I so far really like Don's ideas, particularly about the pre-assigned
work assignments. Question: how would you prevent two people from
signing up for the same thing? Would event chairs have to deal with TWO
lists? I like the database idea, BUT now that means someone at
registration is going to have to do all this data entry. WHO wants to do
that? Repeatedly? At all the events? It seems like a lot more work for a
system that, although as outdated as the abicus, really, truly works.
I want to make it clear: I LIKE the pre-reg idea, and of course, I was
typing the above, some other ideas occurred to me, but I am not a
programmer, I don't know how to make them happen. I want this to work.
I'm just weighing all this stuff out loud, and you poor people are being
dragged along my thinking process. I'm sorry.
Anyway, despite our antiquated methods, I still maintain that SFR events
(along with AAS, NASA, and other old-fashioned clubs) are hands down 100
times more efficient than BMWCCA events, unless something has
drastically changed.
I have been to a BMWCCA event. I don't want to get into all the details,
but it just seemed like a lot of work for ONE person to make our lives
slightly, but not much more, convenient. Think about this, Don. This one
person, I believe, had stayed up until three a.m. (okay, really, really
late) handling all the data. And not only that, they didn't start the
event until around noon because of course issues, and shoot, by that
time, they could have registered 400 people by hand. Ah, shoot, Don, YOU
were there!
Again, I totally like the pre-reg idea. The question is, would it REALLY
speed up registration? That's what I'm hoping, and it's the most
important part, never mind making our lives more convenient, which is
secondary. I know at the Boondoggle, for example, each year we
were/are/will be in deep doodoo at 8:55, because our first run group
workers are STILL standing in the registration line - a complete
nightmare, making me much older than I really am. So, of course you can
see I'm all over any idea that's going to speed up registration and
improve the quality of the event. I just REALLY want it to work.
I guess I'd have to suggest that the Boondoggle NOT be the beta test
event. :)
Katie K.
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