Yeah, I did think arm bands, but still...it's paranoia about revealin' those precious techniques or giving out inside information.  And I thought those smartcards were supposed to take care of all that.  Oh. well. 

Anyway, the last program I went to was Montreal 1999 and the premies had yelled and bitched at me so much, because I was still standing in line, unregistered and late, (when I had pre-registered but never go my confirmation and they had no record of it) that I never did pay.  The program was about to begin, his holiness was in the building, so they just yelled at me, "Go in there quickly, sit down, and make sure you pay us on the way out!"

That was before smartcards though.

I left with my money in my pocket and that was that.  It was very shortly after that I left for good.  He was the one that ultimately pushed me out of the door, not premies at all.