Flowers, hashtags & tyvek: how to organise an event about games with no budget

Flowers, hashtags & tyvek. How to organise an event about games with no budget. !

@LorenzoPilia

T A L K &

P L A Y

This is the conversation that made me want to start organising my own game events a couple of

years ago:

Are you a game developer?

No.

Are you a game designer?

No.

Are you a game development or game design student?

No.

What are you doing here then?

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

T A L K &

P L A Y

Picture by Iwan Gabovitch (@qubodup)

M E E T S H A R E

P R O M O T E

Things I’ve learnt organising Talk & Play: !

I. Know your local scene before you start

II. Team up with other organisations

III. Promote through different channels

IV. Keep going, don’t stop

V. Try things out

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Things I’ve learnt organising the Berlin Twine Jam: !

I. A jam doesn’t have to be 48h long

II. Collect all games made in one place(a blog post is enough)

III. Document it

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Pic courtesy of graffitiresearchlab.de

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Things I’ve learnt organising Join: !

I. Think small, but not too small

II. It’s never too early to pick a date and startpromoting you event (btw: the 2nd edition ofJoin will take place on August 1st, 2015!)

III. If you want to invite people from abroad,try asking embassies for support

IV. Document it

some other things I’d like to tell you even if I didn’t manage to create proper slides for them, because

yesterday I spent the entire day next to Patrick Ashe (a lovely bloke)

Picture by Đurđica Selec (@djuro)

ask yourself why you’re doing this, and for whom – doesn’t have to be just game developers!

pick a date (pros and cons of during the week vs end of the week, consider

doing it as a fringe event if there’s something else in town, particularly if

you live somewhere where there’s little going on) and start

communicating well in advance so people can make plans for it

start small, possibly free, unless you’ve got an existing proven

audience

make a FB event, but not ONLY that. also use gameconfs.com, Lanyrd,

meetup.com, post on relevant boards and FB groups, go to other events

and bring flyers there…

set up a newsletter: tinyletter.com is easy (Mailchimp is great but has

more features than you will probably need at first)

tools: Trello, Google Apps, Evernote, Eventbrite (if places are limited or

event is paid)

having some form of RSVP will help you

keep a doc with expenses as you go

low cost branding (tyvec wristbands, gaffer tape…) – as long as it’s all in

the same colour, that’s good

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

merch: tote bags & badges rather than t-shirts, which

are more expensive and complicated to produce

Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

don’t bother renting screens to showcase games, ask people to

use their own devices

find a venue providing chairs, tables, projector and wi-fi

(aka the essentials)

possibly centrally located, near public transport and

wheelchair accessible

#

an hashtag for the event will make it much easier for you to collect all the

feedback and documentation (e.g. using Storify)

golden tip! if you can pick your own wi-fi network name: use the hashtag of the event – appears first that way

and people will not get it wrong… they always do

you can also hand out small notes with wi-fi details and the hashtag at the entrance

hire someone to document the event (pictures are cheaper than video and

possibly more effective)

unless event is really small, don’t organise it alone

try to get as much done before the event as you can, you want to be

available for emergencies during the event

website: why do it yourself? use SquareSpace etc. instead

visualising schedules is a huge pain, consider using sched.org if you’ve got a complicated one (multiple

locations etc.)

flowers!

make sure to include an anti-harassment policy on the event’s website

!

keep in mind diversity (not only in terms of gender, but also sexuality,

race and ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, age and so on)

!

if you can’t afford to reimburse people from out of town, at least

offer them a place to stay

if food is provided, go vegan

offer free coffee if there’s budget

some mistakes I’ve made: non-inclusive image for Join (guys only), put safe spaces policy online

too late… you learn by doing

Thanks! !

@LorenzoPilia lorenzo.pilia.it

!

Useful links: http://bit.ly/tips4events