The full album from GenCon can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 3bc5d62a1a (maybe Aubrey and others can post more!)
First I'd like to say thank you to all of you who helped make our first GenCon the success it was! What can I say about GenCon? Previous attendance records were smashed this year and when those doors opened Thursday, our corner booth was quickly overwhelmed. I don't think there was a single booth in that hall that wasn't covered in a 4 layer deep crowd of people...and then it got busier. A bit of a dip Friday but Saturday saw attendance records soar.
My journey began with a long couple flights from Vancouver Island to Indianapolis. I arrived at the hotel at around 12:30am, had a drink with Tash & Aubrey and we then proceeded to do our best to sleep in anticipation of the coming day. The next two days were some of the hottest on record in Indy, with temperatures exceeding 110F. That made setting up in the dealers hall a special kind of torture since they didn't actually start the AC until Wed (and with the shipping doors open it didn't seem to do much). Over those two days we worked solid, building a massive 2 table display of TerraClips at Wyrd Miniatures booth, some additional setups in the gaming hall and then finally gave our own booth some love. It was a massive effort and Aubrey and Tash were absolutely stellar throughout.
When the hall opened on Thursday, the wave of people coming at us was truly a sight to behold. I think we had our sales pitch down in under an hour simply because we were hammered so hard by that initial mob. From that point forward we were on autopilot and it didn't stop until we packed up on Sunday. I think between the 3 of us we had maybe 3 hours of breaks over the 4 days of the con. There was so much activity at our booth that getting away was nearly impossible. The response in general was intensely positive.
We were visited by 100's of fans both active on the forums and lurker alike, which was probably the most rewarding part of being there at GenCon. It was great to associate a face with some of the regulars after 9 years of wondering what they looked like
Everyone was genuine, kind, excited and down-to-Earth. Good people!
Many, many, many contacts were made and I think we were all taken aback by the caliber of industry folk stopping by to say hi and to bend our ear. We were also interviewed by several podcasts and magazines. It was definitely an exciting time.
On Sunday we raffled off a complete build of CastleWorks Ultimate. The turnout was insane as we completely plugged our corner intersection with people. We gave away 3 additional prizes and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun with it. (pictures coming)
GenCon is an experience that I will not soon forget. It was an incredible opportunity to finally expose WorldWorksGames to the gaming world and I think we did that job very well. My only real regret is that I didn't have more time to explore the showroom floor. We all hope that this is just the beginning of many to come.
We'd like to thank the following people:
* Aubrey & Tash Erickson: For busting their butts at the booth every minute of every day and for being an incredible source of strength and support throughout GenCon.
* Tomas Mennes: For shipping his beautiful Garden of the Stone Speakers build out for display. People were drooling!
* Brant Hestrup: For helping with the booth, building displays and general teardown. You were a HUGE help Brant!
* Ken Falkson: For bringing his awesome Mayhem build to the show for display at the booth (was a big hit).
* Uncre8d1: For bringing along his Wormhole fleet for demos and for helping out!
* Curt Voiles: For bringing his incredible Grind board to the booth and for hanging out
Lots of people asking about that one and it illustrated what is possible with some creativity. * Ben and Jamie: For bringing over a roll of raffle tickets, a box and pens for our CastleWorks Ultimate giveaway. Such a cool gesture!
* Wyrd Miniatures: For helping us bring TerraClips to GenCon and for supporting our shared vision.
* To Janet Gilliam: For treating us to a fantastic dinner!
* To all the fans we met, took time out of their con experience to stop by, say hi and chat. It was an absolute blast to meet you in person!
(If I forgot anyone don't hate me! We were so overwhelmed at GenCon that we are tending to forget more than we can remember).
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Oh, well, I'm sure everyone who went got some good pics of it.