Thread: Exhibiting at Origins solo: Stories and lessons learned from an exhibitor rookie

slam74 — 2008-07-01T04:24:58+00:00

So last year was the first year I attended a big convention like Origins, and this year I tried my hand at running a booth for Pair-of-Dice Games. On Steve Jones' (from Blue Panther games) recommendation, I joined the GPA (Game Publisher's Association) which qualified me for a half booth. Since I am a one man company, I had to figure out a way to exhibit on my own. I mailed myself four boxes worth of disassembled stock. Now when the Origins' organizers say that they don't provide anything but space, they mean it. I paid extra to get a table, two chairs, and a trash can in my booth section when I arrived, and extra for someone to receive my boxes.

Now the exhibition hall opened on Thursday afternoon, and I mailed my packages on Monday night via Priority Mail, not wanting to spend $75 per box. This made for an anxious Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, as nothing had arrived yet. i spent Wednesday night rechecking the tracking, and all it said was that it was checked in at Boston as of Monday. On Thursday, it said that it had arrived in Columbus, but it was anyone's guess as to whether that meant it would arrive on Thursday or Friday. Worse, I packed some of my clothes in those boxes, so that if it didn't arrive soon I'd have nothing to wear. I did bring in some sample games so that I could show people my things, and I brought a small company banner and some signs, so that I at least I looked like I belonged there (arguably), but I had nothing to sell.

Thankfully, my boxes arrived on Thursday, and I was in business.

So, if you're a self-publisher, you're wondering is it worth it to invest the $750 to have a booth at Origins or an equivalent amount to have a booth at another big convention? My answer is... it depends. It was slow going at first, but by the end of the convention I had sold almost $1,000 worth of games. Now factoring in costs such as the exhibition fee, travel, lodging, shipping, etc., it certainly wasn't a money maker in itself. But I have showed my games to a great number of people who might buy in the future, I've now put some of my games to Troll & Toad, an internet games store, I pitched a game to Z-Man games, and I've made a number of other key contacts. So I'm certainly glad I exhibited this year.

HOWEVER, as I've been a self-publisher since 2001 and having had a line of games of four to six games in print continuously since then, I can say with certainly that this is the first year in which displaying at Origins would not have been a huge disappointment. A little more than half of my sales were of my newest games, Chopstick Dexterity MegaChallenge 3000. And while I like the games I've made previously, this silly dexterity game had the highest "curb appeal", drawing people who knew nothing of me to my booth for a demo. Sure some people came by to look at my abstract games, but many more saw the Chopstick game first and then gave my abstracts more of a look.

Secondly, this is the first time that I've felt that my presence in the gaming community has warranted a booth. I've been in GAMES Magazine four times now, been reviewed on the Dice Tower, and now on the Spiel twice. I've been mentioned on The MetaGamers and reviewed but many of the leading board game netizens. That's all taken time and patience to build my brand, as it were. If I had tried to exhibit at a big con when my first games came out, I would not have the benefit of name recognition that I currently enjoy, and my games were just not sexy enough to have come close to justifying the $1000+ outlays of being at a con like Origins.

My advice then would be to not exhibit at a big convention until you've done your homework in terms of promotion, sending games to reviewers, getting some press and name recognition. And attend Origins as an attendee before being an exhibitor, so that you can observe what's what. And also, get the Board Room ribbon and hang out there after hours. Everyone you want to meet is there.

Next year, I'd need to get things nailed down earlier, prepare a bit better. This year it was all I could do to simply get there, and I made all sorts of rookie mistakes like having my return flight scheduled for Sunday morning and having to change it lest I miss one of the better selling days. Next time I'll want to prepare some events for my booth. Also, I really need to recruit someone to help me watch my booth. Having to be there for almost every minute the exhibition hall was open was very oppressive, though a few kind souls helped me out by agreeing to watch my booth for a bit. Anyone want a free admission to Origins next year?

So, I mentioned that I mailed four boxes in to prepare for the Con, and I would up mailing just two boxes back. My system of shipping unassembled components and assembling them on site was workable, though I'm sure it looked funny to see my and my impromptu assembly line at the back of my booth. When you're working small like I do, those are the things you have to do.

Lastly, the North Market that's next to the Convention Center is just great. I could eat there for weeks. I also stumbled upon the Community Festival that happened on the same weekend, a low key outdoor street festival with music and food. Columbus is a surprisingly cool city.

Guild: Board Game Self Publishers

Thread: Exhibiting at Origins solo: Stories and lessons learned from an exhibitor rookie