Gaming Trade Shows - I need your help for an assignment!

[Parvaneh]

Hey DmW,

I’m studying event marketing and for my exam I’ve been asked to plan an event in an assignment. I’ve chosen to plan a Gaming Trade Show (like E3 and Blizzcon). (Its fictional, I only have to plan it on paper)
Researching for my assignment I learned that there is only 1 successful Gaming Trade Show in Europe, its the GC Game Convention in Leipzig – at least I haven’t found others that haven’t been forced to cancel.

It has led me to wonder, what would gamers like a trade show to be? What makes them want to visit? What needs to be present at the trade show? And how should it be done?
Personally I think the organiser of the trade show needs to arrange something that cannot be found on the Internet, so its not enough to just show trailers.

I think there needs to be for instance a game designer talking about how this level was made, or giving the participants of the trade show a chance to come with input for a better game play.
Furthermore I think we need to focus on the female gamers. Give them an area where they can come and meet other female gamers and where they can talk about games without the men. It doesn’t have to be a pink area with lady magazines and hairdressers.
its more thought of as an area where ladies can check out new games that perhaps appeal to females more than males, check out gadgets for female gamers and stuff like that. (Not to be treated differently, its just my prejudice that trade shows are very male oriented).

1)   Have you ever visited a gaming trade show?
2)   If no: Why not?
3)   If yes: Would you go to one again? What was bad about that show? What was good?
4)   Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show?
5)   If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not?
6)   If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show – what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc)
7)   How much would you want to pay for a trade show?


I would really appreciate if you could answer these few questions, its nothing big – but your help will make my work easier. (I reckon it will take about 5 minutes or less)

Thanks in advance!
Camilla

Edit: edited some stuff that could cause misunderstandings

[BigFatCat]

What about the hardware side? Gamers love funky video cards or super coolers.

In order:

1: Many years ago.
2: Never had an affinity for one game, been to more generic shows covering more platforms and game styles.
3: I'd consider going to one, needs to be pretty spacious and the exhibits accessible. Not a fan of being crammed in small spaces with sweaty geeks, LAN excepted.
4: Might do, she plays some games too.
5: Doubt it, depends if there were other female interest things. Women celeb games players or media figures perhaps. If they're lady gamers, then they'd be there for the games not for female friendly exhibits? Bored WAGs may look for other things to occupy them.
6: Seeing/playing games, new hardware, special offers on buying stuff, free stuff being given away. Attractive young ladies in tight clothing. Decent catering or drinks availability, not necessarily alcohol. Free wi-fi. Retailers offering good deals. Competitions if you actually get to enter them. Things to see, like sci-fi movie props or things maybe.
7: £10 or equivalent, more depending if there's other things worth paying the extra.

Needs to be hosted somewhere accessible too, plenty of public transport links and reasonably priced parking.

[DuVeL]

1) Yes but never went
2) They're usually not near my hometown and I'm usually busy for the rest, if one was closerby then I'd go.
3) See above
4) Depending if she'd like the sort of thing yes and if there's anything interesting for her.
5) I reckon she would but depends a bit what you understand about female area
6) Check out trailers, try new games, maybe buy stuff like games. Checkout boothbabes and get free stuff.
7) +10 Euros, depends a bit on how they advert about what will be there.

[Carr0t]

1)    Yes, but never actually been to one.
2)    Cost of travelling outside UK (none i'm aware of in-UK) vs payoff being quite low because of huge queues, so you spend most time either looking at stuff you could just get online in a few days, or in a 2 hour queue to spend 5 mins looking at something only available at the convention. Also, high chance of being in close proximity to people who haven't showered recently enough
3)    N/A
4)    Unlikely. While she is interested in games and gaming, it's not to the extent I am and I suspect she would get bored being dragged around by me to and queueing for the stuff *I* would want to see, but equally wouldn't want to go and wander round stuff on her own particularly. Even if she did come she prob wouldn't be interested in a female specific area. If she was there it would be to look at the games, not to be treated 'differently'.
5)    N/A
6)    Developer talks about upcoming games. A chance to play not-yet-released games in their current form (not just watch other people playing them). Shiny not-yet-released hardware and demos of it. Reasonably priced food and drink (I'm not too bothered about just eating burgers and pizza for a day or two, but I do object to paying over-the-odds for the privilege). Good air con. No huge queues for everything (which kind of implies a high degree of selection of who gets to go, which equally implies i'd be unlikely to get in). Free stuff. Competitions to win the latest hardware and software.
7)    Including the cost of travel, or not? If it was a good convention that had all the stuff I was talking about above, i'd probably pay up to £30 for it, but only if I could get there and back (fuel, accomodation etc) for a reasonable amount. I wouldn't want to be paying more than £50-60 total, including travel, accomodation, entrance fee and food/drink, for a 1 day event. Might push that up to £80 *absolute max*, if it was supposed to be a brilliant event, for a 2 day one.

[GhostMjr]

I find event marketing an interesting subject so i'll give you a few ideas to think about in your discussion.

Firstly there has been a couple of gaming events in the UK and i have attended them. Firstly there was an event known as the Playstation Experience which i am not sure still exists and a show known as Game Stars Live. The first was held in the Excel Centre London, the second held in Earls Court.

Firstly ask yourself :

*how in depth do u want to go?

*If you were visiting the event what do you want and what would you like to see?

Heres a brief bullet point starter:

• Is the location easy to get to, transport links etc
• Will you have special offers or vouchers etc
• Who will be there? famous person or famous brand?
• What's your events exclusive (often carries the sway as to who will attend- [your audience/ who is it aimed at])?
• Will developers be there or is it a gamer only/ show event only?
• Price will depend on what is essentially there.

One problem you need to address is human behaviour. Simply put why do they go? Well in some cases in may be their hobby/ interest or simply something new.  Or an excuse to get a way from something such as the other half.

If its a prestigious event bigger companies may go but at smaller events there will not be any tech team or developers there only people to hand out freebies etc. However, at Pc Gamer Showdown this was an exception as i got to me the lead writer of HL2. Essentially this event was to do a small play test/ stat gathering exercise before the official release with valve developers of left for dead onhand to help with troubleshooting and logging of problems. Showing why valve are my favourite developer because they do care about the community and about their games. This demo was then actually released as the l4d demo showing thorough testing before hand.

This is however, one of my criticisms of gaming shows.

I go to events to try out new games find glitches or flaws and theres no onene to pass this onto only someone handing out leaflets and not someone to troubleshoot or log issues. In all fairness companies need to have a team or team member to oversee and help customers with issues or queries as well as log any issues.  

The way to approach the female market isn't to have hairdressing salons and such at an event. You approach it by marketing the event properly for both male and female audiences without this female audiences won't know what is/ what isnt there for them.


Feel free to reply back i'm interested to hear your responses

Regards,

GM

[TeaLeaf]

GM. why not try and answer your own questions in light of your own attendance?  I think that was what Camilla was after.

TL.

[Parvaneh]

GM. why not try and answer your own questions in light of your own attendance?  I think that was what Camilla was after.

TL.

Well yes I was after some sort of answers to my questions, mostly because I needed some more inspiration about how people felt about it - and what should be present at the trade show.

You're answers has already helped me a whole lot, because I was a bit stuck! So thanks

[DuVeL]

Come on guys and girls, we're all gamers here, help a fellow gamer out by answering the question.
It doesn't take much time...

[Anonymous]

1) Have you ever visited a gaming trade show? No
2) If no: Why not? Distance and I hate queues
3) If yes: Would you go to one again? What was bad about that show? What was good?
4) Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show? No
5) If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not? It would bore her rigid!
6) If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show â€" what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc) Trailers, demos, some freebies (t-shirts, etc), no queues, open space.
7) How much would you want to pay for a trade show? £10

[Blunt]

1) Have you ever visited a gaming trade show? No
2) If no: Why not? Distance and I hate queues
3) If yes: Would you go to one again? What was bad about that show? What was good?
4) Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show? No
5) If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not? It would bore her rigid!
6) If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show â€" what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc) Trailers, demos, semi-naked elf-girls, Angelina Jolie as Lara, some freebies (t-shirts, etc), no queues, open space.
7) How much would you want to pay for a trade show? £10

HTH:D

[Penfold]

1)    Have you ever visited a gaming trade show? No.
2)    If no: Why not? It's something that has never appealed to me. Also, location may be an issue. I only live 40 or so mins from London but I wouldn't really go in just for a gaming show. We'd be more likely to make a day of it and go out to dinner or visit friends afterwards
3)    If yes: Would you go to one again? What was bad about that show? What was good?
4)    Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show? If we came up to London for a show, she'd hate every minute of it and would much rather go shopping. Invariably  she'd shop, I'd visit the show and we'd meet up at the end to see how much she has managed to whack on the credit card in three hours.
5)    If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not?
6) If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show – what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc) Previews of upcoming games for release, a chance to see latest developments. It would also have to have a decent PC-game section rather than a focus on XBox, Nintendo Wii's etc of which hold no interest to me. Id' like a large hardware/merchandise section with everything from mousemates to full spec gaming pc's. It would also be nice to have a bar and doubly so if some of my fellow dMw'ers were there as well so we can all revel in our geekiness. Like they say above, freebies (t-shirts / mousemats / beermats yada yada) and Promo girls are always attractive additions to any event :whistle:
7)    How much would you want to pay for a trade show? £10-£15 or thereabouts

[TeaLeaf]

1)   Have you ever visited a gaming trade show?
No
2)   If no: Why not?
Never thought about going to one and tbh it has not interested me too much as I read about the show online or elsewhere.
3)   If yes: Would you go to one again? What was bad about that show? What was good?
n/a
4)   Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show?
No, she is bored senseless by computers.
5)   If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not?
n/a
6)   If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show – what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc)
Latest game & technology displays with user involvement
Beta keys
Unique merchandise
Direct from the manufacturer discounts
7)   How much would you want to pay for a trade show?
Probably no more than £10-20.

[Azunai]

1)   Yep, the Power Unlimited Gameplay in the Netherlands, not as high fly as Leipzig but on a national level it's quite renowned.
2)   -
3)   Probably not as I am not that much of a gaming fan anymore. Bad about it were the queues, having to stand (as opposed to sitting) at game consoles alot, too many demo games or malfunctioning games. Good sides were the atmosphere, boothbabes, scoops and goodies (important!)
4)   No way (if I had one), unless she was a gamer herself
5)   Maybe. Difficult question. I don't think so, she probably wouldn't want to be stigmatized (SP?)
6)   All of the above really.
7)   I guess around 20 euro's for a day, 25 if it was really promising.

[suicidal_monkey]

1-yes
2-
3-unlikely. too crowded, stall people really only cared about you if you were the press or someone wanting to invest. all I took away was a sense of a wasted 2 hours, some advertising flyers and crappy junk-ware.
4-no
5-no interest in it
6-What you listed I guess, not sure I'd ever have the time to do it anymore, not unless I moved into the gaming industry myself in terms of business. I can get merchandise, competitions and trailers online. Some hardware demos, as mentioned, would be nice : seeing and using cases, mice, keyboards, nostromos, etc...
7-ideally nothing based on past experiences. If it's designed to attract the industry it should be more selective and issue invites by application. If it's designed to attract the "punters" then it's got to be a bit like a free arcade with games to play, decent freebies and merchandise, live entertainment of some sort - then I might be persuaded to pay a tenner to get in, ...if I didn't have to travel far to get there.

can I just add: bah humbug :flirty:

[Sithvid]

I visited a RPG/ Board game convention in Derby about 20 years ago, so very little PC influence mainly loads of people milling around I think it was hosted by Games Workshop


) Have you ever visited a gaming trade show? Yes
2) If no: Why not?
3) If yes: Would you go to one again? Maybe if local. What was bad about that show? I dunno t was like a big indoor market very little organisation What was good? Loads if things to buy and new stuff war gamers blood bowl players taking part in tourneys, as a young lad I had no £ to buy though
4) Would you bring your wife/girlfriend to the trade show? Yes but I don't think she would want to come along
5) If yes: Do you think she would be interested in a female Area? If no: Why not? Hard to say possibly but I am not interested in table tennis so if there was a an area or exhibition on it I would not bother if you get my point.
6) If you, hypothetically, were on the way to a gaming trade show – what would you want to experience at it? (Upcoming game trailers, competitions, being able to buy something there, getting merchandise, getting high quality merchandise etc) Yes all of that a few freebies a drink perhaps meet up with a few fellow DMw's
7) How much would you want to pay for a trade show? £20?


Hope this helps