Gencon Feedback [Designers/Boothies]

[Luke]

OK folks, let's talk about what worked and what didn't. Share your stories of success and failure here, too.

For the fans, please use this thread:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=20864.0

Thanks,
-Luke

[TonyLB]

Okay ... year-over-year success.  The difference between "Hey, can I tell you about our games?" (2005) and "Hey, would you like to play a game?" (2006) seems, at least from early feedback, to be the difference between "I like the booth but MAN, stop hard-selling me!" and "The booth was so friendly!"  A demo is in many ways the hardest conceivable sell, of course, but it's also fun, which takes the curse off.  That rocks.

Here's an experience/technique I will (probably) comment upon many times over the course of the next year:  I self-selected as a feeder of demoes.  I liked hanging at the corners, swooping down on folks who expressed interest with their body language and offering to fix them up with someone's table.  So I paid close attention when we made the shift on sunday to having game designers sitting at the table, and the demo-feeders started feeding for specific demoes.

I know how intimidating it can be to be asked "Hey, would you like to play in a random unspecified game, possibly one that you will need to choose from a long, long list?" so I figured that this change would be a big help to the demo-feeders.  I figured it would maybe double my conversion rate, netting me one out of five of the people I talked to, rather than one out of ten.

I was wrong.  It was much, much bigger than that.  At the lunch rush, when we had the most people wandering (as opposed to bee-lining across the hall) I was converting something like nine out of ten of the people I talked to.  It was like fishing with a shotgun.  A person would pause.  They would cast their eyes over all the fun being had at the tables.  I would note their wistful look, walk up and say "Hey, Ben Lehman's about to start a Polaris game, and needs another person.  It's ten minutes of wall-to-wall beheadings and illicit sex.  Want to play?" and they would simply nod, walk over and sit down.  And then I'd look for the next wistful soul needing help.

I do not know what refinements we will come up with in 2007, but I personally believe that they should be refinements on top of this basic model:  If someone is looking for a specific demo then, of course, we run it, and if that fills all the tables then great!  But when a table is empty for more than a minute or two, a designer sits down and sets up their stuff.  This cues the feeders to start grabbing people for that particular game.  If there are no designers sitting at tables, waiting for people, that cues the feeders to either (a) take a break or (b) remind designers that they should sit down at tables.

[Tim C Koppang]

I have many positive things to say, but quickly, I wanted to comment on the one thing that friends and non-friends complained about: the shopping/browsing area. In, short nobody I talked to thought there was enough breathing room to browse the shelves of the booth. And then, when they were ready to buy something it was either difficult for them to get to the cash register or else awkward for them because they were forced to stand in front of someone else who was still attempting to browse.

Now I know this is a space issue, and trust me when I say the demo tables rocked both as a way to generate sales and in defining the mood of the booth, but if people can't get at the product then we have a problem. I know there was already some talk among the Forge Booth upper class, but I just wanted to re-emphasize the need to take a hard look at this problem before next year. Perhaps if the browsing area was re-located or else the books formed more into a wall along the outside of the booth rather than a little alcove sectioned off from the rest of the area? Maybe the register should be more towards the outside of the booth so that we could make use of the common area hallway to house the shopping line and leave the other people in the area free to browse?

[Meguey]

I liked the set up MUCH better this year, with books and play areas well defined. The banner stands and posters were a bit of an issue, but when they were sorted out, it really worked, because I could stand in the book area and say "Wow, that's a great game. The author is right...there. Looks like he's about to start a demo; go jump in!"

People did a much better job of keeping personal stuff out of the booth. Having a wide aisle and then a solid wall directly across from the demo tables was fantastic! It gave a place for folks to hang and funnel people into demos without as much crowding.

Demos were tighter this year, it seemed. I didn't see folks sitting for an hour long 'demo' like last year. I missed the little tabletop bookholders, so the game being demoed was super clear to anyone who lingered to listen in. Having the game visible at the demo table is a big stroll-by pitch, because people pause, listen in, then go check it out at the booth. I know I sold at least two copies of 1001 Nights by having the book clearly visible on the table when I demoed, so if people were drawn in by the fun, they knew what book to look for.

Demo kits seemed like they got shoved around a bit - I heard people frantically looking for their stuff a couple times, and I ran without mine at least once. Also, there's a push-pull between demos that look awesome and interesting and inviting set up on a table (I'm thinking SAH-Roach, Best Friends, Primitive, Mechaton, and 1001 Nights) and ones that are more about the game (Burning Wheel, Dogs, Sorcerer, PTA). Every time I could leave my stuff up, I'd have a new set of folks to demo to in *moments*, because of the visual impact. I know we can't do this for all games, but book stands would help. For roll-over of demo space, having more clearly defined kit storage would be good.

We never got anything organized about advertizing Games on Demand, so far as I know, and I think we really need a big ol' sign about that - it's super cool, and it sells games.

[Jason Morningstar]

Echoing Tony, this absolutely works.  There were several times when I told one of the ropers that I was sitting down to run my game and needed players, and by the time I looked up from sorting my kit, I invariably had a pair.  Everybody worked together very well and helped each other.

I had one guy ask me what Capes was, motioning to the prominent banner, and it became clear that he thought we were "the Capes booth" because our signage wasn't very clear and the Capes banner was the only thing really visible.  Next year we should think about signage and having a prominent booth identity.  The Forge banner is great, but a very prominent banner that basically tells the story of the booth:  COME PLAY AN INDIE RPG or something would be good.  I didn't think the booth told a story to somebody walking past - what were we playing?  How could I join?  Is this connected to Wicked Dead or the Forge or both?  Who the hell are these people?

It'd be great if the table closest to the sales area racks could be available for demoing, so you could just sit people down immediately instead of threading around to an open table.

I echo Meg's comments on table tents or some other way to indicate game-in-play for onlookers.  Just daydreaming, but it'd be cool to have a laminated cardstock sign that you could affix to a pole or something.  That would be attention getting and memorable. 

Alexander Newman is a fantastic person.  He was invariably cool and collected and worked very hard for all of us.  Thanks, dude!  Next time I want to game with you.  That said, I bet you can sell and pitch games very well, and I wish you'd been out there instead of chained to the register.

[Blankshield]

My GenCon rocked, and a good chunk of that was the booth experience.

Take all of the following with the awareness that it was 90% awesome and smooth, and this is the 10% that was merely 'ok'.

-The Great Wall of Designers.  Worlds, worlds better than last year, but we still tended to clog the long aisle.

-Related to that, the Great Lunch Desertion.  On most of the days, between 12 and 2, the number of folks available to rope, shill and demo went from 20 to about 6, it seemed.  It was commented on a bit, and Sunday was better, but we need to remember to stagger breaks a bit better.  We do NOT need a formalized schedule, I dearly pray, but we do need to be a bit more 'group-aware' about when we take our breaks.

-As Tony noted, the basics of roping and shilling were much better this year.  One thing I will note is that we always had two or three folks hanging out to shill at the sales block, but we rarely had two or three people roping folks into demos.  That ratio should probably change around.

-Demo length.  Most folks were pretty good, but there were a bunch of demos that I noted running over time, some of them by a lot.  I can't really point to any specific games or demo folk, just that I know there were several times when I thought "wow, it's been a long time since a table changed over"  I think we could have turned over a lot more demos if we'd been a bit more aggressive on our time lines.  (8 tables, 8 hours, 15 per demo plus 10-15 for table changeover and roping means we should be able to rotate well over 100 demos through every day, and I don't think we were managing that.)

-Totally my own fault: I did not sell my own fucking game.  I had a couple one-off sales, but other than that my sales were directly proportional - and I do mean directly as in 1-to-1 - to my own pitching and demoing.  I know I sold and pitched a lot of other folks games, but this is a reminder to me (and to anyone else who did the same) that I need a little more self in my enlightened interest.  


Ok, now for the above and beyond awesomeness:

-IPR.  Stock and cash handling was completely transparant to me this year.  I gave you a box of stuff, I counted the games I walked away with, and somewhere in the middle of that my games showed up on the shelf, there were customers and a cash register in there somewhere, but I didn't have to care about any of that.  

-Mutual support.  This year we maintained and kept very alive that spirit of "Your game is awesome!"  I don't mean this in any kind of masturbatory "Aren't we the bomb!" kind of way, either, but in a genuine strong postive feedback where it is deserved and strong negative feedback where it is deserved.  I saw both of these over the weekend, and it was never masturbation for the former or an attack for the later.

thanks,

James

[Justin D. Jacobson]

The booth was a vast improvement over last year. (Last year being the one I observed from across the aisle while I tended the BDG/IPR booth.) I'm happy to have rolled these two forces together. The fact remains: The booth needs more space!

The Forge has fully grasped the power of the demo. We are squeezing a lot out of that marketing vector. However, we are woefully short on another, potentially equally fruitful vector: the browser. For browsing, the Forge booth -- to be blunt -- sucked. There were many times when people couldn't get to books they wanted to buy let alone giving people a chance to leisurely flip through a number of offerings before making a selection. And let's face it, the quality of the offerings has improved so dramatically that this is a real avenue now. Some of these books are gorgeous and gripping, and there are a vast number of consumers that never get a chance to even see them.

Next year, I think the stock portion of the booth should be twice the size it is now. Obviously, that means more money. However, with so many participants, the cost can be further amortized. I'm guessing it wouldn't take more than $25 per participant to get another 10x10 space. We can also further expand the two-tier system, having some participants pay more for better shelf space.

All in all, though, very nicely done by everyone. Brennan and Alexander are the very apotheosis of professionalism.

[Jake Richmond]

As someone who was at the how selling a game but not at the Forge booth I can say that I was very, very impressed by the set up and how well the booth seemed to function. Every time I was over there someone asked me to try a game or engaged me about a game. Both the demos I participated in were fast and functional, gave me a good idea of what both games were about and made me walk away wanting to buy both. It all seemed very impressive and very well put together.

Fantastic job. Wish I had participated instead of sitting on the sidelines.


Jake

[Malcolm Craig]

The support we gave each other was, in a word: awesome. People pitched each others games, demoed them, particpated in demos with customers and generally rocked.

The atmosphere at the booth was phenomenal: the excitement, enthusiasm and thoroughgoing bonhomie was amazing.

Sales: Cracking amount of stuff getting shifted, a credit to all who were there.

Brennan, Alexander and everyone else who worked the register and re-stocked were brilliant.

As others have said, the sales area got a bit crowded at times, making it difficult for people to browse.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Valamir]

I don't think a bigger sales area would help.  And given that total revenue was up 50% over last year the lack of browsing space certainly didn't hurt us.

I'll actually offer a counter.  If people are haveing trouble browsing because its crowded...GOOD.  Wall to wall people crammed into a booth to buy books sends a very very positive signal...a "hey, there must be something really awesome going over there" signal.  I spent ALOT of time wandering the floor this year and can safely say NO other booth, including the big CCG and Fantasy Flight space had as high a population density for as extended a period of time as we did.

There's nothing wrong with making the sales experience a little bit difficult for the customer.  Its standard retail practice.  That's why stores put the stuff everybody wants in the back so customers have to travel through lots of stuff they didn't know they wanted to get there.  Its why grocery stores often put high customer pull items in poorly marked hard to find areas, while high advertising push items are on end caps.  Its why car dealers make you wait while the sales guy "talks to the manager".

Now I'm not suggesting we should engage in any of those practices.  Just pointing out that a little bit of effort on the part of the customer isn't really a bad thing that needs to be fixed.

[TonyLB]

If people are haveing trouble browsing because its crowded...GOOD.  Wall to wall people crammed into a booth to buy books sends a very very positive signal

Yes, but having the cash register behind those milling masses is a problem in terms of putting two activities ("Go buy books" and "Browse") into conflict.

There's nothing wrong with making the sales experience a little bit difficult for the customer.  Its standard retail practice.  That's why stores put the stuff everybody wants in the back so customers have to travel through lots of stuff they didn't know they wanted to get there.

I'd almost think about how to Disney-Land the experience.  Like, instead of an open area where you have to mill and jostle, we could have racks set up so that people walk through them, in a queue which ends at the cash register.  If, that is, we could figure out a way to construct pull-out zones for folks who wanted extra information to step aside and talk with booth staff.

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.

I have exactly zero thought, at the moment, about how to implement such a structure in practice.  But hey, we're game designers.  Making these sort of human systems is what we do, right?  It's something I'll have simmering on the backburners of my mind for at least the next few months (unless someone scoops me and creates a system that clearly works).

[iago]

I don't think a bigger sales area would help.  And given that total revenue was up 50% over last year the lack of browsing space certainly didn't hurt us.

I'll actually offer a counter.  If people are haveing trouble browsing because its crowded...GOOD.  Wall to wall people crammed into a booth to buy books sends a very very positive signal...a "hey, there must be something really awesome going over there" signal.  I spent ALOT of time wandering the floor this year and can safely say NO other booth, including the big CCG and Fantasy Flight space had as high a population density for as extended a period of time as we did.

This is a fair point, but if we wanted to keep the same rough sales *area*, but medicate the cramped quality a bit, it might make sense to just give it one side, basically one long line of shelves stretching two cube areas (especially if the Wicked Dead products are mixed in next year), with that area being *open* to the demo area.  Might allow for a greater fluidity of people demoing games and then standing up to acquire them.  But I dunno if the sales-folk would feel that that's less "secure".

[Meguey]

If we have the browsers at racks that are just open to the demo floor, my concern is we will have people camping out and seting their stuff on demo tables, and more theft.

What if we had a demo area like this year, then a long wall of books with a cash register at one end and stringers at the other and a curtained rail between the browse-and-buy place and the demo floor. That way a pesron could see all the pretty covers from the aisles around and from the demo floor, and they could either go straight to the books or stop for a demo. Yes, I know this is presuming a larger booth (basically including the Wicked Dead space), and may not be what we want, but seeing the books from the demo floor (and vice versa) would be a good thing.

[Matt Wilson]

Here's some thoughts, hopefully phrased as solutions rather than problems.

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

I'm not really upset, as my printing costs are pretty low, but I'm wondering how much of a potential problem the crowd density might be in that case. If there was a way we could arrange it so that buyers would have to get past the register in order to leave the books area, that might offer some theft control. I'm thinking a bit of a bottleneck where you enter and exit the browsing area.

As for the signage problem, we could consider next year creating some standards to plant in the corners that only describe the booth and not anyone's game in particular. OR... how about this: We put a couple of brochure racks in the corners, and that's where we can plant our tri-folds and other advertisements. Those things are kind of expensive, though, at least the ones I found, so maybe that idea is too difficult to execute.

Also, if we commandeer the space held by Wicked Dead, that will open up a lot of room for individual game signage along the back.

I might also suggest a signage size restriction based on buy-in, and an arrangement that keeps the same signage up all the time, so that if you're a primary you can have a full poster, and if you're a 100 or 200, you can do something more like 12 x 18 or something. I think it would be way cooler to have as many games as possible advertised all the time, rather than a handful on rotation.

The demo space is clearly awesome. One thing I was thinking about, that I didn't see this year, was something Ron has done for Sorcerer demos. A sort of plastic book display, so people who pass by can easily tell what's being demoed. Here's an example: http://www.footprintpress.com/stand.htm

One per table, angled toward the aisle? Yeah.

[iago]

I might also suggest a signage size restriction based on buy-in, and an arrangement that keeps the same signage up all the time, so that if you're a primary you can have a full poster, and if you're a 100 or 200, you can do something more like 12 x 18 or something. I think it would be way cooler to have as many games as possible advertised all the time, rather than a handful on rotation.

I had a few 16x20 posters that I printed through Cafe Press on hand, but I didn't get them hung at the booth (since I didn't buy in this year (I was too late for it), I didn't feel right pushing).  But I think that's pretty good as a standard small-poster size.

When I did run demos at the Lulu booth, I laid out said poster as a table surface that I did the game on top of.  Said poster for DRYH has a number of "pull quotes" talking about what people have liked about the game.  Did a nice job, I think -- while someone was watching the demo, they were also reading good press about the game.

I'd definitely like to see the bookstand thing in force as well.  Looking at how Lulu laid out their books in their booth, the ones on stands were definitely what were catching walk-by eyes and pulling them in, while the books laying flat on the table were less of a draw.