Re: Worried about GenCon.

On Thu, 5 Feb 1998 11:59:52 +0000, "Geo-Hex" <geohex@teleport.com>
wrote:

>What may be happening to them is that they lose 
>money at shows that used to be profitable - a concern of MANY 
>companies in today's market.  While I continue to make money at shows 
>such as GenCon, the minute I try to create a presence the size of SJG 
>profits evaporate!!  And while others are whining, others are making 
>money! 

The GenCon worries are beginning to look a bit like a tempest in a tea
cup. First, you may be right about the profitability. Some people have
indicated that GenCon may have been losing money for TSR. The price
increase may have been inevitable for GenCon to survive.

Second, Andon has announced that 60% of GenCon's dealer room space
sold out in 48 hours. It seems that a number of large companies have
curtailed their spending and shrunk their booth sizes. Chaosium, for
instance, has gone from 8 booths to 4. On the other hand, smaller
companies who have always been shut out when the larger ones took up
the bulk of the space are now getting a chance at a booth. We may end
up with MORE individual companies, and thus more choice, at this
GenCon than ever before. 

Third, some companies for whom GenCon was marginal are not going but
they are pooling their resources. I got an e-mail from one company
that says three other companies aren't going but they will send stuff
to sell with him. If a number of the small companies do this, we could
see a much higher density of games than any previous year.

John Tynes of Pagan Publishing (excellent Call of Cthulhu stuff, by
the way) says that Pagan made 20% of its yearly revenue at GenCon 97.
Obviously for some of the smaller companies that are poorly
distributed GenCon is a godsend. 

SJG has been shrinking its presence at GenCon for a while. They now
state that they will not sponsor events at GenCon. Maybe the boycott
will spread. Personally, I think it has gone as far as it will go and
that the boycotting companies are shooting themselves in the foot. A
company shouldn't decide on attending based on emotions anyway. If it
makes good business sense, they should go. If the business case
doesn't support it, they shouldn't go. Simple as that.

By the way, great job on the Geo-Hex booth last year. The amount of
stuff you guys managed to pack into that size of booth (was that two
booths together?) was amazing. Far more of the larger companies would
do better if they thought more creatively about the space they used.
Hanging your product up instead of placing it on a table saved a lot
of space. 

Allan Goodall	     agoodall@sympatico.ca

"Once again, the half time score, 
 Alien Overlords: 142,000. Scotland: zip."
  - This Hour Has 22 Minutes