Vendor Badge Questions!

[marii 13]

Hello! I asked support a few questions over a month ago and didn’t get a response. I had new questions that are probably easier to answer so I thought posting here would be better. 

We will be working on and off shifts for a booth our friends are running in the Dealer’s Room and are planning on getting vendor’s badges so that we can work there without any issues. However we wanted to ask and confirm a few things. 
 

1. Vendor Badges are full badges correct? So when we aren’t working are we allowed to walk around the convention with this badges like any other regular badge? Or should we purchase a normal badge too?

2. One of us working has a medical condition with her knees and last year we went to the accessibility services so she was able to use the elevator instead of the stairs and escalator. We were wondering if this is something we should do again or if vendor badges will let us use the elevator?

3.  In the event of an emergency or the booth needing us to get there ASAP to cover the booth, do we still stand in line or do we speak with the person at the head of the line to go ahead? I ask because last year there was a period of time where they refused to let anyone down the escalator and from the Marquis elevator to finally getting into the convention it took us nearly  two hours. That won’t really be helpful if we need to get to the booth. We saw some people were able to skip last year and wondered if that was why since they weren’t wearing gofer or Otakon staff clothing. We of course aren’t planning to abuse this to skip the line we just want to make sure we can get to the booth and respond in a reasonable time. 
 

Thank you so much for your time! I’m sorry this is so lengthy!

[MattTheMinion 0]

Hello:

On 4/8/2023 at 1:36 PM, marii said:

 

1. Vendor Badges are full badges correct? So when we aren’t working are we allowed to walk around the convention with this badges like any other regular badge? Or should we purchase a normal badge too?

Vendor badges are full badges for the rest of the event. You do not need to purchase another badge.

On 4/8/2023 at 1:36 PM, marii said:

2. One of us working has a medical condition with her knees and last year we went to the accessibility services so she was able to use the elevator instead of the stairs and escalator. We were wondering if this is something we should do again or if vendor badges will let us use the elevator?

Yes, your coworker should go to member accessibility to get priority access to the elevators. It will make things easier for her overall. I do not know the official answer as to whether or not vendors can use the exhibition hall elevators, but if you have the accessibility item for access then you are covered either way.

On 4/8/2023 at 1:36 PM, marii said:

3.  In the event of an emergency or the booth needing us to get there ASAP to cover the booth, do we still stand in line or do we speak with the person at the head of the line to go ahead? I ask because last year there was a period of time where they refused to let anyone down the escalator and from the Marquis elevator to finally getting into the convention it took us nearly  two hours. That won’t really be helpful if we need to get to the booth. We saw some people were able to skip last year and wondered if that was why since they weren’t wearing gofer or Otakon staff clothing. We of course aren’t planning to abuse this to skip the line we just want to make sure we can get to the booth and respond in a reasonable time. 

Yes, in a case like you suggested you should have someone talk to the Otakon staff person managing the line. 

[marii 13]

5 hours ago, MattTheMinion said:

Hello:

Vendor badges are full badges for the rest of the event. You do not need to purchase another badge.

Yes, your coworker should go to member accessibility to get priority access to the elevators. It will make things easier for her overall. I do not know the official answer as to whether or not vendors can use the exhibition hall elevators, but if you have the accessibility item for access then you are covered either way.

Yes, in a case like you suggested you should have someone talk to the Otakon staff person managing the line. 

Thank you so much for answering my questions! I'll be sure to let her know she should go to accessibility again. I had another question for Vendor badges if that's okay! Are vendor badges mailed like any other badge or are they picked up at the initial check in for vendors? (I'm not sure if that is a separate line or a regular line) The owners of the booth will be arriving before us so if badges need to be picked up in person, can they pick them up for us or do we need to grab them ourselves? Are additional badges (I know the booth comes with two) paid for at the convention or is that something done online? Sorry for all the questions, thank you so much for your time!

[MattTheMinion 0]

17 hours ago, marii said:

Are vendor badges mailed like any other badge or are they picked up at the initial check in for vendors? (I'm not sure if that is a separate line or a regular line) The owners of the booth will be arriving before us so if badges need to be picked up in person, can they pick them up for us or do we need to grab them ourselves? Are additional badges (I know the booth comes with two) paid for at the convention or is that something done online? Sorry for all the questions, thank you so much for your time!

My answer here is based on how things were done in the past. I don't know if they have changed recently.

In previous years vendor badges were handed out on site when the vendor checked in. I don't think this is going to change.
The person checking in for the booth should be able to pick up all the badges for their booth on check-in. If you know you will need more badges than what comes with the table space you can add them to your table order. However, I believe you can also purchase additional badges on site in the vendor hall. 
For more up to date answers keep sending things to the appropriate Exhibitions topic on our Contact Us page.