Exhibitors badges vs regular attendee badges?

[klmeyer93]

Hi all,

So, a coworker of mine who usually exhibits at comic con can not go this year, and is offering to buy badges in my name - CCI would send the confirmation to me.

As some of you may know, I am waiting to hear back from CCI about my badges, as the forum member who was buying my badges ran into a technical error on CCI's part.

I was wondering, what do exhibitor badges entail? I know that the hasbro booth doesn't sell to exhibitors, but are there any other restrictions? Can they go to panels/buy from other booths? If I don't set up a table/claim a space, would the badges be flagged/cancelled?

This would be a great day to fill in the rest of the days, or a fallback if CCI doesn't follow through. But I don't know anything about how their badges work, or what the risks are.

Thanks for any feedback! Won't do anything until I have more information.

EDIT: I did not end up getting these badges, and am again waiting on CCI. They should have a final answer for me this or next week!

[Trev]

I think exhibitor badges can't buy exclusives on preview night but are allowed in early and can stay late. Otherwise they work exactly like attendee badges.

Most important thing now is that they wouldn't be eligible for pre reg next year.

[Vapors]

I also thought there was a rule they can't buy exclusives early on each of the days too.  But they can later on when the attendees have their first chance.

As for being flagged, I don't think there is a rule about a person having to man a table or booth.  It's up to the booth if they want to use a badge on someone who won't be helping them during the con.

[klmeyer93]

Thanks for the responses!

One more clarification: these are exhibitors GUEST badges, so does that still apply to the restrictions set by the booths?

[Trev]

Thanks for the responses!

One more clarification: these are exhibitors GUEST badges, so does that still apply to the restrictions set by the booths?

I don't think so. The point was to minimize dealers buying up exclusives and then reselling them during the show.

[klmeyer93]

I think exhibitor badges can't buy exclusives on preview night but are allowed in early and can stay late. Otherwise they work exactly like attendee badges.

Most important thing now is that they wouldn't be eligible for pre reg next year.

How early are they let in, and can you just walk in and out with an exhibitor guest badge before regular attendees are let in? That would definitely be interesting for Preview Night..

Also, anyone know where the badges would be picked up? Is it the same line as everyone else, or will my coworker have to pick them up and give them to me?

Clearly I haven't asked him a whole lot of questions yet.. I'll find out what he knows when I go back to work!

[Vapors]

Not sure how early they let them in but remember that Exhibitors do have to prep the booths and get stock ready. So on Preview Night, I have to think they are in there several hours early, maybe since the early morning.

During the other days, I'm guessing maybe an hour or two.  If you do get the badge, I would take advantage of it and go in as early as you can (even if you can't do things like get exclusives early) since this is an aspect of Comic Con few normal attendees get to see.

[theresamather]

Exhibitor guest badges could mean attendee badges since we're given a small allocation on top of the number of exhibitor badges that come with the amount of space that is purchased. If your exhibitor friend is getting you one of those, they are regular attendee badges. If he has cancelled his space because he can't attend, normally his badge allocation would also be cancelled. To claim the allocation, the exhibitor has to have paid for the space, submitted a signed statement ackowledging the adult materials policy and have a valid state BOE permit. You can't even register for the badges without having done this. Exhibitor badges are picked up at the time the exhibitor checks in or can be left in exhibitor reg for the helpers to pick up as they arrive.

If I need to work the people who I have bought attendee badges for during the hours that are closed to attendees, I can get a "load in" sticker for them that shows security that I'm using them for help, otherwise, they'll get thrown out. The people that I buy attendee badges for are usually my mules who I need during load out. Since the elevators and stairs all get backed up during tear down, this usually involves lifting stuff and standing around and dragging stuff through the parking garage so it can be "Tetrissed" into my vehicle. It's usually really busy right before Preview Night opens as everyone scrambles to get everything done and get the aisles cleared so the con can open. They chastise people over the loudspeaker if they try to line up for stuff before opening. I have heard that they don't allow lines to form before the opening but I'm always busy around that time in my own booth so I wouldn't have seen it happening in any case.

Exhibitor reg has not happened yet, just for the record.

[conventiongeek]

When is exhibitor registration?

[Bert Su]

Exhibitor badges are better because they can be at SDCC every year until they give up the booth. Attendees have to get badge by being on the computer at the right time during pre reg, open reg and refunded badge sales.

[theresamather]

Conventiongeek- according to an email I have, exhibitor registration will be in late May.

Bert Su- yeah, I get my badge every year but I'm too busy to do anything but work when I'm at Comic Con. I used to be able to slip away for panels when you could still walk in to many of them without waiting in line.....not any more.  :/

[Bert Su]

Conventiongeek- according to an email I have, exhibitor registration will be in late May.

Bert Su- yeah, I get my badge every year but I'm too busy to do anything but work when I'm at Comic Con. I used to be able to slip away for panels when you could still walk in to many of them without waiting in line.....not any more.  :/

Why not have someone else watch the booth if you're an exhibitor. My buddy, Thomas Ly runs Toy Arena and he always flakes away from his booth. Probably because he doesn't like to stand in one place for too long

[theresamather]

Since it's my artwork being sold, people usually want me to sign it or meet me so I can't really be gone for very long, plus between my husband and I we know a ton of people at the con so if his friends show up to start chatting away, I need to be there to direct them away from being in front of my stuff so customers can still buy it or to handle customers, and vice versa. I make about 10% of my annual income many years at Comic Con so it has become too important to me financially to play around much any more. When I could get away and just slip into a panel a few years ago it was different, but it's too much time away involved now. I don't even look at the schedule any more, I know there are things I would like to see, but as I say, I have to stay focused on business. I use my helpers at times too, for meal times and bathroom breaks and load in/ load out but if I'm not there someone will inevitably come by wanting me to sign something, talk about doing other work, etc.

[Bert Su]

I see