So we’re done, made it home, had a day to reflect on things that went
right, things that went wrong, and how we’re going to improve all of them. As with all things, you never know just how much
is going to occur till you’re there and it’s occurring, but this year has
certainly had its share of ups and downs, particularly after the pressure of
having a successful first year and the need to keep that up for the second year.
We’ll start with what went wrong…
Three traders didn’t make it, one had an absolutely unimpeachable
reason (looking at you here Martin), one had a reason, but it didn’t really
hold water in the cold light of day, and one didn’t even bother to make an
excuse, just didn’t turn up… Not much you can do with that, but the one that
had the most reason also had the most grace, briefing us well in advance that
there might be a problem and letting us making alternative plans if the worst
was to come to pass. It’s the sort of
thing you rely on in people, and those that do right by us, we’ll do right by in return...
Six GMs didn’t make it to their slots, and we’ll never have to worry about them at Dragonmeet again…
Two volunteers didn’t make it to their shifts, and we’ll never have to worry about them at Dragonmeet again…
Harsh?
Not really, if someone has let you down once without reason, not even after the event, they’ll quite likely do it again, and of the ones that didn’t
make it, three of them came to the Con to get their free entrance and then didn’t show up to cover their
freebie…
Those we’ll never have to
worry about at any convention I run again…
People not turning up I can live with, just tell me, I’m good with it,
I know what I’m up against, and I can take the sheet down before six people
sign up on it. I don’t have to sit down
at a table with six eager faces and let them know that I’m not the person who’s
turned up to give them an excellent game that evening, but instead the person
who trusted someone else to turn up and give them an excellent game…
And I really don’t like doing
that, particularly at the end of the day when I can’t draft anyone else in to
cover, except those Legends like Sonya Dunbar who abandoned her player slot and
filled in at zero notice without being asked, I do notice when people do these
things for me, I just don’t always get time to say on the day…
All of the tournaments were late or completely absent, and that’s
unacceptable, it changes the landscape of the convention significantly and when
there’s nothing to replace because everyone
didn’t turn up, it’s a hell of a problem, but the more the years go by, the more people want to come along,
the dynamic changes and people let you down less…
Or so the theory goes…
The last thing that could have been better, the lack of space, last
year we had 47 games per slot and we were overcrowded, but we had (just) enough
games to cover the demand. This year we
had around 30 games per slot and we had a lot of people asking where did all
the games go…
Well, there’s no answering that one, we had limited space, and a lot of
traders wanted space, if we’d known then what we know now, we’d have had a
whole extra room of games in there, but that’s life. As with all conventions, it’s a balancing
act, without the traders, people can’t buy anything, without the games, people
can’t play anything, you need both to make a good convention, and when the
venue isn’t big enough to account for how fast the con has grown, you have to
make choices.
Next year will be better, and I’ll come to that in a while.
So what went right?
Spacing…
We widened the aisles and narrowed the pitches a little, net result of
having more traders in the same space, but also having more space for people to
move around. There’s nothing worse than not
being able to take your time browsing the traders without being bumped into
every three seconds, and the results were noticed by all. Traders were fine even with less space,
attendees were happy with the extra room, and so even with a few hundred more people
at the con, everything was a lot more relaxed.
Seminars…
Combination of talks on various things and companies giving sneak peeks
at the future. Interestingly enough, it
was the sneak peeks that got more interest when I would have wagered good money
on it being the other way around. A
difference between Dragonmeet and Expo for sure, but we’ve got the data on how
many attended and which ones engaged most with the audience, so when It comes
to next year, we know where we’re going…
Games…
With the lack of space this year, I had to make a difficult choice, there
are GM’s who turn up for me every year, every con, always do well and always
sell out. They are the best there is at
what they do, and the con wouldn’t work half as well without them.
Imagine how it felt when I had to ask more than eight of them to only
run one slot this year because I need to build the GM base for next year…
However, every one of them understood, and so I got sixty games from
sixty different GMs, all of whom will come back for next year, many of whom
will volunteer two slots because they liked it so much…
Clubs and groups…
Every year, I get several clubs coming along, this year they all pulled
out the stops to make sure the con went well. So in no order at all, The Pathfinder
society, The London Indies, RP Haven, Shadow Warriors, The Phoenix games club, and
Playtest UK. Dragonmeet doesn’t run
without you guys, never forget that.
As the con grows, it becomes harder to name and praise all those who
give over and above what they said they would, but when you get to forty five
names on the list, you start to think it’s looking more like a boarding pass
than a sincere thanks, so I’m doing it a little different this year and sending
individual notes to people (tomorrow, when I've got time to type them all up :) )
Last of all on the list of things that went well…
The convention team…
I’ve been working conventions for years, sometimes you get good teams
that all work together, sometimes you get teams that fight each other every
step of the way, and sometimes you get the teams where there’s workers and shirkers
in (un)equal amounts. I think we’re
where we need to be in terms of running the con now, we know what works and
what doesn’t, all we need is the feedback to make it not just good, but the
best…
So…
Talk to us, let us know what worked and what didn’t. Don’t hold back on
it, if you hated something, I’d rather know now than book it next year because
I walked past in the one minute where it was awesome, but I also want to know
what was actually awesome, because I’ll
get more of it…
And I’ll see you all next year…
