convention

Convention Spotlight: Templecon

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The roundup of convention ideas is here.

Templecon is a gaming convention in Rhode Island, though calling it a
"gaming convention" doesn't due justice to the diversity of the
convention.  It's a convention that started as a gaming convention but
has expanded to include everything from live shows to bands to
workshops.

Of course when I see a convention like that, you know I'm going to
do a profile of it.  As you may also guess, it's a convention that has
branched into "profan" panels for people who want to use their hobbies
in their careers.  A few of these fit the convention's focus on doing
things differently:

  • Doing a seminar on legal issues in game development and publishing,
    exposing people to important issues too often ignored, in an area of
    career interest many forget.
  • A panel on game development by actual game developers – an area that gets too little attention as far as I'm concerned.
  • Assorted workshops, including those run by known authors, diversifying the convention offerings.
  • Finally, the really unusual panel – a panel on why one does not want to
    turn their hobby into a job.  Now as much as I emphasize using their
    hobbies in their careers, I applaud a little bit of contrarianism. 
    Maybe sometime I'll make it out there and have a debate . . .

Templecon's constant growth includes a lot of profan panels and
getting outside of focusing on "just gaming".  I'm looking forward to
seeing what they do in the years to come, as I expect I'll learn a lot,
I think they're a great example of keeping your focus while
experimenting and going beyond people's expectations.

– Steven Savage

Convention Idea – Leverage local workshops

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The roundup of convention ideas is here.

Most conventions that have pro-fan panels have workshops, from cosplay, to writing, to graphics.  These are well-loved and well-recieved and a great way to impart serious knowledge in a fun situation.

Stocking a good workshop is hard as, simply, you have to find people that know how to run them and know what they're talking about.  For small conventions, or ones adding more pro-fan panels you may want to add more workshops, but you're not sure how to get the people to do them.

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Convention Idea – Student Associations

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The round-up of convention ideas can be found here.

When you want guests and events its easy to focus on the professional side of things: professional fans, professional groups, professional lecturers.

Keep in mind that many of your attendees with be students, potential students, or people looking to learn more.

So for potential guests, events, and more start looking at inviting student associations.

Your local colleges will probably have plenty of selections:

  1. There are those associated with particular professions or skills – writer's groups, artist's, etc.  They can provide people with information on what it's like to learn a skill or pursue a profession – and find groups they may want to join at a given skill.
  2. There are those associated with colleges in general.  They may be able to speak on the virtues of a given college or institution.
  3. There may be groups that have general interests (anime, SF) that can provide some broad and interesting insights.

The advantages of inviting student associations?

  1. Speaking to the right targets.  Most student associations know exactly who they're for and what they provide.
  2. History.  Many student associations have long histories that provide information, context, and connections.
  3. Build relations between your convention and colleges.  Good student association relations can forge stronger relationships with educational institutions.
  4. They are your audience.  There's a good chance the student association members are interested in or are already attending your convention anyway.

Next time you set up your convention's profan activites, don't forget the students.  You'll be missing out.

– Steven Savage