This string of seminars will benefit any retailer or publisher. The live audience is comprised of table-top game industry professionals but any owner or manager will find great value in the experience of our presenters. The seminars were recorded at the GAMA Trade Show, a trade show that brings hundreds of hobby game retailers together with publishers to learn from each other and see what’s new in the industry.
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GTS Seminars: Pitching to the Pros
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Gini Graham Scott tells us how to pitch our game from the prototype to the presentation. Several helpful hints are given for anyone with a game to sell to an established game company and what it takes to get a game ready for show. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: How to Become a Small Publisher without Taking out a Second Mortgage
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Chris Clark and Aldo Ghiozzi team up to give you some insight on running a publishing company on a small budget. They start with the business plan and carry on through setting your MSRP and when you should expect to start making money. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Career Freelancing
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Matt Forbeck gives us a look at the life of a freelancer in the gaming industry. He answers questions from the audience and really delivers some great advise on topics from getting started to maintaining income. Web sites he referred to include gamingreport.com and icv2.com. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: The Production Process
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Michele Nephew, PhD of Atlas Games does an excellent job narrating the journey a game takes from the introductory solicitation to getting stocked on the shelf. If you are an inspiring game designer, this is a great overview to start yourself with. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Building an Adventure Model Business
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Joseph Goodman and Aldo Ghiozzi give some helpful tips to selling adventure modules in the store and some insight into the consumer’s mind. Their experience, care, and attention to detail has rewarded them with great knowledge you can use to your advantage to compliment your role-playing books with these valuable gems. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are available to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Getting Your Game Published
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Matt Forbeck and Aldo Ghiozzi give you the head start you need to know to get your game published. Topics range from prototype development to getting paid. Self publishing is also an option if your interested in the challenges of having your own business. Some links referred to in the presentation include the GPA, ToyDirectory, Indie RPGs, and GameParts. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Unconventional Wisdom
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Ryan Dancey and Luke Peterschmidt start by introducing several circumstances under which games have been published and let us guess their titles. Some were wildly successful, others were not. They then go on to give us some great thoughts on what problems we can steer away from and elements that can contribute to the success of a game. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are available to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Hiring Staff You’ll Want to Keep
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A good staff is important to running a quality shop. Jeff Abramson touches on a few HR topics but mostly on finding the right people to do the job. Some tips and tricks covered include setting expectations and asking the right questions in the interview. You’ll be sure to take something away from this hour that will help you find the right people to represent your store. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Games, Education, and Youth Groups
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Reaching out to young audiences is a large part of today’s industry. Alex Yeager introduces us to ideas and opportunities to get involved and contribute to the community. Board games are educational and healthy fun for growing minds. Program directors are looking for just that kind of thing. |
Alex is responsible for the educational outreach for Mayfair Games and frequently works with a number of youth groups to includes the Girl Scouts of America.
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are available to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
How to Get More Customers than You Ever Thought Possible
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Joe Jones (Knucklebones Magazine) returns to discuss the core of our business; the customers. He shares a lot of great ideas that can graduate us from a small store to a hot spot of activity. Like all of Joe’s presentations, this one is inspirational and filled with analogies that will stick with you and the way you run your business. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: GAMA’s Clubs and Organizations Program
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Sean Patrick Fannon has worked hard to strengthen the role of clubs in the Game Manufacturer’s Association. They represent an important part of the hobby; the consumers that love to play. In this presentation, Sean talks about the benefits clubs gain by joining GAMA and the role they play in the industry. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Store Design
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John Riley walks us through his store and shares what he has learned about store design and how it impacts sales. He has taken tips from large successful retailers and grown from his own serendipitous circumstances. Topics include displays, transition areas, and visual impact on new customers. You can’t help but to be thinking about how to improve your own store while listening to John’s presentation. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Everything Old is New Again
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Marcus King has done extremely well with used games and shares what he has learned with us. After this hour you will be well equipped to make more money from used merchandise. Marcus talks about buying, selling, pricing, liquidating, and settling fears that prevent many retailers from going down that path. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Using Mediation Techniques in Negotiations
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Marcia Clark focuses our attention on a talent that will go a long way in helping our business lives. Negotiation affects us every day and a successful transaction depends on effective communication. Marcia breaks down the elements of that communication and tells us how to put it to effective use. All of us can benefit from her words today. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Hyperworking Your Inventory
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Marcus King and Robert Moses tell us how best to put your inventory to work. They discuss ways to keep your inventory moving and maximize its potential. They touch on all types of games and several other entertainment products. Finding your place in today’s world is a challenge that Marcus and Robert tackle well. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are available to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Buyer’s Training
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Dave Wallace adds a new seminar to the GTS line-up this year. In Buyer’s Training Dave goes beyond what you can sell in your store, but how to make decisions on what to carry and how it affects your big picture. The next time you walk through a showroom floor, you are going to be glad you gave a listen to these insightful tips. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Advanced Convention Operations – Marketing
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Trey Reilly and Christine Brucker of the Game Manufacturer’s Association tag team this presentation and give some excellent insights into marketing your convention. These tips are valuable for whatever event you are planning. We consistently hear how people wish they would have known these things before they started working on their show. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
GTS Seminars: Surviving Your First Year
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John Riley pays close attention to the lessons learned in the first year so that you may have a head start right out of the gate. You might be surprised at the very basic details you missed such as starting with a mission statement. |
Out Of Character 030: Live from Gen Con 2007
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We had a great time recording Live in front of the crowd at Gen Con 2007. One of the hot topics for today’s show was the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. |
We heard from our friends at Asmodee games to include the designer of Dungeon Twister, Christophe Boelinger. Chistophe had come hear all of the way from France. We hope he had a great time here. We certainly had a great time with him both on and off the mic.
We also heard from Jeremy Stomberg from Fantasy Flight. They had a huge beautiful setup at Gen Con and a lot of hot news for us. We started by talking about the first few copies of StarCraft, the Board Game that were made available here at the convention.
There was a lot of podcasting action going on here at Gen Con. On today’s show we especially wanted to thank Geeklabel Radio for warming everyone up with a few beers on Thursday night, JJ Lanza from Fist Full of Comics and Games for organizing the schedule at the podcaster fan booth, Paul Tevis for organizing the Podcaster’s meet and greet, and everyone else for their participation on the podcasting panels. It was especially a real treat to have Dan from Fear the Boot on today’s show. He is really knowledgeable and a real treat to have involved in the podcasting panels.
Everyone in the audience received a copy of Polymancer Magazine. Polymancer magazine is a multi-genre magazine about roleplaying games (RPGs), miniature wargames, LARPs, and more. Articles are written so that they can be useful to gamers of all kinds, no matter which rules they prefer to use. This is done by making the articles “system-independent.” There is a complete adventure scenario in every issue. This is not an e-zine, but the real thing: an honest to goodness, printed magazine for gamers. Find out more at www.polymancerstudios.com.
Congrats go to Have Games, Will Travel and Yog Radio for receiving the ENnies first and second place awards respectively. We are contending ourselves in the next Podcast awards ceremony, the Parcec Awards. We will be at Dragon*Con in just a few days to find out the results of that contest.
GTS Seminars: Demos that Rock
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Chris Clark teaches us a little about showmanship. Demos are an important part of the business and a necessary excitement building tool. But like any tool, there is an optimal way to use it. This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA). |
Chris Clark began his ‘professional’ gaming career in 1977 running events at Gen Con in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. He formed his first gaming company, Inner City Games Designs, while in college at the University of Illinois in 1981. His first published game, the Inner City RPG was also published in its original format that year. Chris still owns and operates Inner City Games Designs which now has more than 40 titles currently in print. It is one of the oldest small press companies still in existence.
Chris formed Hekaforge Productions with Gary Gygax in 1998 in order to launch Gary’s newest role-playing creations, the Lejendary Adventure™ and the Lejendary Earth™. While still small, Hekaforge currently has 20 titles in print, and shows no signs of slowing its steady growth.
Since 1980, Chris has written more than 100 published role-playing, miniature, card and board games, including Fuzzy Heroes and War PIGs, and is still writing them for both Hekaforge and Inner City Games Designs. He is also an avid member of the Game Publishers Association, and engages in freelance writing for several magazines as well as other game publishers. You can find out more about Chris at www.fuzzyheroes.com.
GTS Seminars: Demographics and Negotiations
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Mel Thompson joins us again for an awesome presentation in demographics and geography. Store placement is a very important part in any retail business. Mel consults in the comics and games industry and shines with knowledge we can all benefit from. More information can be found at his website, comtrac.net. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
