GETTING READY FOR THE ORIGINS GAME FAIR
Steve Cole writes:
It's like getting ready for two different trade shows at the same time, one to run a sales booth and the other to run the tournament. (Both have to have a stapler, a pair of scissors, a cash box, and so forth.) There is a Prescribed Load List for both items, and special boxes have been used since 2001 and contain everything needed to run the events. The Booth Box is full of office supplies, sheets, credit card tapes, catalogs, and display materials. The Tournament Box is packed with rulebooks, energy forms, maps, SSDs, and so forth. Over the years, both boxes have expanded to two boxes. The Tournament Box Annex has the FC Ship Cards while the Booth Box annex has the parts bins, giveaway cards, plastic sign holders, and so forth.
We pride ourselves on professional preparation for the Origins Game Fair. Being military types, we have kept and updated each year's "list of things to do" and each year's "after action report" so it's a very organized and even relaxing process, almost like an airplane's pre-flight checklist. We all have a part of the list and we all just look at the list and do our part. Everything is on the list, and every item on the list has a box it goes in. The boxes and other containers are marked either as "booth" or "tournament" or "hotel" or "stay in car" or "singalong". So when we unload the car at the convention center, every box goes where it belongs and contains what it is supposed to contain.
The products for sale are pre-packed with two special boxes marked "this stuff goes on the magazine racks" to make booth setup easy. (All of the other "existing" stuff goes into reserve stock boxes.) Mike packed three mixed cartons of R12 and Federation Commander War & Peace so we can put one carton on the magazine racks, open the second for restock, and have the third in reserve (we'll need it by Saturday). The miniatures are packed in marked boxes such as "this stuff goes on the rack" and "this stuff is held in reserve" and "this is the stuff in bags that won't go on the rack." The new Captain's Log is in its own box, with a carefully calculated inventory of older issues in a second box.
This year, Origins is having a "retailers" time from 4-7 on Wednesday. We have no idea what that's going to amount to. The smart retailers will show up to see the new products and find new and profitable product lines, but we could spend the three hours talking to two retailers or fifty-two. We'll know more later. The Singalong is at 7pm so we're going to have to shuffle dinner shifts. SVC has his notes for the Singalong well started, so he doesn't have to make it up as he goes along.
It's like getting ready for two different trade shows at the same time, one to run a sales booth and the other to run the tournament. (Both have to have a stapler, a pair of scissors, a cash box, and so forth.) There is a Prescribed Load List for both items, and special boxes have been used since 2001 and contain everything needed to run the events. The Booth Box is full of office supplies, sheets, credit card tapes, catalogs, and display materials. The Tournament Box is packed with rulebooks, energy forms, maps, SSDs, and so forth. Over the years, both boxes have expanded to two boxes. The Tournament Box Annex has the FC Ship Cards while the Booth Box annex has the parts bins, giveaway cards, plastic sign holders, and so forth.
We pride ourselves on professional preparation for the Origins Game Fair. Being military types, we have kept and updated each year's "list of things to do" and each year's "after action report" so it's a very organized and even relaxing process, almost like an airplane's pre-flight checklist. We all have a part of the list and we all just look at the list and do our part. Everything is on the list, and every item on the list has a box it goes in. The boxes and other containers are marked either as "booth" or "tournament" or "hotel" or "stay in car" or "singalong". So when we unload the car at the convention center, every box goes where it belongs and contains what it is supposed to contain.
The products for sale are pre-packed with two special boxes marked "this stuff goes on the magazine racks" to make booth setup easy. (All of the other "existing" stuff goes into reserve stock boxes.) Mike packed three mixed cartons of R12 and Federation Commander War & Peace so we can put one carton on the magazine racks, open the second for restock, and have the third in reserve (we'll need it by Saturday). The miniatures are packed in marked boxes such as "this stuff goes on the rack" and "this stuff is held in reserve" and "this is the stuff in bags that won't go on the rack." The new Captain's Log is in its own box, with a carefully calculated inventory of older issues in a second box.
This year, Origins is having a "retailers" time from 4-7 on Wednesday. We have no idea what that's going to amount to. The smart retailers will show up to see the new products and find new and profitable product lines, but we could spend the three hours talking to two retailers or fifty-two. We'll know more later. The Singalong is at 7pm so we're going to have to shuffle dinner shifts. SVC has his notes for the Singalong well started, so he doesn't have to make it up as he goes along.
posted by Federation Commander at 6:12 AM
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