Wednesday, February 26, 2014

GenCon, Naming Names, Growing Teams

I am apparently physically incapable of not posting.  Even if it's a short post, I need to put something up, or I just feel like I'm letting myself down.

GenCon is coming.  I had another reminder of that this morning.

A few weeks ago, housing went live for attendees.  And sold out in under a day.  In theory, there are hotel rooms available - but not at the convention rate.  They are 100% sold out.

Vendor housing was scheduled to go live two weeks later, but, due to some apparent issues with general housing, they pushed it back to the fourth of March.

This afternoon, I had an e-mail from Asmodee's marketing and communications person, checking for our hotel preferences.  This is different from how we've done the last few years, but I have faith in Carol - the last few GenCons for us have been the most organized since I've been there.  They needed to be, too. The team has really grown.

Which highlights a small quirk of my writing here: I don't tend to name names. I refer to most publishers as though they were just the corporation. In large part, it's nerves. Even when I'm dishing praise, I'm always afraid it'll be misinterpreted.  I need to relax and just write.  Especially when I'm praising people for a job well-done.

My first GenCon was Christophe Boelinger, Christophe A., and Stephan B.  A total team of four of us, in a 10x20 booth. There was some organization necessary, of course, but compared to last year, I'm sure it was minimal.

Last year, there were ... um ... a lot of us.  In a huge booth. I'm pretty sure I couldn't name everyone who was present, and the team photo still missed a ton of folks.  I'm sure the amount of paperwork increased exponentially as the number of people did. I can't even imagine trying to stay on top of it. I have a ton of respect for anyone who can keep track of that much paperwork.

This year, the booth will apparently be even larger than last year's.  And it'll contain more people. And there are games coming that I'm really looking forward to, and a few games that are 100% new to me.

You can get occasional sneak peeks, by the way, by liking Asmodee Game News on Facebook.

GenCon this year is going to be amazing, and I hope a few of you stop by to say "hi" if you happen to wander past the booth at some point.  Even more importantly, I hope a few of you stop by for a demo.  Because - given the degree of organization shown so far - I'm confident that we'll be ready.

2 comments:

  1. You know if I'm at Gen Con (I was one of those who got shut out by the hotel system), I will. Earlier as well, but Sunday afternoon just before 4:00.

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    1. I hope you make it, David. Seeing you at the end of the show has become a GenCon highlight for me.

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