Mystaros
First Post
Steve,
The GAMA Trade Show is all about face time with the retailers. Whatever media you use to contact them today... Comics & Games Retailer, Game Trade Magazine, Gamebuyer, ICv2... all are secondary market contacts at best. Necessary, far more than many will admit, but secondary nonetheless.
Nothing beats face time with the customer. And if a publisher is serious about selling through the three tiers, the retailer is the customer that has to be convinced. Retailers certainly won't buy a game if their customers don't want it, but often they won't buy a product even if their customers DO want it. Sometimes they won't even special order the product! Why? There are as many reasons as there are retailers. But you can't learn what their reasoning is without face time.
The only way to convince the retailer that your product is going to sell is to speak with him (or her) face to face. And GTS provides that opportunity. You should be able to explain the core of your product and why it sells well (and preferably, to an unserved or underserved portion of the market) in 30 seconds or less. If you hook the retailer's interest, you can give them the five minute spiel. Remember, it is all about why the retailer should sell your product; telling him your RPG has the coolest point-buy system or critical hit table is probably worse than useless, as he can find that out from the fans, or will ask about it if he is more interested. GTS Rule Zero: It's all about how the retailer can sell your product with the least trouble and highest profitability. Everything else is noise.
Essentially, an exhibitor is at the show to speak to the retailers during exhibit hall hours, and to demonstrate their games during the evening demo sessions (any publisher that does not demo his games at every opportunity at the show is wasting his money). Everything else is secondary. However, if time is available, it would be best to attend the GRD meetings and other pertinent retailer-oriented meetings and seminars, so you can learn directly about the challenges facing retailers... because their challenges are your challenges.
Of tertiary interest to the exhibiting publisher is meeting with distributors and other publishers. You should already be in regular contact with your distributor, but a GTS sit down or a breakfast or dinner with your buyer can't hurt. Hanging out with other publishers is fun and can be very, very informative. You learn all sorts of tricks of the trade from other publishers; I've been in the industry more than a decade and I still learn something new every show.
Oh, and it's about food and gambling and shows and fun, 'cause it's in Las Vegas. Add a few days on either end of the show, and you have a vacation that you can write off...
The GAMA Trade Show is all about face time with the retailers. Whatever media you use to contact them today... Comics & Games Retailer, Game Trade Magazine, Gamebuyer, ICv2... all are secondary market contacts at best. Necessary, far more than many will admit, but secondary nonetheless.
Nothing beats face time with the customer. And if a publisher is serious about selling through the three tiers, the retailer is the customer that has to be convinced. Retailers certainly won't buy a game if their customers don't want it, but often they won't buy a product even if their customers DO want it. Sometimes they won't even special order the product! Why? There are as many reasons as there are retailers. But you can't learn what their reasoning is without face time.
The only way to convince the retailer that your product is going to sell is to speak with him (or her) face to face. And GTS provides that opportunity. You should be able to explain the core of your product and why it sells well (and preferably, to an unserved or underserved portion of the market) in 30 seconds or less. If you hook the retailer's interest, you can give them the five minute spiel. Remember, it is all about why the retailer should sell your product; telling him your RPG has the coolest point-buy system or critical hit table is probably worse than useless, as he can find that out from the fans, or will ask about it if he is more interested. GTS Rule Zero: It's all about how the retailer can sell your product with the least trouble and highest profitability. Everything else is noise.
Essentially, an exhibitor is at the show to speak to the retailers during exhibit hall hours, and to demonstrate their games during the evening demo sessions (any publisher that does not demo his games at every opportunity at the show is wasting his money). Everything else is secondary. However, if time is available, it would be best to attend the GRD meetings and other pertinent retailer-oriented meetings and seminars, so you can learn directly about the challenges facing retailers... because their challenges are your challenges.
Of tertiary interest to the exhibiting publisher is meeting with distributors and other publishers. You should already be in regular contact with your distributor, but a GTS sit down or a breakfast or dinner with your buyer can't hurt. Hanging out with other publishers is fun and can be very, very informative. You learn all sorts of tricks of the trade from other publishers; I've been in the industry more than a decade and I still learn something new every show.
Oh, and it's about food and gambling and shows and fun, 'cause it's in Las Vegas. Add a few days on either end of the show, and you have a vacation that you can write off...
Didn't mean to leave you off my post, but since I knew about Aces & Eights before the show, I forgot it was a new announcement. This game does look great!! 
