What bleary-eyed, mussed-hair, I-am-barely-here look? Oh, that one. That means we survived Gen Con and have returned to Mount Pleasant to start preparing for classes at the end of August.
After visiting Beaver Island, the rest of our July was predominantly spent preparing for Gen Con, while also accomplishing some other things.
Keep the Faith is almost fully in with the manufacturers. The box is the final sticking point as we need to meet EU symbols and paperwork. While the symbols aren’t new, this is the first game that we have created that has to have all the new details in place since some new safety regulations went into place last year. The game will be fully into manufacturing by mid-August.
We pushed the next crowdfunding campaign for Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History, which successfully funded in 3 days and almost doubled our goal before the end (goal: $9000, final pledges: $17,299), and resulted in many people talking to us at Gen Con.
We also received final drafts on our upcoming Art and System campaign!
Suffice to say, July was packed.
So Gen Con. We have attended Gen Con since roughly 2019, but this was our first time with a booth in the vendor hall. In addition to the booth we were in for the Trade Day Marketplace…
- Andrew and Jon gave presentations as part of the new Game Design Academy
- Jason Cox (designer of Five Hundred Year Old Vampire) gave talks as part of the Game Design Academy and ran Five Hundred Year Old Vampire
- We had a Community row table…
- And we took 8 fantastic students with us to experience the chaos!
The event started with us showing up to the show on Tuesday to find out our games were ummm. . . . not there. . . proverbial things may have been said. . . our games were located and delivered to our booth on Wednesday (which is when we needed them for Trade day, so they were a smidge late).
Trade Day was nuts this year. There were more people than ever before (probably due to the Game Design Academy), and we sold more games than ever before. In fact, Trade Day was our largest selling day of the Convention. We were completely unprepared, as last year we sold a total of three games. This year we sold 40.
We only sent two copies of each game over at first, and they sold out in 30 minutes. Our student runner, who had taken those 10 games, hadn’t returned when a message for more games showed up. So we sent another runner with another 10 games.
That student didn’t come back either when yet another request came in, so we started sending boxes of games. The reason people weren’t returning is that there were so many questions about what we are doing at our press that everyone wearing a Central Michigan University Press shirt on the Marketplace floor would quickly get pulled into talking to interested patrons.
At one point, we had seven people talking to patrons, and there was still a line. Everything calmed down around lunch, and we were able to reestablish our equilibrium.
The rest of the convention saw a busy booth, a busy community row table, and our students and staff scrambling to cover both while also making scheduled events. Gen Con was completely sold out before anything started, with a record-breaking 72,000 people. You could feel it in the hallways and the vendor area. Ultimately, we learned a lot and look forward to returning next year.
Now to Liv, and the interview with our awesome logistics intern, Lauren. We are sad to see you go, Lauren! Thank you for being an awesome part of the team this summer!
August Spotlight: Lauren Bonomo, Logistics Intern
By Liv O’Toole, CMich Press
As the Press prepared for Gen Con this summer, logistics intern Lauren Bonomo worked at the heart of a complex, behind-the-scenes operation. An incoming senior at Central Michigan University with a double major in Logistics Management and Marketing, Lauren brought a combination of organization, attention to detail, and adaptability to the role.
Lauren joined the team as a logistics intern, where “my primary responsibility was coordinating the shipment of our games to Gen Con. This involved calculating shipping needs, communicating with our warehouse in New York, and working with vendors like Fern Expo to arrange transportation.” She also took on marketing projects, “creating graphics for social media and promotional materials,” with Veronica from the marketing team offering guidance on “design best practices and outreach strategies.”
She’s quick to point out that much of the role involved work most people never see. “A significant part of my time was spent coordinating the many details required to get our products to the convention. This included regular communication with warehouses and vendors to confirm inventory levels, arrange shipping schedules, and handle any last-minute adjustments. While this work wasn’t always glamorous, it was essential to ensuring everything ran smoothly at Gen Con.”
Lauren first heard about the opportunity through her business fraternity’s connection with CMICH Press. “When I discovered they were looking for business students to assist with Gen Con, I was immediately interested. After meeting with Dr. Truitt to discuss the position, he created this internship to match my skills and interests, for which I’m forever grateful.”
In her view, the work blended a variety of skill sets. “Project management kept complex tasks organized while data analysis informed my inventory decisions. Psychology influenced how we engaged customers, and graphic design principles shaped our marketing materials. Relationship-building proved equally important, both with external vendors and within our team.”
The experience also gave her room to grow professionally. “This experience taught me the importance of clear communication and attention to detail in logistics work. I also gained confidence in making professional calls and emails to coordinate with various partners. While much of the work was independent, I always appreciated having team support available when needed. Veronica’s guidance on marketing materials was especially valuable as I developed my design skills.”
Looking back, one moment stands out: “Seeing our games successfully displayed at Gen Con made all the coordination work worthwhile.”