A couple weekends ago we attended the UK Games Expo as vendors for the first time. We announced our first game, Which Witch?, and were drumming up interest ahead of us launching via crowdfund this spooky season.
The weekend was amazing, everyone we met was phenomenally positive, both about our wonderful art, and also about the gameplay (those who had a demo). I really appreciate everyone who stopped by!
This is a picture from a previous year as I just couldn’t find a good crowd shot of 2026’s crowd that broke 51,000 attendees. We were 1 of around 900 exhibitors.
I feel like I learned a bunch of things from doing this, and want to drop some notes for any designers out there planning to hit their first convention. This is very much a ‘how-the-sausage-is-made’ article, Paul will return you to your regular fun next week.
Without further pre-amble, the things I’ll be doing differently next time:
We took three banners to the expo - each about 2m tall. These looked fantastic in person, and did a vast amount of the work of pulling people in.
The art focus on this banner pulled a lot of people in and the QR code got a lot of scans
The ‘wordy’ banner was well-read and this QR code also got scanned even though it was at foot level
The company banner was far less useful but did serve to block off space to the rear of the stand where we could hide bags
But perfect they weren’t. We placed them around our stand - the art focused one being the one up front to try and draw attention, and the the wordier one for people who wanted to know more without having to talk to us (no worries, I take no offence, sometimes you just don’t need another 3 minute chat with a stranger).
I did not zoom out enough when prepping these. That golden font is cool at real size, but is not legible at a distance the way it was on my monitor screen a foot in front of me.
I was not prepared for how many people did not realise we were promoting a game. We had a table out front with cards and pieces, and yet…
Player Count, and Play time should be big pieces of info, big and loud, even on the arty banner
I tried hard to get my blurbs down to a suitably short length. They could be even shorter, and thus bigger, even on the wordy one.
We had a “No AI” poster in a separate upright. Sad as it is such a thing is needed, people were really reassured by it. We should have put it on each banner more directly.
QR Codes for days
We had a number of QR codes: One for our newsletter, one for the Kickstarter “notify me on launch sign-up” and one for feedback after playtests. The art banner was for KS, the other banner and our business cards take you to the Curious Lynx landing page (sign up for the newsletter), with a link to the banner.
This is probably all wrong.
Multiple QR codes for different things felt like providing choice and ease to people. Then when you talk to them, you realise giving choice is adding confusion.
The KS site is probably not the right place to direct people. Firstly, if they sign up there, we don’t get info about how they heard about us, which is useful for marketing. Secondly, more importantly, KS has a 2-factor setting for most people. Meaning we saw numerous people scan the QR, interested in our product, only to then see that they then had to “do stuff” to get to the page with the “remind me when this launches” button, and figure “I’ll do that later”. I hope some of them did. I know a lot did not. [Note from Paul whilst editing this: if you did sign up for the notification - thank you!]
Our business cards have a QR code on them for the main site (same as one of the banners). I’d anticipated that most people would just want to scan the banner for a link. Most people wanted to take away something physical. Oops.
What we should have done
Had one link, to a site we control, that just asks you for an email so we can notify you on launch.
Make it the simplest thing in the world to use.Keep it tightly focused on Which Witch? and not worry about also trying to drive people to the Curious Lynx Newsletter (it can always be a second link after the let me know step).
Have cards that look like our witch cards on one side, with the QR code on the back, and had people take these away, not business cards.
Pin it on me
Speaking of things to give away, the pins we had were great! People loved them, and the cauldron we held them in was cool, but next time I’ll make sure they’re visible and enticing from an easier eye-line. I’m super happy to give you a badge just for coming up and looking at my stand - I’m confident once you take a closer look you’ll be intrigued.
General tips
Drink plenty of water, have throat sweets. Take longer breaths, you will lose your voice.
Accept you’ll be under-slept and over-stimulated, and don’t plan additional things you won’t be able to manage.
Spare shoes and socks, and a different top for the end of the day if you’re not immediately heading to a bed and shower.
There is no fruit for sale anywhere in the venue. The food is even more ridiculous in price than you think. Especially if you’re trying to breakfast there as well. Bring better (healthy) food supplies.
Stand at your stand. People sat, especially behind a table, are off-putting. It looks like a job interview. As much as possible, stand, relaxed, open posture, and be charming. You’re here to sell yourself and your game. I’m far from a natural sales person, but I will do my best to be approachable and take any friction I can away from someone coming up to me and my stall. I have long coloured hair and wear a silly hat. It’s all just trying to be disarming. Polly being in full Baba Yaga achieved this on steroids!
Okay full disclosure, I also just like wearing a pirates hat. You want to see me shill Which Witch? in such an outfit (in a paltry 18 seconds), look below.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, we’d appreciate it if you would forward it to a friend. If you are that friend, welcome!
You can also join our community Discord
You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter launches for our first game, Which Witch?
And finally you can contact me at [email protected] if you need to tell me anything that I might not know!