Best board games events and conventions in the world

If you love playing board games, you have to know that there are some special gaming events in the world, where you can try new games, meet people that have the same hobby as you and buy the newest items on the market. Here are some events that take place in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, that you might find interesting. All you have to do is pack your bags, buy your ticket and … roll the dice! 

Taipei Game Show – January, Taipei, Taiwan

taipei-game-show

Taipei Game Show is not only an international exhibit for gamers to experience innovative products, but also a great platform for business, networking and exchanging experiences in the game industry. Since the announcement for registration in late July, more than 130 companies and indie game developers from France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, the United States and more have registered for the B2B zone at Taipei Game Show 2016. Taipei Game Show 2017 is expected to reach more than 500,000 public visits and 3,000 trade visitors.

More info at: http://taipeigameshow.biz/

MeepleCon – March, Melbourne, Australia

Source - Meeplecon 2014

Source – Meeplecon 2014

MeepleCon is an annual board gaming event held in Melbourne, on the first weekend of December. It features new releases from the International Spieletage (held in Essen, Germany) as well as older games including those from Melbourne Meeples library.

MeepleCon is primarily an open library event where you can grab a game from the library, put it on the table and play. It also includes scheduled tournaments and special events.

More info at: http://con.meeples.org.au/

SaltCon – March, Utah, USA

Image source: SaltCON

Image source: SaltCON

The mission of SaltCON is “to bring people together with games.” The convention brings together exhibitors, prizes, game teachers, tournaments and a huge game library to try new games. At SaltCON, you can try board games, card games, party games, role playing games, dexterity games, miniatures games and more.

A Full Convention Adult Ticket is 50 US dollars and a 1 Day Adult Ticket costs 30 US dollars.

More info at: http://saltcon.com/

Fastaval – April, Hobro, Denmark

Fastaval is an annual gaming convention in Hobro, Denmark, with focus on role-playing games, live action role-playing games, board games, miniature war gaming and collectible card games. The first many years was held in or around Aarhus but the 2011 Fastaval was held in Silkeborg, while the conventions from 2012 to 2016 were held at Mariagerfjord Gymnasiet in Hobro.

The convention has been held on the long weekend of Easter since 1986, with the exception of 1988.

More info at: http://www.fastaval.dk/

Board games decathlon – October, Bucharest, Romania

This October, gamers in Bucharest can participate at a decathlon of board games that will last 10 hours! Participants will play ten of the most popular board games, such as Catan, Dixit, Activity, Saboteur, Jenga or Game of Thrones – Card Game.

All the funds raised will be used to develop the HOSPICE socio-medical center from Adunatii Copaceni, where children suffering from diseases with limited life prognosis are taken care of. The event addresses both board games enthusiasts, who can participate in the Decathlon competition for the grand prize trophy, as well as beginners, who have never tried board games.

Tickets can be purchased online on www.ove.ro, at the price of 9 euros for the official competition and 6 euros for the casual gaming area.

More info at: http://www.haveacigar.pub/decatlon/

Internationale Spieltage – October, Essen, Germany

Spieltage is the largest annual board game exhibit in the world. This year, the event will host more than 1,000 exhibitors from 50 nations.

The cool thing about this gaming convention is that they offer a shipping and packaging service. This means that if you attend the event and like 5 or 6 games, you don’t have to take them back home with you via plane and pay a lot of money for extra luggage. You have the option to ship your purchased games directly from the fairground to their homes.

A One-Day Ticket costs 13 euros and a Four-Day Ticket is 31 euros.

More info at: www.merz-verlag-en.com/

Lucca Comics and Games – October – November, Lucca, Italy

Lucca Comics & Games is the leading European festival dedicated to comics, games, movies and video games. With nearly 500,000 visitors in total, more than 40,000 square meters of exhibition space, 20 exhibitions, more than 500 events including meetings with authors and publishers, shows and concerts, the event is a must for gaming fans all over the world.

Lucca Comics & Games is held in the historic center of the ancient city of Lucca, a charming city rich in art and history in the heart of Tuscany. It takes place every year, at the end of October.

More info at: www.luccacomicsandgames.com/it/lcg/home/

Spielwies’n – November, Munich, Germany

Spielwies’n is a large board games fair and a showcase for new games and toys. Most of the producing companies have stands at the location, where you can get tutorials on how to play the new items and try playing it. At the end, you can buy the game, if you liked it.

Moreover, you can also take part in competitions. Don’t worry if you go alone – you will definitely find a game partner – thousands of fans from Germany and around the world attend this event.

The ticket is 27 euros for a three-day full access and there are also daily or family packages available.

More info at: www.freizeitspass-muenchen.de/messen/spielwiesn

7 PR tips and tricks to increase event awareness

You have almost set up all the details for your event: location, schedule, guests and speakers. But for everything to go smooth, you still need a few tricks and PR awareness, so everyone will be happy and attendees will talk about the event for a long time after it ends. This also means you will be able to spread your message to your target audience and attract potential customers and get positive press and publicity.

1. Write a blog

If you have enough time before the event – at least 6 months – you can create a blog for your event. It seems a bit outdated but hey – you are reading this on a blog, right? Here you can write posts about the topic of the event, announce new speakers or conferences, some promotions for tickets, maybe even a contest for a full-access pass. The purpose is making your audience come back to your blog for relevant content, even if they cannot attend this edition of the event, and keep the attendees posted with the latest news in the market.

2. Use Social Media to the max

With over 1.6 billion users, Facebook is now the biggest global media outlet. You need an official page for the event on Facebook or other social media. Here you can share posts from your blog, but do not limit yourself to that, you do not want to be boring or redundant. You can even post a live video on Facebook – a quick interview with one of the guests/speakers of your event, some footage of the location, as it is being prepared for the event or some rehearsals, depending on your event.

3. Engage your audience with contests

Two or three months before the event, create fun contests on your blog or social media pages and let people win tickets to your event. It’s best to make an original contest, with a fun task. For example, if your event is a concert, those who want to win need to post a video of themselves singing a song of the main band in the schedule. Be creative.

4. Get journalists on board

To make sure you get positive and enough media coverage, you can invite key journalists or bloggers prior to the event, and offer them a preview of what’s going to happen. Furthermore, you can facilitate some interviews with guests/speakers for top newspapers or televisions in your city that should be broadcasted before the event, so that people could be still able to buy tickets.

5. Goodie bags

People love receiving free stuff, so make sure you prepare a special gift for your attendees. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it has to be branded and thoughtful. You can offer anything from selfie sticks, headphones, stickers for the laptop, to discount vouchers for your next event, badges or plastic bracelets.

6. Free food or drinks

Maybe you won’t be able to offer a gourmet experience, but you can offer the illusion of it. Greet your attendees with a glass of champagne, prepare a simple candy bar for them or offer each one of them a bottle of water, if it’s a hot summer day. Kindness and taking care of your attendees goes a long way.

7. Partner with Charities

Donate some of your profit to a charity and everybody will win. People like helping other people and you probably do to, but in a simple way, without having to do too much. So if they find out that part of the money for the ticket will go to a charity, they will be more motivated to attend. 

When the event is over, get some rest and enjoy your success. But remember to share your results with your attendees, guests and everyone involved. You can make a graphic of the event – number of hours, number of people who attended, number of songs played, number of cakes eaten during the event or other funny figures. You can also make a video, presenting the whole event and giving some hints about the next one.

How to maximize event registrations and sales

One of the most important aspects to event business is the ticket sales. After all – that’s what makes it a business. Planners try different tactics in order to get the right people to register and attend their events. Of course, this is no easy job, considering that the industry is so competitive. There are many reasons to attend an event: to have a good time, to learn and network, to spend time with peers.

Oveit can help organizers optimize their sales with some interesting features that are available as soon as the account is created.

Real Time sales reports

First thing is first. When it comes to ticket sales, the best tool you need to have is a real time sales report. This is a vital tool, because you need to know at any time how many tickets were purchased up to that point and by whom. Oveit offers its customers various reports that give information regarding the number of tickets sold in a day, as well as the sums that were generated by the sales, split by events or ticket types.

issued-tickets

With these reports, the event planner can see at a glance whether the promotional campaigns are working and what their direct impact is on actual sales. If you plan a concert and decide to have a Facebook ad campaign for one week, you can see how that campaign affected the sales. If you observe that sales did not record a boost or an increase in numbers, then it is obvious that you need a shift in your promotional campaign. On the other hand, if you observe that the graphs are going sky high, it’s time to put some more money in that specific type of media, as it is clear that it’s working. This is viable for all other forms of marketing campaigns dedicated to promote your event and increase the number of tickets that are being sold.

Relevant customer data

It would be nice to get to know your attendees, wouldn’t it? With Oveit you can find out anything you want from your customers.

The form setup. You can choose from text, dropdown lists, email, dates and file uploads

The form setup. You can choose from text, dropdown lists, email, dates and file uploads

By enabling Oveit’s forms function, you can request any sort of information that is relevant for you. You can find out the attendees’ names, e-mails, positions in their companies, or even ask for their CVs. Why is this relevant for sales? Sales, in today’s world, is data. The more you know about your potential market, the better.

check-in

The check-in section. Search for attendees, edit their details and see order details.

Of course, it is important to ask the right questions to attendees. A large list of questions can go unanswered and the purchase flow is interrupted.

We recommend that you ask the customer her e-mail and basic data (name, company, position in the company), as these are the essentials. If you do this right, you will build up large data base collected and organized by Oveit, searchable and editable, which will always be available to you. You can also connect other applications you might have (for example a CRM) to our API and streamline data management. You will be able to see the customers’ activity and even reward your loyal customers at future events (for example with discount vouchers for loyal customers).

Active Media Partners

All events have media partners. Bigger events attract important media partners, but don’t worry if you plan a smaller event. You will definitely find media channels that are interested in your event. All you need to do is define your target audience and see where they get their news from. Once you have signed the media partnerships, you can use Oveit for something awesome: actively involve the media partners into ticket sales.

Copy, paste, embed and sell anywhere.

Copy, paste, embed and sell anywhere.

How? By using the embed function that Oveit has for every event, customers can purchase tickets directly from your media partner websites. The embed code functions just like any you would expect from an embed code and is compatible with any kind of website or screen resolution.

Customize the embed widget and make it fit your brand identity.

Customize the embed widget and make it fit your brand identity.

Your media partner just copies and pastes that code in the advertorial dedicated to your event. There you have it. Partners become sales channels. With this feature you can now have a full sales force directly from newspapers, online magazines or even blogs. You have full control over the data, at any time, so you know exactly who was the most prolific partner/seller.

The perfect check-out

The customer experience starts when the payment ends. This is the beginning of your customer relationship. She having a nice experience at the concert is entirely your job as an organizer.

Oveit can only help you with access management and all the other tools required for ticket sales. But even more, Oveit can help you stay in touch with your attendee. By keeping her attention and interest alive, she can become your loyal customer and will definitely attend to your future events.

A start to this new relationship between the planner and the attendee is the Oveit Check-out settings section that will enable you to send personalized e-mails to your attendees. By doing so, the customer will enjoy the attention you are offering her and be more receptive to anything you are doing or saying.

Also, you can create a small ‘Thank you’ page on your website so the customer will be redirected to it after ticket purchase. If you follow the previous advice and sell tickets directly from the media partners, this URL link is mandatory, as the customer can be redirected on your official website where she might find out more details about the event and about upcoming events.

Tips for artists starting out: How to promote your music without a label company

So you have a band, lots of talent and good songs, but no money for promoting your work. Getting a signed contract with a label company will probably take care of promotion, but until then, let’s find out what can you do by yourself, using only Internet, friends and networking. 

Be active on (the right) Social Media

At first, all you need is an official Facebook page. Do not waste your time creating accounts on all social media platforms or creating your own website yet. Spreading your efforts too thin may hurt rather than help.

After all Facebook is big and growing bigger. There are over 1.6 billion Facebook users. Think you can find some fans there? We sure do. Keep your Facebook page updated with relevant content: photos of you rehearsing, new concerts, new songs, updates about you. Oh, and very important: double-check your spelling and grammar. You want to be a role model for your fans. Keep it classy.

Show your face to the world

Your image is very important. Maybe you have a friend that takes great photos. She can help you with a professional photo shooting. If not, it’s a good idea to raise some money and go to a professional for some cool shots of you.

But stay fresh. Post selfies, inspiring images and things happening in your day-to-day life, even if you post them from your smartphone. Record short videos and stream your shows live.

The Offspring in concert. Photo source. The Offspring got started in 1984 with guitarist/vocalist Bryan "Dexter" Holland  and bassist Greg Kriesel playing music together in a garage in California.

The Offspring in concert. Photo source.
The Offspring got started in 1984 with guitarist/vocalist Bryan “Dexter” Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel playing music together in a garage in California.

Stay in touch with an YouTube account

Create an official channel of your band on YouTube and upload quality content or stream live events. You can also post covers, but make sure they sound really good. You want to attract subscribers and fans. Another good idea is to make covers of popular songs – this way, people who search the original song will also find your version and maybe enjoy your personal style. In the description of the video, you can also post the dates of your band’s concerts, if you already have any, or your Facebook page.

Be present at events

Socialize. That’s how you meet the right people (and unfortunately some of the wrong ones but never mind that). Maybe no one knows you yet and you do not receive invitations to fancy events, where all the VIPs are. For start, it’s important to attend small events – company parties, birthday parties, small parties in the city. If you don’t know anyone there, even better. Make friends and spread the word about your music. Who knows when you’ll meet the manager of a label company?

Other musicians

Maybe you have some friends that also have a band. Why don’t you make a song together? You are definitely familiar with all those popular featurings that big artists make. Well, they have a pretty good reason for it: the number of fans listening is double! This way, the other band’s fans may become your new fans!

Music blogs

It’s hard to reach mainstream music press when you are at the beginning of your career, but why don’t you try reaching music blogs? The bloggers are almost always eager to listen to new music and, if they like it, they can promote it on their websites.

Live shows

All artists create for their fans. Now it’s time to meet them. You don’t have to be an already popular artist to sing in front of an audience. First step: make a list of pubs and bars in your city that host local bands, then call them and make an appointment for an audition. Do your best to impress them and negotiate a good deal. At first, you will sing for free, but don’t worry – this is your chance for people to get to know you and start enjoying your music. After this … sky is the limit. Start small and grow from there. Using Oveit’s event registration software, you can set up your concerts and receive payments for tickets instantly. Pretty cool, right?

As you can see, there a lot of ways to promote your music without a label company of even money. All you have to do is stay positive, be creative and work hard. And, nonetheless, keep on making great music, until you get where you want to be!