[#014] Airecon, conventions, and more

Welcome to your weekly dose of board game design!

I got back from Airecon on Sunday night after four jam-packed days of networking, playtesting, playing, and meandering. If you were elsewhere in England last weekend, I hope this post convinces you to add next year's Airecon to your calendar (March 14-17, 2024).

For those in North America or elsewhere in Europe, enjoy the insight into England’s second largest convention, and why I took a new approach to this convention, which was different from every other convention I’ve ever been to.

So, let's talk about Airecon...

Start with this post I just published, which was more written for the general audience.

This was my second Airecon - 2022’s Airecon was a bit of an introduction to the country, both in terms of us having officially moved to England and to some of the folks I had seen at UKGE or Essen. I had approached it as I do other conventions - find publishers to pitch, network, and so on. (See this post for more on that typical process.) After arriving last year, a few things became clear:

• There just weren’t that many publishers in attendance to pitch (many were there in support of their own games, so it would have been a waste of time to pitch them)

• The trade area was much smaller than expected

• The place was open much later than expected

(Again, this is last year's Airecon we're talking about above.)

This was a bit flustering, and if I were to be honest, more than a bit frustrating. Sure, I played some games, playtested some stuff, and had a lot of fun, but last years Airecon felt… unproductive is the best word that came to mind.

Later on, it became clear my usual convention approach might work for the bigger, more commercial conventions (UKGE, Essen)… but not this one.

With that in mind, my approach to Airecon 2023 was to:

• Enjoy the ride

• Playtest when I could

• Play some published games

• Bring on the bring and buy

• Connect and reconnect with people around the country

• Not worry about pitching publishers (though I did bring my book of sell sheets just in case)

This week's tip

It's tied to the convention, naturally - but hopefully relevant to whichever conventions you'll be attending this year.

Researching the con should be at least as important as researching the publishers or other folks you want to speak with. Time is precious, and time spent looking for the food court or bathrooms is usually better spent doing other things. Experience is helpful, naturally, but many cons have plenty of info on their website, maps on their social media, and so on. You might also find their programs from previous years online somewhere.

It might also help to review people's blogs, vlogs, social media posts about it. One great example: at Essen, food felt decently priced (as food trucks at a convention go), but drinks were like 4 euros for a 500ml soft drink. Kinda nuts. No one's checking your bags at the door, so bring your own bottles or drinks.

Beyond that, remember to leave time for the practicalities. The '3-2-1' rule I wish was better known:

• At minimum, get 3 hours of sleep...

• ...2 hot meals...

• and 1 shower each day.

This is a very low bar, and it's easy enough to meet these at some point during your day. When you meet them can feel more 'normal' or more 'foreign' - like eating lunch at 4pm can feel really odd for some folks. It might be worth planning a bit more to be in a certain place at a certain time to make a certain thing.

What I’ve been working on last week

• Airecon was the biggie, as talked about above.

• Playtesting!

• Working on a game for a client

What's coming up this week

• A bit of catching up from Airecon

• Some client work

• A lot of changes relating to playtests at Airecon

ICYMI

Winning 'Best Original Song' at the Oscars and Golden Globes, Naatu Naatu from RRR delivered one of those Oscar performances people will be talking about for awhile:

Also, the primary reason people's productivity and performance dip in March amongst US workers is here:

Thanks for reading!

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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!