mind at work. I did appreciate the "diligently" until I wondered what exactly they have to work on so ardently. Is the process that different from before? I know a few things have changed behind the scenes and registration is going to be a tad different - but they're not going to throw a whammy at us, right?

Right, CCI?

Today's tweet, and our excited surge of response, proved that SDCC is like that unrequited crush who only texts you once in a while, and only then after midnight to ask if they can come over. You pretend to be casual about it, because you know you can't take a badge for granted, but your heart pounds whenever you hear from them. There are months of silence, there are crushing disappointments, but then against all odds it happens - and you're finally there in the San Diego Convention Center, luxuriating in a beautiful pop culture heaven.

Anyhow. So it sounds like Returning Reg will be upon us soon enough. Hopefully after Valentine's Day (because a badge sale fail a few days before could sour your plans) but before March. My worst fear, shared by many other Emerald City Comicon attendees, is that it would happen the morning of March 4 during ECCC. Hopefully CCI won't be that cruel - either with Returning Reg or Open Reg.

So spiff up your Member ID account (though I'm guessing it's already well-maintained) and contact any friends who aren't eligible for Returning Registration but planning on Open Reg. If the two badge sales are reasonably close together, there's no telling when CCI may shut down the possibility of new accounts - they do that before Open Reg, remember - so make sure your friends are in the system well in advance.

I'm already nervous. Are you nervous?

What is the significance of Returning Registration?

5 OCTOBER 2016




In life there are tax returns, Saturn returns, and the inevitable return of your most evil ex. And even more stressful than those events is the annual return of the San Diego Comic-Con badge sale. But now we SDCC regulars who've been awaiting Pre-reg have been dubbed a return ourselves. Specifically, returning attendees who have our own badge sale called Returning Registration.

Why did they change the name from Pre-registration? Honestly, who can fathom the CCI mind. I think most of us know they've had some administrative and vendor changes. But really, Pre-reg hasn't fit as a name since the days - let's all sigh together with nostalgia - that you could buy next year's badge up in the Sails Pavilion. Since it moved online (I'm ignoring the hellish year it was in the Hyatt with that farce of a scoreboard) it's been more like Registration Part I.

Here's what we all really want to know: will the ratio of badges shift between sales? It's a bit ominous that CCI's post opens with "Out with the old, in with the new" but that isn't what concerns me. Nor do I dislike waiting until "early 2017" for the sale - I appreciate not having to endure the election and Pre-reg in the same month. However, I have a hotel booked already for SDCC 2017. Attendees who were waiting to get a badge before booking a room now have to wait another 2 months.

What I think could be tough mentally is having the 2 sales - Returning and Open - in quick succession. Open Reg will allegedly occur "shortly" after Returning. So if you come up short in the first sale, you won't have much time to come to terms with it before rolling the dice a second - and final - time.

Since we have at least 3 months of SDCC nothingness ahead of us, this might be a good time to check out other Cons. Recent conversations have taught me that more and more attendees are already doing this, either because they've gone off the SDCC madness, they're worried about not getting a badge, or they're just thirsty for new Con horizons. So remember that the ECCC sale is 19 October (and I know you want to hang out with me in Seattle) and you can think about WonderCon and Silicon Valley Comic Con and other spring events too.

Plus ca change, nerds. Be ready for Returning Reg, but try to also enjoy having a few months' reprieve from this craziness.

Working out your Pre-reg nerves through preparation

13 NOVEMBER 2015



Happy Friday the 13th. It'll all be over with 24 hours from now; our anxiety, our misplaced confidence, our inability to focus on anything else. If your stomach is in knots and a premonitory chill creeps down your spine whenever you look at your CCI email, you're in good company.

There's nothing worse than pre-badge sale jitters (okay, the actual badge sale is probably worse) and one solid way to cope with that is by checking your system and running through the whole process. Even if you've done every online Pre-registration before this (it was onsite until a few years ago) you might still benefit from reviewing their handy tutorial. The Toucan blog also published a reminder of all the tech specs to keep in mind, such as:

• Use mobile devices at your own risk. (I've known them to work for people and I did access a waiting room on my iPad last Open Reg. But I generally stick to laptops.)
• Adjust your power save settings.
• Use a separate browser for each session and make sure it's Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE or Edge.
• No refreshing or back button-ing.
• You have Javascript and cookies enabled. "Of course I do, this isn't my first badge sale," you say. Test your device anyhow.

Remember that if you get bounced out of the system, you can log back in via your registration number and be placed again with your original group.

Also remember if you're in a buying group, don't shut your waiting room when you hear someone got you a badge. Stay in the system so you can buy for other people.

I'll repeat my advice on buying Sunday and the Thursday-Sunday split: just go for it, even if you're feeling bitter about not getting all 4 days. See my earlier posts for reasons why.

The sale will probably go very fast. CCI's example shows someone getting a Preview Night badge after waiting for 20 minutes, but in last year's actual Pre-reg, PN was almost sold out by 9:20. As I noted, I got in right as they said Saturday was running low and yet somehow both Saturday and Friday vanished in the seconds it took to select my days. It went that fast. The whole sale was done in less than an hour. This can feel extremely unfair if you don't get anything, but I think the days of two hour sales were more nerve-wracking.

Given the changes in the badge distribution process, make sure you're ready to mail out badges to strangers - and not just by stuffing it in an envelope and sticking a bunch of stamps on it. Most people I've talked to are willing to pay for certified mail, Priority mail, anything with tracking, and that's probably the best idea for people on both ends of the transaction. That way everyone has proof of the mailing and transparency into the badge's journey.

I'll be live-blogging the sale as always. Stay strong.

Watch your email

2 NOVEMBER 2015



Depending on your immersion in Comic-Con life, you may or may not know that Pre-registration for 2016 is expected to be almost upon us. No, it hasn't been officially announced, but that email could be coming very soon - so watch your inbox. Don't make plans for Saturday mornings. Think about how you'll pay for your badges and how the people in your larger buying group will pay each other and all those other logistics.

In other words, be ready.

ETA: My mistake for not clarifying this. Pre-registration is only for people who attended SDCC 2015 specifically with an attendee badge. No one else can participate. Even if you were at Comic-Con this past summer under some other guise - a booth babe, a famous inker, a food worker - you cannot participate in Pre-reg.

But if you were at Comic-Con with an attendee badge around your neck - even just for one day - and you validated your badge when you were told to - you can participate in Pre-reg.

You can put all questions about your status to rest by logging into your Member ID account and looking on the right side for a green check mark and "OK CCI'16 Attendee Prereg." If that appears on your Member ID page, you're good to go.  You'll get an email from CCI notifying you of Pre-reg details.

Are you ready for SDCC Pre-registration?

20 OCTOBER 2015




Because it's probably just a few weeks away. Don't expect much notice from CCI; usually the email notification comes just days before. You won't have several weeks in which to map out your game plan and clear your schedule.

Official word is Pre-reg will be after Halloween. That probably means November, most likely a Saturday, and of course they won't want to do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. While they could hold it in December, it's unlikely.

Which means you should be looking at your calendar and keeping your Saturdays - especially 7 November and 14 November - open. If you haven't joined a buying group yet, you still have time to get organized and aligned. I'm accepting a few more people into mine if you don't know anyone to partner up with - and if you have an open spot and are willing to fill it with someone, I can help with that too. Email me for details.


If you were a 2015 first-timer and this is your first Pre-reg, there's nothing much for you to freak out about. The process will be much like Open Registration; a lottery, a game of chance, where you are only competing against your fellow 2015 attendees (and not the general public) but for a smaller slice of the pie since Pre-reg only offers up a portion of the badges. No doubt you'll be nervous (more like succumbing to teeth-chattering panic) but it does help to remember this is just your first shot at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. You'll have another chance in the spring even if you don't fare so well this round.

Don't forget to validate your badge by 15 September

7 SEPTEMBER 2015

It's hard to believe it's been 2 months since San Diego Comic-Con, and 1 month since our last anxiety-inducing CCI email. That, in case you missed it, was the notification that badge validation was open for any 2015 attendee interested in participating in 2016 Pre-reg.

I'm guessing 97% of us have already validated our badges by now, but if you haven't, you should probably get on that. The deadline is 15 September and I've already come across someone who forgot their Member ID password and someone else who lost their badge. So just in case you require CCI's assistance, it's probably best to validate now.

The process is pretty easy; you'll log into your Member ID account, go to Registration Info and then click the button telling you to validate your badge. Then you'll enter the number at the bottom of your 2015 badge.

For those of you who just stumbled across this post and think I'm talking about some backdoor into SDCC badge land, no dice. This is for San Diego Comic-Con 2015 attendees only. Even if you were there as a vendor, pro, guest, delivery person, black market buyer, whatever, you cannot participate. Only people who paid for attendee badges under their Member IDs can do Pre-reg in November. And they can only register other attendees; they can't sneak in their friends if they do get picked during the sale.

"If" being the most important word in this post, of course. Pre-registration only offers up some of the badges available. Yes, it's one more shot at SDCC 2016 than the general public gets, but it's still quite possible to get zero badges in both sales. I know that's not what you want to hear but it's important to stay realistic as well as positive. Look around at other Cons and make a Plan B just in case. And get ready for November.

Pre-reg will be in November

5 AUGUST 2015

If a month ago today you had pre-Comic-Con butterflies in your stomach, you should have gotten an email just a short while ago telling you to validate yourself for Pre-registration. This is for 2015 attendees only; not pros, not vendors, not guests, not people who stood outside and looked longingly at the convention center. Just those of us with a 2015 attendee badge.

I'll get to the process in a minute. Here's what matters: the deadline. Which is 15 September 2015.

Last year's window between validation and Pre-reg, if you're curious, was this: the validation deadline was 15 October and Pre-reg was 8 November. But that doesn't mean we'll have an October Pre-registration; it will be after Halloween per CCI. So, same timeframe as last year. A day of victory, loss and heart-racing anxiety in an otherwise blah month.

Onto the validation process. You'll log into your Member ID account, select "Registration Info" and then click the button telling you to validate your badge. You'll enter the number at the bottom of your badge. Then the system will give you a "successful validation" message and you'll close out of the system with a false sense of optimism and accomplishment.

Pre-reg is coming! Though not for a while.

Pre-registration and validating your badge

31 JULY 2015



CCI's Toucan blog announced something we already knew/guessed; the number at the bottom of your badge is critical for Pre-registration. And there's going to be another "window of validation."

For those of you who went to SDCC for the first time this summer, and thus are embarking on your first Pre-registration ever, here's how this works.

You'll get an email notifying you that you have a certain period in which to log into the system and "validate" your Member ID for Pre-registration. You'll do this by entering your badge number. Here's the email from last year:

As for Pre-registration, that functions as a lottery much like the Open Registration you took part in earlier this year. Only 2015 attendees can participate, but only a portion of badges are available. So yes, it increases your odds of going in 2016 but it's nothing to feel overly confident about since the demand still outweighs the supply.

I know everyone is all about the when of Pre-reg; it's tempting to read into this announcement as a hint that validation and the subsequent actual sale could happen earlier this year. Last year was November and the year before was February, though that delay was due to a new system being tested.

I'd say it's highly possible that Pre-reg could happen earlier this year since CCI seems fairly settled on the process. But if you're frantically trying to set up a buying group now, I'd wait. Things can shift quickly in terms of peoples' priorities. Once the official validation window hits, you can start making arrangements then.

Finally, if you lost your badge or an absent-minded roommate tossed it, I'd contact CCI now and throw yourself on their mercy. They may or may not help you out by looking up your badge number but it's worth a shot.

Overall, it's rather incredible to feel this far out from the Con and be thinking of Pre-reg when we're still in (okay, the last minutes of) July. Although - please indulge my old-timer's reminiscence - it wasn't that long ago when we all pre-registered onsite in the Sails Pavilion and never thought about SDCC again until hotel reservations opened up. It's the year-round pervasiveness of Comic-Con that's different these last few years.

Remember to save your badge

12 JULY 2015



As you sort through all your SDCC receipts and papers and crumpled fliers, you might be tempted to toss everything in the garbage as fast as possible. But wait! Remember that you need your badge for Pre-registration (congratulations, first-timers, on having 2 chances to go to SDCC 2016) so save it in a very well-protected place.

I'm not going to get into all the nonsense of photographing it or scanning it vs saving it physically. Just save it. And watch your email (and me) for announcements of Pre-reg.

You'll need your badge for Pre-reg

22 JUNE 2015



Nothing too shocking here. CCI says clearly, "You'll need your physical Comic-Con 2015 badge to be eligible for 2016 Attendee Preregistration."

Previous attendees already know all about this, but first-timers might have entertained the idea of selling off (or just giving away) their badge on Sunday when they're done with the Con. So - no, you can't do that.

Let's assume from this that we're looking at the same type of Pre-reg and Open Reg we had for this year, without any major changes. Which - as dire as it was in terms of the odds of just getting a badge - did run more or less smoothly.


ETA: Every year people ask, "Why can't I just take a picture of my badge? Why do I have to hang onto it?" So let me address this now. First of all, why screw around with your chances of getting a 2016 badge? Even if taking a picture or just copying down every number on the badge will technically suffice, is it really that burdensome to keep the badge around? I definitely would not give your badge to anyone else. It's just not worth the risk of losing access to SDCC.

Thoughts on Pre-reg

8 NOVEMBER 2014



Now that Pre-reg is over, the usual cries and complaints are echoing across social. This isn't fair; get it together, CCI; the teams and groups are skewing the system; etc.


Here's what I think. One, of course most of us weren't going to get a badge. It's only Pre-reg. That isn't some devious shortcoming on CCI's part, it's basic math. CCI can't let only previous attendees go to Comic-Con, therefore a huge number of us weren't going to get a badge today.

Yes, it went fast. I think it should be slowed down, with smaller groups let in, for Open Reg. I say that because I was one of the people caught on a cusp, and it sucked. I saw Saturday was low, then got in; somehow at that exact second Saturday and Friday sold out; Thursday was marked as sold out too with 0 available, yet it let me buy Thursday badges. Given how fast everything went, I think a lot of people were in the same situation I was - expecting one thing when they got in and finding something very different. It seemed even the system couldn't keep up with itself.

I don't know if fewer badges were sold, as everyone is speculating. CCI may have decided to offer a higher number in Open Registration, but it's more likely they just improved the speed of their network. The team approach also made it go fast. I know that isn't what everyone wants to hear.

As for those groups and teams - this strikes many people as unfair. I'm thinking it might be best to restrict badge-buying to just two people. The most fair method would be one badge bought for each Member ID, but that would force a lot of people to attend without any friends. On the other hand, the current system still leaves some friends and family members in the dust while others get lucky. My vote is for 2 people per registration session.

If you're super angry right now, and are cursing San Diego Comic-Con while stabbing pins into a wax poppet, then I will repeat my suggestion to try other Cons. I know SDCC is frustrating. It isn't worth it for everyone. For comic book nerds, Emerald City still has passes available (and hotel rooms and passes are way cheaper than SDCC); cosplayers have Phoenix Comicon to hit in June; DragonCon is a great choice for sci fi/fantasy fans and general partiers on Labor Day Weekend; Salt Lake City Comic Con in early September is massive and can hold its own with SDCC, with only a slight shortcoming in the Hollywood arena. Don't think SDCC is the only show in town - it isn't.

Overall, there's no perfect solution. I'm sorry for all of you who didn't get a badge today, but buck up - you've still got Open Registration to look forward to. I washed out too today (as an out-of-towner, do you really think I want to pay for 4 nights in a hotel for 2 days at SDCC?) and I still feel confident about Open Reg.

Finally, as I said earlier - be good to yourself today. We all just went through a very stressful morning.

Welcome to Pre-registration

 

8 NOVEMBER 2014

9:50

It's all over.

On the whole, today went smooth and fast. It has taken less than half the time to sell these badges than it did last Pre-reg; that could be because they're saving more badges for Open Registration, or it could be that they've juiced up their system. Preview Night went very quickly.

To compare, here's how last year sold:

Preview Night sold out by 9:32. Saturday and Friday were gone by 10:26, Thursday by 10:51 and then it was all over with by 11:15. 

This year:

Preview Night was gone by 9:25. Saturday and Friday disappeared at the same time, around 9:40. Thursday and Sunday were gone by 9:48.

I know those of us who washed out want to believe there were fewer badges sold today, so we have more of a chance in Open Reg. Whether that's true or not, it's important to stay positive and be glad we have 2 chances at a badge, not just one.


9:42

Well, that was a bitter pill. I got picked before Saturday was announced as sold out, and as soon as I got to the badge screen it said only Sunday was left. Somehow it let me buy Thursday badges as well even though they were marked O available.

That was one fast sale.


9:36

Saturday is almost sold out.


9:23

Preview Night is gone. This sale is moving faster than the last one.


9:20

Preview Night is already low.


9:15

9:07

I know. It's beyond nerve-wracking.


8:50

We're just minutes away from getting sorted. So here's my final advice - screenshot the critical pages once you get in. If, god forbid, something happens and you get frozen or booted midway through your sale, you'll have evidence to take to CCI. Traditionally they've been pretty good about compensating people who legitimately got picked for a badge, but got zapped by a glitch.


And if for some reason you haven't done your homework for today, use these final minutes wisely:

Advice

Process




8:27

Don't forget to hit the bathroom before you settle in. It was 2 hours before they called it last Pre-reg.

Also make sure you've adjusted your power save settings. And if you think any of your badge sale comrades might have slept through their alarm, now's the time for a check-in.



8:02

I want to say something about Preview Night. I know it’s the Holy Grail we’re all trying for. That’s understandable for three reasons – it’s your best shot at exclusives, the Exhibit Hall is in its fullest and freshest state, and you don’t have to wait in line to get your badge.

However, some of that’s changed in the last 2 years. While the entire exclusives situation was a hot mess at some booths last summer (hey, Hasbro), many vendors make a point of offering a limited number of the same exclusives each day so everyone gets a shot. As for the Exhibit Hall, if you went to Preview Night last year, you know that it’s almost as crowded as a regular day – CCI is clearly assigning out more PN badges than they used to. It’s not easy to move around and snatch up whatever you see like it was circa 2007.

As for not standing in line, that will forever be a compelling reason for anything – but because more people are going to Preview Night, and we have the Town and Country on Wednesday, fewer people are picking up badges on Thursday-Sunday, and those lines are much shorter and more bearable than they used to be.

Oh, and if you care about the Ballroom 20 pilots, they’re usually shown on other days.

All of this is my way of saying not to feel too disappointed if you don’t score a Preview Night badge. I used to feel like my SDCC experience would be subpar without one, but this year I’m not nearly so hung up on it. I still want one but I’ll be ok without it. I just don’t think it’s the upper-tier experience it used to be.

7:43

Not that I expect an answer from them or anything.


7:33

The waiting room says at the bottom that badge sale inventory will be held for 5 minutes only. I'm pretty sure that's a typo and it should say 15 minutes. I just tweeted CCI to confirm.

7:26

The confused people who see the badge sale talk and ask how they can participate reminds me that SDCC attendance is pretty much an insider's game at this point. It’s an actual skill set where you have to know to get your Member ID and navigate the badge sale - to even get a ghost of a chance at attending, outsiders have to master that learning curve. Usually they find out too late and then they forget about it until the following year when they see more badge sale buzz and it's once again too late. SDCC is definitely not for the casual fan.

(And if you are one of those people - today is only for people who attended San Diego Comic-Con 2014 specifically as an attendee. You can participate in Open Registration in 2015 as long as you create a Member ID.)

7:09

It's here. We all know the process and the right approach, and there's nothing to do but wait and see if the Comic-Con gods smile upon us today.

I think the most important thing we all need to remember is that today offers just a fraction of the badges available, and we all get a second chance in Open Registration. (Except those of us who get a Preview Night badge.) The odds are probably against you, me and anyone else getting the perfect badge. Those of us who do will be a lucky minority. So don't feel like Fate kicked you in the teeth today if you wash out - you'll be in good company.

I really miss those sweet, sweet days when Pre-registration meant walking up to the Sails Pavilion, filling out a piece of paper and handing it with your credit card to a bored-looking lady behind a terminal.

 

 

 

More Pre-reg info from CCI

6 NOVEMBER 2014



CCI's Toucan blog came out with advice today on Pre-reg. It's worth reading, although a lot of it is the same question with different people involved. ("Can I buy for my husband/friend/give my Badge ID to another Member ID/etc?" NO is the answer to everything.)

What I found most salient: the fact that we will NOT know our place in line. While that was kind of expected, the explanation was interesting. "There is no virtual line. The line was removed when we went to the random selection process. Members are randomly selected in groups from the waiting room for their registration sessions. Not only are you assigned randomly to a group, but those inside the group are sorted at random." Then they go into a cereal metaphor in which we're all Cheerios waiting to be eaten. They don't draw a parallel between soggy left-in-the-bowl cereal and not getting picked/eaten, but I'm sure we're all thinking it.

What else matters - and I'm going to strongly suggest everyone read this directly - is their advice on running multiple browsers. I personally feel separate devices are the way to go, rather than Chrome and Firefox on the same laptop, but I recognize not everyone has that option. So here it is - you can't run multiple tabs of the waiting room in the same browser, but you can use different browsers on the same device. Again - I think it's safer to use different devices.

I feel very detached about Pre-reg being in 2 days, which might mean my badge-mojo is weak and I'll wash out. Or maybe the randomness of it all removes the anxiety. Not sure, but I've noticed people seem pretty calm in general about it. Probably that will all change on Saturday morning.

My advice on 2015 Pre-Registration

5 NOVEMBER 2014

 

 

By now you should have familiarized yourself with the Pre-registration process we'll experience Saturday. It's very close to last year's and all pretty simple, and mostly comes down to luck. Here's my advice anyhow on how to manipulate whatever luck you're given and maximize your chances for attending San Diego Comic-Con 2015.

 

Tactics

 

Use the right strategy. Remember, this is the era of randomization and one Member ID/one device, so trying to use 7 devices at once won’t help you. If you can team up with a large group, that’s in your interest, statistically speaking. Have everyone's Member ID and last name ready to go and be very clear on who's buying for who.

Remember that your browser should be Safari, Chrome, IE or Firefox, and that your device should be a desktop or laptop - not a mobile device.

Once inside the waiting room, don't refresh. A yellow status box will keep you updated every 120 seconds during the sorting process. Make sure your computer doesn't go to sleep while you're waiting. Adjust the power save settings if necessary. Don't ever use the back button.

Have your credit or debit card ready. It can be under someone else's name; that's fine. But you can only use one card to pay for everything and you can't use Paypal. You don’t need to show this credit card at a later date, which means you can use one of those store-bought ones if you need to.

 

Psychology

 

Don't get rattled by the hysteria on Twitter and Facebook. People will post completely untrue things like "Friday's gone! Only Sunday left!" that spread like wildfire. I used to think they did this for attention; now I think it’s a strategy aimed at demoralizing contenders and driving them out of the waiting room. Yeah, we're all nice to each other once we're at the Con but on badge sale days some people grow claws and fangs.

The one thing that drove people crazy last time was not knowing where they stood in line. There were a few years where CCI used a numbering system that told people just that, yet it was missing for 2014 sales. Will that be back? Probably not, but you still shouldn't give in to your rising despair as the minutes tick by. Hold on until the bitter end. True story - I had a friend who an hour into the last badge sale texted me that he didn't have a shot and was going to log out. I persuaded him to hang in there and within minutes, he had all 4 day badges.

On that note, let's review the stats from last Pre-reg: Preview Night sold out by 9:32. Saturday and Friday were gone by 10:26, Thursday by 10:51 and then it was all over with by 11:15. Yes, it went that slow.

If you do get picked late, remember that you can always try to upgrade during Open Reg. Don’t stomp off in a huff because Saturday is sold out. And if you’re not picked at all - don’t lose hope. There’s a limited number of badges in play, and you get a second chance in Open Registration.

I have to say it - don’t be hungover during the badge sale. I know Saturday 9 a.m. is not everyone’s best hour, and that the process is fairly simple, but every year I hear about someone who slept through the sale or was indisposed and made a critical error. Every year. Maybe I just have irresponsible friends.

 

And if you're emotional or obsessive about SDCC at all, build room into your day to recover from whatever failure might befall you. People can get seriously enraged on badge sale days and it doesn't dissipate quickly. I know I've felt exhausted for hours even after scoring a Preview Night badge - the process is that stressful for me. And the emails that flood my inbox indicate a lot of you are the same way. Make Saturday a day when you can be good to yourself.

Finally, despite numerous blogs posting numerous posts on Pre-reg, and CCI churning out videos and painstaking instructions, some people effed it up last year by trying to do it on their iPhone or using some esoteric browser. If you’re prone to acting randomly like that, get it together. There’s no room for individuality when it comes to an SDCC badge sale – you have to follow the process by the book.

And that's my advice. I will say that I haven’t seen too many complaints or accusations since Pre-reg was announced. Were there snafus last time? Yes, of course. Sessions closed prematurely; some people were told their Member ID had already bought a badge (which could make for a cool alternate universe/SDCC conspiracy story); sometimes the blue circle stopping spinning and just froze, truly a sign of doom.

However, I do feel that this is superior to the years when we all stormed the digital Bastille at once and crashed the system. And I think most people agree with me. The lottery system has its drawbacks, but at the end of the day it only devastates some of us, rather than frustrating all of us.