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Just got an email to purchase my Trade Pro badge
I got mine too. Wow, doing it BEFORE open registration.That makes sense, but I don't believe they did it that way last year.
I thought I had read that it was after Open Reg last year. Its kind of throwing me for a loop...does anyone know if I buy a trade badge will they still let me do Open Reg to buy for others? The email says I may not do Returning Reg next year but there is nothing about Open.
I can only speculate because it's a new thing having Trade Pro registration before Open Registration. But I *believe* that you can register as a Trade Pro now and add your guest later if they haven't run out. The Trade Pro badges will likely last through the deadline date but Guest badges won't. In the past, the purchased Guest badges have been available long after the window opened. It's the complimentary Creative Pro badges that are most limited.I will wait to get my Trade badge -- our results with Open Registration will determine which way we go. Guest badge would go to someone we can't get in during Open. I'm eligible for a senior discount plus I can't attend on Sunday, so I'd save real $ if I get in through the lottery.
I'm going to need a fellow pro to help me find the secret pro entrance this year. I've tried for the last three years, to no avail.
Aside from the entrance for Pro's in Sails (on Preview night and throughout the con), there is a "Professional Lounge" with water and some places to sit if you need downtime or want to charge your phone or anything (its across from Sails near Ballroom 6AB area). I've only ever stopped in the lounge for two seconds to get some water when I was waiting in line for something else though. That's about it for perks as far as I know. The "early" entrance for the show floor doesn't always guarantee you'll be that early though. Last year I lined up about six hours in advance on Preview Night and was unable to grab the thing I lined up so early for. If you just want to get in with minimal hassle, its a good option - but with the amount of people who abuse the exhibitor passes, if you truly want to be one of the first on the floor plan to lineup FAR in advance. Last year, it was a bit of a clusterf* on Th/Fr/Sa to get up to the Pro line early. The majority of the guards outside the doors wouldn't let anyone in, if you truly wanted in early you had to go around to each door and try to find the guard who understood where you were going or just luck out and get let in early somehow. I think that is a big part of what led to the Sails line being backed up all along the waterfront Friday morning.edit: the early intro on Preview Night and early entrance for the Everything Else line are the same place
This is going to sound super dumb considering I've had a pro badge for years, but where is the early entrance pro line in the sails? I spent all of last year going door to door for someone to even let me upstairs and almost no one considered my badge any different than a general attendee. One guy even said to wait in Ballroom 20 (as if that were possible).
Every security entrance is someone with a different story. Try to enter through D? "Oh you need to go through G." (Goes to G). "Have you tried E?" (head to E). "Sorry but you need to go in through D." (jumps into traffic)