[Bloo09]

What a lot of you have been waiting patiently for! The first wave of mailing is out! Many attendees will be getting their badge within a week or two. And finally get to know who's art won our badge art contest!

We apologize for mailing being slightly late. There was an issue with the badges being printed wrong and we were not willing to send you a badge that didn't look awesome! We got our reprints Friday and went straight to work mailing out as much as we could Saturday. More will be sent as we do them throughout the following weeks. With our new registration system we can print attendee labels at home (we couldn't last year) and get more work done faster which means your badges will get to you faster!

Please remember you cannot post pictures of your badge on our forum and we advise you DO NOT post it anywhere. In the past people have copied badges from pictures and gotten caught which earned the original poster of the picture a meeting with MAPS members (board who owns ACen). IF you do post your badge somewhere please cover your label to prevent that from happening. Badges may not be copied, reproduced, or resold. If they are then the original owner and the new "owner" share the penalty and may not be welcome back at ACen in future years.

QR Code!
Many will see our badge labels look different! They are. With a new registration system comes a new look. Do NOT draw on or cover your label with stickers etc. Staff need to be able to see your badge number and the QR code. WE ARE scanning badges this year. When scanned the staff member with their staff system account can view the information attached to your badge showing it is a true, purchased badge, and showing us your emergency contact info (in case we're scanning during an emergency involving you, which we hope will not happen!). When scanned by non staff it shows the ACen.org webpage. There is NO personal information shown by scanning it by non staff members, there's actually no information shown at all when scanned by non staff. Not just any staff can view the QR code. Only those approved to have an account with staff access may. Which includes some IRT, EMRT, Registration, etc.

Not all badges have been sent. We're hoping within 2 weeks we will have all currently ordered mailing badges sent out! With the reprint our printer did not have enough of the paper we ordered to reprint all of the badges, so we're waiting on a 2nd batch to finish up.

Child badges were not mailed yet, we're getting the reprint of those Monday . Group badges have not been mailed yet.

If you have any questions regarding your badge and mailing please feel free to ask!

Chelsea Tessmann
Dept. Head of Registration

[The Fujoshi]

I have a question, (wasn't too sure if I could reply or not,)

Do you need to get your badge scanned during registration after you received it in the mail?

[-JUNK-]

Oooo the epic stalk your mailman/woman days return~

[Bloo09]

No, you do not need to have mailed badges scanned for any sort of activation etc. Badges will be scanned in certain points of the convention such as major events, panels, etc but not all events. It is nothing more than a quick scan with our smart phone, an instant pop up and you're off. It's actually faster than checking the badge by eye (which will be done where scanning is not done). Our old labels use to have bar codes on them that we didn't really use, this is just us using a QR code instead.

[LittleJezzie]

Bloo09, on 13 March 2011 - 04:54 PM, said:

IF you do post your badge somewhere please cover your label to prevent that from happening.

What do you mean by "label?" Are you talking about the QR code? I only ask because I have taken pictures of me holding my badge with a goofy excited grin many times in past years as a celebratory "look what I got" kind of thing, not realizing someone could copy it! And I know I'm one of MANY who have done that.

[GITS SAC Motoko]

Bloo09, on 14 March 2011 - 12:54 AM, said:

No, you do not need to have mailed badges scanned for any sort of activation etc. Badges will be scanned in certain points of the convention such as major events, panels, etc but not all events. It is nothing more than a quick scan with our smart phone, an instant pop up and you're off. It's actually faster than checking the badge by eye (which will be done where scanning is not done). Our old labels use to have bar codes on them that we didn't really use, this is just us using a QR code instead.

Does the scanning system mean then that counts as our "ticket" for the concerts, masquerade, big events related like that? Because that would be real nice and easy.

[Cherry_Wolf]

I like this idea! The scanning system sounds amazing. Is it on the front or back of the badge, btw?

And cannot waaaait to see my badge in the mail ;w;

My mail lady may have a heart attack if she sees me at the window in my living room, watching her put away mail ~jiiiiiiiiii

[GITS SAC Motoko]

Cherry_Wolf, on 14 March 2011 - 11:20 AM, said:

I like this idea! The scanning system sounds amazing. Is it on the front or back of the badge, btw?

And cannot waaaait to see my badge in the mail ;w;

My mail lady may have a heart attack if she sees me at the window in my living room, watching her put away mail ~jiiiiiiiiii

Hahaha I know right? Luckily im at school so my badge will be at my home address so i wont be thinking about it as much.
but I also like the new scanning system.

[C2Queen]

I have a question--- I ordered my badge online and chose the option of picking it up at ACEN. Where do you pick the badge up at? I've never been, this will be my very first year. Also-- it said on the form that will want to see your credit card, but I had to dispose of the old credit card and get a new number because of someone trying to steal money off that card. My badge was paid for with THAT card number though-- would my new credit card work? It has the same name, just different number.

This post has been edited by unlovedwitch: 14 March 2011 - 03:40 PM

[MsLovelyCookie]

YAY I can't wait to see what the badges look like. Since the mailing is at random then it is a race between me and my friends on who gets their badge first.

[Bloo09]

We do not need to see your credit card at the convention if your badge was paid for online, I'm not sure where you saw that but if you remember I can go remove that. We DO need to see your photo ID to pick up your badge. Everyone purchasing or picking up a badge at the convention needs to show photo ID who are 17 years old and above.

The QR code is on the front of the badge and is only for staff to view information. Our concerts, raves, etc do not need tickets it's first come first serve unless otherwise stated but will have nothing to do with the QR code. Your badge is technically your ticket into our events

The label is the white sticker on the front of the badge holding your badge name, badge #, and QR code. It's the part that says that is YOUR badge. If someone copies it then staff will think that they are you OR you let them copy your badge. Both ways you'll be getting a phone call and a meeting to sort things out >.< Blur the label in photos, black it out in paint, etc. We've even had someone run up to a person, take a picture of their badge AT CON and run off to copy it. They were also brought into a not so fun meeting Our badges are designed to not be photo friendly this year to help protect you guys and make sure that is less likely to happen again.

The QR code is a thinking forward thing for us. We may add more things to it's use in the future. ALSO if you see one of our advertisements such at the CTA adds they now have their own QR code you can scan and be brought to our mailing list sign up.

[The Fujoshi]

unlovedwitch, on 14 March 2011 - 03:39 PM, said:

I have a question--- I ordered my badge online and chose the option of picking it up at ACEN. Where do you pick the badge up at? I've never been, this will be my very first year. Also-- it said on the form that will want to see your credit card, but I had to dispose of the old credit card and get a new number because of someone trying to steal money off that card. My badge was paid for with THAT card number though-- would my new credit card work? It has the same name, just different number.

For the picking up your badge part you just go to registration line like the other people and wait; an IRT guy/girl usually mentions/yells out Will Call and then you follow then inside and go into the right line (usually by last name,) and go pick it up there. It's quicker than waiting at Registration like the other people but not as convient as getting it in the mail, (but it's the only option if your mail system is messed up.) If they do not yell it out remmeber to ask an IRT did they mention anything about Will Call, since that's the area where you pick up your badge at ACEN. FYI on the 19th it's quicker to get it than on Friday-Sat.

Thanks a lot Bloo for answering my question too >w<

This post has been edited by The Fujoshi: 14 March 2011 - 05:35 PM

[Jguy]

Way to go Reg!

I can't wait to see it come in the mail for my friends.

[Evangelion_Unit_01]

Good work registration!! Thank you for all your hard work getting the badges out

This is always the excited part!!! Im sooooooo happy!!!

[CrimsonAnime]

extra excited about badges! I can't wait to see who won the contest! shame I'm probably not gonna be home T_T stupid school

[GITS SAC Motoko]

I got my badge today!!!!! My mom just texted me saying I got it!! Looks cool. I really like it~ ^__________^

I AM SO PUMPED FOR ACEN NOW IT'S GOING TO BE INSAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!! ^____________^ :3

[Purplegodess]

Awesome, there should be quite a few of you getting them today, especially those who live closer to me !

[Bloo09]

I'm making the I GOT MY BADGE thread in the reg section now for you guys

[FluffyXCrayon]

So, basically there shouldn't be a bar-code on the badge right?
What's the QR?

[Bloo09]

Right, there is no longer a bar code on the badges. A QR code is a box with a randomish pattern in it that looks like this QR code that a staff member with their smart phone can scan and it will bring them to your registration account as long as that staff member has a staff account with permission to view that page. Anyone without an account who scans it will get the url for the sign in and access denied. No one without a special staff account can get any information by scanning your QR code. Each code is unique to that one badge.

[FluffyXCrayon]

Thank you for clarifying that!
Much appreciated!

[CrimsonAnime]

The QR code addition sounds amazing! I like that its personalized and secure. seems like it might take a little longer getting into places like the masq etc but, it will decrease fake badges.

[Bloo09]

No, it should not change line times at all. It is an -instant- scan which is actually faster than inspecting a badge by eye. And that is if it is used at all events. If you have a smart phone try scanning the QR code image I posted a few posts back, it should instantly pop up and give you an idea. Though that QR code brings you to a website about news and updates of QR codes, it's the same general idea.

And yes it should decrease fake badges, and borrowed badges as it isn't possible to fake a QR code going to the staff side of your own account.

[bondkira]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but how long should we wait and see if our badge is mailed or not?
For instance, let's say I didn't get my badge next week... when exactly would be the good timing to ask if my badge was mailed or lost??

[Purplegodess]

there are several waves of badges that go out not just one, so its hard to say exactly. The badge mailing tier deadline is April 1st so by midway through April we usually have all of them mailed out, unless they bounce back to us. I really wouldn't worry until late April though and the con is late May so thats plenty of time.

[technoBC]

Since the children's badges had to be reprinted does that mean the group badges will take longer now?

[Bloo09]

It will not impact when group badges will be sent at all. We will most likely be doing then within the next 2 weeks.

[Evangelion_Unit_01]

Bloo09, on 19 March 2011 - 08:25 PM, said:

It will not impact when group badges will be sent at all. We will most likely be doing then within the next 2 weeks.

Is 2 weeks also when the next wave of badges will be mailed out?

[Bloo09]

no, we're mailing them as we do them. There hasn't been a wave this past weekend because we were all working the ACen roadshow. There will be another within the next few days.

[Evangelion_Unit_01]

Bloo09, on 21 March 2011 - 02:39 PM, said:

no, we're mailing them as we do them. There hasn't been a wave this past weekend because we were all working the ACen roadshow. There will be another within the next few days.

Ah I see...thanks Bloo!