I always like Dragonmeet in London--in fact, I think it's my favourite convention. It's just the right size for me--big enough that there's plenty to see and tons of people to meet and catch up with, but small enough that you don't feel overwhelmed. It's a really friendly convention. It is growing, though, and next year will be its last year at the Hammersmith Novotel. Apparently it's going to Wembley Arena!
This year we (EN Publishing) were there as usual with our little stand, selling Level Up and Awfully Cheerful Engine! Interestingly, day-to-day, we do much better business at Dragonmeet than at the much larger UK Games Expo--I figure that's because while UKGE may be ten times the size, Dragonmeet is very much TTRPG focused, while UKGE is a broader tabletop gaming event.
Anyhow, a good time was had. Our stand was run by myself, EN Publishing's Business Manager @tabletopjess, and our friend Al Bell.
One of the things I love most about events like these is catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. From the lady who says "nice ink!" about my tattoos every year whose name I don't even know, to my friends at UK publishing stalwarts like Cubicle 7, Modiphius, and... I'm not going to even begin to try to list everybody because I will forget somebody, and the list would be so long.
I also had the great pleasure of accidentally bumping into Luke Gygax. I was at a stand looking at some wooden dice boxes and I heard somebody introduce him off to my right--I had no idea he was even there! Anyhow, I said hello, and we had a nice little chat. He was utterly lovely (and very tall!), and it was great to meet him.
I met @Plane Sailing for the first time ever, which is really odd, as I've known Alex for over 20 years. Just not 'in-person'. It was really great to finally talk face-to-face. We talked about dogs a lot!
And of course all the lovely people who dropped by our stand. The ones who recognised our voices from the podcast, the ones who drop by to say hello every year, the many folks who bought things from us (thank you!), and also the various new business contacts you make at an event like this. One of the big 'commercial' values of these conventions isn't so much the profit (for us at least, conventions don't really make us a ton of money) it's visibility and the networking. The social stuff is a wonderful bonus!
There are also those fellow publishers who I've only met at conventions and see at Dragonmeet and UKGE every year and always look forward to seeing again. The publishing community is so friendly.
One downside is that I never really get as much time to browse as I'd like. I did wander round the two trade halls a couple of times, but most of my time was spent on our stand.
Anyhow, that's another Dragonmeet behind us... I'm already looking forward to next year!
Jessica on the stand moments before the doors opened
Jess and I do like working together, despite the expressions on our faces here!
There, that's better!
All three of us!
I bought this awesome art piece by Aaron Howdle
I've known @Plane Sailing for over 20 years, but unbelievable this is the first time we've actually met in person!
Convention selfie!
The lovely folks at Roll & Play Press dropped this gorgeous book off to me, so I'll be diving into that later!
This year we (EN Publishing) were there as usual with our little stand, selling Level Up and Awfully Cheerful Engine! Interestingly, day-to-day, we do much better business at Dragonmeet than at the much larger UK Games Expo--I figure that's because while UKGE may be ten times the size, Dragonmeet is very much TTRPG focused, while UKGE is a broader tabletop gaming event.
Anyhow, a good time was had. Our stand was run by myself, EN Publishing's Business Manager @tabletopjess, and our friend Al Bell.
One of the things I love most about events like these is catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. From the lady who says "nice ink!" about my tattoos every year whose name I don't even know, to my friends at UK publishing stalwarts like Cubicle 7, Modiphius, and... I'm not going to even begin to try to list everybody because I will forget somebody, and the list would be so long.
I also had the great pleasure of accidentally bumping into Luke Gygax. I was at a stand looking at some wooden dice boxes and I heard somebody introduce him off to my right--I had no idea he was even there! Anyhow, I said hello, and we had a nice little chat. He was utterly lovely (and very tall!), and it was great to meet him.
I met @Plane Sailing for the first time ever, which is really odd, as I've known Alex for over 20 years. Just not 'in-person'. It was really great to finally talk face-to-face. We talked about dogs a lot!
And of course all the lovely people who dropped by our stand. The ones who recognised our voices from the podcast, the ones who drop by to say hello every year, the many folks who bought things from us (thank you!), and also the various new business contacts you make at an event like this. One of the big 'commercial' values of these conventions isn't so much the profit (for us at least, conventions don't really make us a ton of money) it's visibility and the networking. The social stuff is a wonderful bonus!
There are also those fellow publishers who I've only met at conventions and see at Dragonmeet and UKGE every year and always look forward to seeing again. The publishing community is so friendly.
One downside is that I never really get as much time to browse as I'd like. I did wander round the two trade halls a couple of times, but most of my time was spent on our stand.
Anyhow, that's another Dragonmeet behind us... I'm already looking forward to next year!
Jessica on the stand moments before the doors opened
Jess and I do like working together, despite the expressions on our faces here!
There, that's better!
All three of us!
I bought this awesome art piece by Aaron Howdle
I've known @Plane Sailing for over 20 years, but unbelievable this is the first time we've actually met in person!
Convention selfie!
The lovely folks at Roll & Play Press dropped this gorgeous book off to me, so I'll be diving into that later!
