Are you excited about setting up a Games on Demand event at your favorite convention? That’s great! Games on Demand is a loose organization of individual chapters run by different people, and we encourage you to take the model and adapt it locally. Here are some suggestions to get you started!
Assumptions
This assumes that you are an enthusiastic convention attendee who wants to organize a Games on Demand event (rather than a member of the convention staff). If you are a show organizer, the first thing you need to find is someone excited about putting this all together for you.
Work with the Convention Staff
Our first suggestion for getting started is to talk to the convention events staff to see what they can offer to help you run the event- quiet space in a good location, free badges for GMs, maybe hotel rooms to encourage volunteers to come help, etc.
If you have trouble selling them on why they should help you, point out that you want to assemble a team of enthusiastic volunteers and run an event for free to entertain attendees at their show.
How Much Demand?
After that, make a guess about how many volunteers you need for the size of the show and start recruiting. How big is the show? Do you have any idea how many attendees to expect for the event based on attendance?
For a first-time event, 4-6 tables is a reasonable starting point. You’ll need to decide what the hours for the event will be and break that up into shifts for a volunteer schedule. You may not be busy enough to keep all the tables running for all shifts, but start with that assumption.
If you have the option, the Origins model is a great one to follow- 2 or 3 four-hour shifts with breaks for meals in between.
Plan Your Schedule
So assuming you run three four-hour shifts a day over 3 days — probably less on the last day, so let’s call it 8 shifts — with four tables at a time, that’s 32 shifts for GM volunteers. Add 8-16 more for a host or two to coordinate getting players into games during each shift, and that’s 48 shifts for a total of 192 person-hours.
At Gen Con we typically ask volunteers to work 16 hours to get a free badge. Some people do part-time and work just a shift or two. You can set that dial wherever you like, but if we assume a 16-hour commitment, that means you’ll need about 12 full-time volunteers.
Recruit Some Volunteers!
You’re going to need a solid crew that love running games for strangers. Ask your friends, make a post in the forums of the convention website or on social media. Contact us and we can help you reach out to the existing pool of volunteers from other shows. Once you’ve run your event once, you’ll be able to recruit from the people who attended and get them to come run games the next time!
Additional Resources
This is just the start, and there’s a lot more experience here that you can draw on. Feel free to reach out with questions, or check out these other resources.
Here’s a great article about getting getting started with a small event at a local show!
https://gnomestew.com/create-your-own-games-on-demand/