anewton@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Adele Newton) (07/18/89)
I have responded by e-mail to a couple of people who have posted questions to this news group about the mag stripes on SIGGRAPH badges. Since this has become such a hot topic and since I was co-chair of the SIGGRAPH '88 conference, I have decided to put in my two cents worth here. Here are a few facts to start out with: Everyone who registers for any portion of the SIGGRAPH conference gets exactly the same badge. That means whether you pay $0 (because you had a complimentary exhibits pass) or $945 for technical program and courses as a late non-member, you get exactly the same basic badge. What has been your pass into courses, papers and panels have been inserts. Since inserts are easily (a)lost (b) traded or (c) lent out, we decided we would try the mag stripe/badge readers in '88. This was not a decision that we made without checking things out first. The company that printed our badges had used these readers for other big conferences. Our registration chair and conference management people went to one of those conferences to make sure that the readers didn't back up lines. The conference they went to was a very large on in San Francisco at Moscone and things seemed to work out well. After much thought, we decided to try them in Atlanta. Nobody was more frustrated with the problems encountered than the '88 committee and staff. I think that it has been pointed out that biggest problem we had was that the information typed on the badges was often incorrect. As has been pointed out, SIGGRAPH '88 staff did their best to make sure that people who had paid for conference events did get in. Did we treat SIGGRAPH '88 attendees as thieves? Of course that was not the intention. Do some people cheat or try to cheat at SIGGRAPH. You bet. I was registration chair in '85 and '86. Whenever we stopped someone from getting into a event they hadn't paid for, the response was usually a grin and a remark like "Well, you can't blame me for trying"! I can't comment about future conferences' use of mag stripes and badge readers because I just don't know what their plans are. But I would like to set the record straight for SIGGRAPH '88. Our goal was to host a professional conference that was enjoyed by all. The badge readers were a disappointment, but we hope that the rest of the conference was not. Adele Newton