The GenCon Franchise

[PatEllis15]

Bear with me for a long discourse....

FIRST: I have never been to a major convention. Yes, I'm jealous of all who have. Yes, I will get to a big one some day....

So...
GenCon started at as the Lake Geneva Convention. I quikcly became to big for that local, as was moved to Milwaukee.

A GenCon was started in Europe, and in the U.S. it eventually moved into an even bigger space in Milwaukee.

The Hasbro decides to sell the rights to the convention to Peter Adkinson. Peter quickly moves GenCon to Indy, and establishes a second American GenCon in southern California.

I think I have the timeline down....

GenCon is the biggest gaming convention in the U.S. Other biggies include Dragon Con (in Atlanta) Origins (in Columbus) and Winter Fantasy (should it be in this list?) There are other big shows, but I think these are the major ones....

What is The GenCon Group (Corp? LLC?) trying to accomplish with the new show in southern California? Do they hope that it will be as big as GenCon Indy? Will the publishers put as much effort into the show in SoCa as they will at Indy?


I'm just try to spart some talk about the Gaming Shows in general... It amazes me that there are NO significant shows in New England or New York (Isn't ICON the biggest in NY? I think that is a Sci-Fi show...).

Will we see Gencon franchised out to the 4 corners of the country? How would the publishers react to this? If there are 5 GenCon shows per year, will WotC or WizKids put the same effort into each?

GenCon is now housed in a facility that provides up to 620,000 Square feet. Origins is said the be the second biggest con, so I assume its in the 500-550,000 Sq foot range.

Boston will soon have a convention center of this size. They alreaedy have a 200,000 square foot sized factility... NY assuredly has large facilities, but I assume that Cost is what drives people away from there.

To what extent are the people who attend a con from out side an 8 hour driving radius? Does have more regional shows mean that publishers, and distributors have MORE opportunities to show their wares? Or would/will additional big shows serve to fragment the group of people who DO make teh big trip to Origins or GenCOn...

I'm an avid Gamer, and would love to go to a big show, but origins is about 14 hours away, and Indy is another 4-5 past that. Yep, I'll get to one or both of them someday, but I'd love to hear that Peter Adkinson thinks he can roll this franchise out around the country, and that it would be good for the industry as a whole, and NOT degrade the other shows....


Plesae share your thoughts.

Taro Sarask

Pat E

 

[Mark]

IMO the more conventions the better. But I think that Adkison and the Gencon organizers have to contend with the idea that if they start another in New England or, perhaps, Atlanta it might reduce the draw of the Indy show. I'd bet we wouldn't see such a move until Indy gets close to reaching its maximum capacity.

 

[tensen]

I'm just try to spart some talk about the Gaming Shows in general... It amazes me that there are NO significant shows in New England or New York (Isn't ICON the biggest in NY? I think that is a Sci-Fi show...).

I-CON is a great science fiction convention. It is attempting to add a larger gamer base, but definitely not a gaming convention. I personally go for the authors and watching new anime shows. And to spend me hard earned money in the vending area.

I believe Shorecon in New Jersey, is billed as the largest con in the Northeast.

 

[PowerWordDumb]

God, I envy you americans your access to a myriad of conventions targeting your particular interests. I live in Ontario (Canada for those of you who don't know your neighbor to the north), and other than the occasional convention in Toronto (two hours away by highway), I am completely unaware of any cool conventions that might tweak my interest. Occasional gaming weekends thrown at various universities sure, but not big conventions with actual product representation and announcements.

Yeah, they probably exist and I just don't know about them, but is that really my fault? I'd love to be close enough to hit a GenCon, or something similar, but being as far away as it is, and the canadian exchange rate being as ludicrous as it's been, it's a hard proposition to justify.

Anyways, hope you all have fun at your conventions, or else I'm wasting my time envying you!

 

[PatEllis15]

IMO the more conventions the better. But I think that Adkison and the Gencon organizers have to contend with the idea that if they start another in New England or, perhaps, Atlanta it might reduce the draw of the Indy show. I'd bet we wouldn't see such a move until Indy gets close to reaching its maximum capacity.

Hmmmm..... Now, I have never been to GenCon, and obviously, many people who do go are THERE now! But do you think this is really true? People from Atlanta aren't going to drive to Indy, are they (other than a small handful...)?

I kind of assumed the the 8 hour drive radius would really be tapping out the market....

Pat E

 

[Southern Oracle]

According to Peter Adkison in the Gen Con Indy chat on the Wizards of the Coast chat site a couple weeks ago, the plan for Gen Con SoCal is to start small and build. It has been attempted before, but without success. If it really bombs like Euro Gen Con did this year, they won't continue it. He's not expecting a turn out like Gen Con's got, but there has to be a definite display of interest in order for him to put the effort into future cons...Gen Con LLC only has 6 full time employees, if I remember correctly.

 

[tensen]

God, I envy you americans your access to a myriad of conventions targeting your particular interests. I live in Ontario (Canada for those of you who don't know your neighbor to the north), and other than the occasional convention in Toronto (two hours away by highway), I am completely unaware of any cool conventions that might tweak my interest. Occasional gaming weekends thrown at various universities sure, but not big conventions with actual product representation and announcements.

Yeah, they probably exist and I just don't know about them, but is that really my fault? I'd love to be close enough to hit a GenCon, or something similar, but being as far away as it is, and the canadian exchange rate being as ludicrous as it's been, it's a hard proposition to justify.

Anyways, hope you all have fun at your conventions, or else I'm wasting my time envying you!

Well actually the closest GenCon is 12 hours away from me. So 2 hour drive would be quite pleasant.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

According to Peter Adkison in the Gen Con Indy chat on the Wizards of the Coast chat site a couple weeks ago, the plan for Gen Con SoCal is to start small and build. It has been attempted before, but without success. If it really bombs like Euro Gen Con did this year, they won't continue it. He's not expecting a turn out like Gen Con's got, but there has to be a definite display of interest in order for him to put the effort into future cons...Gen Con LLC only has 6 full time employees, if I remember correctly.

I'd really like to know why he thinks GenConEurope bombed this year. It did, I mean it was incredibly badly run, but I'm interested to know just how badly he thinks he's been burned on that.

Europe has room for a big games convention, it just has to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[MacMathan]

I am really hoping GenCon SoCal is a big hit. If it is marketed well I would think it would do fine with the population base of the area to draw on.

One question is will it suffer or gain from being in Orange county rather than LA proper?

 

[Southern Oracle]

I'd really like to know why he thinks GenConEurope bombed this year. It did, I mean it was incredibly badly run, but I'm interested to know just how badly he thinks he's been burned on that.

He said the scheduling of Euro Gen Con over the Easter holiday was based on marketing surveys (I don't know how far ahead they were conducted) that indicated Easter was not that big of a holiday in England, plus the availability of the venue. He stated that attendance was way down from previous years, although he didn't give specific figures.