I warned myself last year not to return home late on a Sunday from Gen Con and head straight back to work Monday morning. Well, I should have listened to my past self. I did it again because I had to. As mentioned earlier, I started a new position at Taylor University as the Director of Academic Technology, and my first academic semester starts on Monday of next week. So I went straight back to work to prepare with my team. At the same time my family is trying to unpack from Gen Con, we are scrambling to pack our twin daughters up to move in on Friday for their freshmen year at Taylor University. So many loads of laundry and boxes being unpacked and repacked. On top of it all, I succumbed to con crud. So, I have been struggling with so much to do at work, crazy packing at home, and a vicious sore throat. Oh well, maybe next year I will listen. FUTURE T.R., DON’T GO TO WORK THE DAY AFTER GEN CON! REST AND RECOVER.

Needless to say, this blog is late and I apologize.

All that being said, 2017 managed to once again be my best Gen Con ever! It topped last year by a long shot. The energy and crowds of the 50th Gen Con were amazing. I spent hours upon wonderful hours talking with old friends, making new friends, being recognized and sought out by industry professionals, finally meeting face-to-face people I have been conversing with online but had never met, agreeing to some amazing new freelancing projects, and working the Modiphius booth, meeting lots of people there. Even with all those hours,I still missed spending time with some people I wanted to. So much Gen Con, not enough clones of me to experience it all.

Here is a photo essay of my experiences at Gen Con 2017. While you peruse these photos, I am going to go crash in my bed and catch up on much-needed sleep after Gen Con, prepping for starting of the Fall semester, and moving my daughters into college for their freshman year. Enjoy!

With my wife attending again this year, we continue to experience handicap accessibility at Gen Con, our hotel, and the Indianapolis Convention Center. We learn more each year how to increase Angie’s enjoyment of the event while experiencing it from a wheelchair. You can read about our accessibility experiences in her posts, View From Behind The Chair.

https://angieknight.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/gen-con-50-views-from-the-chair-preview/
https://angieknight.wordpress.com/2017/08/17/gen-con-50-views-from-the-chair-day-1/
https://angieknight.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/gen-con-50-view-from-the-chair-day-2/
https://angieknight.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/gen-con-50-view-from-the-chair-days-3-and-4/

So, now onto a photo essay of my Gen Con 2017 experiences so you can at least get a feel of what the event is like for my family and I. The entire event begins with packing the van up with our stuff and quite a few items for the Modiphius booth that we help setup, manage, and tear down each year.

Our van stuffed with suitcases, bags of snacks, games for trading, accessibility items, and bins of booth equipment. The booth being setup and stocked beginning to be inventoried before being organized. The Modiphius Booth all setup and open for business. We worked the 3 to 6 pm shift each day (often coming in early). So much fun to meet people while working a booth.

 

 

Each year, I focus heavily on relationship-building. I met so many amazing people that I cannot list them all here, but I want to highlight some of them that have extra special significance to me this year.

We also had quite a bit of fun at Gen Con. We spent time each day wandering the Exhibit Hall looking for fun games, crafts, and jewelry. We did a lot of people-watching and checking out the amazing costumes. We met up for meals and snacks with friends and family throughout the week, including our traditional Ruth Chris Gen Con Lunch Packs on Friday. We also attended quite a few events. The girls took an Intro to Hand-to-Hand Combat course and crafted Leather Roll-Up Pirate-inspired Journals. I attended the Diana Jones Awards and the ENnie Awards as a member of the game industry. I also had lots of meetings with publishers to discuss upcoming projects. Looking forward to discussing those more in the future as the details are finalized and the projects begin or are released from NDA. Other highlights included…

 

Angie and I attended the Flamme Rouge Release Party hosted by Stronghold Games. I worked on the game as an editor so it was fun to attend the release party and play the game with others. I won my inaugural game then gifted my winning copy of the game to another player since I already had my copy from freelancing. My daughter, Rachel, decided to research, create, and wear her first ever cosplay this year. She went as Rey from Star Wars – The Force Awakens. She did an amazing job and received many compliments. Being a game convention, we also spent quite a bit of time playing games. We demoed lots of games and had an evening of games on Saturday. Our favorite game from the week turned out to be Bob Ross – The Art of Chill. Such a whimsical game that truly captures the spirit of Bob Ross and his art show. The obligatory photo of my Gen Con 2017 haul. Quite a few of these I acquired as promos, numerous are ding and dent purchases from Coolstuffinc, the Spelljammer and L5R were used prices, some are normal purchases, many are gifts from friends, and then quite a few are trades with other Exhibitors (perk of working a booth in the Gen Con Exhibit Hall – Foam Battle Axe was my best trade ever!). Luckily we live just over an hour away and have a minivan.

 

After the Exhibit Hall closed on Sunday, we dismantled the booth, boxed up the unsold stock, had final conversations with our neighbors, said our final goodbyes and gave hugs all around for a great show. We then ended the evening with a relaxing dinner with friends before loading up our van and heading for home. Even as tired as we are, we are already planning for Gen Con 2018! See you there!!

 

My Gen Con 2017

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