[Deptheads] Meeting notes

[Victor B]

Greetings
 
It snowed yesterday and the temp right now is 21 degrees.
I will be at 3 conventions within the next month starting with new York City's Big Apple cominc con this weekend. 
 
-Special Guests-
Are we trying to get a special guest to attract new people to the convention or is the guest a bonus for current attendees? In recent years guest are pretty much just a added bonus for convention attendees.
We should have more than 1 guest each convention. 1 boardgame/wargame guest and 1 other guest.
 
--Tracking new attendees--
This is useful information.
How is the con growing? Are we getting new people or just specific people per each con during the year?
What got them there- was it a specific ccg, miniature, or board game tourney?
Specific big ccg and miniature tourneys will always bring tons of new people. Orccon we had over 75+ each for naruto ccg and 40k broadside bash.
Specific LARP events bring many many new people who are just at the con for that event.
LARPs are growing at cons. Not like you can play a larp at local hobby store.
Specific video game events (like rock band) bring new people.
Rock band, DJ hero, guitar hero, etc are smoking hot. They are social, and with good set ups they draw new people as well as accomidate regular con attendees. These events are a must. 
 
Department growth is hard to determine so i concentrate on convention attendance. 
New games = new players in your department but it doesn't mean those players are new to strategicon. There is much much more crossover nowadays. There is a couple that participates in 8 different collectable events yet they also play 2 rpg events during the weekend, play battlestar galactica boardgame, he plays warhammer 40k also and she does larps. Their kid plays yu-gi-oh, hangs in the computer room, and plays "are you a werewolf" at night.
Without the variety we offer they said they would not attend. Not just for boardgames, not just for the computer gaming, not just for the rpgs, and not just for the collectable games.
At strategicon they can do it all. 
There is also the guy that shows up saturday just for the flea market and dealer's room and then does ccg, miniature, and board game demos. Last con he popped into the large scale naval event for an hour as well. 
 
Our overall variety is our strength for getting families and it helps some individuals justifying the convention cost (hotel, parking, badge, food) over just gaming at home with friends or the local game store. 
 
 
Vic
 
 
 


      
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