Gencon Feedback [Designers/Boothies]

[Steve Segedy]

Alexander, thanks for that exhaustive and really excellent breakdown of the logistical problems at the booth.  I have an odd position in this conversation, because while I was technically not part of the booth staff, I was invested through Bully Pulpit Games and trying to pay close attention to how things ran.  While I was universally impressed with how well things went, there's always room for improvement, and I'm particularly interested in trying to help with the retail operation however I can.


As a note about the rack sizing, I would suggest that if enough of the Forge exhibitors are doing their printing work through Lulu, it might be worth collectively asking Lulu for help with providing appropriate display racks.  That kind of support happens all the time in traditional retail outlets.

[Gregor Hutton]

A couple of things I noted down while the con was going on:

(1) We need to have little cardboard tags on the racks with the price of books. Just a little professional looking tag that says

Game Title
$ price

(2) Booth Menu needs to say "Please Take One" in big lettering on the front.

I felt that being an "unknown" game on day one definitely showed in my Thursday sales. People ran to the booth to buy the games they had heard about pre-con, i.e. books like Dictinary of Mu, etc. So, I'm all for those hyped/awaited games getting good visibility on the Thursday at the expense of the newbies like me. On later days Best Friends was moved higher up the racks and it seemed to have more visibility and general awareness in the visitors to the booth. It's best day was Sunday, selling 4 times as many copies as Thursday.

I too came up one short on my numbers like Matt, I think. I'm sure there were 7 on the rack at con end, and I had sales numbers of 37 out of 45 -- so one short. Maybe one is in a box somewhere, or maybe it was lifted? I guess IPR will figure this out when all the stock taking is done.

Thanks to Tim Kleinert for his input on my demo too. I dropped the nerves for the most part aftert the first one on booth, junked the garbage and hopefully put out better, shorter demos later in the con.

[Nathan P.]

Another word on demos, if I may.

What I see in my head is this process:

-You sit down with a designer and they run their demo for you.
-You take the materials, read over it, and then run the demo for the designer. He gives you feedback.
-You grab someone you don't know (because it's Wednesday night, and we have so many freakin' people!) and run the demo for them.

Then, when you sit down with customers, at least you have some level of comfort, as opposed to grabbing a demo kit and hoping for the best.

[iago]

What I see in my head is this process:

You beat me to it.  I absolutely think people would be a lot more confident in running demos of other games if they had a chance to attend a "training session" for it.

[Brennan Taylor]

Gregor: Your missing copy was the one you gave to me.

I echo all of Alexander's comments, and I want to apologize for not being as on the ball as I wanted to be before the con. This was my first GenCon, and I was a bit shy about coming in here and laying down the law. Next year, expect inflexible edicts a la Ron and Luke in their management of the demo area, especially regarding getting games in to Ralph on time to program the register. Other pre-convention planning items will be equally militantly enforced.

One further note, I am tearing my hair out because of the nightly payouts. This is beyond a major pain in the ass, and it is a tradition I would like to end. When all the booth was taking in was cash, and nobody was taking a cut from the sales, this was easy to figure. Now, with three times as many booth participants, credit card sales, and my own percentage, this is way too much math. I also have to keep track of who has been paid and who hasn't. Next year, I'd like everyone to bring enough spending money to the con and to expect to be paid out in a week's time after the convention.

I do want to say this was a great experience, and I want to continue making IPR a part of the Forge booth at GenCon.

[eruditus]

Seems to me that a great big "Enter at point A, proceed to point B" structure could, in theory, (a) eliminate any traffic snafu and (b) help people to get more (and better!) browsing done more quickly.

Having run retail operations on every level for well over a decade I can say this is a good idea.  I agree that the volume and excitement is good for business (especially in this hobby) but controlling that crowd a bit is also a great idea.  Maybe you could have demo-feeders standing at the entry and exit points directing folks that want to browse?  Just suggestions.  I would love to help next year.

[eruditus]

(especially if the Wicked Dead products are mixed in next year)

I am certain there are a host of small companies that would be willing to join in this as well.  Has the group persued other small companies to join forces and create a larger unified presence or is that too much?  I mean an indie game is an indie game, right?  More space is almost always a good thing one way or the other.

[eruditus]

Did anyone else come up short on inventory? One of my books apparently walked off without being paid for.

Forge bags (or some sponsored bags) will help shrink (loss) a lot.  It becomes a flag for boothies to see someone sporting books without a bag wandering around.

Of course this is only an issue if the booth experienced shrinkage.

[lumpley]

One further note, I am tearing my hair out because of the nightly payouts. This is beyond a major pain in the ass, and it is a tradition I would like to end.

We can talk about this, but from here, to me, it looks like a deal breaker. By the time I land at the con, I'm stretched really thin - I'm counting on that cash for food and gas home and shit.

I'm totally open to easier ways to do paying out, partial payouts, standardized payouts, whatever we can come up with. But some payout is necessary.

If it's any consolation, cashing out this year went one zillion times more smoothly and less painfully than years past. You should've seen the work that Ralph and Julie undertook!

-Vincent

[eruditus]

My suggestion for both of these: a condition for booth monkery is that you must learn some demos. Knowing that my first step for getting a demo should be asking a monkey would be good knowledge. This is in addition to having organized "learn another demo" time for everyone.

I know that time is a precious commodity for many of us but in my game bank for my cons I generate a list of games the person manning it knows.  A regionalized pre-GenCon party for boothies to play one another's games or even more Forge/indie events throughout the year may alleviate some of these growing pains.

[Iskander]

I have located an old laptop with serial port that could interface with the register. With a bit of hacking, I'm sure the math could be automated, given enough time in advance (maybe we can drag the register back to NY after next Forge midwest?)

Also, I have mad math skillz0rs, so I'm happy to help with that, Brennan. I'm sure we can figure something out.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

One further note, I am tearing my hair out because of the nightly payouts. This is beyond a major pain in the ass, and it is a tradition I would like to end.

We can talk about this, but from here, to me, it looks like a deal breaker. By the time I land at the con, I'm stretched really thin - I'm counting on that cash for food and gas home and shit.

I'm totally open to easier ways to do paying out, partial payouts, standardized payouts, whatever we can come up with. But some payout is necessary.

I have to agree with Vincent here. I would rather not take credit cards than eliminate the payouts. It is the difference between me being able to come to GenCon or not.

[Paul Czege]

Nathan,

-You sit down with a designer and they run their demo for you.
-You take the materials, read over it, and then run the demo for the designer. He gives you feedback.
-You grab someone you don't know (because it's Wednesday night, and we have so many freakin' people!) and run the demo for them.

Awesome.

Paul

[eruditus]

I have to agree with Vincent here. I would rather not take credit cards than eliminate the payouts. It is the difference between me being able to come to GenCon or not.

Not to get too "in-yer-business" about IPR but is it possible to pay folk for their copies ahead of time?  Don't get me wrong, I understand that this is a big layout for the sales department but if it were doable then I think that would solve a lot of headaches.  Maybe buy new stock as it sells out?  How good are"we" at predicting what's going to sell and how much? 

[iago]

I'm totally open to easier ways to do paying out, partial payouts, standardized payouts, whatever we can come up with. But some payout is necessary.

(emphasis mine)
What's the minimum dollar figure per day that would have to be?