Hi,

Inspired by Gronans AAR from Gary Con I thought now was the time to ask.

We are considering running a Con next year May or June 2019.  

We are a board game society.  We have 5 members on the exec, and 5 interested reliable people to plan and run it.  We run one day events 4 times a year with 50 to 80 attendees.

We don't have an organized role playing, or minis group to partner with yet.  

Population base 50 thousand.  Our largest city is an hour a way 500 thousand.  

Our next step is to draw up a time line for organizing an get a couple proposals for a space.  Depending on a couple things including cost and availability of space, and the time line for the amount of work we need to do we may decide not to run, or kick it down the road a year.

Anyone been involved in running a con before?  Anyone have a cheet sheet they would be willing to share?  Anyone want to come?

Couple of things.
Where?
and
Are you sure a 12 months lead time is enough?

Start small.

Work on what it takes to rent a space, getting the word, and organizing a schedule. Call it a game day or something similar. Like these guys in Erie, PA.
http://www.eriedog.com/

Talk to the local FLGS and give them a table to use. Then YOU go to prospective referees or wargamers and say, "Hey in May we are doing a game day, are you interested in running something? If so what time can I put you down for."


Then afterwards talk about the lessions learned. You may want to keep it just a game day. Or it worked out enough that you want more vendors. If your goal is a full blown convention then successive events need to focus on adding the major features (panels, multiple vendors, multiple days, food, cosplay, larps, etc, etc) one at time at a pace that comfortable for your group.

What estar said!!! In bucket loads!!! Start small, and work your way up - and make sure that you have the people, the energy, the resources, and the space for anything no matter what size event you run. Doing a small 'game day' is relatively simple and fun, and will give you the practical experience to see if you want to keep at it. I've offered advice no doing events like this in other threads (I've done it for a long time, now) and you can always e-mail me.

Thanks.  

We run game days now.  Next one is April 14th.  Saturday noon til nine.  I won't be surprised if we have a hundred people.  

I think we are ready to grow to the 200 to 500 size.

We are in Nova scotia.  I think 14 months should be enough time.  

Whats a FLGS?

I haven't run a convention or a game day anywhere as big as yours. But I have been to a lot of conventions as a game designer.
A FLGS is a Friendly Local Game Store. Good places to promote your con and get a vendor or two.
Think about if you have something that might differentiate your convention, a focus. The new convention in Toronto (Breakout) that has been doing quite well has focused on bringing in a lot of game designers.

Web presence and how you'll create game schedule is worth thinking about. (and costs of same) A few cons in Canada that I go to use sched, and it is a nice system. (Breakout / CanGames)
I am actually in Nova Scotia this week. I assume you are close to Halifax. That can be a mixed blessing. You may gat some players from the larger center but I've noticed that often GMs are the ones who will travel. Speaking of think about what perks you will offer for GMs willing to run and organize games (free admission for running a few sessions is pretty standard.)

Quote from: Headless;1029280We run one day events 4 times a year with 50 to 80 attendees.

Tell us much more about these.

Do you charge? If so, how much?

Website? Promos? Meetup?

12 months is plenty of time. 6 months is fine.

Your current attendees are your best marketers.

As for RPGers and Minis, have you checked Meetup for your area? Reach out any and all, then invite them to future events.

You can also reach out to the game companies. Many have agents that do demos to promote the company games. I know Catalyst Games Lab, Greater than Games, and Privateer Press all have demo agents. Games Workshop used to not sure if they still do. Same for Steve Jackson.

That sounds like blast! Where are you thinking about doing the con?

Start small and then build big. If you let it build over time, it usually ends up being way more sustainable.

I got lots of very useful advice from this thread that I think would help you.

Thank you.

Up date.  So the local University which has all the space we could need is just way too expensive.  

The local curling rink seems to be perfect.  The ice will be out the weekend we are thinking about.  And the booz will be gone.

@Jeff.  
I don't know of they have curling rinks where you are looking, but you might consider local club and sports spaces as well as the librarys.

Quote from: Headless;1030618Up date.  So the local University which has all the space we could need is just way too expensive.  

The local curling rink seems to be perfect.  The ice will be out the weekend we are thinking about.  And the booz will be gone.

@Jeff.  
I don't know of they have curling rinks where you are looking, but you might consider local club and sports spaces as well as the librarys.

No curling rinks in Knoxville, Tennessee. We are going live on the 31st of March at the Library.

Good luck.  Let us know how it goes.

Best of luck to all.

Most nerds look at me like I'm crazy when I say this, but little local cons are far and away the best cons.