"Design Your Own Gaming Convention: What Would You Do?" Topic
20 Posts
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47Ronin | 15 Aug 2015 1:48 p.m. PST |
Rather than add to the existing discussions regarding certain conventions and their locations, past, present and future, here is an opportunity to discuss starting a convention from scratch. What would you do? You may presume a reasonable level of financial backing, whether from a well off relative or similar source. Maybe Mark Cuban or one of the other Sharks likes gaming? Be careful, as good suggestions may find their way into a real world convention. Let the games begin. |
Extra Crispy | 15 Aug 2015 2:07 p.m. PST |
Find a location with decent lighting and sound. One that is free from smells, mold and general gunge. Make sure decent food (Panera or better) is available on site or a short walk away. Better yet sell space to food vendors to offset costs. Invite GMs who put on great looking games. No felt cut outs, masking tape roads, or shoeboxes covered in construction paper labeled "Church." Convenient to planes and trains, preferably public trans as well, and not too far off a major highway. |
Ed Mohrmann | 15 Aug 2015 2:13 p.m. PST |
Put together a *reliable* staff Develop and *stick to* a budget Advertise, advertise, advertise Cultivate GOOD GM's Decide upon and *stick to* a con 'type' (all; BG; RPG; Mini's; cosplay; etc) Find a good venue READ THE CONTRACT and go from there Survey the gaming community for what type they'd like to see Advertise, advertise, advertise Decide the size of the con (number of people) Make sure you have good communications with staff and attendees, including GM's who submit games All these are in no particular order and are based upon a lot of experience organizing conventions. game days, etc. over the past 40 – 50 years |
Stoppage | 15 Aug 2015 5:05 p.m. PST |
Joy of Six, University of Sheffield, South Yorkshire possessed: * Generous sponsors * Good venue * Reasonable food * Excellent tables * Good traders * Good humoured (US: humored) attendees * One hours drive from my house * Massive Shopping Centre (US: Mall) for partner * (didn't realise Meadowhall shopping centre had more than one car-park – took some time and effort to locate correct one and extricate! LOL!) |
Coyotepunc and Hatshepsuut | 15 Aug 2015 5:39 p.m. PST |
1) Figure a good budget 2) Start a crowdfunding project under an assumed name (posdibly "Larry Dunn" or "Lagartja Mike") with a goal of double the good budget, and unlockable, very fun sounding stretch goals 3) Once the funding period is over, pocket the money and donate it to wildlife conservation. |
JSchutt | 15 Aug 2015 7:14 p.m. PST |
I don't know about what I would do but I can tell you what we did do… - Leveraged a Community College for free use of their Gym auditorium and adjoining classrooms - Leveraged another college club to sell hot and cold food inside the show who kept all their profits - Ran a 2 Day event - Used only seed money from our 8 person committee ($100 each) plus dealer repays - Supplied a generous number of tables and stage risers - Made sure we had historical, fantasy, and scifi miniatures and RPG games represented - Personally called and invited everyone who came to the previous show - Secured raffle prizes from Game Manufacturers in return for program adverts - Provided GMs with attractive award ribbons for 1st and 2nd place if wanted - Let all GMs in for free if they ran one game - Did not support game preregistration – game session registration opened after the prior session started - Raffled "profits" back to gamers as dealer vouchers - Invited the local National Guard who brought an APC - Hand delivered a free soda of choice to all GM's - Sent flyers to hobby/game stores statewide for distribution - Planted directional signs leading to the event - Made sure we had no profits left over donating profits to the College for needed supplies Worked pretty well….. |
Rudysnelson | 15 Aug 2015 7:37 p.m. PST |
A lot of good suggestions. Sorry if I repeat some. I have been going to conventions as a vendor since 1983. Know your target audiance. As mentioned you have to establish goals as well as a budget. If money is your goal then a cosplay general media show, with plenty of expensive guests is the way to go. A southern coastal city had their second show this year. It topped, 22,000 in attendance at over $50 USD a ticket to get in. Yes they cost a lot to get started but they profit level is fantastic. If you want to direct gamers there, then you need to decide if you want tournament games or not. As a whole, I have seen worse terrain by tournament gamers than isolated scenarios.. The rules and advantages of position on terrain trumps beauty from their point of view. Awards for best terrain in a game is good as are painting contests, raffles, flea markets and vendors. You also need boots on the ground volunteers. Especially if it is not in your home town. Community space like CCs, municipal centers can be a hassle for vendors, bringing food, drinks or alcohol. What is the region you are expecting guests to travel? There are ratings. |
leidang | 15 Aug 2015 7:58 p.m. PST |
It would be at my house, with just my friends, playing games we like. Oh wait, I don't need a convention for that. |
keegantdad | 16 Aug 2015 5:59 a.m. PST |
This is a great question. I think we also need to ask what the motivation is for having a con. In my mind the number one reason for holding a convention should be to promote the hobby. In my mind a great example of how this is done has been laid out for us by the organizers of some of the bigger game cons, Origins to name one. I am not pointing them out because of their size and growth, but because of how conventions like this have caused significant growth in Boardgame, card game and RPGs over the last 20 years. They have significant participation and encouragement from the manufacturers. I can remember the first Origins I went to many year ago….it was small and awkward. Whatever the organizers have done over the last 20 years is worthy of emulation if we want to grow the hobby. If our motivation is to simply offer a place for people to display their games and gather to game, then I think we have what we need in the current HMGS offerings. |
It is good to be King | 16 Aug 2015 7:04 a.m. PST |
My Convention would run on Friday and Saturday…Sunday is a travel day. Dealer and Flea Market tables would be "Free". Dealer Area and Flea Market would be both be open 9-5 on Friday and Saturday. I would encourage Pre-registration. I would charge to play games…this would help off set the no cost Dealer area and Flea Market tables and encourage players who have tickets to show up for their games. |
It is good to be King | 16 Aug 2015 7:40 a.m. PST |
I forgot, Hosting a game should get you something, like free entrance the day you offer a game (i.e. discounted badge). Run a game both days, get free entrance. |
snurl1 | 17 Aug 2015 11:23 p.m. PST |
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OSchmidt | 18 Aug 2015 4:33 a.m. PST |
We did all that including the free beer at "The Weekend" for the most part. If you want to get an invitation just contact me at sigurd@eclipse.net. Next year it's being held on June 18th to 20th, with a kickoff dinner on the 17th, in Lancaster at the Continental Inn, just across from the Lancaster Host. If you take a room at the hotel there's no charge to get in. If you are a walk up we ask for a $20 USD donation towards the cost. We didn't do any of the silly or snotty suggestions. For those of you who made them, that's why you didn't get an invite. It's been running now for seven years quite successfully and growing every year. We're not out to make money, just cover our expenses. If you want a copy of the latest 48 page full color After Action Report/Keepsake Booklet, just write me at sigurd@eclipse.net and give me your postal delivery address and I will send one to you. |
snurl1 | 18 Aug 2015 10:11 p.m. PST |
I think I'll take a vacation day or two next year to ensure my attendance. |
TSD101 | 19 Aug 2015 11:03 a.m. PST |
This is a good question right now for me, because I was talking with my uncle who also games and was considering holding a local con at his church. Its an old historic church on the Schuylkill river in southeast PA. Their meeting hall is fairly small, but with an upstairs and downstairs we could probably have 5 or 6 games going downstairs and another 15 or so upstairs at once. It does have a kitchen, so we could offer hotdogs/sausage and cold drinks. Beer of course would have to be BYOB. Being a 300 year old building handicap accessibility can be an issue and it only has 1 toilet each for men and women. Was thinking a simple $5 USD entry fee or a reasonable donation to the church for gaming from 10 AM to Midnight on Friday and Saturday. There's a small stage area that could have a vendor or two (not that I'd expect any to attend a con of less than 100 people) but would give space if a few people wanted to have a mini flea market to get rid of stuff. The only problem may be hotels and route 202 traffic in the King of Prussia area. The parking lot itself should be plenty big. We'd just have to see if there's any actual interest. |
OSchmidt | 19 Aug 2015 12:23 p.m. PST |
Dear TSD101 When are you thinking of having it? If it doesn't conflict with the weekend I'll come and put on an 18th Century game. Otto |
TSD101 | 19 Aug 2015 3:17 p.m. PST |
OSchmidt, it probably won't be for awhile. We'd have to procure some more rectangular tables (downstairs is covered, but the ones upstairs for the hall are mostly round). A very generous older woman who recently passed left the vestry a great bit of money to care for the church, so they're debating how to use the money to improve the building. A new AC system was mentioned. I wouldn't want to hold it now, as it currently lacks a functioning AC system, so we were thinking of Fall or Spring when the weather is just right. I'd need sufficient time to get the word out, and for my uncle to discuss it with the rest of the members. I don't think there's a problem on that front, especially if people donate a few dollars to help pay upkeep. There is at least 6 people in our group who would attend, and we'd try to put on a few games ourselves, mostly Civil War (Johnny Reb rules) Civil War ironclads (Steam & Sail navies) and some AWI themed games. I'd also really need to check the interest level too, possibly get it worked out and distribute some flyers at Fall In & Cold Wars. I'd hate to get it all together and only have a handful of people show up. |
OSchmidt | 20 Aug 2015 5:00 a.m. PST |
Dear TSD101 As a guy who's started three conventions and been running a successful one for the past seven years "The Weekend" I might be able to help. First of all the round tables. These are quite useable. All you have to do is get a bunch of 4 x 8 sheets of cheap plywood (particleboard or even Masonite will do, and put them over two round tables to make one square one. You can even leave the round tables at the end for boxes, set up etc. The AC is not a problem in fall or spring. The upstairs/downstairs might be a problem and here the question is always the loading/offloading facilities. Ideally a roll-on roll off is the best like we have at the weekend (If they didn't have a rug you could drive your car right up to the table top. But if gamers have to haul stuff up and down narrow stairs, that might be a problem. "Getting the word out" is a bit harder. Everyone says "the internet the internet… but I'm skeptical. The best method I've found is by word of mouth. There used to be a commercial that had as it's mantra "and they'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends. … .etc etc." This is the best. People trust what their buddies tell them, so if you can get each of your friends about it and you can get them to come, and they have fun and they tell two friends etc. etc. We did this with The Weekend when we were small. The other things is don't worry about starting small. There's nothing wrong with a handful of people to start. You can always build on it. Better that than inviting hundreds to an area that can only hold 30. Start small,g et the kinks out. I hope you're not expecting to make a huge amount of money on this because you won't. The key is to start with a cadre, then make them a loyal cadre, then build on from there. Remember this proverb, "That which goes up like a rocket usually comes down like a stick." Slow steady, patient growth is what makes business long lived and strong. So too with clubs. Beware of trying to do too much and trying to grow too fast. There are two things you are going to need to start up a convention. Money and Work. Money is the easy part. You can always get money. It's the work that's the hard part. Work means people to do the work and you are going to find you have a huge crowd of people who would like you to make a convention for them to attend, but very very few of them are going to want to do one lick of work to bring it off. Therefore you have to be careful of trying to simply ape Historicon or the bigger conventions which are hugely waseful of labor and require a huge amount of maintenance. This means that you are going to have to basically carefully scrutinize your nearest and dearest friends and to see if they can be counted on to lug tables, and haul garbage and do the clean up, or they're just there for the free beer. This is the problem with Hcon and the HMGS cons who have huge staffs most of which do no work at all, and are there simply for the benefits of free room free bar, free food. But that's far in the future. Analyze carefully what you NEED to do and don't do anything else until there's a need for it. For example. Vender area ? Why? At your size it's a big headache and unless it's a local hobby store that just wants to "show the flag" you won't get much, and you don't NEED much at this stage. The Kindred thing to this is the spirit of the convention and the convention model. What is unique about your convention. The Weekend for example works on a completely different model than Historicon and a completely different spirit and ethic. We have some very specific things that are features of it that are not at Historicon. First and foremost the emphasis is on friends, fellowship, good times, games, food, friendship. That means it's a very close and chummy and friendly convention. That's why we made it. What is going to distinguish yours? You can't just do a "me too" convention at the start like Historicon . They're running a business and a political power organization, and have forgotten the "Soceity" of friendship and camaraderie. You have to figure out what makes your place different. Take-Aways- Always remember that in conventions like yours which are at a very low and small level, and especially ones at a facility like a church or social club you are already piggy-backing in a facility of that social group. This means the possibility of spreading the word, and prozeltyzation just as a church does. Always try and give people take aways. By take-aways I mean a good time and the fun of the game and a visual treat and the spirit of play, and also goodies. For example, The Weekend has a booklet available to the public that wanders through the hotel which is "All About War Games." This is a simple 16 page pamphlet that tells all about the hobby in terms that someone who just learned about it 15 minutes ago can understand and bring home with them as a free handout. We've made this available to other clubs and even slapped their name and contact points on the back cover and given away hundreds of copies they can hand out for free. Rememve, your most loyal fans will be those you convert. Giving them a monstrously fine time at a game is like the first time you ever had sex. You will never forget it! The booklet we made talks about all the basics of the game, gives examples, bibliopgraphy, talks about scales, naval Games, Fantasy and sci fi etc. All light stuff all in an easy-breezy manner. It's there solely to invoke memories in the the first timer and to get him to want to come back.
Anyway, let me know when you start up and I'll help with games and even a donation of money.
Always want to help new guys start prozeltyzing the hobby. Otto |
TSD101 | 20 Aug 2015 1:28 p.m. PST |
I hope you're not expecting to make a huge amount of money on this because you won't Yes, I didn't expect to make any at all. Any donations would have been for the church. I agree with the vendors bit. That could come in time. Just a table or two for people to trade old gaming stuff if they want to at no cost. The kitchen could be used for simple stuff. Hotdogs/sodas at cost. The area does have tons of food. I'd like it to be a 2 day thing, but maybe even a trial run as just a full day Saturday would work best. That way any unanticipated problems could be corrected. The plywood idea was great. That could solve some issues. The other issue is access. Its a 300 year old building and the design shows. There's a driveway and a walkway, but people would have to take turns loading/unloading and would have to carry stuff a short ways. The main entryway is 2 steps, but I could lay down plywood so that small 2 wheel hand carts could be pulled up. I'd assist with helping people load/unload. I'll take some pictures and post them here in a few days to give you an idea. |
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