Alright folks, let me tell you about signing up for JCK Las Vegas 2024. This year, man, I was determined not to be scrambling last minute like last year. Almost missed the early bird discount back then, pure chaos. Lesson learned.
Heard It Through the Grapevine
First thing, saw chatter online – Twitter, some forum – that registration opened earlier than expected. Not even officially announced yet. Classic JCK, keeps you on your toes. Figured, gotta jump on this ASAP before the servers get slammed.
Hunting Down The Portal
Opened my trusty browser, went straight to the usual JCK website address. Searched around… nothing obvious. No big “REGISTER NOW” banner. Checked the News section, Events page… zilch. Started feeling that familiar panic twinge.
Then I remembered: last year, they had a separate microsite for registration. Dug into my bookmarks. Found it! But… dead link. Brilliant. Back to square one. Finally stumbled upon a tiny link buried in a News post update. There it was – the official 2024 Registration Portal. Felt like finding treasure.
Filling Out The Forms
Clicked through. Standard stuff first:
- Personal Deets: Name, company, job title. Easy.
- Contact Info: Email, phone. Double-checked email. Can’t mess this up.
- Company Details: Address, website (just the name, don’t need the full link). Had to look up our official mailing address, always forget it.
Then came the badges. Needed three badges – me and two colleagues. Had to type in their full names, emails, and job titles. Pro tip: Get this info BEFORE you start! Wasted 5 minutes hunting down one guy’s preferred email.
The Sneaky Payment Part
Here’s where things slowed down. Selected the badge types. Saw the price jump for non-exhibitors – ouch! But okay, budgeted for it.
Clicked “Proceed to Payment”. Got redirected to their secure gateway. Filled in the credit card info: number, expiry, CVV. Hit submit…
ERROR. Heart sank. Just said “Payment Processing Failed”. No reason. Tried again. Same thing. Felt sweat starting.
Took a deep breath. Checked my card details. Typed in the CVV super slowly. Hit submit one more time. Spinner spun… kept spinning… felt like forever.
Then – green check mark! And the glorious words: “Registration Confirmed“. Huge sigh of relief. Screenshotted that page instantly. Learned that lesson too.
The Final Stretch: Confirmations and Calendars
Received the auto-email confirmation pretty much right away. Forwarded that bad boy to the two colleagues so they’d have their badge info too.
Immediately blocked off the JCK dates in my work calendar. Put “FLIGHTS & HOTEL BOOKING!!!” as a reminder for next week. Gotta tackle that beast soon.
Honestly? Whole thing took maybe 20 minutes, not counting the payment hiccup meltdown. The key is acting fast once word leaks and having all your info ready to paste. Don’t be last year me!
