Chicago and Victoria had a lot of the same people in attendance, but there were probably about 20 people (just a guess) that had to chose one or the other.
Chicago was about an $800 loss. As I am afluent enough to put up a $1000 site reservation fee a year in advance, this did not disturb me much. The fact that my pockets are deep enough for this sort of thing is largely the reason I ended up as Chairman and Treasurer.
Please note that we had 96 people in attendance, but only about 80 were full weekend. I estimate that we needed another 15 full weekend registrants to have broken even.
I had potentially lined up games to satisfy 130 people in most time slots, had Call of Cthulhu running in every slot, and had at least one Stormbringer event on tap; but many of these were cancelled by the judges when they weren't signed up for at registration. I dont' remember off-hand how many Mythos demos Chaosium ran.
Again, my thanks to everyone who volunteered to run a game at GC IV!
>1. You need at leasst 150 attendees to make it a go, moneywise
> and eventwise.
See above.
>2. You cannot advertise too much. The advertising campaign must
> extend beyond a web page (which should allow email registration)
> and putting posts on the daily. It should also focus on "new
> blood" from the region.
We hit every local con we could; including Gen Con! We also had any number of people at the con I have never seen or heard of before or after. In fact, I am having trouble getting current addresses for three people who pre-ordered Conpendiums. Anybody out there know how I can reach VJ Estrada, Ken Olson, or Jack Scheirer?
However, we didn't get the con into too many gaming magazines.
>3. Events need to focus on getting new players interested. Just
> appealing to the old timers isn't enough any more.
I don't think that would have been a problem, getting them to the con would/should have been the major effort. My experience at cons is that soemone new to a game system can usually get all the help needed from a neighbor (at least, for standard game session type events).
>4. More games, freeforms, and interactive events, and less seminars.
See above, with one exception; When the LARP fell through it was partially replaced by Nick & Sandy's Marathon Q & A. (Nick and Sandy are both great con guests, eager to help out with any problems. Thanks, guys!)
>5. Many hands make light the work. You need a team of organisers,
> not just one or two dedicated (and overworked) heroes.
Amen!
Andrew Joelson
Chairman, GC IV
also Treasurer, Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
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