So I was just recently looking at the latest issue of Zymurgy online and noticed that there was a small write up about NHC in Grand Rapids. It indicated a pre-registration over time but there is a chance of not being selected to attend. Can anyone explain how this will work? Also, when would one know if one is selected to attend through this lottery system? I have never seen a conference utilize a lottery registration system.
Cheers!
The competition will be by lottery. Lottery attendance at the conference is news to me.
Perhaps you’re confused with the conference and the competition. Hope so. A lottery for the conference would alienate a lot of homebrewers.
Zymurgy most definitely mentioned that attendance will be done based on a lottery as well. This certainly has me worried.
I just checked Gary’s article and it indeed says the conference will be lottery to attend and those who don’t get in can be on the waiting list just like in the past. There are also 20% more spots available.
You preregister first, which isn’t as bad ad just doing a lottery of every member.
I haven’t read the article, yet, but this will allow everyone who wants to go a chance to pre register. There are 4000 places contracted for the conference, don’t know if they can get more in.
I think there will be good demand at GR, others think it is harder to get to, and not as many people in a short drive. This will give a count on the true demand, and be fair (remember all of those that said it was not fair that they had tok be at work and could not be on line?). People won’t give up due to a crashed web site or the conference filling up too quickly. The wait list will be there. Also don’t forget that just on this forum they were several tickets offered up by folks who had last minute conflicts - so if you have will there is a way.
My take on it is that the AHA and the GC listened to the members and made adjustments.
Limit for the competition is 6 entries.
But I wonder how pre-registrations will really allow AHA to truly measure demand since I am assuming there is not a cash/payment commitment. One could simply pre-register and then flake…putting those on the wait list into a fury trying to get there. I tend to understand the move but the amount of work for staff to manage registration with pre reg and wait lists…seems excessive and unnecessary. I worry the pre reg process will actually greatly decrease the amount of attendees who actually attend since I don’t lose anything by pre-registering. Curious to see how this works out. I hope I win the lottery! Ha.
Info leak?
It’s written in the zymurgy article
Leaked by Gary Glass. I had to read his article online to see what was being discussed.
Haven’t gotten my issue yet
I haven’t received my copy yet either, but you can view them online. The android app gives a notification when a new issue is available
Tempted but I’m old fashioned. I like reading the hard copy. Something to look forward to.
I will have to forego the Homebrewers Conference in Michigan in order to attend the ADI Conference in Seattle March 27 - April 7. No lottery necessary to participate in Seattle
Venue for NHC 2014?
I read Gary’s letter, and I understand his point: it’s difficult for many people to be available to register at an exact moment and then have the ensuing rush cause a computer crash. (It’s only through the grace of God that I got in for Philly.) I would like to toss out a request if the AHA is going to the lottery system for the conference. Could you please post the location of the next year’s conference (2015) before pre-registration? That might allow some people who are on the fence to be able to say “Next year’s conference is in my back yard. I’ll go in 2015” or “I’ll never be able to go to (fill in blank). I have to try for GR in 2014.”
I think lottery systems for the competition and NHC tix are reasonable solutions to a difficult situation.
A few more details (and questions) from the zymurgy article:
Judges and stewards in the 2013 NHC competition have a guaranteed “opportunity to submit entries” in 2014. (Does this mean an opportunity to submit 6 entries?)
AHA Members get “pre-registration option” for the conference - I’m guessing this would be pre-registration for a lottery? Is there a separate lottery for AHA members?
Do judges and stewards in the competition get priority registration for the conference?
From the rumors I heard the volunteers get 2 guaranteed entries and the rest is lottery.
+1
Also seems like they listened to the requests for guaranteed entries for volunteers.