How to Use PaizoCon Lottery, Event Registration, and the Buddy System


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How to use PaizoCon Lottery, Event Registration, and the Buddy System

So you have your PaizoCon badge and you're looking at the Event Schedule page and wondering what to do? Hopefully the following will help and if not, please feel free to ask questions!

Table of Contents

If you have any questions or immediate concerns, post to this thread or email us at paizocon@paizo.com.

Community & Digital Content Director

Lottery Events

These events are generally small tables of highly sought after games. Generally these games have a limited number of seats available and in order to provide the fairest opportunity for attendees to register for these games, we run an event lottery. To be included in the event lottery and get your chance at these games, you need to register your lottery preferences by Monday, May 9 at 12:00 PM Pacific time.

Quote:

Instructions from the Event Schedule page

Because certain events are highly sought after, have limited seating, or both, PaizoCon uses a lottery system to distribute the number of people able to attend these events. To participate in the event lottery, rank each event from 0 to 4:

0. I don't want to attend this event.
1. This event is the lowest priority for me.
2. This event is a low priority for me.
3. This event is a priority for me.
4. This event is my highest priority.

This system is designed so that the more accurately your rankings reflect your desires, the better we will be able to serve you. You'll be happiest with the results if you spend some time considering your relative rankings, and actually use 4s, 3s, 2s, 1s, and 0s. (For example: Using only 4s would not increase your odds of attending any event—it would just decrease our ability to figure out which events you really want to attend.)

The lottery will not assign you to events that you gave a 0, and it will not assign you to events with conflicting schedules.

The lottery will assign each days events in separate rounds. We'll randomize the list of attendees and, going down the list, assign people to one of their highest-ranked available events. When we reach the bottom of the list, we'll re-randomize it and start again, continuing this process until no more assignments can be made. We'll repeat this process for each day. This process is designed to allow the greatest number of people to attend one or more events each day (although we cannot guarantee any particular event or number of events to anyone).

After the lottery has ended, you'll be able to view your events on this page, and any events that still have open seats will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Not everyone will "win" the lottery and be placed in Lottery Events. The purpose of the lottery is to make the process of signing up for these games as fair as we can. There are far more attendees than there are seats in lottery events. Depending on when your name comes up in the lottery and your preferences, you may not get into any lottery events. If this happens, keep in mind that there are still lots of open event games, seminars, and pick up games run on the fly.

Right, But How Does it Work?
If you want to know more about the lottery system here are some links to info about the buddy system and the lottery (all links stay on paizo.com):

How it works.
and how it works in plainer english
and why you can't have multiple buddies
and the buddy promise
and buddy use cases
and how the lottery works straight from the javadoc
and how it worked in 2015

The window for preference selection ends on Monday, May 9 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. We will then announce the results and open Open Registration and Event Trading on Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00 PM Pacific time.

Community & Digital Content Director

Open Registration Events

These events are generally things open seating, on-going events, or events for Pathfinder Society (except the Sunday night special).

Open Registration will begin on Wednesday, May 9 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. You cannot select Open Registration events until then.

We have posted all of our available events so that you can more accurately plan your schedule at the show. Please keep in mind that Open Registration events may fill up, and we encourage you to register for them online prior to the convention. You can find these events by selecting "Recommended" or "Not required" under the Registration section on the left side of the Event Schedule page.

Community & Digital Content Director

The Buddy System

You may request only one other PaizoCon attendee as your "buddy." You and your buddy will always be assigned to lottery events together. When you make a buddy request, your buddy will be sent an email asking them to accept your buddy request. They must accept your request before the end of the lottery selection process.

The buddy system is intended for guests who need to attend PaizoCon lottery events with another guest such as a parent and child. Because the lottery system can only place buddies in events with two or more open seats, it may limit the number of events available for two buddies to be placed in.

1. Send the Buddy request from the Event Schedule page.
2. When the Buddy gets the email showing their has been a request, the Buddy should go to their event page on their account and accept the buddy request.
3. If the request does not appear on their account page, make sure that you sent the request to the correct email address and make sure that they have a PaizoCon badge on their account.

The buddy system works for lottery events only. For open registration events both you and you buddy need to make sure to sign up for the event. Registration for open events starts on Wednesday, May 9 at 12:00 PM Pacific time.

Community & Digital Content Director

Event Trading

After the Event Lottery results are announced, you can trade your event registration with other PaizoCon attendees from the Event Schedule page. In order to do this, you need to indicate which event (or events) you'd like to offer for trade in the Event Trading section that will appear on the Event Schedule page once Open Registration and Event Trading begins on Wednesday, May 9 at 12:00 PM Pacific time.

Note that in order for a trade to go through, you need to have that given time slot open on your schedule, otherwise the system will detect it as a scheduling conflict and prevent the trade from going through.

Community & Digital Content Director

Leave a Ticket, Take a Ticket

When you arrive at PaizoCon 2016, you will receive a packet containing your badge, event tickets, and other goodies. If you cannot make an event for whatever reason, there will be a designated board at the show for leaving your event ticket for other attendees to pick up. If you missed out on a lotteried event during the online lottery/registration/trading process or missed the open registration window entirely, keep an eye on this board for a ticket.

If you are looking to join a Pathfinder Society table without pre-registering, check in with the Headquarters table in the Grand Ballroom at the show for potential open seats.

Note that accepting last-minute attendee changes is up to the discretion of the GM or person running the event. If you plan on doing a last-minute ticket trade, post to the event's thread or locate the GM/person running the event to let them know.

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