Bill Bodden's Blog - Posts Tagged "convention-appearances"

In my latest blog post, I talk a bit about attending CONvergence, a sci-fi convention in Bloomington, Minnesota. I'll be on several panels, and it'll be good to get back to the Twin Cities convention scene after too many years away:
http://billbodden.com/2015/06/22/my-c...

In an effort to increase my visibility (self-promotion can be a real bear), I've been hitting the convention circuit a little harder this year than in the past. For a semi-introvert like myself, this can be both a terrifying and exhilarating experience. And also tiring.

First up was Origins , back in early June. Held each year in Columbus, Ohio, Origins sometimes struggles as second fiddle to GenCon in the tabletop gaming world. Personally, I like Origins quite a bit; the venue is large enough to host world-class events like a World Science Fiction Convention (aka WorldCon) with lots of smaller meeting rooms perfect for concentrated gaming events. My traveling companion, Monica Valentinelli, was invited to be a speaker at the event; she needed a ride, so it became a more financially feasible event for me, knowing I had my room and badge covered in exchange for driving and for my presentations.

My events went well; I gave solo presentations on selling games to distributors (for manufacturers) and on freelancing in the gaming industry. Attendance wasn't spectacular -- I don't think there was ever much more than a dozen or so people in the audience -- but both events were well-received with active participation, and I had the gratifying experience of people coming up to me afterwards to thank me for my presentations.

I managed to hang out with a few friends while there; Sarah Hans , and Steve and Betty Lickman -- Steampunks of my acquaintance -- met up with me for lunch on Saturday, and the conversation was relaxed and interesting. Sarah and Steve are also writers, and Sarah edited the anthology Sidekicks! , in which both Steve and I had stories. We commiserated on trying to get stories noticed -- if not published, and had a pleasant lunch together. I also had a delightful dinner with Seth Polansky and Kelley Slagle -- among many other people -- and heard all about a film Kelley directed, which they were selling DVDs of at the show -- called "Of Dice and Men" . I watched a screening of the film that evening, and enjoyed it well enough to buy a copy from Kelley. It's also available in a Special Edition on BluRay.

July 4th weekend saw me at CONvergence, in Bloomington, Minnesota. CONvergence is a large, fan-run convention that does pretty much everything, and does it all pretty well. I was again attending with Monica V.,so I had company for the drive. Made a few plans with area friends, but mostly was expecting to see more people I knew. It's been more than 20 years since I last attended a Twin Cities convention, and many people I knew back then are no longer part of the scene. I did catch up with a few friends, first for sushi dinner on Friday, and then with a different group for a delightful Mexican-fusion brunch on Saturday.

My panels were well-attended, and this time I was not flying solo; each had at least three to four other panelists, and the level of moderation skill was generally good. I was on panels about getting into tabletop gaming, becoming a game designer, and the rise of tabletop gaming as a popular hobby, and the audience was receptive and engaged each time.

Saturday night I was feeling a bit sorry for myself; I knew far fewer people at the convention than I thought I would, and was kind of lonely. I happened upon a few people in one of the poolside cabana terraces about to start a game of Ticket To Ride -- one of my favorite boardgames -- and they asked if I'd care to join them. Going completely against type, I said yes, and spent an enjoyable hour or so gaming and chatting with four complete strangers. My thanks to Lucas, Nicole, Amy and Jeremiah for being delightful company!

Caption: Lucas, Nicole, Amy, Jeremiah, and me at CONvergence, June 6, 2015


At the end of July, I made the holy pilgrimage to GenCon in Indianapolis. It was an odd experience being there completely on my own this year. For more than a decade I was working for someone else at the con, either as an employee of ACD Distribution, or as sales manager and occasional freelance writer for Green Ronin Publishing . This time, I was there representing only myself, and while I again failed to make sufficient plans to prevent me from dining alone occasionally, I did have several good meetings about future work, a few convivial meals with others (including Lynne Hardy and her husband Richard), and had two seminars that went well. I reprised my presentation on selling games to distributors here, and found myself on a panel with several industry luminaries about how to get started as a freelancer in the gaming industry. I also finally met Eloy Lasanta, whose Third Eye Games had me as a stretch goal for the AMP: Year One RPG Kickstarter. I wrote the adventure Evolution of Apex , which has also been collected with the other AMP: Year One Adventures into an anthology titled AMP Adventures . Eloy tells me my adventure is meeting with decent acclaim from the game's fans, which does me a world of good to hear.

I managed to wangle a free badge as an "Industry Insider" which got me access to being on those two panels among other things, and it was curious to see people's surprised reactions to my "Guest of Honor" badge at the show. I've been around in the games industry for years, and while I'm nothing like a household name, I have made my share of contributions.


Caption: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!

I also managed to find a last-minute roommate to help cover the extravagant cost of a hotel room at the show. David Miller runs a cool gaming news site called Purple Pawn ; besides being a nice guy and a pleasant roommate, David is serious about presenting information about gaming to his readers. I highly recommend checking out Purple Pawn when you have a chance.

My last convention of the summer was Geek.Kon , where I have been one of the Local Guests of the convention for a number of years running. The Local Guest guest list is quite long, but includes Monica Valentinelli and Matt McElroy, Alex Bledsoe , Christopher Jones , Aaron Pavao , and Mark Stegbauer . There were many more guests of the convention, but I wasn't able to spend much time with them. I especially regret not meeting and chatting with Greg Weisman , but that's what next year's conventions are for.

A highlight of the show for me was breakfast on Sunday with Will Shetterly and Emma Bull . I was Emma's Guest Liaison when she was a GoH at Wiscon 14 back in 1990; I haven't seen either Emma or Will much since, so it was very pleasant to have this chance to chat and catch up. Another highlight was dinner the night before with all of Geek.Kon's GoHs at the Nile restaurant, a tradition for several years now.

Geek.Kon is rapidly becoming my favorite local convention. A top-notch staff that works hard to put on a good show, Geek.Kon is staffed mostly by a collection of youthful but competent people. The convention has been growing at a rapid rate, and I hope to see them around the scene for many years to come.

So that's been my summer so far, and it's taken a bit out of me. That's more travel and more conventions over three months than I usually do in two years! I have hopes to make it to a few conventions next year; much will depend on how organized I am, and I have hopes that I'll have more new projects to promote.

I attended Midwinter Gaming Convention over the weekend, and sitting in the hotel lounge on a Monday afternoon, the post-convention depression sets in. I had a good time this year, and it was over too soon.

I was able to be part of the reprise of last year's successful...
to read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/01/15/midw...

Last year I was invited to be the Gaming Guest of Honor for 2018 at Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous in Great Falls, Montana. I accepted, and ever since had been planning my trip. I'd never been to Montana before (or the Dakotas for that matter) so there were things I surely needed to experience along the way.

There had been indications I might have a passenger to help keep me company: that turned out to not be the case after all, so I'd be driving alone. It would be a 1,300-mile round-trip, most of that along the I-90 corridor, so I'd need to plan my stops ahead of time. I'm prone to sleepiness on long drives, so it's best if I don't push too hard to cover extra miles in a day.

My first stop was Sioux City, South Dakota. It was about seven hours' worth of driving time from home, so it was a good...

To view the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/10/22/the-...

[caption id="attachment_2543" align="alignright" width="300"] Waterfall in the Great Falls Holiday Inn[/caption]Once I arrived and checked in, I was greeted by a lobby full of waterfall, fake rocks, and taxidermied animals. I actually found it sort of charming. I checked in with the con folks at the pre-con party to meet them in person and confirm that I was on-site. I was pleased to finally meet Connie and Robert Thomson, with whom I'd been interacting on Facebook for a couple of years. I also met Don Walsh, co-chair and my main point of contact for arranging All The Things, and Drew Lovec, the other Co-Chair. After that, I headed off to the hotel restaurant to have some dinner. The food at this Holiday Inn turned out to be decent quality: I wouldn't regret it if I had to eat all my meals here.

Friday dawned, and I made my way to the dealer's room. I had a box of my books I needed to drop off. A local store -- Kelly's Komix -- had agreed to sell them for me in exchange for a cut. ...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/10/29/the-...

Just wrapped up my stint at GameHoleCon . I spent a lot of my weekend running demos of the Scarred Lands material for gamers at the show, and I can't tell you how tiring it is to run games for strangers. I feel wiped, even though I was sitting for most of the weekend. I had a good time at my first GameHoleCon, but it will likely be my last GHC for some time -- despite being in my hometown -- for reasons of my own.

In fact, GameHole Con is the first of three conventions this month. This weekend I'll be attending the premiere event of the Steampunk year, TeslaCon , in Madison, Wisconsin. The following weekend is...

To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2018/11/12/conv...

As you read this, I'll be on the road to the PAX Unplugged gaming convention, taking pace at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia from November 30 through December 2. I'll be driving a van full of Onyx Path books and booth supplies to the show and back again next week, and it's an 1800-mile roundtrip -- not as long as my drive to Montana last month, but long enough to take two days without pushing too hard. This time of year in the north-central US there are always weather concerns, and that's the part that worries me the most about this trip: running into heavy snow. So we're leaving half a day early, just in case. MY kittens have been supervising me as I pack, and they seem particularly needy, as if they know what the suitcase means. I'll have to...

http://billbodden.com/2018/11/26/anot...

Just got back this week from attending PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia. My buddy Matt McElroy is employed by Onyx Path, so he and I took a van full of Onyx Path books on the road to stock the company's booth at the show. The weekend before we left, Chicago got hit with a decent amount of snow. All we really had to deal with on the way out was the aftermath: plows out salting, a few cars abandoned in the ditch, but nothing major, and really no active weather issues to speak of. Lucky...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/10/anot...

Having quit my part-time day job, I'm having to cut back on convention appearances for 2019. There are several favorites that I wouldn't miss, but I have to be a little more careful about money for a while. Also, Onyx Path is changing the way they attend the bigger gaming conventions, so they don't need my help covering the booth this year for GenCon. Being super-expensive -- and not terribly productive, professionally speaking -- not going to GenCon is probably a wise move for me.

January...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/17/next...

The first blog of every year is where I go over a few important points of my blog from the previous year. As usual, there have been a few ups and downs this past year, and despite starting off slowly, traffic to my site finished strong, for which I am pleased. In the first bit I go over some stats from my site in a general way: please stick with me!

I did a fair amount of blogging last year. I failed to blog every single week, but still managed to post to my blog in 47of 52 weeks last year, for a total of 48 posts. My highest traffic month was October: my lowest was November. My most visited post was "End of an Era" http://billbodden.com/2018/10/01/end-of-an-era/ in October, wherein I wrote about retiring from working retail at Pegasus Games after many years. That post also inspired a fair amount of commentary, both here and on my Facebook page. Second most visited was a post from spring of 2017, "What the Hell is Wrong With Gamers", http://billbodden.com/2017/04/10/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-gamers/  which people are still finding via Instagram and other external links.

To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/01/07/2018...