UKGE 2025: The Benefit of hindsight!

What we learned at our first convention - UKGE 2025

Dan, Alex & Paul at UKGE 2025

Nearly a month on from our first foray into attending conventions as exhibitors at UKGE 2025 and we’ve had a chance to decompress, stock take, and readjust to normal life once more. Thinking back on our experience, however, we wanted to share some key findings that might help other prospective first timers avoid common pitfalls and, ultimately, get the most out of their investment.

For the sake of readability we’ll break the findings down into some broad categories.

Dress code and person power:

The very first thing we learned within minutes of turning up was that you should keep your high viz on you at all times for build/set up days. It sounds obvious now but when we turned up and went to collect our passes prior to our designated vehicle unloading time we had to endure a walk of shame back to the car park to get high viz before we could do anything… Personally it seems odd having the pass collection be locked behind a dress code but I guess that is the price you pay for being the biggest UK games convention. You can extend this lesson to the closing day too, although by that time we were veterans and had them good to go for the breaking down of our stand.

While talking about dressing appropriately, another (now) obvious point to mention is that you should ensure to dress for the season and setting. Whether rain or shine it will get incredibly warm within the confines of a convention hall. Why I never thought to bring shorts with me is a mystery I’ll never solve. Of course, if your convention is in the dead of winter then it might be another story altogether but make sure you have a range of options so that Day 1 can inform your attire for the rest of the convention.

We also wanted to mention ‘staff’ as part of this section, they add logistical overhead and potentially increase costs (even if just for food and lodgings) but conventions are exhausting and having more people than you think you need will give you two key things: Occasional breaks and the ability to actually enjoy the convention itself!

More people will also give you a LOT more scope of outreach opportunities, whether through networking, talking to prospective customers, or freeing your spokesperson for media opportunities!

Back to clothing, don’t underestimate the power of branding. Dressing comfortably should be a priority but if your budget allows for it you should absolutely have your branding visible on your outfit. That said, take care which branding you use… most companies have a logo but, and I hate to break this to you (it certainly occurred to us early on), most people don’t know your company or care about your logo! I wonder how many people reading this have heard of Wrenegade Studios versus our flagship project ‘Beyond the Veil’. Instead, prioritising your product branding will help with recognition and impact when talking to people about what it is you are there for.

Speaking of purpose…

What’s your point?

Attending a convention of any size as an exhibitor generally has one primary purpose. Visibility for your company and/or your products. Simple, right? But what about those factors related to your company's growth plans, product launch timeline, or overall strategy… These are the key things that a lot of stands seem to overlook. Understanding what your primary purpose is will be key to informing your stand layout and staffing needs. We had two primary goals and two secondary ones… and three people to distribute those jobs to. Primary one was our playtesting table, launching the Prologue meant that getting as many people playing it as possible would help confirm our mechanical changes. Primary two was Kickstarter sign ups as we gear up towards a full scale launch. Our secondary goals were mailing list sign ups and finally, sales. Fortunately we could combine the Kickstarter and mailing list goals into one role which gave us someone for running the playtests and someone for processing any sales. But knowing what we were there for allowed us to only bring what was needed and ensure coverage was available to avoid breaks in service… a really important point in maximising your convention experience.

Coupled with the above is ensuring that your processes are as clear and simple as possible. Things like signing people up with your own device or providing QR codes for them to do it on their own devices reduces friction and increases engagement conversion opportunities. If you have bookable sessions, make sure your solution for that is flexible yet robust, being over subscribed may sound like a good problem to have but it is a poor experience for your potential customers. Think about how the process will play out and remove any bottlenecks and speedbumps ahead of time… and don’t forget to test it!

Finally in this section I want to highlight the importance of gathering feedback, whether you are there to sell, promote, or playtest it doesn’t matter. Direct feedback from convention attendees is key to improving your products or the perfect fuel for your promotional content during and after the event. One key thing I wish I’d had more chance/foresight to do was to gather as many quotes from our playtests as possible. Every table offered something amazing and capturing that at the time would have been an incredible resource… as well as a great way to remember the truly cinematic moments we created while playing. 

Pressing the advantage:

Conventions attract a number of different types of attendees, generally most people will be there to look, buy, or play games, but seeding amongst them will be the vloggers, bloggers, and professional journalists who are there to create content for whatever platform they use/represent. Keep an eye out for these people and engage with them, not only can it produce opportunities for future promotional content but it is a great way to fine tune your sales pitch as these experienced interviewers will ask the right questions to get the most out of your knowledge and expertise. Even if you hate the sound of your own voice (like I do) the worst case scenario is only that the content you provide is unusable… while that could be considered a waste of time it certainly is a way to highlight areas to work on for your promotional efforts!

To attract customers, and potential content creators passively, make sure that your promotional material is doing its job well. Whether you rely on flyers or huge banners there is a common goal that should be catered to… sharing information succinctly and passively. Unless you have a dozen people on your stand it is unlikely that you’ll be able to talk to everyone who is even vaguely interested in your product or services. If your promotional material can do that heavy lifting for you up front, let it. That will free you up to focus on genuine customers or networking opportunities that will serve your business much more in the future than repeating your well practiced, but repetitive sales pitch… put the pitch on your flyers or banners!

Speaking of crowd control and targeted advertising (which I was doing… honest), don’t ignore anyone. Even if you are deep in conversation with someone, if you see someone else interested and waiting nearby be sure to acknowledge them. You could signal a colleague to talk to them, tell them you’ll only be a minute so that they know you are aware of them, or bring them into your existing conversation. Conventions are a melting pot of so many different types of people that some of the best, and most rewarding conversations I had at UKGE came as a result of getting strangers together to talk about our game, those fresh perspectives can really serve to highlight your USPs.

Standing tall:

I’ll keep this section brief as it’s another ‘obvious’ one that you only realise when it’s potentially too late. Make sure your beautifully prepared and constructed promotional content is visible!

Most conventions will have a height limit on banners, etc. Use every last inch of it to make yours visible above crowds, drawing attention to your stand, or even just making it a reference point for others to navigate by. Foot traffic and recognition powers success at large events, why not maximise your chances at both.

On another visibility and signage point, if you are selling something have the prices clear and obvious. Any time spent clarifying prices is time wasted in networking and promotional opportunities… people are also more likely to spend money when they can see something from afar that catches their eye AND has a clearly marked price, we are creatures of instinct deep down and reducing that time from ‘want’ to ‘can afford’ often results in a sale more than when people have had chance to talk themselves out of it while searching for a price, no matter how low it might be!

Money, Money, Money!

Not something many people like to talk about but when planning for a convention you need to be very realistic about the affordability of the project. We went into UKGE with sales as a secondary goal, our plan was simple; make enough to cover the cost of the pitch. Anything beyond that would be luxury and begin to recoup initial infrastructure and stock costs, or go towards food and lodgings outlay. UKGE is not cheap but you are paying for the footfall expectations and prestige ultimately. We didn’t expect to make profit and we hit our goal… almost exactly.

With that level of budget planning, however, you need to make sure your stand fits your needs. Ideally we’d have had a slightly bigger pitch but that would have increased costs and put us much further into the red. This year gave us a great chance to test the waters regarding our stock levels and types, as well as having a better idea of ‘what worked’ so that next time we can be better informed.

Extra costs can be avoided if you have the ability to bring your own tables and chairs, again it sounds obvious but hiring these items is a pure loss to your business. That said, if you don’t have the room to store things then you may have no choice but to hire them. Ultimately, if you are a regular convention exhibitor, make sure to avoid snowballing hiring outlay, especially if you need power. Most conventions will supply power to a pitch for a very high cost, you can mitigate this with a single outlay on a portable power station and have power for every stand you run forever more… we used an Ecoflow and it ran our promotional video display and charged our devices the entire day without fail.

On the tech front, make sure you have a payment system that works. Most contactless options are available on smartphones now but the signal can cause issues. Without a dedicated card machine and your own wifi dongle you might find yourself unable to take payment which is not only embarrassing but will cost you revenue. We used our phones with limited issues but always do what you can for the customer experience, it’s what makes your company and product stand out as professional in their mind.

And finally…

Above all else, whether it is your first convention as an exhibitor or your hundredth, ensure you HAVE FUN. Most of us aren’t going to retire off the back of our efforts, we do it because we love the hobby and have a passion to share our creations. If you aren’t enjoying it then why are you doing it??