[Voltaire30]

IcyPanther, on 13 December 2011 - 08:09 AM, said:

Oh my gosh, that's crazy!
How many tables are available each year?

Tell me about it. It was my wife's birthday, and all I could think during dinner was "12 Minutes". >.<

To be honest, it can fluctuate depending on the year.

[JujuFox]

Voltaire30, on 13 December 2011 - 11:46 AM, said:

Tell me about it. It was my wife's birthday, and all I could think during dinner was "12 Minutes". >.<

To be honest, it can fluctuate depending on the year.

You guys really made it very easy to do in under a minute. Since we were told what all the fields were in the PDF I just typed up what I wanted to say in notepad and copied it over when I got to the Registration page.

Also, I never had it time out on me. It was slow due to the high traffic, but no problems loading the pages on my end!

[megoomba]

I also want to applaud the registration process this year. Super smooth and, even though it was a tad bit slow because of all the people registering at once, both my partner and I were able to register at the same time and get our applications in about five minutes after the form opened so... Great job! I am very impressed!

[Gwydion]

Voltaire30 said:

Twelve Minutes

Holy crap. ._.

Manifested Dreams, on 12 December 2011 - 10:16 PM, said:

GWYDION I'm so glad you're coming back this year! Acen wasn't the same without you! Will it be both of you?

HELLO! It'll be so good to be back - I miss hanging out with everyone in the AA! And it'll actually be 4 of us, so in case my new nephew ends up coming with my sis, we have people who can help watch him. ^_~ My sis will be using ACen to decide whether or not she'll be up for future cons, so I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that everything goes smoothly!

[FurGear]

I was wondering about the studio mate thing
I want my fiance to come just as he always does he made a registry and i tried to add him but it wont let me
it keeps saying that he dosent exist.
is the studio mate thing just for other artists or is it for people who will be at your booth?

[Voltaire30]

FurGear, on 13 December 2011 - 04:28 PM, said:

I was wondering about the studio mate thing
I want my fiance to come just as he always does he made a registry and i tried to add him but it wont let me
it keeps saying that he dosent exist.
is the studio mate thing just for other artists or is it for people who will be at your booth?

Send artists (at) acen <dot> org his user name, and we will see if we can't add him to your studio.

The field is to add people who will be sitting behind the table with you, and to have them printed as Artists as well.

[FurGear]

Voltaire30, on 13 December 2011 - 04:35 PM, said:

Send artists (at) acen <dot> org his user name, and we will see if we can't add him to your studio.

The field is to add people who will be sitting behind the table with you, and to have them printed as Artists as well.

thanx for the quick response hopefully that can be fixed

[Voltaire30]

FurGear, on 13 December 2011 - 04:41 PM, said:

thanx for the quick response hopefully that can be fixed

Done

[Rosewine]

What are the hours for artist alley this year? The closest I could find was the same as last year....

[Voltaire30]

Rosewine, on 06 February 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

What are the hours for artist alley this year? The closest I could find was the same as last year....

PUBLIC SHOW HOURS
Friday, April 27, 2012 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Saturday, April 28, 2012 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday, April 29, 2012 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

[AnimeMonster]

In artist alley, is an artist allowed to do a raffle for some of his original art?

[LinkJun]

AnimeMonster, on 28 February 2012 - 07:13 PM, said:

In artist alley, is an artist allowed to do a raffle for some of his original art?

Not trying to burst anyone's bubble, but you do have to have a proper license to operate a raffle, and Illinois only gives out said licenses to religious, charitable, or otherwise non-profit organizations (and even then, the organization usually has to have been established for at least five years). Also, apparently you have to be a person "of good moral character" (it's written into the law haha). Apparently, conducting a raffle without a proper license in Illinois is a class C misdemeanor... Even if you did have such a license, I wouldn't be surprised if there were restrictions against gambling in MAPS' contract with the D.A.S. Convention Center..

[Sapphy]

LinkJun, on 29 February 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

Not trying to burst anyone's bubble, but you do have to have a proper license to operate a raffle, and Illinois only gives out said licenses to religious, charitable, or otherwise non-profit organizations (and even then, the organization usually has to have been established for at least five years). Also, apparently you have to be a person "of good moral character" (it's written into the law haha). Apparently, conducting a raffle without a proper license in Illinois is a class C misdemeanor... Even if you did have such a license, I wouldn't be surprised if there were restrictions against gambling in MAPS' contract with the D.A.S. Convention Center..

This is good information to know, though I assume this only applies to paid-entry raffles? I've seen many places offer free-entry raffles that certainly don't fit the categories you mentioned. AnimeMonster, what type of raffle were you thinking of doing?

[Grimby]

Sapphy, on 29 February 2012 - 08:25 AM, said:

This is good information to know, though I assume this only applies to paid-entry raffles? I've seen many places offer free-entry raffles that certainly don't fit the categories you mentioned. AnimeMonster, what type of raffle were you thinking of doing?

You need a license to sell tickets to a raffle. If you give them away (say with every purchase over x dollars, or give them away with a certain item) then there's no problem.

[AnimeMonster]

Sapphy, on 29 February 2012 - 08:25 AM, said:

This is good information to know, though I assume this only applies to paid-entry raffles? I've seen many places offer free-entry raffles that certainly don't fit the categories you mentioned. AnimeMonster, what type of raffle were you thinking of doing?

I was going to charge a dollar a ticket and give them with any purchase, but it looks like I'm just going to give them with purchase or for free.

[Grimby]

AnimeMonster, on 29 February 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

I was going to charge a dollar a ticket and give them with any purchase, but it looks like I'm just going to give them with purchase or for free.

I actually asked Phillip about this a while ago, and what he told me is that you can make a small item that wouldn't cost you much to make (Say, super small prints of things you sell, small charms that are easy to make, etc) and charge a dollar for those, and give out the raffle tickets with each of those purchases. So, I guess you could say you're "giving" the raffle tickets out for free, but you're still charging them for them. If that makes any sense. xD

And please Phillip, correct me if I misunderstood you.

[AnimeMonster]

Grimby, on 29 February 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

I actually asked Phillip about this a while ago, and what he told me is that you can make a small item that wouldn't cost you much to make (Say, super small prints of things you sell, small charms that are easy to make, etc) and charge a dollar for those, and give out the raffle tickets with each of those purchases. So, I guess you could say you're "giving" the raffle tickets out for free, but you're still charging them for them. If that makes any sense. xD

And please Phillip, correct me if I misunderstood you.

Makes perfect sense to me. This is how I shall go about it unless the Acen Department Head says otherwise. Thanks everyone.

[LinkJun]

Here's the legalese for anyone who's interested: http://www.ilga.gov/...00&ChapterID=25

I'm not sure that the whole "giving them away for free... for a nominal fee" thing would hold up in court hahaha. If you're handing them out to everyone regardless of whether they're buying something or not, that's a different story though.

You might be able to get away with it if you don't tell your customers about the raffle until after they buy something, and then after they've already paid and received their merchandise, tell them about the raffle and give them a ticket. That way the player is neither paying for, nor agreeing to pay for, a chance to win the prize. But of course, the same customer could come back later and buy something else (this time expecting another ticket), in which case the jig is up. Plus, word about the raffle would probably get around, etc. So.. I retract what I said, you couldn't get away with it like that.

In all honesty, if you hold a raffle, almost certainly nothing bad's going to happen. All the cops (assuming that they were even up-to-date with the state raffle laws to begin with) at the convention are busy doing other things; you could probably tell one of them up-front what you're doing and they wouldn't even care I'm sure. What I'm sure WILL happen though, is that the second an Exhibit Hall staff lackey finds out, you better believe someone will be coming shortly after to tell you to cut it out. *shrugs*

[Voltaire30]

The best suggestion I can give is to give a ticket to an attendee when they buy something, unless people want to violate the law (then Anime Central has to act in the event's best interest). There should be no reason to fret over someone getting more than one ticket though, especially if they pay for a product of yours. Now it is up to the Artist's discretion regarding the price of their products and how they go about marketing them during the convention.

That being said, the Exhibit Space STAFF (or as LinkJun call them "lackeys") have no reason to look after the con's best interest by falsely reporting on someone for following the law. That would be rather preposterous.

[LinkJun]

Voltaire30, on 01 March 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

The best suggestion I can give is to give a ticket to an attendee when they buy something, unless people want to violate the law (then Anime Central has to act in the event's best interest). There should be no reason to fret over someone getting more than one ticket though, especially if they pay for a product of yours. Now it is up to the Artist's discretion regarding the price of their products and how they go about marketing them during the convention.

That being said, the Exhibit Space STAFF (or as LinkJun call them "lackeys") have no reason to look after the con's best interest by falsely reporting on someone for following the law. That would be rather preposterous.

Lol! I only said that to differentiate between the veteran staff and the fledglings... In my past experiences at ACen it's only ever been the newbie staff members who get all power trippy and step outside their boundaries. No offense was intended =P

[AnimeMonster]

Let me see if I've got this right. With the purchase of my product I'm allowed to give them as many as I want. I'm also allowed to just give them away. That's all. Correct?

[Iyou]

Quick question - I paid for an Artist's Alley Tier 3 badge back in December, and for some reason when I checked out I was only charged $26.50 even though the website said it was supposed to be $53. I sent an email to artists(at)acen.org asking if this was the correct price, but never got a response.

Now I just logged into my Acen.org account and noticed that I had an outstanding invoice for the other $26.50. I have no problem with paying it asap, but I was just wondering if this is going to negatively affect my table's status at all. I just don't want to mess things up! ;_; I had no idea this balance was on my account until now.

This post has been edited by Iyou: 07 March 2012 - 03:27 PM

[Grimby]

Iyou, on 07 March 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

Quick question - I paid for an Artist's Alley Tier 3 badge back in December, and for some reason when I checked out I was only charged $26.50 even though the website said it was supposed to be $53. I sent an email to artists(at)acen.org asking if this was the correct price, but never got a response.

Now I just logged into my Acen.org account and noticed that I had an outstanding invoice for the other $26.50. I have no problem with paying it asap, but I was just wondering if this is going to negatively affect my table's status at all. I just don't want to mess things up! ;_; I had no idea this balance was on my account until now.

I just read your post and checked my own account... I also have another bill for $24. Is this because the first price was wrong, and we need to pay the other half? I'm confused. x_x

[Sapphy]

Iyou, on 07 March 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

I was just wondering if this is going to negatively affect my table's status at all. I just don't want to mess things up! ;_; I had no idea this balance was on my account until now.

Voltaire can answer you for sure, but is your studio listed on the Artist Alley section of acen.org? If it is, I think you should be good. Best to get the official yes/no from Voltaire or another staffmember though, just to be sure.

[Voltaire30]

Iyou, on 07 March 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

Quick question - I paid for an Artist's Alley Tier 3 badge back in December, and for some reason when I checked out I was only charged $26.50 even though the website said it was supposed to be $53. I sent an email to artists(at)acen.org asking if this was the correct price, but never got a response.

Now I just logged into my Acen.org account and noticed that I had an outstanding invoice for the other $26.50. I have no problem with paying it asap, but I was just wondering if this is going to negatively affect my table's status at all. I just don't want to mess things up! ;_; I had no idea this balance was on my account until now.

I answered everyone's post below.

Grimby, on 07 March 2012 - 03:44 PM, said:

I just read your post and checked my own account... I also have another bill for $24. Is this because the first price was wrong, and we need to pay the other half? I'm confused. x_x

I answered everyone's post below.

Sapphy, on 07 March 2012 - 03:47 PM, said:

Voltaire can answer you for sure, but is your studio listed on the Artist Alley section of acen.org? If it is, I think you should be good. Best to get the official yes/no from Voltaire or another staffmember though, just to be sure.

Well the issue is a bit different than normal, and I did send an email to all the effected individuals. Unfortunately there are a few reasons why some people might not have gotten the email:

• if anyone has a @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com (or their partners) there is a very strong chance they will never receive any emails from anyone at acen.org (because so many people who have those accounts flag us as spam, their servers have marked us as spam).
• if you, personally, have us marked as spam in your inbox or email set-up
• if you didn't read the email
• if the email gremlins ate it before you read it (I have seen this happen in very rare circumstances)
• if the email you gave us in your user profile was incorrect
• if you used two user accounts to take care of your AA submission and never followed up with us (thus your name isn't on the approved list right now, because you probably got kicked out for not paying the whole amount in the time period)

So I will explain what happened here, and also the steps we took to come to a reasonable solution.

The system failed to charge the correct amount for the product, even though it was listed at the higher price. So I sent an email to all the effected users, and explained what happened in more detail, and listed out some solutions. Thus the best solution is, people can pay for the rest of their badge at anytime before the convention (or at the convention) and we will still list their studio as being in attendance on our list, or they can not pay the rest of the badge and then we will have to explore other options open to us.

[Grimby]

Voltaire30, on 07 March 2012 - 04:09 PM, said:

Well the issue is a bit different than normal, and I did send an email to all the effected individuals. Unfortunately there are a few reasons why some people might not have gotten the email:

• if anyone has a @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com (or their partners) there is a very strong chance they will never receive any emails from anyone at acen.org (because so many people who have those accounts flag us as spam, their servers have marked us as spam).
• if you, personally, have us marked as spam in your inbox or email set-up
• if you didn't read the email
• if the email gremlins ate it before you read it (I have seen this happen in very rare circumstances)
• if the email you gave us in your user profile was incorrect
• if you used two user accounts to take care of your AA submission and never followed up with us (thus your name isn't on the approved list right now, because you probably got kicked out for not paying the whole amount in the time period)

So I will explain what happened here, and also the steps we took to come to a reasonable solution.

The system failed to charge the correct amount for the product, even though it was listed at the higher price. So I sent an email to all the effected users, and explained what happened in more detail, and listed out some solutions. Thus the best solution is, people can pay for the rest of their badge at anytime before the convention (or at the convention) and we will still list their studio as being in attendance on our list, or they can not pay the rest of the badge and then we will have to explore other options open to us.

Hm... I guess the gremlins must have eaten my e-mail... I have a gmail account and I've e-mailed and gotten e-mails from you... Weird! I know I made the cut though, because my table is on the list. Out of curiosity, have there been any other e0mails sent to everyone that got into the AA? The last one I got was regarding the welcome packet.... I just want to make sure those pesky gremlins didn't eat any other important info. d:

So, just to make sure I understand correctly... we pay the remainder and all is well?
Also, I'm assuming there will be a bill for any and all of the studio-mates we listed? When my friend paid for his badge, he only payed $24 as well...

This post has been edited by Grimby: 07 March 2012 - 04:51 PM

[Voltaire30]

Grimby, on 07 March 2012 - 04:51 PM, said:

Hm... I guess the gremlins must have eaten my e-mail... I have a gmail account and I've e-mailed and gotten e-mails from you... Weird! I know I made the cut though, because my table is on the list. Out of curiosity, have there been any other e0mails sent to everyone that got into the AA? The last one I got was regarding the welcome packet.... I just want to make sure those pesky gremlins didn't eat any other important info. d:

So, just to make sure I understand correctly... we pay the remainder and all is well?
Also, I'm assuming there will be a bill for any and all of the studio-mates we listed? When my friend paid for his badge, he only payed $24 as well...

That looks like the only one you didn't receive. The gremlins strike again. *glares evilly at the gremlin tied up in the corner*

Yep, the remainder is all that would be left. Sadly you are also correct that if your studio mates received that same price (and they don't run a panel) they are in the same situation.

[Iyou]

I didn't get the email either, but there's a very large chance my spam filter could have blocked it. Good thing I wanted a Crystal Ball ticket otherwise I never would have noticed the outstanding balance! @_@

I paid the other half of the badge cost and my studio is listed on Acen's website, so I think I'm okay now? I'll let my studiomate know to check her account and make sure that her badge is paid in full as well.

Thanks for your quick response, Voltaire!

[JujuFox]

I have a quick question about set up hours to access to the Alley. I've looked all over for this info, but I can't seem to find the answer.

When on Thursday are we able to pickup our badges and set up our tables? What time can we get into the Alley Fri, Sat, and Sun morning to set up? Are we going to be able to walk through the loading doors to get into the convention center this year(we did this last year since it was easier to get to from the Hyatt parking lot on the street rather than through the walkways)?

Usually the setup hours info is in the update emails, so maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself. n__n; I'm just trying to get my schedule worked out so I know when to drive over on Thursday.

[Voltaire30]

DavenEvanXaviour, on 26 March 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

I have a quick question about set up hours to access to the Alley. I've looked all over for this info, but I can't seem to find the answer.

When on Thursday are we able to pickup our badges and set up our tables? What time can we get into the Alley Fri, Sat, and Sun morning to set up? Are we going to be able to walk through the loading doors to get into the convention center this year(we did this last year since it was easier to get to from the Hyatt parking lot on the street rather than through the walkways)?

Usually the setup hours info is in the update emails, so maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself. n__n; I'm just trying to get my schedule worked out so I know when to drive over on Thursday.

I buried the times in the AA RES Manual so we wouldn't have as many cases of theft from random people sneaking into the hall.
The loading doors will be open, but IRT and ES staff will be positioned there to do their best to prevent non-approved people from entering.