[GenCon 2006] First thread about it

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

First things first - GenCon's dates are a little different this year, August 10-13. So everyone who was thinking, hmm, sometime around August 20, revise your year. I had to do this, so this is a public service announcement for those like me.

All right, so we have the booth all reserved and all the basic sponsorship is all taken care of. That is, the people who pay for it up-front. The space is a little different this year.

It's a four-booth space, not an island unfortunately, but the middle and the end of a "peninsula" as they call them. The end part, taking up two booth-spaces, is the actual play space. This area is just like the last three years, except that it's only tables and chairs, absolutely no stock, no cash register, no shelves, nothing but tables and chairs.

The other two 10' by 10' spaces are back-to-back, separated by a full curtain. One of these is continuous with the play-space, and it'll have the cash register, shelves, stock, and very busy people under the thumb of Brennan Taylor, Indie Press Revolution. He'll handle all sales of games at the booth. So this is the "store" section.

Now, that last 10' by 10' is separated from the play-space by a waist-high partition, and actually, it's not "part" of the booth, or I guess it is, or not, depending on how anyone wants to interpret the finances or play semantics. This space has been reserved by another gaming company who will be our neighbors, friends, countrymen, and other such things. I'll inject a drumroll for the announcement of who this is.

As for the deal of buying into the booth, it's almost exactly like the last few years. You have to sign up during a specific period, which I think will probably be the entirety of May. First time buy-ins have a minimum $100 contribution to make, and anyone who's been there before has a minimum of $200, with a couple of exceptions based on complicated details. You'll also have to pay us for the badge, and I don't know the cost off the top of my head, so I'll look it up and post it later.

I know I'm probably missing something important to announce ... oh yes! This new contraption of a booth with multiple parts came about through discussions among me, Ralph, Luke, and Brennan, and I am no longer the point man. Hooray! Not again! No more! I pass the torch! ... to Luke, who is the person you'll be paying in May. He'll deal with all the badges and bureaucracy. However, I am still the official GenCon company of the booth, because Adept Press holds all the points (they're non-transferable) that get us the space we want.

We'll talk about goals and behavior and other plans for the booth this year later, mainly because I'm not in the mood for the usual bitch session today. Let's keep this thread for questions about the logistics, sign-ups, and general procedures of getting the companies signed up and paid for.

I'll bet I forgot about 100 other important things to say, or messed up at least one detail above. Luke! Help!

Best, Ron

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I won't be able to be up there in Indy on the 9th during the usual set-up time.  Will that be a problem?

Peace,

-Troy

[Luke]

Heya,

I won't be able to be up there in Indy on the 9th during the usual set-up time.  Will that be a problem?

Peace,

-Troy

No, it won't. However, since this will be your first year with us, Ron and I will have to find another moment to browbeat you with "the rules."

-L

[Paul Czege]

Hey Ron,

Damn, that's quite a scale-up.

One of these is continuous with the play-space, and it'll have the cash register, shelves, stock, and very busy people under the thumb of Brennan Taylor, Indie Press Revolution. He'll handle all sales of games at the booth. So this is the "store" section.

Credit card transactions? Daily cash-outs? No commission if the booth participant isn't an IPR client? Sounds perfect. (And I'll personally be glad at retiring my increasingly too small game shelf unit.)

Paul

[Luke]

Credit card transactions? Daily cash-outs? No commission if the booth participant isn't an IPR client? Sounds perfect.

Hi Paul (et omnes),

We will have a proper set up for processing credit card transactions. We will have daily cash outs as per the tradition. Here's the rub: Brennan/IPR gets a commission on every sale at the booth, whether the game is carried by IPR or not. All of the money for the booth will pass through Brennan's hands, and he'll deal with the stress of the register, the daily tallies and stocking. It's only fair that he be recompensed.

Brennan if you want to make the %s public, please do so here. I don't want to post any specifics myself as that's not my end of this business. I do know that the cut for non-IPR games will be smaller than the cut for games traditionally carried by IPR.

hope that clears things up,
-Luke

[Brennan Taylor]

Hey,

I'm happy to reveal the details. I will be gathering a 10% commission from all sales. IPR clients will be paying the same (not the higher convention rate, unless they have no representative at the booth). Since I have bought in at significantly more than the usual rate, this will help me cover expenses. We will process credit cards at the booth, and daily cash-outs will not include credit card sales since, obviously, I won't have the cash. There are also other fees for credit cards that will need to be factored in.

[Ron Edwards]

Here's what people need to know about buying into the booth, and especially about badges.

First point: don't register yourself with GenCon. One or two of you probably have, and now you're a minor problem. Everyone else, seize your typing hand's wrist with the other hand, and do not register with GenCon.

We'll open up the sign-in period from approximately May 1 to June 1; Luke will set the actual deadline, because you'll be contacting him. Not me - him. Signing up means paying either $160 ($100 buy-in for first-timers plus badge) or $260 ($200 buy-in plus badge). Just telling him "Hey! I want to get in!" doesn't reserve you a place and it's actually sort of a waste of time.

The money is totally non-refundable. If you can't make it, we keep it. If you think that's being a hard-ass, try eating a $600 buy-in some time, like I did in 2003.

The deadline for processing all your badges is June 23, and it takes a long time with many hassles. GenCon processes are not set up to handle the approach we take with this booth, so I have to follow a specific, personalized procedure with their representative. That's why the time between June 1 and June 23 needs to be there.

When you sign up, tell Luke your real name, your company name, the names of the games you'll have, and how much you want to sell each one for. This is a big deal because we need to program the cash register.

Your badge will be waiting for you at the exhibitor booth when you arrive. You can say "Adept Press" for the company name; don't say "Forge" or "Ron Edwards" because they do not understand such talk. However, your badge will have your company name on it. This process worked nigh-flawlessly last year, unlike previous years, so that's good news.

So that's the basic idea! Any questions about that part?

Best, Ron

[Paul Czege]

Hey Brennan,

My wife Danielle has enjoyed working the cash register for the booth the past three years. And she's awesome at it, if I do say so myself. She smiles at the customer, makes eye contact, knows and has played the games so she can make small talk. People leave feeling good about their purchases. Will you be needing help running the cash register this year?

Thanks,

Paul

[Brennan Taylor]

My wife Danielle has enjoyed working the cash register for the booth the past three years. And she's awesome at it, if I do say so myself. She smiles at the customer, makes eye contact, knows and has played the games so she can make small talk. People leave feeling good about their purchases. Will you be needing help running the cash register this year?

I can use extra hands, definitely! I'll send you a PM with my personal e-mail address to make arrangements.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

When you sign up, tell Luke your real name, your company name, the names of the games you'll have, and how much you want to sell each one for. This is a big deal because we need to program the cash register.

-This gives me an idea.  Since we'll have the games and costs in a database, would it be possible to create a sort of "drink menu" type thing for all the different games that will be offered at the booth that we can show to people who come to the booth?  Something like the Product Page on IPR might be helpful and informative to people new to indie games.

-Secondly, and somewhat related, will there be any kind of shelf or rack to hold copies of our games for easy reach when someone shows up for a demo?  Or some kind of display where they can pick something out and ask someone to show them how to play?

Peace,

-Troy

[Luke]

Troy,

Yes, we will have a display rack.

-This gives me an idea.  Since we'll have the games and costs in a database, would it be possible to create a sort of "drink menu" type thing for all the different games that will be offered at the booth that we can show to people who come to the booth?  Something like the Product Page on IPR might be helpful and informative to people new to indie games.

And this comes up every year. Last year we had a serviceable one-sheet with all of the company contact info on it.

Now the way I see it, two things just happened in your post: You have either just volunteered to put together this year's "menu." After June 1st, you will contact each company directly and hassle them until they give you a blurb and a thumbnail about their games. You will then put blurbs, thumbnails and URLs on an 8.5x11 layout and send it to me for approval. Ok?

Or, you were just mouthing off and trying to create a shitload of work for someone else to which you will publicly cop and for which we will give you endless shit about at the booth this summer.

What'll it be?
-Luke

[Andrew Cooper]

Heh... Luke plays hardball.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Now the way I see it, two things just happened in your post: You have either just volunteered to put together this year's "menu." After June 1st, you will contact each company directly and hassle them until they give you a blurb and a thumbnail about their games. You will then put blurbs, thumbnails and URLs on an 8.5x11 layout and send it to me for approval. Ok?

Pretty close.  What I'll do is after June first is get the list of products and companies from Brennan and then make a post here asking for blurbs and links to thumbnails.  The companies that supply them will have that put on the menu, those that don't won't.  They'll just get a brief listing with whatever info I have time to find.  How's that sound?

Peace,

-Troy

[Ron Edwards]

Close, Troy, but the information-chain doesn't start with Brennan. Luke and I will have the master list after June 1. You can get it from (for instance) me, and then get going on the handout material, blurbs & thumbnails.

However, although yes, starting here at the Forge is fine, you will swiftly discover that you'll have to go to email and follow up. One announcement just isn't going to elicit enough response to make the sheet worthwhile. It's never that easy.

Best, Ron

[TonyLB]

On a different note, as I look into travel arrangements ... What generally happens when on Wednesday?  I figure that nobody will be there first thing in the morning, and most people will be there by thursday, but somewhere between those two extremes is when enough people start showing up that the party really gets going.  I want to make sure to get in on the fun I missed last year, but I don't want to overshoot and spend hours wandering the empty halls, disconsolate and lonely.