[JiffyCon July 06]Western Mass gaming con

[Emily Care]

Hey folks,

If you're in the general western Mass area, come check out an event we're running in July.  It's JiffyCon, a small, one-day rpg con.

It will be chock full of indie games, many of which will be run by their authors.  The fabulous Baker duo are running 3 of their games: Mechaton and AG&G by Vincent, 1001 Nights by Meguey. Joshua Newman is going to run his soon to be in press Shock: (the colon is not optional), and Jasper McChesney will run his edgie City of the Birds, before he flies away to join that other great indie gaming nexus happening in NC. Tom Russell will run Capes and I'm going to run Breaking the Ice & the Shab Al-Hiri Roach (well, I guess it's more like "run" those, since they're both gm-less/full etc. games).  And we'll see what else get's lined up. 

There's more info, and links to the games at the site:

http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/jiffycon.html

best,
Emily

[Emily Care]

This is the first Con I've helped run. Any advice from seasoned organizers?

best,
Em

[Eric Provost]

Sounds like a great time, Em.  Wish we could make it.  Problem is, it's smack-dab between Origins and GenCon, which leaves my days-off reserve pretty dry.  Maybe next year.

When Lisa and I ran Troublecon! back in February we had I think a dozen people here.  We got away with little to no orginization.  Every couple of hours everyone would meet in one room and two or three people would name the games they wanted to run.  The rest of the players would then divvy up and wander off to the rooms the GMs had claimed for their 'event'.

Now, mind you, I tried to start the thing off all organized and stuff.  I was all like, block one this and block two that.  It broke down real quick as everyone really just wanted to handle it off the cuff. Which, I suppose, would probably work again for groups of under 20 or so people, just so long as you can wrangle them all together in one place and have everyone willing to shout out what they're willing to run.  Wrangle, I say.  Wrangle.

-Eric

[Emily Care]

Thanks, Eric!

Now, mind you, I tried  to start the thing off all organized and stuff.  I was all like, block one this and block two that.  It broke down real quick as everyone really just wanted to handle it off the cuff.

That's really good to know.  I am planning on a pretty organized situation--setting up gms ahead of time--but I can well imagine doing it the other way and having a great time, too.  Part of the point of doing this event is just to get the ball rolling by way of indie gaming community out in our neck of the woods, so I'm thinking it will be good to have folks committed to running.

best,
Emily

[jenskot]

Possible ideas:

- 2 signups, 1 for each game session. Less pressure to signup for everything at once. And it keeps late comers from being shut out of games.

- Reduced late entry fee for those coming in after 1:30pm. This is risky and could loose you money. But it's a really nice feature to add. And it may get casual people to show up that otherwise might not have.

- Offer full or partial discounts to people running games and event organizers. My suggestion would be 1/2 off the entry fee for every game session worked.

- Start a mailing list. Collect emails during registration. Ask where they heard about your event.

- Label the tables clearly.

- Flyers with game descriptions.

- Post flyers around the physical location of the event.

- Wrist bands can make tracking registration: http://www.wristbandexpress.com/ Name tags rock!

- We often like to include non-gaming features to strengthen our community. Book swaps, encouraging people to bring snacks to share...

- Flyer with suggested lunch options and locations.

- Create a flickr account beforehand and let everyone know to post pictures there after the event. Great advertising for future events!

- Send email reminders 2 weeks, 1 week, and 1 day before the event.

I'll post more when I have time. Hope these help!

Rock,
John

[Emily Care]

Great suggestions, John. Esp. posting flyers around the physical location of the event that day--hadn't thought of that.

From what I hear, Nerd NYC has built up a strong gaming community. Do you do events like this?

best,
Em

[Iskander]

From what I hear, Nerd NYC has built up a strong gaming community. Do you do events like this?

Recess!! (A whole dogpile of fun).

[Jason Morningstar]

Emily, I'm not sure how you'd use them, but I've had a great experience with Busy Beaver Buttons, and they could easily turn some around for you in time. $US 0.25 each, you could use them for authentication or something.  Plus they make a great memorable take-away.

[Emily Care]

JiffyCon was a smashing success. We posted about it here at Fairgame. 

Having a small venue for a good group of folks to play games seems even more ideal to me after doing JiffyCon. I had what happened at Dreamation in mind.  We will do more.

best,
Em

[Jason Morningstar]

I want to see a lessons learned type post from you, Emily, so we can replicate your experience.  Small events like JiffyCon are a way forward as game stores die or become obsolete.