So, I think this was pretty successful. We had from 18 to 38 people playing and running per slot. Everyone involved really threw themselves into it and were great. This thread is to go over successes and any areas you think might be improved. I'd also like to open it up to brainstorm ideas for next year.

What was great (just off the top of my head)

    * Lots of games and lots of GMs that spent time there showing off games

    * Some people just spent a lot of time there making it a fun place to drop by and hang out

    * Lots of new players introduced to games and hopefully interested in playing them more

    * People came from the exhibitor's hall to play games they had found

Things that could have been improved (again just a quick list )

    * There were a few times when we had a group of players but no GM to run something. Most of them found something else, but in a couple of insistence I think they came from a recommendation from an exhibitor so I felt bad we couldn't make that immediate connection.

    * Location stuck out at the edge of events made it tough to get to and coordinate with the booth staff. Given that we were running things full time while the exhibit hall was open meant we couldn't just drop by and communicate.

    * We have no way of knowing how well we are getting anyone to get back to the booths and the booths don't know how well we get to play their games.

Some specific feedback, discussions, etc I'd like to see.

For those who were there, did you enjoy it? What did you see that may be worked on for next year? Is anyone interested in some kind of contact list so that if people show up looking for a particular game and no one's there to run it, we could find out if you are available.

Would the companies, designers, etc, want to be able to send their volunteer GMs with people to run stuff at a central location? The other people at Games on Demand are a higher concentration of your customers so getting it out there for enthusiastic play I think tweaks peoples interest. Also, you may send a GM and a few of players over there and find more interest, filling up your games.

Would you be interested in having a table for a certain slot were you could have people sign up at the booth and know they could play the game then? Is there interest in a sign-up book to commit to a game in a particular slot (say a bunch of people a looking for Mouse Guard, and you could play it tomorrow, put a sign up sheet in the book and come back and run it then).

Is there any reward you would be interested in give a player in one of your games to get them to show up at your booth? To convert interest into a sale (and a potential new enthusiastic community member). I know that margins are tight but something might help, even a button, other swag, a drawing for something, etc.

Were the postcard sized adverts useful, helpful, did people show an interest? Did you get any feedback from people saying their impressions of what we did (positive or negative)?

Any other thoughts for this year (or next) are welcome. I certainly had a great time so I'm certainly interested in continuing to help.

I was directed from the booth towards Games on Demand, second hand through a friend who had received a card. The set-up and the games were great (I hadn't actually been able to play any indie games before, or really any games for quite awhile). If I had a complaint it would only be that by 10:30 everyone was already immersed at a table, but that's more a complaint about the length of lines for coffee and the popularity of the event, I think.

I also headed back to booths and made more purchases than I should have, just, you know, anecdotally.

By Saturday, I had changed up my formula a bit. I ran a two-hour slot for some latecomers and we played three demos in that time, then later I ran two hours of Carry for some people who couldn't get into other games. I also attempted a Roach game but it dissolved as people lost interest, left to GM other games, or had to leave for other reasons. I may do more of the shorter-slot demos next year.

That's great to know.  The slots run 10-2 and 2-6 but if a game gets wrapped up we'll usually start another one. I also peeled out of a game to run for a group looking for something.  Its hard to get even coverage for a all volunteer event, especially since you can't know what the players will be looking to experience.

Good to know you stimulated the economy also.  I really like seeing these games get into wider circulation (even if its one person at a time).

I was scheduled to be the point man for the Saturday morning slot from 10-2pm.  Because I was the lead, this meant that I wasn't supposed to GM games.  And because all the other games were full, this mostly meant that I sat around reading the new games and occasionally chatting -- for four hours.  It just seemed like a waste because I wasn't really needed after the initial rush.  Sometimes a couple of people would stop by to check out the table of games.  For the most part, though, I was a bit bored.  I even ended up turning away a few people that I could have easily ran a game for, but it was only 10:30 and I didn't know how involved my job was going to be.

I would suggest scheduling "lead slots" in two hour chunks.  Otherwise, just do away with the no gaming requirement.  I would have felt much more useful (and had a much better time) if I could have contributed as a GM or as a player.

That said, the games that did get rolling looked fun and involved.  I was happy to see so many full tables.

Hi Tim,
Dropping back to 2 hour commitments seems like a consensus good idea.  Thanks for letting us know how it worked for you.

And it would be up to the person running the slot to decide to play in or GM any games.  I could also put in the slot write up that we expect all games to basically fill at the beginning of the slot so you're not obligated to try to create something when someone drops by an hour into the slot.

I did not direct people to Games on Demand as well as I wanted to. I recommended it a few times and explained its existence a couple times more, and I know that including it on our map* helped a lot. But I wanted to be more active at a personal level and to drive demo-to-sale-to-GoD more directly, and I wish I could have figured out how. It didn't come together for me in "how to" terms, and I'm very open to suggestions.

Best, Ron

* Thanks to Eero for making that incredibly useful "find the indie" map. It was really perfect.

I treat GoD as a sales pitch. When I remember, here's how I run a Game on Demand.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Adam!" (Introductions are made.)

(Holding up the game I'm running...) "I'm going to run a game of Carry, designed by Nathan Paoletta, who is here today. If you have fun today you can go down to the dealer hall, find the Design Matters booth, and tell Nathan that you enjoyed his game. He'll like that."

I would think that you can do something similar during booth demos.

"Now, if you want to play more of this game, you should go over to Games on Demand. Someone there can probably run a full game for you. It's in the Fischer Ballroom at the Omni. There are a half dozen or more GMs volunteering to run games and longer demos 'on demand' for people who show up there with generic tickets." (Handing them the postcard...)

Adam wrote:
I treat GoD as a sales pitch. When I remember, here's how I run a Game on Demand.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Adam!" (Introductions are made.)...

Adding to Adam's comments, I think it's important to talk about time slots.  If a person shows up at 10, 12, 2, or 4 o'clock, their chances of getting in a game are much better.  Show up at any other time and there's a good chance that all of the GMs will already be involved in a game.

I'd recommend doing ALL two-hour slots next year. You can get a good feel for a game in two hours.

I was just cleaving to the previous years schedules.  Two hours slots are fine by me.  You can always do more if you want.  You think we could drum up say 10 different people to manage a slot so all of us may play and run more?

Boo! Hiss! to 2-hours exclusively.

You can run games that are two or three 2-hour slots if you want. Slots are a tool, not a limiter.

Two 2-hour slots is a good solution to me. It's the only way I'd run my game (though it's because Adam's an editor, and is capable of killing darlings, and is more macho than I).

Hell, I ran character creation and one intense scene of Misspent Youth in 45 minutes. I skipped creating the world and the Authority and jumped right into a contrived "break into the building and steal the files" scene. They sold out 2-3 convictions in a very short amount of time and groaned in pain when I scratched off the YO convictions and wrote in the new "adult" ones. Thus, they know what it feels like to play that game. And I'll bet people bought it after that. ;)

Well, they might have had they been able to.

I'm not questioning your results! I'm envying your ability to divest yourself. It's something I'm going to need to learn, or to find people who'll let me lean on them.

Adam,

Your implementation of 2-hour slots makes all kinds of sense.  If I'd bothered to do something other than a drive-by shooting on this thread, that would have been my suggestion.

D