KNaNO Frequently Asked Questions
KNaNO Frequently Asked Questions
No, you can start your registration anytime, whether you're new or a returning guest.
No, though we do allow returning guests to sponsor first-timers.
Not if it's your first KNaNO. If you've been before, then yes you can, though every guest still needs to be registered separately. You can either:
The former path is easy, but has the disadvantage of binding their registration to your email address. If they later attempt to register themselves directly, they'll appear to be a new guest (and will require confirmation at that time).
The hosts allow returning guests who are in good standing with the party to sponsor a small number of new-to-KNaNO guests at each event, to whom they act as hosts.
More fully, a sponsor's duties include:
Sponsors are encouraged to arrive together with their guests and not leave them "stranded" or unsupervised for too long during their first event. Please make a point of introducing your sponsored guests to the hosts!
Once you're registered and are pending confirmation, go find someone in our community (generally a partner or friend you've made) who:
Please note that it is rude to spam friends and known guests with requests to be sponsored. It's a big responsibility so please be judicious with your requests!
If you're coming to the current event and are willing to sponsor a guest, please email registration@knano.org a note indicating:
Please note that sponsoring is a privilege, not a right. Choose wisely!
No, registrations are non-transferable as they are tied to a unique email address and handle combination.
Also, letting us know in advance gives us a chance to give your spot to someone on the waitlist.
Registrations are non-transferable as they are tied to a unique email address and handle combination.
If registration is still open, you should be able to bring them as your guest.
Letting us know that your guest has cancelled lets us offer that spot to the next person on the waitlist.
Sure, come out and meet a host.
Please respect our process and policies, they are the way the are for a reason. If you nevertheless feel like you deserve special treatment, feel free to reach out with your compelling argument.
It's not about who you know, it's about us knowing you. We have a new-guest process for a reason, please follow it.
Yes, but you'll need to prove you are who you claim to be, rather than someone stealing your identity.
If you still have your confirmation number or code from a previous event, please send a note to registration@knano.org including the approximate date of that party, the email address you used to use and your confirmation number or code.
If you don't have that anymore, you can either meet a host (so we can confirm you are the person you're claiming to be) or come as someone's guest.
Open the link we emailed you when you pre-registered.
Each invite key can only be used once and they expire if not used within a few days.
If your link has expired, you can request a new one by starting another registration.
Otherwise, it probably means you're attempting to register twice, either by accident (like from a doubled click or because you didn't realize you were already registered) or because you're trying to add a guest.
Pretty much! We tend to close our registration system a week or two ahead of the party, or if we sell out of spots early. We will also sometimes temporarily close registration if we're experiencing system errors.
You can send a note to registration@knano.org to try getting on the waitlist.
Note that we've had consistently inconsistent issues with our system's ability to send emails to Outlook, Hotmail, Live, or Yahoo email addresesses (messages are sometimes silently discarded). For best results, please consider using a different email address to register.
[topics]Reissue your confirmation email.
We're sorry to hear that but we get it: life happens!
If you have a minute, please send a quick note to registration@knano.org to let us know you can't make it after all. If there's sufficient time left before the party and we have a waitlist, we'll give your spot(s) to someone on it.
Put simply, it's matching a real person's face to the email and handle and managing expectations.
We want our guests to arrive with a reasonable picture of what a KNaNO party consists of, and what is expected of them in turn. To that end, the KNaNO hosts provide an orientation followed with some Q&A wherein you get to know us and we get to know you ... at least a little bit. These are typically held off to the side at a munch, though we can sometimes accommodate a virtual session if pre-party travel is impractical.
Guests who are being sponsored are expected to get this orientation from their sponsor.
Once you've been confirmed (either by meeting with a host or when your sponsorship is accepted), you'll receive a confirmation email.
Assuming you've checked your spam folder and searched for emails from "registration@knano.org" to no avail, you can reissue your confirmation email here.
We're sure you did, but we also meet a lot of people! Please send us a note detailing where, when and you you met, the name or handle you used at the time, and something memorable that will help us recall who you are.
The most common reason for our system to "forget" a returning guest is because they've changed their email address. If this is you, include your previous address and confirmation code (and the rough date of the event it was for) in the Notes box when you register so we can cross-check that it's still you. If you've already registered, you can send that same information via email.
The second most common reason for not appearing in our system is that the last KNaNO you were at predates the current organizers' tenure. In that case, come out and meet the new hosts!
Come out to the EhBC Munch (held on the first Wednesday of each month), where you'll be almost certain to find at least one of the KNaNO organizers.
We're also regularly found at the K/W Poly Munch, the K/W Rope Social and sometime at the Guelph or other local munches and events. You can contact registration@knano.org if you'd like to confirm that a KNaNO host will be at a given event.
The KNaNO organizers are unpaid volunteers who process registrations, payments and emails in intermittent batches. We most likely have not forgotten about you: we're just slow and dealing with a lot of things in parallel. Thanks for your patience!
It's your one-stop shop for party details!
Once your registration has been confirmed, you'll receive an email containing:
Note that confirmation emails are only valid for the current event. You'll need to register again for future parties (though the process is simpler if you're a returning guest).
See the "I've lost my old email" entry.
KNaNO depends on volunteers for a variety of roles:
Over fifty of our guests help each and every KNaNO, enabling a great party for themselves and for all of the other guests. We very, very much appreciate and depend on help from the community!
If you are new to KNaNO, helping with Setup is a great way to meet a much smaller group of people and ensure you will know a bit about what is going on during the party. Strike, at the end of the party, is always the most difficult to find help for (and hence why all such offers are so deeply appreciated!) and is a great way to give back after a night of fun. Both of these roles need no training.
KNaNO's DMs (Dungeon Monitors) are a part of the DMzRUs group. They have attended an afternoon training session and have had at least three previous training shifts. We always need more DMs but if you have not done the training that will need to be your first step. See this FetLife group for details.
Our Door and Equipment Table volunteers often find themselves quite busy during peak hours, so we tend to place more-experienced people in those roles, pairing them with newer folk until the latter develop a feel for how things work. These folks also need a calm demeanor and some ability to thrive under pressure, since they regularly face problems. Whether it's a hundred people trying to enter all at once, with varying amounts of preparedness (remember your codes, folks!) or being the only thing standing between a full queue of players and the empty equipment stations they want to get to play on, these are good places to both meet a lot of people and to help find ways to make the party even better for everyone.
Definitely not! We aim to ask no more than one hour of any guest's time during the party, with Setup and Strike sometimes lasting up to 90 minutes. Chief DM shifts can also run longer as we want them to have context. No matter how much you sign up for at registration, in ordinary circumstances we'll only give you at most one shift.
Yes! Our current policy is to grant complimentary admission to guests who actively volunteered an hour of their time at the previous KNaNO.
Editorial: While this approach has greatly simplified our accounting over the years, it penalizes volunteers who cannot make the very next event for whatever reason. We're working towards an update that will make complimentary-admission credits earned from volunteering last a year or so.
When registering for an event, you will eventually reach the main Registration page, where you will be presented with a set of checkboxes. Click the ones you're interested in and our Volunteer Coordinator will reach out to you with roster assignments.
It sure is! The Registration page with the role checkboxes also has a "More info about my volunteering" text box that you can add a note to with your particular constraints or preferences. Examples could include "later shift, please", "I can't lift my arms over my head", "please pair me with my partner/friend/sponsored guest, X".
A week or two before KNaNO you will get an email with your planned shift and instructions for your role, if one was assigned, or our sincere gratitude for offering if not!
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