Defcon badge line suggestions...

[astcell]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

I tend to jump into line with a grip (>5) of beers. one for me, two for the guy I cut, and the rest one each for the people behind the guy i cut. That seems to smooth things over nicely.

Now that is a good hack!

[kallahar]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Note that the schedule page recommends getting in line early, IT'S A TRAP. Ignore the thursday morning line, just chill, you don't need a badge to go to any of the thursday talks. There's plenty of badges, just come back thursday afternoon when there's zero line.

[RCon]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

I tend to jump into line with a grip (>5) of beers. one for me, two for the guy I cut, and the rest one each for the people behind the guy i cut. That seems to smooth things over nicely.

[teflone]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

When I was unemployed in college I was at the DMV, next in line, and a guy ran in and offered me $50 for my spot. I got in the end of the line and he got the front, making it fair for all. I soon realized you can make a few hundred bucks a day doing this!

lmao.. thats awesome.. :)

[astcell]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

When I was unemployed in college I was at the DMV, next in line, and a guy ran in and offered me $50 for my spot. I got in the end of the line and he got the front, making it fair for all. I soon realized you can make a few hundred bucks a day doing this!

[Dallas]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

I have suggested for years to people in the back of the line to just walk to the front of the line with $ 120 (years registration) and $ 10, hand the guy in front the money, the $ 10, and ask them to buy you a badge, takes an extra 2 sec and poof..on to the pool, bar or whatever interests you.

It could be like the old border crossings, have people stand in line every 20 feet, have a kid run to the back selling spots and move the person up to the spot the person is standing in. I saw kids make a fist full of cash that way, and everyone is happy, no real cutting, just line spot saving.

we constantly get orders like this. Folks have been doing this for a long time. (smart folks anyways). No changes in registration is needed. I have doubled the number of REG stations for Thursday from last year, and made some other tweaks.

should make a big dif.

TW

[TechnoWeenie]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Excellent idea. We can probably implement it on the fly too.

Kallahar

we constantly get orders like this. Folks have been doing this for a long time. (smart folks anyways). No changes in registration is needed. I have doubled the number of REG stations for Thursday from last year, and made some other tweaks.

should make a big dif.

TW

[kallahar]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Excellent idea. We can probably implement it on the fly too.

Kallahar

[astcell]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

How many people in line buy more than one badge? Most folks go to Defcon with someone. If every group sent a rep to buy all the badge for their group the line would be much shorter. Maybe for the first hour badges can be sold in blocks of five or ten to take care of the groups or the people who found four friends. Imagine 200 people in line with 2000 badges sold from it.

Or maybe have one window specifically for selling bulk badges, just like how states encourage carpooling by having a dedicated lane.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Speaking as someone who has shipped as well as carried all manner of wild shit to DEFCON (including stuff like this!) i can say the following...


1. If you have a baggage allotment with your air carrier (because you have status or some such) then by all means just fly with your stuff. Hell, if you're Star Alliance Gold you know that you get three bags at 70 lbs each all for FREE if you fly United, right?

You know your stuff is going to get there the fastest and the safest if you fly with it. (This assumes you are putting a firearm in hard-sided luggage and locking it properly... why would you fly any other way?)


2. If you cannot or will not transport things in your checked back (because of cost or because you're a weakling and can't lift them or something) then, yes, you would likely be shipping to the business office at the Rio. As people have said... it's relatively easy to deal with them (less bureaucratic in my experience than the Riv was) and they generally treat things well. Just be prepared to pay.


3. If you want to seriously save money, ship to someone who is a local or ship to a UPS Store out there somewhere. There's one on the Strip, i believe, up by the Venitian and the Mirage. Be sure you have the proper ID to claim it and ship to someone's real name, of course, if you do that.

[bluknight]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

I shipped stuff to the Rio last year and will do so again this year.

Their Web site has some good information on doing this.

Said website apparently being: http://www.caesars.com/groups-meetin...-business.html

Edit to Add: I used the shipping services to ship some excess swag back home that I didn't want to try bringing with on the plane. Between that and using them for some quick prints during Skytalks, I found the Business Services desk to be fast, professional, and proficient. Now, getting print jobs done were a tad expensive... But for handling the shipping logistics? Completely reasonable.

[DaKahuna]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

I shipped stuff to the Rio last year and will do so again this year.

Their Web site has some good information on doing this. There is a surcharge for them to handle the shipment but it seemed reasonable to me.

Interestingly enough their shipping office is between the Starbucks and the Registration desk for Defcon where all the people were lined up waiting for their badges.

[bluknight]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Careful WHERE you ship it. If you ship it to the hotel they may have a surcharge for accepting your stuff. I know that at The Riviera if you sent something there overnight it still took 2-3 days extra to find you. You may be better off finding a person driving to Defcon from nearby who has the space to take your stuff.

Point taken. I'm fortunate that I have a 'drop point' that isn't hotel dependent for stuff going inbound to Vegas, However, I'll ping a person or two that I'm pretty certain has shipped stuff to Rio, and see what the opinion is there after a year's experience.

[astcell]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Careful WHERE you ship it. If you ship it to the hotel they may have a surcharge for accepting your stuff. I know that at The Riviera if you sent something there overnight it still took 2-3 days extra to find you. You may be better off finding a person driving to Defcon from nearby who has the space to take your stuff.

[bluknight]

Re: Defcon badge line suggestions...

Nope, I'm good enough ;) I'm trying to plan stuff.

I was just wondering because if its an electronic badge, I'm going to have to explain all my electronic "tools" to the feds going through airport security....

Ship stuff -- I know there's a lot of people (contest organizers, presenters, attendees) that ship stuff so they aren't massively loaded with luggage while in transit, or have to explain materials to the Feds. Now, if you live outside of the US, you should probably do some research into shipping what amount to 'personal effects', for both the outward and inward journeys. However, at ground transport rates, if you have a lot of stuff to ship (or stuff that's sizable in bulk) you're probably better off financially to ship it rather than carry as baggage.