First off, I think Games Expo 07 in Birmingham was a great success and kudos should go to the organisers for such a well run event. I'm not sure of the attendance figures, but numbers of over 1000 were bandied about which, given the numbers seen wandering around, is probably not unlikely. One refreshing thing was the number of families and kids at the con, which was great to see.
From the point of view of the Collective, we had a nice spot right next to Leisure Games (manned by the always marvellous Mr Angus Abranson and Rosie [whose second name escapes me]). LG always have a great stock of indie and small press titles and Angus is excellent in that he sets aside any games that we might be selling and directs customers to us for those titles.
On the whole, I think sales were good. We also had a lot of great chat from people coming up to our stand, taking part in demos and so on. Another very positive aspect was making contacts with a large number of games stores, some of whom were good enough to take our sample retailer bundle for sale, with the possibility of ordering more if it proved to be a success. I can put up the overall sales figures for the con if people would like to see them.
There were a few downsides: the venue seemed labyrinthine in its complexity, with RPGs being stuck somewhere in the bowels of the building. Sunday was much better for 15 minute demos, as we were able to stretch out into the tables occupied on Saturday by the kids games tournaments, saving us from running them at the stand. Which, I think, contributed to the greater number of demos run on the Sunday.
On the whole, it was a very well run, enthusiastic and successful con and I'm sure the Collective will be returning next year for Games Expo 08.
Cheers
Malcolm
I did a review of the con at
Submitted by Tim Gray on Mon, 04/06/2007 - 12:38.
I did a review of the con at my blog, based on being there for Saturday only.
http://timgray.livejournal.com/244664.html
In general I thought the same as Malcolm - it was an unknown quantity that turned out to work really well. There were a few rough edges - but many cons that have been running for years have more of those.
If you follow the link to pwca's blog in there you can see what he thought too.
Anyway, nice to see you all and I hope the food supplies were better on Sunday!
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk
My trip got cancelled at the
Submitted by Rich Stokes on Mon, 04/06/2007 - 13:44.
My trip got cancelled at the last minute, which was a bit bum.
Wish I'd gone, and not just because I got horribly drunk on Saturday night and spent most of Sunday feeling like I'd died.
Hi Chaps, It was good to
Submitted by Evil Doctor on Mon, 04/06/2007 - 15:54.
Hi Chaps,
It was good to meet you all and put a few faces to names, shame I was on rather a tight schedual and had to forgo the beers. Still, your stand looked good and it seemed you had a lot of interest, som hopefully it's a good sign for the future with the Colelctive Endeavour!
Cheers,
Greg
Ruby...Worlds beyond Dream, a science fiction roleplaying game from Fire Ruby Studios and available through lulu.com.
fireruby.co.uk
Lulu storefront http://www.lulu.com/firerubystudios
It was great to meet Greg
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Mon, 04/06/2007 - 20:59.
It was great to meet Greg and Tim, always nice to put faces to names. A big thank you to the con organisers for a great time and I look forward to attending it next year.
Cheers
Iain
Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG
'The Giant Brain' has launched.
Briefly...
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Tue, 05/06/2007 - 18:07.
GamesExpo was a hit, from our and their point of view. All quibbles I might have would be minor and certainly of the same order or smaller than those I've had at more established conventions.
Sales and traffic were good and the customers were mostly excellent.
Didn't game as much as I hoped to, but the few demos I ran were fun. I ran them slightly differently than usual, and aimed to make them shorter and more educational.
For one group this meant no sales for me, but I won't run a 3-hour game at cons like this at the moment (which is what might have converted the game for them).
Good to see Chris Bayliss et al. too.
Echoing everyone else, I
Submitted by JoE PrincE on Wed, 06/06/2007 - 16:20.
Echoing everyone else, I thought games Expo went well. We should definitely return next year. I think everyone could run at least one 3 hr game without it being felt at the booth.
+++
JoE
+++
Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....