A few hints to assist NZ con organisers in advertising their conventions effectively.

Start early:

The more time you have, the more people your ads can reach, so its best to start early. You should get things underway the moment you pick a date, and follow up with supplementry information (like venue, prices and actual games) as it comes to hand. If you're organised, and have all that stuff sorted out from the beginning, then that's good - but if you haven't, then don't let it delay you. Partial information is better than no information at all.

In practical terms, this means you should also try and pick your con date 4-6 months in advance, to give yourself plenty of time.

Concentrate on the locals:

While out-of-town attendees are cool, and you make interesting friends etc, your main base of financial support is almost certainly the local gamers. Therefore it makes sense to focus the bulk of your advertising on them. Distribute most of your flyers to local games shops and clubs, then think about sending some to faraway places. By all means include a few notes on crash space or the nearest backpackers, but it shouldn't be the core of your advertising.

If you are going to target out-of-towners, there is a long list of people willing to help with flyer distribution and such. Check the contact list at the end of this document.

Use the clubs:

Along with games shops, these are the best way of reaching your audiance. Co-opt the people running them into distributing your flyers, stand up and talk, whatever it takes. Again, see the contact list at the end of this document, or the NZRPGA clubs listing.

If your con is affiliated with a club, make sure the members know! It's too easy to assume that just because the Committee knows about it, everyone else does too. In this case, your club is likely your primary source of attendees; therefore you should be pushing the con at them for months in advance.

Carpet-bomb:

Flyers are the most basic form of advertising, and your best way of reaching new victims. Therefore, you need to put them everywhere. Games shops, games clubs, friendly bookshops, public libraries - anywhere where you think gamers might see them. Then you need to follow-up - regularly check each location, and make sure they have enough. Finally, don't be afraid to print too many - better too many than too few (and if you're in a position to get free photocopying, it doesn't really matter :-).

If you are in Auckland or Wellington, getting flyers to the Armageddon pulp-culture expo is probably worth it.

Use the Lists:

There are a number of RPG-related mailing lists in NZ - one for each major centre, in fact. Use them, or at least your local one. Again, they're a way of contacting gamers who haven't heard of you already, as well as reminding those who have heard of you but haven't signed up yet into making the commitment to attend. Post regularly, but not too regularly (you don't want to be accused of spamming); once a month for several months before hand, culminating in a two-week warning is about right. Messages should contain the What, When, Where and How Much, plus a contact email for enquiries.

Needless to say, if you have a webpage, the URL should feature prominently in any email advertising.

Use the Web:

There are also a number of RPG websites you can advertise your con on. The best of these is the NZ Roleplaying Games Association, who have an online convention calender, and a news function. Use it, but don't abuse it.

If your con includes a LARP, try the Auckland LARP Listing as well. Despite the title, they will accept listings for events outside Auckland. Also post your event on Shade's LARP List; while it's an international site, there are a number of NZ readers, and it costs you nothing.

If you want to go further, start working on the various overseas con-listings. The Australian Convention Calender and JengaCons are good places to start.

If you have sponsors, or a bent towards a particular game, then posting ion the appropriate support forum or mailing list is a good idea. While most subscribers tend to be Americans, they have readers all over, and you never know who might show up.

Finally, dropping a polite mesage in the open forum at RPG.net probably wouldn't hurt.

Build a mailing list:

Get the email address of everyone who attends your con, and of everyone who responds to your online advertising. Email these people once, and make sure not to email anyone who is already on the list(s) you're advertising on. A polite note at the same time as your initial email advertising is best.

It goes without saying that you should ask first, and that you shouldn't use the list for any other purpose.

Keep your GMs:

In a similar vein to the above, build a seperate list of GMs, and contact them each year with a request to run a game. You probably will need to contact them more than once, but you should have a close relationship with your con GMs anyway.

Database everything:

Well, maybe not everything, but certainly keep a list of past attendees. That way you can see who has dropped out, which may be a clue to failures of advertising.

Get a website:

I cannot stress this enough. It doesn't have to be fancy, but you need some sort of web presence. At the minimum, you need the same data you have on your flyers - What, When, Where, and How Much. If you can, you also want info on what games are being run, a timetable, and an online entry form. The site can be a static piece of "brochureware", a virtual flyer, but ideally it should be updated as often as possible. Got a new offer of a game? Put it on the site. Ideas for LARP costumes? Stick them on the web. Regular updates show people that the con is being organised, and encourage them to sign up.

Never pay for a website. Recruit someone into your con committee who will do it for free. If don't know any geeks, there are people who will help you write a site, and set it up for you - all you need to provide is the info. See the contacts section for more details.

If you have a site, then you might also want to get an address which will stick around from year to year. Again, there are people willing to help, and you can get a your-con.nzrpga.org.nz domain for free.

Run a good con:

The best method of advertising is word-of-mouth, and while you can try and create buzz, talk it up among your friends and contacts etc, by far the best way of getting word-of-mouth is by running a good con. Do this, and people will come back next year - and bring their friends. Eventually, you'll build a loyal following.

Don't stop:

Even if you've got that loyal following, don't rest on your laurels. You need to keep reminding them that your con exists, or they'll drift away. Besides, you don't seriously think you've got every gamer in your town, do you...?

CONTACT LIST:

Websites, clubs and people who will help:

[WARNING: email addresses have been munged to protect the innocent. Remove leading "NOSPAM" or "not-" to contact.]

Flyer Distribution:

Clubs:

The club websites contain contact details; those without websites have a contact email.

Mailing Lists:

Info on subscribing and posting to the various mailing lists can be found on their respective websites.

Web design and hosting:

Contact one of:

These links and address are up-to-date as of 17/02/03; if any are broken, try checking NZRPGA or Idiot's gaming links for more info.

Last Updated: 21/04/2003.

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