Taking Classes

Overview

To take classes at Convention 2024, you will use our class ticketing system, which has two phases:

• Online Advance Ticketing, in which you will request classes via the website interface;
• Online Self-Serve Ticketing, in which you can request, add, and/or drop classes after the advance ticketing process has already been run.

In the online advance ticketing, you request the classes you wish to take during the period of July 1, 1:00 pm–July 12, 1:00 pm EDT and arrange them in order of your preference; following that, classes will be assigned in a round-robin fashion based on people's choices, availability, and priority (based on registration date). Teachers and volunteers receive extra priority.

Details are below.

• Online Advance Ticketing
• Online Self-Serve Ticketing
• Priority Ticketing
• Information for Students
• Frequently Asked Questions

Online Advance Ticketing

If you have registered for Convention with classes, you will request the classes you want to take (on the days you have registered for). At the end of the class request period, classes will be assigned in a round-robin fashion. The key dates for class request/assignment are:

• June 29, 10:00 pm EDT — Preliminary class schedule posted
• July 1, 1:00 pm EDT — Final class schedule posted
• July 1, 1:00 pm–July 12, 1:00 pm EDT — Request classes
• July 12, 5:00 pm EDT — Class assignments posted

Once the class schedules have been posted, you can start looking at the class schedule for each day and making notes of what classes you would like to take.

We’ve prepared a printable document to provide advice and illustrated instructions to help you with the request selection process. The document concentrates on a step-by-step process to guide you through the actual request processing pages. In addition, we provide an annotated worksheet for those who prefer to compile a list of classes that interest them before entering their requests. (These instructions are from 2023, but classes in 2024 work the same way.)

• Printable instructions (PDF)
• Annotated worksheet (PDF)

Also, during this period, there will be a special email address for any ticketing-related questions: convention-ticketing [at] origamiusa.org.

Class Requests Period

The period July 1, 1:00 pm–July 12, 1:00 pm EDT will be devoted to processing your class requests. We'll send out an email to all registered participants when class requests open.

When requests open, you can go to Convention 2024 > My Convention > My Classes to begin entering your requests. For each day that you are registered for classes, you will select the classes you'd like to take and arrange them in order of preference. We'll use your order of preference for class assignment. You'll order all of your requests for all days together in one list. We'll try to get everyone at least one of their top picks. (In years past, everyone received one of their top-three classes, and nearly everyone received their first-choice class.)

While you can make and reorder your requests using any type of device (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop), you may find it easiest to use a laptop or desktop computer that will allow you to have multiple windows open on the screen so that you can go back and forth between your list of classes and the possibilities on the schedule. The windows you'll likely want to keep open are:

• My Classes, showing classes for the all the people you've registered;
• The individual "Request classes" pages for each person you've registered (linked from the "My Classes" page);
• Saturday Classes, the schedule for Saturday;
• Sunday Classes, the schedule for Sunday;
• Monday Classes, the schedule for Monday.

There are two ways to request classes. On the "Request classes" page, you can choose classes by typing their name into an autocomplete field and selecting each class as it matches what you type, then add it to your request list. (This is the approach described in the PDFs above.)

Alternatively, you can browse the class schedules and when you see a class you like, go to the class page and click the "Request this class" button near the bottom of the page. If you do this, make sure you visit your "Request classes" page to double-check and/or change your priority order.

Class Assignment Period

At the end of the request period, we'll close requests and make class assignments. Classes are assigned in a round-robin fashion (like the NFL draft), with each person getting one request fulfilled per round. Note that the initial order is based on your registration date: earlier registrations come earlier in the assignment in each round. Teachers and volunteers receive additional priority (see below).

Note that class assignment will take into account the days you've registered for classes (you won't be assigned classes on a day you're not registered for), your teaching (you won't be assigned to a class that conflicts with one you are teaching), and your volunteering signups (you won't be assigned to a class that conflicts with something you've signed up to volunteer for).

If for some reason you miss the online ticketing system (or you registered really late, like at the door), don't worry; there will still be some classes available for last-minute attendees and you can use the online self-serve ticketing described next. But we expect that the vast majority of Convention attendees will request and receive their classes via the online advance process.

Online Self-Serve Ticketing

If you did not sign up for classes via the online advance ticketing process or you want to make changes to your online class assignments after your classes are assigned, you can do so using the Self-Serve Ticketing process, which will open after classes have been assigned and will remain open right up until classes begin. During this time, people registered for classes can add or drop classes at will (subject to time conflicts and class size limitations).

To make any changes to your classes (either adding or dropping classes), visit your "My Classes" page (which you can find in the Convention 2024 menu at upper right). After classes have been assigned, you will see your own class schedule (and those of any other people you have registered); for each person, you will also see a box to add or remove classes, like this:

Start typing the name of the class you want to add or drop, then select the specific class from the drop-down menu that will appear. Buttons will appear to allow you to add or remove the class, if either is possible, along with an explanation of the class's current status and any conflicts.

To find classes to add, check out the daily schedule grids that are linked from the top of the "My Classes" page. Classes that have sold out are indicated by a red border on the class on the schedule grid. Refresh the class schedule page to see the latest sold-out status. There are many sources to use in preparing your class choices: the online schedule, the on-site model menu, or the printed schedules available at the Information Desk in Hospitality.

You can add or remove classes at any time, right up to the beginning of classes. If you are not going to take a class, please remove it from your schedule, so that it opens up a spot that someone else might fill. If you want to replace one class with another, remove the first class before adding the second; the system will not allow adding a class that conflicts with another class on your schedule, your own teaching, or your own volunteering.

Priority Ticketing

Priority Ticketing is designed to compensate teachers and other volunteers who have donated hours that could otherwise be used to attend classes. That means you must be volunteering or teaching:

• During class hours (10 am–12 noon, 2 pm–5 pm), and
• On a day when you are registered to attend classes.

As in years past, special priority will be given to teachers and volunteers who work during class time. Teacher/volunteer priority is taken into account during the online class assignment. Note that you must have registered to teach and must have signed up for specific volunteering time slots in order to receive priority ticketing consideration.

If you teach and/or volunteer one hour during class time on a day when you are attending with classes, you are eligible for priority consideration for three classes on any day on which you are attending with classes.

If you teach and/or volunteer two hours or more during class time on days you are attending with classes, you are eligible for priority consideration for six classes on any day on which you are attending with classes.

Please be aware of these important new deadlines for participation in priority ticketing:

• Teachers must have entered their teaching forms before the closing date for teaching form entry.
• Volunteers must have signed up for their volunteer hours before the class requests period ends.

These (and other) key dates can be seen here.

Please note that only a limited number of priority tickets for each class will be available. Teachers/volunteers requesting this priority will have their requests filled in order based on their ticketing sequence number. No class will be allowed to sell out by priority ticketing before the regular ticketing process begins, so it is important to enter many choices during online class registration.

Information for Students

Please read through the pages linked below on classroom etiquette and origami difficulty. Origami folks are, in general, a friendly and forgiving lot, but you can help keep things running smoothly by following the generally accepted norms of behavior (etiquette) and only signing up for classes at your folding level.

• Origami Classroom Etiquette
• Guidelines on Difficulty Ratings

Frequently Asked Questions