Convention details

We should definitely do another one - but ideas on how to do it better would be great. Maybe GMs / players could comment with 1-2 good things and 1-2 bad things

For me, good things:

- Having the Calendar to visualise the timetable was really useful, and keeping the FG calendar for actually tracking players / attendance and adding details was very sensible
- Having pre-generated characters all ready to go was essential to getting a reasonable session within the time
- Free teamspeak server, this just MADE things work. Awesome idea.

Bad things:

- I was still a little short of players on the day. I didn't feel I'd really had a chance to reach out to my players beforehand, give them a quick paragraph of what I was planning and make them feel a little more involved before the game began
- I found it hard to feel like I was "involved" in a conference. It's a very tough nut to crack, and possibly not a showstopper, but anything more we can do to tackle this would be great.

Other thoughts:

It would be nice to have a better visualization again - perhaps even as something more automated (e.g. a web app that parses the FG calendar and tracks all events with the word FG2Con in them) ? I reckon that could be a fun, weekend project at some point !

I wonder if any "non-playing" events around the conference would work ? E.g. extension coding workshops, hackathons, future ruleset discussions, "unconference" style talks ? Trying to think of something non-playing and non-coding too...

Also event advertising - whatever happened at AEthercon, the advertising was pretty good !

I'm certainly hoping to run another game next conference (Australia didn't appear to have a large number of players / games in it's prime time spots !) and hoping to get involved with one or two more.

-PW-

Certainly the community here is what made FGCon come off. It was great how folks stepped up to do things and bring it together... I know I for one hadn't planned on doing too much with it and found myself wanting to help out my friends and help make the thing go smoothly. I'd mention names but I'm sure to forget someone important...

Bottom line.. it was lots o fun and I definitely look forward to doing it again.

Aethercon did do a good job of getting message out there - and then they might have ruined it for everyone that follows trying to get word out on those sites.

I got most of my players for my session from a Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/Sydney-DnD/

I also threw it out at penandpapergames.com where I have picked up 2 players for campaigns before but go ZERO interest there.

Good things:
Once calendar format was sorted it was quite easy to use.
TeamSpeak
Number of Games
Organisers

Things to improve:
More people from outside this community needed for games.
Spread word in other forums and communities - I know a couple of people did this but didnt get a huge response - I think we have to keep doing it.
Maybe get this scheduled as a roughly 6monthly event to try to build traction.
Get some banners done up for use in signatures/blogs etc
Nice how to guide (PDF or Blog) on getting started which covers:
1. registerring on site
2. download and install FG
3. download and install TS
4. settings in TS (use a mic/headset, voice activation, run setup wizard)
5. maybe we could get a test campaign that was available for 2weeks (or more) before the event so that people can log in and throw dice and roll up character etc - be wowed by the interface?

Other events that could be done?
Maybe a Google hangout where an experienced DM shows how to run a game and can answer questions?
I love the idea of extension/programming workshops!

I know a couple of people hung out in the chat rooms just - chatting! I think some scheduled chat events could work - would need to have a couple (2) of people who committed to the chat to ensure some traction. Keep these short - max 1 hour and the topics should be posted in advance - eg D&D Next, Creating your own Module (not technical - more about balance and challenge0 that sort of stuff.
You cant re-create the Con feel as the Skirmisher guy said - people arent there - looking for something to do in between sessions. In between session they go brush their teeth, go for a run, walk the dog - whatever. There is no way to trap them and divert them to things they didnt know they were interested in :)

Definitely what it needs is enough volunteers to ensure that no-one gets over-burdened and that no-one is irreplaceable. Real life always happens.

With luck we do get enough volunteers to spread the work load around. I had a blast at the last FGcon, although there was a problem with attendance at some games (the solution is obviously get the word out).

What went well:

There was no shortage of games: I had no problem finding a game (actually 5 games) that suited my timezone. It was nice to try different rulesets and see different GMing styles. I learnt a lot from this.

It was very social: Not quite like being in the pub, but it was great that lots of folks hung around the TS chat room and had the banter. If we could encourage more of this for next time.

The visual calendar with time zone comparions: I'm really surprized this hasn't become the norm for the official Gamecalendar. It was really essential (well done the person who put it together)

Teamspeak: Really, this is what brought it together. If we were reliant on skype for the games it would have all fallen apart.

(There were more good thing, I can't think too clearly at this hour of the morning)


What could be improved:

More players from outside: We really need to showcase FG to potential players who are maybe put off by the price and rank it in comparison to dice rolling apps and map/token handlers that are available for free. We all know FG is more than that. That's why if Smiteworks gives temporary ultimate licences to all full licence holders for the weekend of the event, we can advertise it as a fully FREE event.

We make the effort to fill games lacking players: If you are GMing, make sure you play at least on game for every game you run. That way we won't be completely overrun with GMs :)

A separate section/tab on the FG website with dedicate calendar/timezone comparison thingy: Come on lads, this cannot be hard to do. Smiteworks needs advertising to begin at home. A big banner advertising it everywhere you go on the website. You know the event will be well run (like last time)

Ideas for what volunteers could do: damned made a few great points. 1. Test sessions on the run up to the con from two weeks before (hosted in rota by as many experienced GMs as can volunteer - needs to be spread out). 2. At least 2 people manning the chat room at any given time over the weekend of the event (another rota here). You need meet and greet people for nervous folk that just need to ask a few questions, and to encourage people to stay on the TS chating. 3. What ever else you want me to do (I can't sing, I can't dance...)

Lots of really good points so far.

Getting the word out:

I know that lots of the FG users don't frequent the FG forums and wouldn't have even known that there was convention, so I'm not sure how to reach out to those people.

It brings up an interesting point about how Smiteworks reaches their current client base. Do they have a newsletter ? If they do I don't receive it. I don't understand why they don't have a pop up window that comes up with news about Smiteworks when FG first starts up or when connecting to a game. A very quick advert about the newest modules or rulesets that have been produced. If they did that then we could also advertise the con. :)

I think the only way to get some traction with other forums is to start advertising early and update often. The other thing to do is to get the publishers that have rulesets to support the convention. We need to get the publishers of Savage Worlds, Pathfinder (if possible), etc to get onboard and mention that they are supporting the convention. Maybe the odd prize could be procured as well.

The demo version:
This is a big issue to me. For those of us who don't have an Ultimate license, how can we get players to try FG if they can't join our game ? I have never tried the demo mode so maybe it can do more than I think. Anyone know how it works ? Is it possible to get a temporary Ultimate license for the weekend ? The question was asked before but I don't remember if it was answered or not.

As to getting the word out... perhaps Smiteworks could help us with that... at least as far as getting the word to FG users who don't use the boards.

Two options that come to mind are,

• a splash page message in an update that gives a link and info about the con in big pretty letters...

or

• an email blast to registered users with a nice graphical or simple text message regarding the Con.

Here is a link to another Virtual convention that ran at the beginning of the month:

https://indieplus.org/doku.php?id=start

Any more news on the next convention?

I think we are currently working on trying to pin down a good date.
I believe the idea of sometime in the spring is being kicked around.

Other issues related to improving the Con as a whole are also being discussed.

Let me know if you need anything done.