New Information Inbound!

Below is a copy of the old registration wiki pre-2018. With some renewed efforts, our registration team will be rebuilding this wiki in time for VF 2026. Please contact @Hunny (the lead), @Sasha (me) or @Kowoto (the second in charge) for comments, suggestions or even access to this wiki.

Stay tuned!

SashaAleyev (talk) 11:16, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

Previous Wiki:

Basic Department Description

Register members for the event, and monitor ongoing registration through the year. Monitor the registration email and answer reg related questions and emails that come in. Physically run at con registration providing members with their badges and other reg materials.

What skills are handy for those in this position?

management /supervisor experience recommended, cashier and money handling experience. Proficient with computer use and Convention Master tools. Organizational skills and good time management. Being friendly with a good customer service attitude. Decent problem solving and troubleshooting skills.

What is your staff email?

[email protected] & [email protected] (These are the forward facing “job” emails that get posted to the public and forward emails to your personal VF email. Your personal VF email is what you log in to and use to read and respond to emails.)

Yearly Responsibilities

What do you need to do during the year for your department to function before con?

Monitor the department email and respond to any questions or concerns that come in. Keep an eye on reg numbers and coordinate with other departments as needed. Coordinate with other staff to establish the timeline for registration price jumps and dates.

Are there things you need to order during the year?

Yes, Lanyards, badge holders, and any other registrations specific materials, coordinate with other staff on badge insert art and ideally order the printing.

Do you need a function space map created for your department?

Not needed, but good to have and idea of the setup needed.

What do you need to do during the year to function AT CON?

Order any needed supplies for running registration. Have a game plan for the needed tech setup for printers and laptops, pull together your volunteer staff team as much as possible and schedule their shifts in advance.

How many volunteers do you need to function well AT CON? (make sure everyone has proper breaks in their at con schedule!)

Pool of 15 - 20 volunteers to staff registration shifts, Seven minimum needed during peak reg times. Can reduce team down to three when needed.

What equipment do you need to function well AT CON?

Reg laptops, label printers, kiosk laptops, kiosk printers, podium, podium laptop, network cables, extension cords, powerbars, cable snake

What staff will you be working with AT CON?

Chair, vice chair, ops, volunteer coordinator, hotel liaison, security, con store lead, dealers lead, GoH lead

Make a note of which updates/prompts should be sent to Social Media. (Remember, they can send out notices for more volunteers, due date reminders, opening dates, etc!)

Price jumps, reminders to register, perks of sponsor and patron membership, volunteer staff requests and related perks, reg closing dates and times, at con registration times, reg prices,

Your Department on the Website/in the Conbook

Do you need a website/conbook page/blurb for your department/event? What information do you need on this page/blurb? Do you need to provide a layout design?

YES! We need dates, times and prices for each stage of registration, details on what is needed to register like “CASH ONLY”, ID requirements, etc, registration location, contact info for questions, perks for each membership category, providing a layout design might be handy if you want certain information in a certain order.

Make sure to have someone look over the information before sending it to the respective lead.
Send it to the respective lead.
Make sure to test the contact page (website) that the form sends an email to you.
Make sure that your email is listed on the contact page (website) outside of the form.
If you have any future updates, make sure to send them to the Web Lead!
If you spot any mistakes in your blurb for the conbook, make sure to contact them ASAP about it!

6 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

Add in items your department should have completed by this time and items to finish ASAP.

No much, just keep an eye on the email and reg numbers and keeping in touch with confirmed volunteers.

3 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

Do you have enough volunteers?

Definitely follow up with volunteer team and the at con staff schedule.

Add in items your department should have completed by this time and items to finish ASAP.

Lanyards and badge holders should be ordered now. Special colour requests need as much advance time as is reasonable.

You should start building a schedule for your team. (Use the Master Schedule for the year! Programming lead sets this up every year and it houses our event schedule as well as the work/team schedules for at con departments.)

1 Month before con, what do you need to have done?

Send in your BEO's to Hotel Lead. (Banquet Event/Equipment Order. This is what the hotel needs to set up for your room if applicable. Tables, chairs, etc. You also need a layout of how the room is to be put together with those items.)
Make sure to contact Logistics to get any equipment from the VF storage locker to the hotel for your use.
Make sure to contact IT to organize when your equipment and Tech needs can be setup in your department area.
Send in any needed information to the Conbook for print.
Add in anything else your department needs!

Volunteer schedule should be mostly nailed down, definitely have a team lead in place for each day so you are not in reg for 12 hours everyday.

After the Convention/Before the Firing Party

Make sure all your volunteers (and yourself) got inputted into the system for their hours.
Update your guide with any new/relevant information/changes.
A staff feedback survey will be emailed out and sent into the staff chats. Please fill this out ASAP!
Make any staffing suggestions to the next years' chair. (If you want to work again, staff who excelled and where, etc.)
If VancouFur owes you money for department spending, PLEASE PLEASE send your reciepts to [email protected] & [email protected] and then fill out [[1]] ^[[[a]]]

Break down of contacts

Who on staff do you need to be in contact with regularly for your department to function?

Volunteer lead, Events Executive

Do you have contacts outside of VF staff that you should be in contact with?

Local printing company willing to print high quality at a steep discount for the con, and lanyard and badgeholder order contacts

Department Inventory and Ordering Resources

list who you have ordered products from (if any) and be sure to list price/currency/quantity and if there was a representative you were in contact with, please list their name.

List to be updated

what remaining inventory you have from this year. (please also write in things you are unsure about! Just make sure it is clear that you are unsure)

Inventory gets used by Bronycan staff, numbers unknown. Need to consider coordinating with other event to keep better stock of inventory.

List possible ordering alternatives for future years if any.
General feedback/tips for future staff when ordering products (sizing, how much the order vs how many expected attendees, etc)

Do's and Don'ts of the Department

What worked well/Would suggest doing again?

Being organised, getting help from IT for networking the room, the room layout worked very well for managing flow of people, cash only worked out well for keeping things simple and fast (but got lots of complaints), pre bag stuffing always good, making members fill out their own info at the kiosk saves staff time,

What didn't work/would suggest to avoid?

Major shortage of volunteers (three people put in over 40+ hours each), more staff needed for next year to spread out work evenly, conflicts with reg times and major con events where reg was completely dead and did not need to be open, problems getting the room locked and opened when needed, need more kiosks open at the end of con to handle pre-registration for next year, no real policy around replacing peoples badges (consider a badge replacement fee or registering again, rules need to be posted!)

Get an IT savvy person on staff.

What would you suggest to be done for the future years of your department that aren't already in motion?

Consider electronic payment options for at the con. Rent an ATM machine for registration room just for reg? Need better control over opening and closing the room (having a key if possible), coordinating with art departments that produce material related to registration like the pocket guides, badge inserts, etc. Consider axing or reducing the pocket schedules and instead posting schedule boards around the con.

Other Resources

Add whatever extras you feel are good tips, tricks, resources, contacts, etc for the future years!
List any other websites the dept staff may need (for example, Social Media needs a list of all the places that vancoufur has access to or an account on to run social media and who to ask for password resets for if a new person takes over the job in the future.
Resources for how you organized your time, any apps that were helpful to you, etc.
Advice on how to work with certain companies if they prove to be difficult. (Some companies we order from, it is best to contact a rep directly instead of doing a straight up online order. )

Registration

Contents