"What would you do to help out a fledgling Convention?" Topic

Assume a group of your friends wanted to start up a war game convention in your local area, within 50miles. They want to start small, at a small hotel. The facility is adequate for up to 50 attendees.

1. Would you-- Donate $500 USD towards expenses?

2. Would you -- volunteer to work 8 hours gratis to help run it, haul things, work on registration tables, coordination, Run bring and Buy tables, Flea market etc.

3. Would you -- Put on games all convention to have events running and a decent program.

4. Would you -- offer your vast expertise to critique and point out where they are going wrong in their plans, and suggest improvements.

5. Would you-- After they got it going, attend and offer to write a report on TMP.

Put on games and volunteer to help out.

Show up and buy from the trade stalls. If they're happy they'll be there next year, and I know from running tournaments that is a large contributing factor for success.

I've done 2-5.

Re: Option 1 – I have thrown in a few bucks for the effort from time to time, but the size of the donation versus the size of the con troubles me.

My 40th birthday was a game day at a local fire hall and with renting the hall, feeding 50 people two meals, a cake,and some stuff to keep the younger kids entertained, it cost me less than $500. USD I don't think prices have skyrocketed that much in 11 months.

I've previously done 1, 2, 3, 4, & 1/2 of 5 (no TMP write-ups)

Today: I'd do same ($ donation would be subject to various factors – could be more, could be less)

2, 3 & 5.

2-5.

I've done 2-5 fairly regularly. if it works out Ok then 1 isn't needed

2, and 4 easily. 5 I'd probably do regardless of whether they asked if it was a fun time. As for 3, I'd certainly be willing to put on a game or two, but doing it for the whole time is probably stretching it, as I'd want to be able to enjoy the other aspects of the convention as well.

Health problems have been my limitation, but I would be happy to do 1-5 if I could do it.

Erik

I would do 3 and 5 happily.

One other option:

6.) As a vendor show up with your both even though with no more than 50 attendees there is almost no way in hell you 'll sell enough to make it worth your while.

I did this for a show. They asked me to come but told me flat out: you won't sell anything. They were right. But then they didn't charge me. I was happy to do it. Now it draws hundreds and is a darn good show.

3 and 5, In fact I am doing that this Saturday!

I have done and continue to do all of them for one of our small local game conventions (www.fmgcon.com)

Except I don't do $500 USD… that would be excessive for me (it would pay for the entire hall for the weekend)! I have provided merchandise for prizes and some cash however.

I like Extra Crispy's addition too.

I would not do a thing. Might sound horrible but it is the truth.

I would do 3, 4 and 5 to help it succed. I would not do 1 or 2 because –

1 – if it's not going to succeed without your economic help, will this become a recurring problem?

2 – if they don't have enough people interested and capable already, are they really ready?

I've done 3 and 5, but would be willing to do 2 and 4. Not 1--I just don't have that much cash hanging around.

Rob

I'd do 2 – 5, but couldn't afford 1.

I did see where someone on the East Coast did a Kickstarter for their convention, wanting $350 USD – $500 USD, or so, and got $1,350 USD+, so that is another option to consider, especially since no one is out any money unless the project goes forward.

I think it might have been for Celesticon, but not 100% sure about that.

2,3

I've done 1-3 a few times.

Bring a convention to Everett, Washington and I would do 2-5…

FOG Con is my baby. This will be it's second year, and there are about a dozen of us who are doing all five to make sure it succeeds.

I will say that every little bit helps, but probably the biggest help is people showing up and having a good time then telling others how much fun they had. The more people who show up and have fun the more the rest of the items fall into place by themselves.

Jim

All to the limit I could support it (money was tight).

3 – put on games all convention. Probably multiple runs of the same big, multi-player scenario, twice a day. With 50 or under attendees, almost everyone at the con could participate at least once -- if they were interested.

A small group of our club did all the above after a number of years talking about doing it rather then acting. The ambition paid off and Williamsburg Muster is going on it's 8th year, and Guns of August will mark it's 6th appearance this summer!

Of course we've been fortunate to have a large group of local gamers near and far to draw from, and a supporting cast of vendors most of whom started out with us, and have continued to support our efforts! Our only regret was not doing it when we started just talking about it way back when.

Dear VAGamer 63

Same with "the Weekend." We started it six years ago and it's still going strong. Lot a work by the founders though.

Otto

When a local club started back up from a short hiatus a bunch of us were roped into doing a lot of volunteering for several years. Those that were able fronted some money, with the expectation that the convention would pay them back. Everyone chipped in and worked on flyers and mailing and running events and even went as far as participating in tournaments to raise attendance. It's been a lot of years now and the convention is a success, funding itself and paying for monthly mini-conventions but it still needs loads of volunteers and I regularly run events.

Done 2-5.

Thrown more than a few bucks into 1.

Also worked at linking gaming club to local non-profit for free room space.

2,3,4.

Ask "OSchmidt" and Buck Sardu from HAWKS…HAWKS does a fun little show and from what I understand OSchmidt does a good job as well, though I've never attended his…

done #3 many many times.

will do again. i did kursk micro for 4 years.

it took my brother in the last year to accomplish as much as the germans did.

all the others were afraid to HURT the tigers> Go figure!

Otto,

Every show generates a good amount of work just to make it happen, and a good group of reliable volunteers helps spread that load around. The reward comes when once the doors are opened you look out across the room, and all the gaming tables are full of gamers having a great time! Also, when your helping a vendor pack out his stuff on Sunday they tell you what a great time they had, and how much they look forward to the next show you run!

Dear Vargamer63

Yes, I know. The secret is that money is not an important consideration in conventions, the work is and getting people to do it.

I know this from working on many conventions and running a few.

Back in the ill-fated TriaDCon, which was a convention based on the Historicon model, we tried to make it a success but the amount of work swamped the six miniature gamers who were the heart and soul of it. The Board gamers didn't do squat except complain that we had too many miniature games. This was odd because two of us, I and Mike Hillsgrove were two of the mini-gamers who were scheduled to put on games but we got caught at the registration desk all weekend handling the necessaries.

Well all that convention Mike and I did a brainstorming session to figure out how to put on a convention without requiring a huge volunteer staff.

We brought that to fruition two years later in the weekend. We decided if a function or event required volunteers then we would try and figure out how to minimize it with the least labor and attention possible, or do away with it.

Some of the things were.

1. Invitation Only. This was done NOT to be exclusionary, but because One, we started out with a small room which could handle no more than 30 people (we had 35 the first conventon). Two, By invitation only we could shove ALL the work and labor of a Registration desk to PRIOR to the convention and do it all by snail mail. Now we mail out the tickets to the people coming to the con and don't have to have someone sitting there all day. No one wanted to do this, including me, we all wanted to play games and eat, and bullthrow in the munchies pit. But even at the start "invitation only" was a sham. All you had to do was ask and you'd be sent one. Now that we have a 5,000 square foot ballroom we have more room then we know what to do with. So anyone is free to ask and come and even do walk-ups.

2.We weren't interested in making a lot of money. Our ideal is to have the take from this year's convention provide a hefty down payment on the next years. Thus, we found a hotel which gives us credits toward the rental of the ballroom for each room we take. If we get to 140 room nights (nights of rooms rented ) it's free. We're close.

3. No politics, no freebies. We have a few donors who are standing behind us with ready cash if we have a problem, but so far haven't had that.

4. If someone wanted to do something at The Weekend, we were all for it. But the person who wanted it had to do it. Thus we have had suggestions we have all sorts of tournaments. This we found was a HUGE drain on time and money which never panned out, and so if you want it fine. You organize it.

5. We wanted to put the effort in the best possible place. Thus, we only have newsletters of a page or two telling what games we are planning or have singed up for this year. We put the effort in the "After Action Report / Keepsake booklet" which comes out AFTER the convention and has a battle report of each and every game (naming names, showing photos, in a 48 page full color booklet). It also has articles from Saxe N'Violets, humorous articles and the like.

6. We are always experimenting. If something doesn't work, we drop it (we tried an auction year 1, didn't work, even though it Was Sunday morning after the con) dropped it. Have painting contests etc.

7. The aim of the convention, the soul of it is "friends, fellowship, gaming, food, fun, innovation, big huge games, friends, fun, food, etc" We didn't care about dealer areas, or lectures or other sententious stuff. We just wanted Games, fellowship, friends, food, fun. The original genesis came because we all went to the Big HMGS shows to see our friends and socialize but we found out we were doing little of that as everyone was so busy and spread out. This is where one of the ideas which is the best part of the Weekend came about. The Munchie Pit. First of all everyone is in the same 5,000 ft ballroom so it's easy to find your friends, and we have a munchies pit of about half a dozen huge comfy tub chairs in a cirale around "The Munchie Mound." This is a table with Soda, beer, refreshments, munchies stacked on it. It's free, donations from our attendees, and if you want to contribute just bring a case of something or some munchies (Dennis Shorthouse kindly ordered a load of Pizzas for everyone one year) and put it on the pile, or give us money and we make occasional beer and soda runs. Anything left over goes to put aside for the hotel next year. Usually we have cases of stuff left over to give you a care package when you leave.

7. Oh yeah, if you stay at the hotel the convention is free. Just walk in with your badge, or get it from the table. It you're a walk up or stay at another hotel, just find me or Andy Turlington and give us $10 USD as a suggested donation for equity and get thee to a table.

8. We added a Kick-off Dinner on the 18th because everyone liked to get together, and the Sunday after we usually have a full breakfast at the hotel (they have free full breakfasts every day with the room, and on Firday to Sunday have a cheff to make your omlettes or eggs as you wish.

9. We have contest and occasional raffles when someone donates stuff.

10. We have many dealers who come and play games, but don't drag their stuff. We're not a dealer convention because no one wants to organize it. But if you want to sell stuff you can do it on net and deliver it to people there. We do have a "Free Table" which is a table you can bring wargame stuff you don't want any more and want to find a good home for, and a Bring and Buy table, that you can just bring stuff and drop it off with a price tag to sell it. If you see something you like, take it and find the guy in the room and pay him.

As you can see the example above requires very little labor. I do almost 100% of it in the months ahead of the convention, and it's all done by convention opening so I too can do my favorite activity- meet and greet people and play games.

My point in all this is that there can be many "models" for conventions and may ways of doing things and many types of shows.They all don't have to be one type.

I occasionally get people asking me "What do you have to do to get a free room at "The Weekend." My answer is always, well, since I do 95% of the work, you'd have to do more than me, and as even I don't get a free room….

An exclusive show by invitation only would be regarded as a game day and limit vendor participation.

With my 30+ years of experience going to shows, I would certainly provide data based on questions asked.
As a vendor, in exchange for part of the table fees, I would provide new items for their flea market.
I would advertise it at other shows that I attend as well.

OSchmidt – what is the maximum number of people you would feel comfortable with attending your weekend? I noted the number of room nights mentioned as being much larger than your original 30 – 35 people.

Dear Rudy Nelson

Ummm.. did you read the post. We don't have vendors because we focus on fun, fellowship, friendship, games, and the fun of it. We welcome the persons of the vendors themselves as gamers. We want to give them a break. We are not out to make it a trade show, but a game show designed to showcase innovation and new games as well.

We've been doing this for six years.

Dear 49 Mountain

We haven't asked that question yet. We will when we get to it. We're up to 60-70 now. Not all stay at the horel. We haven't lost money yet. That's good. I guess we'd like to get up to 150 people or so.

Dear List

Please understand. "The Weekend" does not operate on the model of a mini-Historicaon. From when we first started the idea we wanted to do two things.

1.Have a venue where all our friends could socialize more.

I guess the original idea in the six founders minds was a "Wargame Weekend" at their houses where they could invite all of their friends over. The problem was none of us had houses where we could accomodate the 15 to 18 friends we wanted. We also discovered in comparing notes, that we all of us had a lot of the same friends we would invite so we hit on the idea of finding an inexpensive hotel centrally located to all pile into. The other goal was to make more friends.

2. Almost all of our friends were Big-Production Game masters, vendors, rules designers and so forth, and this would naturally spread them all across a facility and isolate them. Vendors would be vending, Game masters would be game mastering, others would be playing, and the socializing we could do would be minimal. This mean't that we had to have a facility that would allow for a big huge room, and, sadly no vender area because-- well, a lot of our friends were vendors who never got to play, and that was out. So this meant that we had to do the scheduling and the gaming a bit different and we concentrated on Quality and innovation rather than quantity. Game masters who come usually "playtest" in a dress rehearsal, their games for the big conventions and several people have brought new and almost complete game designs to the con to playtest in a on-hands way. At least five games have been introduced that way, and one guy's session turned into a cooperate game design where the attendees, almost all of the GM's and rules desingers themselves went through the rules and helped the one guy take his design from a rough first effort to a rather polished design.

The game masters have put on one-of-a-kind games which are hilarous and over the top like Mike Lorenzo's "Frederick te Great Invades Candyland." or Gary Richards' " Conquistadores of Space." I debut'd the 18th Century Campaign on tabletop (the action flowing between six tabletops and also "Honey I Sacraficed the Kids" and "Jane's Frightening Ships 1937.

Ralph Krebs puts on SAGA events, and Victorian Sci-Fi, There are huge historical Games. Bill Gray does Franco-Prussian War. etc., The emphasis is not on shopping ubt on gaming and socializing.

Not every convention has to be a clone of every other.

Count me in boys!\

My team does 1to5 and more as NJCON is on its 8th year as well. We have supported the Williamsburg Muster from the start as GMs and vendor purchases, since they supported us from the beginning as well. It is truly a Labor of love but the one year we had no vendors it almost killed our show. It took us a 2nd year to recover from our mistake. We are not in it to make money like you said, its more about the people who we have not seen in a while, who enjoy our shows and tell you every year…"you should do this more times in a year!" LOL

Like the Muster and Guns of August we have helped Charities with some of the money we have gathered. The Muster donated to Disable Vets (A Fantastic organization) We at NJCON have supported Historical site that have lost their Federal, State and Local funding. We have donated money and raises awareness for the following organizations.

Brandywine Battlefield, Bushy Run Battlefield, The Philadelphia Free Library, The Lazaretto and Olympia.

Speaking of Olympia- We will be aboard again on May 2nd for Games Day and overnight stay. All proceeds go to the Ship restoration fund.

NJCON is June 12-13th this year and we will be at the NJ Convention center in Edison NJ.

Thank you to the loyal Gamers/Friends, Game Masters/Friends, Vendors/Friends and Staff/Really good Friends that help make Tri-State Historical Education Simulations events great productions.