So it’s another year done, and this year, things…
Well, let’s just say it was busier than even I hoped, and I’m the wild
optimist…
When the dust settled and we counted the numbers on the doors, we came
up with 12500 uniques and 25000 over the course of the weekend, numbers that
most of us had considered impossible to breach in England, but it seems that
when you give everyone what they want, everyone comes along to share the fun.
I have a different perspective to those who come to the Expo, as I’ve
never actually been to the Expo
itself, having always been involved in the running of it all the way back to
the beginning. So my report doesn’t tend
to be what I did and what I bought, but what went very well, what wasn’t ideal (even
if no one saw it), and what we’re going to do to improve things next year.
What
wasn’t ideal…
Open Gaming
This wasn’t something we could have affected ahead of time, but it has
been commented on more than almost anything else. The problem with having 5500 more unique
attendee’s from the previous year (a 78% increase) is that we had no way of
increasing the available space by 78% even accounting for using the NEC for all
the trade. With the Monarch monopolised
by the X wing tournaments, we were left to rely on the Kings, the Palace, and
the other, smaller suites. We do have
plans in place for being able to use more of the space in the NEC, but we are
also aware of the less than ideal nature of the higher roofing in the NEC for
acoustics.
Noise levels in the NEC
We had a serious problem with the volume levels on the Tannoy on
Sunday, caused by the NEC losing operational control over their electronics, as
a few of the traders will attest, this was not the only glitch in the
electronics at the NEC, and is something that we’re going to have addressed
before the next show.
Hall Layout
There were a number of complaints through the day regarding the size
and positioning of stalls, many felt that a straight grid format would have
been easier to navigate around and would have allowed the finding of stalls
more easily. The truth of the matter is
that while such a grid would make things easier to navigate, it would also
require all the traders to purchase stands in the exact right spaces at the
exact right sizes, and as anyone who’s ever organised a show will know, that
never happens. We do what we can, but
this will be something that cannot easily be resolved.
Timing between events
We’d walked the path a number of times before we got to the show, each
time not taking too long to get there, but the problem that we encountered on
the day was that while it’s possible to get between one and the other in a very
short time, when you’re trying to get there and then back in an hour, it
doesn’t leave you with much time to be able to do anything in between,
particularly with the NEC being the size that it is. To resolve this, the morning events at the
Hilton are going to be brought forwards and a longer break between morning and
afternoon implemented, which will allow people time enough to still book events
all the way through, but also to get time in the trade hall without having to
rush in, Essen Style with a shopping list, and then rush out again.
Ticketing and queues
The sheer number of additional people that arrived overwhelmed the
ticket positions we had available, the queue was as wide as the booths and we
couldn’t get more people out there without compromising the security for the
till teams, we do have a few plans in place for next year however, more on that
shortly.
What
went very well…
The event itself has been very well received, there were a number of
things that were popular beyond our expectations, and it’s those that we’re
going to be looking to increase as years go on.
Some things of particular note however…
Artemis Simulator
Live events either do very well or fail utterly, there seems to be no
middle ground in them, so we tend to make decisions based on what we think
would be awesome and see how it goes. When we took on Wayne and his team, we
were reasonably sure that it would prove popular…
It sold out before almost everything else and there wasn’t a single bad
comment made, so we’re working with them again for the coming year, this time
to have the possibility of playing not against a scenario, but against another
team in the room next door, Wrath of Khan anyone…?
The Dark Room
Well, John is incomparable isn’t he…?
Convention organisers everywhere, pay heed, this guest not only
entertains all weekend long, he pitches in with the cleardown on the show and
raises the morale of all who encounter him…
Meals for GMs
Not something that was known to many outside of the actual GMs
themselves, but we knew we had a problem last year when the GMs didn’t have
enough time to get out of the game, get a meal, and get back in for the next
game, so we instituted a system where the volunteer crew picked up orders on
the first game and then made sure the food was available for the end of the
first game. Went very well, we’re going
to continue with it for the years to come.
More Space
Not just in the main hall, but also in the games rooms, we were able to
open things out significantly, and also in the rooms for organised play such as
the RPGs and tournaments. Both the GMs
and players liked the additional space and it made for a better experience in
the games, we might not be able to sustain the additional space in the games
rooms, particularly when we need the space in the evening for the open gaming,
but we are going to try.
Trade Hall
Bigger, broader, more varied, far more stands from overseas and far
more support coming as a result of those stands being present. We’re in talks with a number of the other
publishers that haven’t been well represented at non-specialist conventions in
England and we’ll report back on those when we have more information.
What
we’re looking to improve next time…
Open Gaming
The misapprehension that many are under is that we just get all the
space for free because of the number of rooms that we take at the hotel. While we get a discounted rate, we do still
have to pay for all the rooms. So when we opened the Palace on Thursday
evening, and the Norfolk wing on Saturday night, the Hilton was taking in more
money for it, but we knew that we had to get the space or all of those relying
on us providing them space for games would go disappointed, and we don’t like
disappointment. We’ve got plans underway
for 2017, because with 12500 uniques, we need far more space than we had this
year.
More Organised Play
The games that we had were quickly sold out, to the point that when
many got in on the Saturday, there were very few games left, and that’s a
matter for me to solve. Several hundred
games at six players a time gives a few thousand places in games for people to
play, but when you’ve got as many attendees as we do, that’s not even one game
per person, and we (I) need to make that happen. My primary focus in the coming year is to
help build the communities, start mentoring programs for getting people into
running games, not just playing them, and put something together so that new
players and GMs can get what they need without having to travel far to get
it. It’s a tall order, but it can be
done.
Tournaments
The issue we’ve always had with tournaments is that they’re high
pressure environments that take a lot of concentration, and the larger
tournaments take a lot of space as well as requiring a number of capable
Umpires to run them. There are
constraints on what we can and cannot do, but we’re looking to implement areas
where tournaments can be run without being crowded towards the end of the day
by those wanting the empty seats for open gaming.
Things you can’t get at home
If there is one thing that we always look to do at Expo, it’s things
that you can’t get from your regular weekly/monthly gaming group. This year we brought on the Starship
Simulator and a number of Live events, as well as an Epic Pathfinder game and a
world Premiere D&D event. Next year
we’re looking to do the same, we already have the potential to have a hundred
player D&D event, a live Murder Mystery that spans several rooms and lets
the players investigate the crimes in minute detail before attempting to solve
it. We’ve been looking at escape rooms
and similar live puzzles, because the things that get the most attention are the live events, and those take a
lot more setup than many imagine.
Ticketing and queues
We talking with the NEC on how we could improve the ticketing and
queues, and we’re considering online registration and printing of passes as
well as mailing out of tickets and a number of other options, we understand
there’s always going to be a rush on the day, but the more we can minimise
that, the better it will be for all concerned.
And there’s a whole bunch of other things we’re going to do as well,
but those will have to wait till we’ve got them finalised…
And we're always looking for new suggestions for things people want to see...
And we're always looking for new suggestions for things people want to see...
Be seeing you all next year…
