1) Allow people to choose how to engage with you/your booth/your game by giving them space and alternatives. Give people the option to: read/watch, listen to your spiel, play, or a combination.
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Another PAX, another series of frustrations with how I saw devs approaching attendees. Here are 18 rules of thumb I use (a thread)...
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2) Set up your booth with all the basic information people need about your game in a readable format (preferably on a sign not a handout). Remember to say: name, genre, 1 sentence theme/story, platforms, release date/"in development".
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3) Only talk to people who have made eye contact with you or have stopped for more than 5 seconds at your booth. 4) Do not chase after people walking away from your booth.
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5) Do not play your game while waiting for attendees. You will not be able to see new people arriving and if anyone wants to play they will have to interrupt you to do so.
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6) Do not ask people a question they will feel bad if they ignore. For example, don't say "Do you like games?" or "do you like <genre>?". Yes, I like games and possibly that genre, but no I don't necessarily want to play your game or engage in a conversation with you.
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7) Don't just launch into a long speech promoting your game. Some people do not want to listen/talk and/or touch people at cons - respect that.
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8) Do start with a simple hi to test to see how much they want to engage with you. If they look away, leave them be. If they come closer, great! My fav line to say next is: "How can I help you today? Would you like to watch, hear my spiel, or play?".
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9) If you are giving your spiel, check to see if any newcomers start to listen in and try to engage everyone nearby by looking at them as you speak.
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10) After giving your spiel, offer a card to remember the game. Ask "Would you like a card?" in a way that sounds like you don't know if they'll say yes or no. Do not assume they'll take a card or force it upon them if they seem even mildly reluctant.
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11) Do not give your card out to people who don't request it (via looks or words) or haven't engaged with you/your booth.
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12) If people don't want a card, encourage them to take a photo to remember your game. It's good to have all the information about your game in one easy to photograph spot (maybe you can mount one of the cards you're handing out).
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13) Do not practically force people to play your game. I almost never play games at cons, but it doesn't mean I'm not interested in your game.
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14) Do not watch people playing your game unless another team member is on welcoming duty. This is not time for testing, this is time to meet people and tell them about your game.
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15) If someone doesn't want to play your game, you can offer to play for them if there isn't anyone else currently playing they can watch.
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16) Encourage people to stay and watch for as long as they like and don't get in their personal space while they're in your booth space (assuming it's not impossibly crowded).
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17) After people have played the game, try and check in with them before they leave. Maybe they found a bug, maybe they have new questions, maybe they just want to praise you.
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18) Stay as positive as you can. If you're tired, apologise and they will understand. Then go take a quick break and close your eyes (good cons will have volunteers who can help up for a short time).
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I'm sure there's a lot more that others shares, but hopefully these help. If you're not an extrovert (& even if you are), look after yourself and plan ahead to give yourself the space & breaks that you need to survive. Best of luck out there!
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Excited my thread seems to be resonating with people! One thing to add is that the more staff you have on a booth, the more you can have staff doing things other than greeting (e.g. playing or watching). If you're on your own, greeting should be first priority in my book.
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Thank you for this!
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Hope it's helpful. It's tough showing at cons, but there are a lot of little things that can be done to help engage with people better and on their terms.
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It’s super hard being on show and cons are often crowded. I know this will sound random, but at UK Comic-Con my SD and I got totally surrounded by admirers, we couldn’t move and I have huge anxiety he didn’t know whether to block, alert of receive attention as I had said ok when*
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