I have been going to Salute every year for at least the last five years, and with DRM for the last two or three. I strongly suspect that DRM will be there again in 2010, and that I will be putting on a larger, more serious Hostile Stars demo/participation game.
It really is a great event, and one where the entire community steps out and produces some truely fantastic stuff.
I believe, if you wanted to run a demo game, you would just do what DRM does, and book a table, pay the fee and turn up with the relevant stuff on the day. Its not difficult, you just need the up front cash, and the ability to transport the game board to the venue, preferrably in a rental van. Excel is a better venue for this as you can just drive right into the hall. It does cause traffic jams around the toilets!
Anecdotally, a lot of conventions have seen a drop in numbers over the last couple of years, mainly due to the recession. This kind of event can be very expensive for a small company. Not just the act of physically getting there and setting up, but making sure you have the displays painted up, van hire, hotels sometimes, and maybe even closing the store for the weekend. If footfall numbers are down as well, its no wonder that companies wonder on the return of these events.
We usually have fliers on the table, and have memorised the route to the nearest DRM retailer! Hopefully, we are fairly close, although some years we are at the opposite ends of the hall!
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https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.
