1.  When is Arisia?

    January 16th - 19th, 2009.  The convention starts Friday afternoon, and will finish Monday afternoon.

2.  Where is Arisia?

    The Hyatt Regency Cambridge at

3.  If I have questions, who do I talk to?

    Your Dealers Liaisons this year are Amy Chused and Ed Trachtenberg.  The best way to reach both of us is to send e-mail to dealers@arisia.org [1].

4.  Is there a Dealers Room this year?

    NO.  There is no Dealers Room.  All dealers will be in the Dealers Row on the 3rd floor of the hotel.  If this is a deal-breaker for you, we are very sorry.  However, due to the limited function space in this hotel, there is no good place to hold a large number of dealers.

5.  What are those special circumstances mentioned in the invite letter?

The hotel has changed their mind. They are NOT renovating the Hyatt during Arisia '09.

Hotel guest rooms for vending may be rented at the standard rate of $123 per night (plus tax). If you let us know before December, the Hyatt will remove furniture from your hotel room for a $25 fee..

6.  May I share a room with another vendor?

    Absolutely.  Discuss it with them ahead of time.  You will need to mention them on your application form and they will need to mention you on their application form.

7.  What kinds of signs may I post?

    Around the door to your room, you may post whatever signs you think would be most eye-catching, with the following restrictions:

• Handicapped access and fire safety requires that your signs do not extend more than 6" from the walls.
• The only sticky supplies you may use are Post-It Notes, Post-It Note glue sticks, and (blue) painters tape.  Please do not use regular tape, masking tape, poster gum or staple guns when putting up signs.
• Child-safe  (Both unlikely to poke out an eye, and also safe to be seen by immature minds).
  

    Please, post hours so that folks walking down the hall can determine when they can come back and have a good chance of finding you open.

    If you have been to Arisia in the last two years, you are aware of the central open atrium with a railing.  We will have some number of dealers signs hanging on the far side of the railing.  If you are interested in having your sign be one of them, please indicate the width of the sign in your application form so we can estimate whether we will have enough railing space, or whether the last requests will have to be told "sorry, out of space".  Only light-weight professional appearing signs are allowed -- nothing that needs power, looks bedraggled or weighs a ton.   Signs may not extend beyond the ceiling below.  Indicating that you want to hang a sign does not guarantee that you will be given space to hang it.  Sign space will be made available at the Dealers Liaisons' discretion; dealers will be notified by November whether there will be room for their sign.

8.  What is the process for me to vend at Arisia?

1. Please fill out the application form, including an agreement to pay all applicable associated fees to both Arisia and the hotel, and to abide by Arisia Rules and Regulations.  Please feel free to forward the links to the Dealers' FAQ and the Dealers' Application Form to any colleagues that you think would also enjoy vending at Arisia.
2. Receive confirmation that we have allocated space for you.  Do NOT proceed to step 3 (Payment) UNTIL you have received this confirmation.
3. Payment:
   
   1. Pay your $100 dealers fee either via paypal using this link: /PayDealers [2] or via check (made out to Arisia 2009, and mailed to Arisia Dealers, PO Box 391596, Cambridge MA 02139).
      
   2. Purchase your needed memberships at .
4. Confirmation:
1. Receive confirmation from Arisia Dealers Liaisons that we have received your dealers fee.
2. Receive confirmation from Arisia Registration that they have processed your membership registrations.
5. Hotel:
1. Once we have received your Arisia Dealers Fee, we will provide instructions on how to make a hotel room reservation on Dealers Row. Any non-dealers row hotel reservations you desire should be made through Arisia Hotel Info [3]. If you attempt to make a hotel reservation for the weekend directly with the Hyatt, you will be told that they are sold out. This is because we have reserved ALL the rooms for Arisia.
2. Once each dealer has forwarded their hotel confirmation numbers to dealers@arisia.org [4], we will confirm with you that we have moved your reservation into the dealers block.

9.  How much is dealing at Arisia going to cost me?

• $100 vending fee per room, paid to Arisia.  If you are sharing a room with another vendor, you will need to decide how that cost will be split. The vending fee does not include memberships.
• A membership fee for each person who will be with you, paid to Arisia (/reg-info [5]). This applies to all workers, helpers, children, etc. regardless of whether or not they plan to attend any other Arisia events. We have the whole hotel and there is a strictly enforced limit on the number of people we can have in the hotel at any given time. This membership fee goes up the closer we get to the convention, so the sooner you know you are vending, the sooner you can purchase your memberships.  The next price increase will be on September 30th.  All memberships will need to be purchased through Arisia registration.  (If you have local folk coming to help with set up or break down who are not staying to work or attend the convention please let Amy and Ed know ahead of time so that they can make arrangements so that your short-term helpers are not turned away at the door.)
• $123/night (plus tax) for a room on Dealers Row, paid to the hotel. You can sleep in your vending room, or you can get a second room for sleeping.
• Your cost for getting you and your stuff to and from Arisia, including tips for hotel staff who move your stuff and parking fees.
• Your cost for food, and for any other items that you want to purchase at Arisia, especially from your fellow vendors.
• Any damage deposits that the hotel requires.  (Historically, none, but we do not guarantee this.)
• If you are interested in purchasing an ad in Arisia's Souvenir Book, contact ads@arisia.org [6].

10.  My vehicle will not fit in the Hyatt Parking Garage.  Where do I go to load/unload, and where do I park?

• To unload, pull up in front of the hotel, unload your stuff, delegate someone to watch your stuff, and go move your vehicle (do not park in the handicap or bus spaces in front of the hotel (no matter what the hotel staff tells you))..
• This question of where to park will be answered later when the answer is clear.  At this time, if you arrive Friday afternoon after 5pm, the info desk will have information for you.  If you arrive before 5pm on Friday afternoon, you will need to find your Dealers Liaison to get this information.  When we have better information, we will let you know, ideally prior to the convention.
• If you're driving a vehicle that won't fit in the garage, please read our truck route directions [7].
  

11.  When I get to Arisia, what procedure should I follow?

        In no particular order, you will need to:

• Unload and then park your car (parking in the garge is $7 per day).
• Check in at the registration desk and pick up your badges.  One person may pick up the badges for the entire group.
• Check in at the hotel desk and get your hotel keys.
• Find your Dealers Liaison, let us know you are here, get answers to any burning dealers liaison questions, and collect your dealers ribbons.

12.  Why are you asking ....

• Membership information, if you aren't selling us our memberships?
  • So that we can estimate how many Dealers Ribbons we need, and so that we can check the names you give against our registration database to make sure you registered (we expect to sell out the convention, so it's best to make sure you buy your memberships early).  
    
• Whether we will be open for vending on Monday?
  • This is a four day convention, and we do not want Dealers Row looking deserted on Monday morning.  Therefore, dealers who plan to pack up Sunday, or early Monday will be placed away from the center of the hotel, so that their absence on Monday is less immediately visible.
• For us both to check off what we sell and describe what we sell?
  • We will be trying an experiment with icons placed into a Dealers Row map to illustrate what is sold where.  The things you check off will determine what icons go in your room on the map.  If you only check one or two things, you will look like a specialty shop, with great depth in a small area.  If you check off multiple things, you will look more like a general store. 
  • The description will be used for deciding between applications if we have more applications than spots e.g . "Both of these folks checked Jewelry, but this one has a cooler description, so they're in.", and in a modified shortened form, if we have space in the program book, as a short description below your vendor name. 
  • In addition, the description and the check boxes will be used so we can avoid putting similar dealers next to each other (except for dealers selling adult items).
    

13.  What are the layout and dimensions of the rooms?

    The main part of the hotel guest room is about 13'x16'.  The layout may vary slightly if you are assigned to a room with a handicapped bathroom.  Those rooms have slightly larger bathrooms and slightly smaller main rooms.  Here is a link to a diagram of a typical room. [8]

14.  What laws and rules do I need to be concerned about?

• You are responsible for observing copyright and tax laws
  
• If you are an out-of-state vendor you should read: A Guide to Sales and Use Taxes [9] (you'll need Adobe Acrobat [10] to read it). For more information on Massachusetts taxes, see the Department of Revenue web site [11] or call: (617) 887-MDOR (or in state: (800) 392-6089).
• To find out what weapons are not legal to carry in Massachusetts see (search for paragraph (b) in the middle). Basically if it is more dangerous than a Koosh Ball(tm), then it's probably illegal. Some of the things banned by the state are: any knife having a double-edged blade, dirk knife, any armband made with leather which has metallic spikes, nunchaku, ....
• The hotel contract says that bumper stickers and any other sort of sticker may not be distributed at the convention, so no free stickers advertising your business.
  

15.  Where is the Dealers Application Form?

The URL is: /DealerForm [12]