Actual registration of events through Table Top went smoothly. No crashes, etc, which was good - kudos to TT servers. The additional act of being able to login to one account and buying tickets to sub-accounts is great. Still have my gripes about the information leading up to actual registration being published so late (Dates/Times) on the website. Needs serious streamlining in that area. One other point I would add, maybe in a week or so once everyone has had a good chance to sign up for games...you should remove the restriction of being able to add only one featured event to your schedule. If they are not full and it is getting close to actual convention day, it gives the people running those events a chance at picking up some last minute players. Just a suggestion, not sure if you have a 'Generic Ticket' feature at con that would cover this.
And also, the status of an event as Featured or not *has* to be established *before* registration opens if that's the criterion that differentiates badge types. Otherwise the whole thing makes no sense. See http://garycon.com/community/index.php?threads/how-many-premium-events.1668/page-3#post-18848
Registration was a breeze this year. I got one error message that slowed me down for maybe 2 seconds. TTE was a vast improvement over the last few years. Well done!
This is the easiest registration in my 5 years at Gary Con. The GP/SP system was cool and "old school" but moving over to TTE made it quite easy and frankly, saved a huge amount of headaches. Well done gang, well done.
Registration was easy and went well. I think TTE is a winner and kudos to the GC crew for making the switch.
Snagged the available events I wanted with no issues, headaches, or disturbing my subconscious Yosemite Sam. Nicely done.
Depends on if anyone has a ticket in their cart. The cart will hold the ticket for 2 hours. Once an individual checks out then their name appears. Once an individual puts a ticket in their cart the seat is taken.
Oh, I see. I know I read this before, but for some reason, it didn't all correlate until you explained it like this. OK, I take back what I said earlier. Everything worked the way it was supposed to!
Sorry to hear you missed getting a ticket. Keep in mind that last year there were a number no shows to events that were sold out. Recommend that you stop by the event(s) you want about 5 minutes early to see if a seat might be made available due to a no show. Also, some people running games might be able to add you if you ask them nicely.
Regarding youth badges and event registration: Yes, someone with a youth badge can register for events.
Oh yeah, definitely don't despair if something is sold out, especially something early in the morning on a later day. People get sick (I got horrible con crud at GC last year) or they just overestimate their stamina. Or they stay up too late the night before.
number of events: 1,288 featured events: 137 events with 340 of 965 seats available total_seats: 9,886, available_seats: 5,408 4 events added along with 1 GM (Jolly Blackburn)
Those are really tempting, but the only slot I would consider changing I already have a Hackmaster game. Jolly is a fun GM.
A word of hope to people who despair that there are not enough events of interest left for them... At Gary Con 6 or 7, I was wandering around aimlessly without an event to participate in or anyone to talk to. The few people I knew at the con were tied up with their own events. I was walking through the Legends of Wargaming room and a guy noticed me and invited me to play the Remagen game with them. I'd never played a war game in my life outside of the old Grandmaster series (i.e., Axis & Allies, Fortress America, etc.) back in 1990. I had no interest in war games. I was an RPG guy. But I had nothing else to do, so I took a shot. That game was the best time I've ever had at Gary Con. And it wasn't even a registered event. The LoW organizers just had the table set up for people to walk up and play. I met some guys I probably never would have gotten to know. They were great, very friendly, and welcomed a complete novice to war gaming. I had almost no idea what I was doing, but the guys I played with made it a blast. It's around 3 years later and I still correspond with the guy who invited me to play and look forward to seeing him every year. I was thrilled to see we randomly ended up in an event together on Sunday this year. Two years ago I was at the hotel on Wednesday night and wandered over to the hotel bar. I stood in the doorway and stared at a room full of people I didn't recognize. Another guy saw me and invited me to play some D&D with him and his friends. That led to another great time and more con friends for me to hang out with in subsequent years. We make a point of getting together every Gary Con now and at least hang out. Last year we played a board game on Wednesday night. I've got no idea what we'll do this year, but I know I'll have a good time because some great people offered to play stuff with me. The bottom line is if you take a chance and try something you normally would never even consider, you might have a great time and make lifelong (or at least multi-year) friends.
Oh, and open gaming. There's always open gaming. I'm hoping to run some Dungeon World if people are interested.