[GenCon 2204] Booth design and logistics

[daMoose_Neo]

Twelve foot high structures require approval. Researched that carefully for my own booth design :D Managed to do what I wanted with 10 feet tall, and even that is a bit big and definetly eye catching :D

[Paul Czege]

Hey Ron,

Do we have an assigned booth number yet? If not, how will the booth be listed on the map? "Adept Press"?

Thanks,

Paul

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Our booth number isn't assigned, to my knowledge - they're still working out the assignments based on who has and has not yet paid on time, relative to "early priority" vs. "priority" and similar designations. That might change at any minute.

Best,
Ron

[Andy Kitkowski]

I want to preserve the basic idea that the booth is primarily about actual play. Lots of little tables, lots of chairs, lots of "hey! I'll show ya!" going on. Paul's Thirty-Man-Hours display rack will certainly be there, and there will be one long table along part of the back to serve as purchase-point and various storage (i.e. under).

On this tip... Anything out there that needs to be built? Display racks, etc? Reason I ask is because I think a lot of us are coming up the day before GenCon, and... well, it sounds like its going to be a lot of people. Certainly enough that we could, for example, get some people together to put together either prefab cases, or perhaps with some basic tools head down to the convention center before the grand opening (there's a few hours in the AM there) and that's more than enough time, with the right tools and enough focus, to build some more racks with the right equipment (be it prefab (wood/wood analogue), prefab with tools needed (wood), or metal/wire (ala those Personal Storage stores like the Container Store, etc).

Anything like this need to be built?

Oh yeah. Yes, I know that managing monkeys' and publishers' presence at the booth is a big deal. We will work hard (a) to keep enough people there to have meeters & greeters, and (b) to keep enough people away in order to make room for money-bearing customers. So give us all a break and talk about other stuff that's important too.

I was getting the sense that, from the other thread, there were perhaps too many people standing around, or just "being there"? (image I got from hearing the talk here was of a restaurant with 3 "waiters" for every "table")  Perhaps, as was suggested elsewhere, we can come up with a number of tasks for people to do so that there won't be too many people to get in the way or to ward people off (especially on Saturday), yet won't be obtrusive to other booths and the like...

Here's another thought on that tip: Last time I was at GenCon was... what... Milwaukee '96.  There were a LOT of open gaming areas: "Hey, we're starting a demo game of D&D in 5 minutes, and need 2 players- Anyone want to join?" kind of deals.  Maybe we can have the equivalent of Product Showpeople, in various Open Gaming areas, running quick demos of Indie RPGs all day (in shifts, etc).  They won't be selling books there (which would be against the rules), just showing off games in mini demo sessions, and saying "If you like this game, head to the Forge booth", etc.

That way, there can be "Forge action" going down even before and after the Dealer Hall opens.  Plus, it gives people something to do.

[Valamir]

The importance of the booth monkey ninjas (with the kung fu grip) cannot be over estimated to the success of the booth the last 2 years.  There's been frequent mentioning of "too many people" at one time, but it should be pointed out that having too few people would be a far worse problem than having too many.

So I first wanted to note that booth monkeys should not feel like they are superfluous or in the way.  They are vital, and appreciated.


Second the problem wasn't really one of being too many people, as too little organization as to what they should be doing, which led to alot more standing around chatting and twiddling.

One source of this I think was too much reliance on Ron to take initiative and give the booth direction.  Ron did alot of this, but we all need to be aware that he is there to sell Adept Press product and the sacrifice he makes to help the rest of us out translates directly into lost sales.


So...what I think is necessary...IMPERITIVELY necessary is some real organization to the (wo)man/power at the booth this year, and that this organization needs to emphatically NOT be provided by the major booth sponsors.  The major booth sponsors are fronting a good bit of cash for the booth and need to be focused on making that cash back with sales.

What I'm leaning towards is a designated Head Booth Monkey and Chief Monkey Assistant.  This person(s) primary responsibility is not making sure that there aren't too many monkeys in the booth, but rather finding something for those monkeys to do.  Their primary reward for this task other than gratitude and hearty pats on the back (and maybe a round of drinks or two) will be the ability to officially designate the name by which the booth folk shall be referred to (perhaps Super Secret Forge Ninja is preferable to Booth Monkey).

Andy's idea of organized play in open gaming areas is a perfect example of what these Monkey Ninja types can be doing that is both a huge contribution to the success of the booth but also involves being not crowded.

I'd like to see this person be in charge of finding suitable locations for such play (i.e. taking the initiative to go out and look for them including interacting with Gen Con staff as necessary) and in organizing the available folk to utilize them.  In other words, when one of the good folk wanders in and says "hey how can I help" this person is the "go to" person to ask.

Maybe it means carrying around signs, engaging in cross promotional efforts with other indie-type booths, filling in for demos, starting an open play demo, kidnapping people off the street to play a demo...whatever...it would be this person's job to figure it out and get the folks organized.

Any takers?

[Andy Kitkowski]

*sigh* I was eyeing this thread all damn day long after Ralph's post hoping that someone would jump on it. I think I'd do a good job at it, but I didn't want to be too impertinent.  I mean, I don't even know who's going yet.
However, considering:
* I'm a pretty good planner.
* I'm pretty good at finding out what needs to get done and making people do it.
* I'm not selling anything this year.
* I'm relatively close to the convention (connected hotel).
* I'm friggin so excited to go to GenCon this year that I'm already making purchase lists and "Must Play" lists.
* I have a lot of energy, and no physical conditions that would keep me from moving all over the place 10 hours a day.
* I'm a ruthless, yet benign, dictator.
* I think micromanagement is for suckas.
* Yet I'm the first one out of the trenches when it's time to move: I delegate, but I DO do the dirty work. A lot.

I'd be happy to volunteer to be the Prime Booth Ninja Coordinator.

Here's some strikes against me, for those counting:
* I don't know many of you off of the Forge, in real life.
* I haven't been to GenCon since 1996, so Indy is unfamiliar ground.
* I won't be going to GenCon 2005 (max is once every 2 years), so if you're looking for someone who could do it every year, I can't.

Here's some relevant/irrelevant shit in case you were wondering:
* I'm 29.
* I do a lot of management, planning and the like at work.
* I wear hawaiian T-Shirts all the time, so that may or may not help you find me in the halls.
* Favorite leader, currently: Foreman Steve from Monster House- He knows how to get things done without micromanaging or doing all the work himself.

Anyway, if everyone is cool with that (and it's fine if someone isn't let me know- I'd be happy just being there and lifting heavy shit), I'll take on the role of Prime Booth Ninja Coordinator.

If I do, though, I would DEFINITELY need a Chief Assistant (someone who isn't selling games), so that we can have one person in the Dealer Hall and another running games out and about in the open gaming areas, etc.

Let me know what you think. In any case, we need to take this shit offa Ron's hands so that:
1) He can sell his games and run demos.
2) He can "Be Ron" when he's not selling his games and running demos.

-Andy

[AdAstraGames]

1)  We know from experience that you can bring chairs in.  My business partner is bigger than Mike and Ralph combined, and we regularly bring in a chair for him.  It's actually cheaper to buy one at OfficeMax and throw it away at the end of the show...

2) We (Ad Astra Games) have asked to have our corner booth share an edge with the Forge double booth in the Quiet Zone.  We plan on bringing plastic shelving units to use as the "border" between the booths, as per my prior posts on this subject.  Provided you don't knock our stuff on the floor, and you keep people traffic away from it, you are welcome to use "your side" of the shelving units (the part that's too deep for us to reach easily) to store whatever you will.  This is for INTERNAL STORAGE, not customer displays -- it's where you put the re-stocks, please!  We intend to keep foot traffic out of that area of our booths to prevent shrinkage.

Ken Burnside

[AdAstraGames]

Unfortunately, GenCon did not put our booths on the island -- they put me on the Island, and put you across the row, facing me for the end cap.

Which means we have no common wall for sharing a shelf unit.

Interested in attempting to fix this, Ron?  (Basically, I'd ask that the two booths sharing a back wall behind mine be swapped with your end cap).

[Andy Kitkowski]

Unfortunately, GenCon did not put our booths on the island -- they put me on the Island, and put you across the row, facing me for the end cap.

Hey AdAstra- I can't grip this in my brainbox.  Can you sorta draw an ascii map or something indicating how the booths are laid out?  I'm mainly interested in seeing how the Forge Booth positioning was set.

Thanks!

-Andy

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

The Ad Astra positioning is no big deal. We're near each other, and frankly, I wasn't all fired up about the shared border either positively or negatively. Let's just enjoy and utilize the fact that our booths are near one another, and move on.

Best,
Ron

[LordSmerf]

Questions were asked regarding computer use...

Now, let them be destoryed... by answers!

I have a Toshiba Satelite 1400 laptop computer.  In use, plugged into a wall, it draws 12W of power, 17W if it is simultaneously charging a battery.  It's a 1400MHz Celeron running WinXP so it can handle pretty much any application you can throw at it.  (EDITED NOTE: the battery, sans power, will last between 1.5 and 3.5 hours per charge; i only have one battery.  It sounds like you'll be using it for things that allow much longer usage, you might get as much as 5 hours if i properly understand the "strain" you'll be putting on the system).  Current plans call for me to spend a lot of time over at the AdAstra Games booth, so if you guys want to borrow the computer i don't mind.  Please try not to break it though...

On another note, if they are needed i have a very nice set of folding bookcases.  They are reasonably sturdy (you can load them with books) and collapsable so if you aren't using them they can be moved out of the way.  Best of all, they are almost completely empty since i have most of my library in boxes at the moment...

Let me know what you feel you can use...

Thomas

[Andy Kitkowski]

Now, let them be destoryed... by answers!

Cool, man, a lot of helpful info going down here. Thing is, I don't think there's going to be network access, wireless or otherwise (especially in spite of what happened last year with registration)... or is there?

If we can get on a local router or pipe, I've got enough free wireless networking gear to get everyone online... thing is, I've got a good felling that there won't be any net access. Or it will be confined to a few booths or something. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And I think the main reason to have computers available, IIRC, was so that we could process live Credit Card transactions and the like easier. I may be mistaken, tho. If that was the case, a PC on it's own might not be too handy.

Oh, and on the Location bit: Is there an online map of the convention area that is numbered, so that I can see the layout, point to the Forge booth, and say, "OK, that's where we're gonna be."  I was just looking for this info for ideas on equipment, furniture, layout, etc to use.

Nevermind, I got a lock on the Map from the Exhibitor section of the GenCon Indy site... If someone gets the Forge booth number from the registration folks, just post it here.  Thanks.

Thanks

-Andy

[LordSmerf]

The Indiana Convention Center has Wi-Fi Access Points.  I don't know what we would have to do to get access to the network as they may want money...  However, it's possible that it's all open access which would be nice...  I therefore recommend that anyone with the equipment come prepared for 802.11b wireless networking...

Thomas

[btrc]

Andy.
Does the machine you mentioned have a CD burner? And as far as power goes, I'm bringing a car battery and a power inverter. Should run a laptop for a weekend...

Greg Porter
BTRC

[LordSmerf]

My machine has a CD Burner, and you guys are welcome to keep it over at the Forge booth if you need it...

Thomas