I want to apologize for what you witnessed at the registration desk. I think I know who you are referring to and the situation as well.

If I'm correct, there was a group of people from the Silver Strikers club, invited by me, who used the QR code to register for the show. They came a bit early and because the folks who run the registration desk open AT 9AM, there was no one there to handle the electronic registration (these guys wanted to go in at 10am). By this, I mean no one wanted to fire up a computer to see that these guys were registered (we had a computer dedicated to this effort and the password was taped to the computer).

I got a text while on the show floor (doing something with the auction, I'm sure) that there was trouble in paradise and I went out to see what was happening. My SS buddies had moved to the slot machines by the escalators and said "your guy started screaming at us for no reason - we're already registered and are just trying to pay the entry fee in cash as you asked (to save the club fees) and get our badges to get into the show". I asked them to give me a few minutes so I could take something back into the show.

In the meantime, my wife showed up to help with the electronic registration (again, this is BEFORE the 10am regular entry time), fired up the computer, found each of them and got them sorted out in short order. We collected $50+ in cash (some wanted one day, some wanted all 3), printed their badges, apologized profusely, and they had a good time inside. 2 told me later they found a LOT of stuff to buy at the show, so that's good.

Electronic registration (via QR code or web link) is new to the registration staff. I held a training before the show but most seemed disinterested in taking on the "new" method. Just under 10% of the registrations were via the new method and with some better promotion, I think 50% is not too much to expect. We had bigger numbers of attendees this year, along with a generally younger crowd, and according to the dealers, more buyers than looky-loos. My wife ended up working all 3 days instead of just being there to show staff how to deal with the new method. For that, I'm profusely thankful. In addition, Paul Schaffer came to my rescue when we had a gap in scheduling. He left his dealer table to help out.

Lessons learned (some irrelevant to the above): We need more computers, more badge printers, more volunteers who are willing to embrace change, some better processes (single click to print badges from spreadsheet rows), larger badges, and getting rid of the handwritten badges that are often unreadable. We are forming a Convention Committee that will address all of these issues and we will make sure the registration desk is staffed with friendly, tech-savvy people who will embrace changes that will grow the club. We will always have physical registration cards for people to fill in the old-fashioned way, so no one needs to fear they'll be left behind.

Anyway, sorry you had to witness that. Hopefully it doesn't sour you on attending shows in the future.

-- barry