Official VGEXPO (A.K.A. Philly Classic) thread- ROLL CALL!

[Schenley]

I'll be there... Can't wait!

I've got a couple of systems that I could sell or trade, but I'm confused - the "Mom and Pop" or collector's form states that sales are prohibited.... What's up with that?

How would I be able to sell or trade systems? I'll probably have about a dozen systems.

[GrandAmChandler]

There are two types of tables. Collector tables which are just for displays. And Vendor marketplace tables which actually have people selling things. I am a Vendor, therefore I will be selling things.

Bring stuff to the show! There will be a trade room area too. I'd be interested if you have anything fun!

-Chris

[Schenley]

There are two types of tables. Collector tables which are just for displays. And Vendor marketplace tables which actually have people selling things. I am a Vendor, therefore I will be selling things.

Bring stuff to the show! There will be a trade room area too. I'd be interested if you have anything fun!

-Chris

Oh, I see... I'm thinking of bringing a printout of things I have available instead of lugging all this stuff around. I could leave the stuff in the truck and get it as needed. Think that'll work?

I'm going to have a lot of hardware - Dreamcasts, Saturns (one modded), SNES, O2's, 2600 Jr.s, Atari XE.

I'll be looking to trade for stuff I don't have mostly hardware, but some games too.

[slapdash]

Mighty Mighty Missile: A BRAND NEW release for the Sega CD system[...]

My apologies if I asked this question in another thread; I'm thinking possibly I forgot to hit Submit in this one...

How is this new? I already own a copy of MMM that I picked up at CGE 2004 (IIRC). Is this different at all?

[K3V]

There are two types of tables. Collector tables which are just for displays. And Vendor marketplace tables which actually have people selling things. I am a Vendor, therefore I will be selling things.

Bring stuff to the show! There will be a trade room area too. I'd be interested if you have anything fun!

-Chris

That's cool, I didn't realize they were going to have a trade room. I'll definitely bring along my few boxes of goodies then

[GrandAmChandler]

EDIT: I THOUGHT there would be a trade room. It was mentioned somewhere, not sure what is up with that. bring stuff anyways, you can always try to trade with me or others!!

-Chris

[Sniderman]

Uh oh. Is THIS what the Expo's become?

http://www.nbc10.com/consumerexpo/index.html

[le geek]

Uh oh. Is THIS what the Expo's become?

http://www.nbc10.com/consumerexpo/index.html

Yeah, I'm less and less sold on going now. (it's quite a drive from Atlanta)

[Schenley]

Uh oh. Is THIS what the Expo's become?

http://www.nbc10.com/consumerexpo/index.html

I thought that it was a totally seperate show, and they were just sharing space...

[K3V]

Uh oh. Is THIS what the Expo's become?

http://www.nbc10.com/consumerexpo/index.html

I thought that it was a totally seperate show, and they were just sharing space...

Yeah that's my understanding. Not as good a match as a Tech expo would have been, but oh well...

[Lady Jaye]

Because we all know that the following list and videogames are all part of the same stuff, right?

Lower your credit card interest rates
Find Unclaimed Funds

Learn how to improve your credit score and get your free credit report

Get your Car Seat Inspected

Learn how to protect your children from falling furniture

Prepare backup data in case your wallet is stolen or lost

Learn what should be in a contract when you hire a contractor

Shred your personal documents and learn other ways to protect yourself against ID theft

Learn how to prevent foreclosures and get out of debt

Learn how to read your phone bill properly

Sign up for the DO NOT CALL list

Learn how to winterize your home for energy efficiency

Learn tips for travel safety

Learn about medical assistance programs

At least a tech expo would have made it like a small-scale public old-style CES...

[rolenta]

I don't think this is necessarilly a bad thing. In the past, Phillyclassic has attracted a large following without the benefit of being tied in to any other show. What Ed did joining up with NBC sounded like a sound idea but we shouldn't think that just because the people going to the NBC show don't care about videogames, that there will be a small draw. Hopefully there will be many people attending the videogame show who couldn't care less about the consumer fest.

As we saw in Dallas and DC, being joined with a tech expo didn't necessarilly bring in a crowd that cared about videogames. I think we should forget the NBC aspect and think of it as Phillyclassic and hope that the same crowd that attended that show the last five years will return again. I don't agree with the reasons that some vendors decided to bolt, and I really don't think it has anything to do with the ConsumerFest. What is happening is that a few vendors are scaring everybody else.

[K3V]

Ed just posted this over on AA:

Hi folks,

VGXPO is quickly approaching and I wanted to drop in a quick line about the show and clear up a few things.

First, VGXPO is not PhillyClassic. It really is a new show, one that covers a wide range of gaming topics, including our roots - classic games. To make the show appealing to a larger base of people we teamed up with NBC to promote the expo. Some of you have been saying that it was a mistake to mix PhillyClassic and an NBC event together. But realize, VGXPO is not PhillyClassic - it is its own show, with a new and larger mission.

The truth is, running a game show is hard. We've been trying to figure out how to make the show work. When we signed on to work with NBC as a partner the original plan was for NBC to run a technology event. In April 2005, their plans changed and the event became a Consumer Fest, and then in late September 2005, it was renamed to Consumer Expo. Since May 2005, we’ve been promoting our involvement with NBC10 in Philly as a consumer event. We believe that the event will bring many people out to the show. It is true that NBC hasn’t done such a good job with its website. But, I’ve been promised that it will be updated soon to better reflect what we are bringing to the show and some of the other things that the show will include (including video games and technology), not just info about money management. In addition we are doing a number of own marketing efforts, outside of NBC’s promotion. These include magazine, news paper, internet and retail POS marketing. Through these channels we expect over 250,000 impressions.

The reality is, we are gearing ourselves to offer a gaming experience for both hard core and casual game players. The effect is bringing more people in to our hobby, teaching them about the video game industry and warming them up to be included in the video game collecting hobby. Working with NBC is not negative, it is bring more people into the hobby who might otherwise never been part of it.

We plan to make VGXPO the main consumer videogame event in the US, and we want it to be our full time jobs. To do this we have to grow the show into something that attracts mainstream public and something that is attractive to the likes of Nintendo, Sony, EA, Microsoft, SNK, Capcom, Atari, and the many other game publishers. To do this they expect 25,000 or more people to participate in such an event, it’s a high stakes game and they just aren’t interested in getting involved in small shows. We plan to grow into an event similar to Wizard World, Comicon, DigitalLife, IGN Live, G.A.M.E, GameLive Events, and eventually Tokyo Game Show. But we are humbled by are origins – we know that we cannot grow without standing on the shoulders of others, NBC provides us that first step.

PhillyClassic was a great show. It attracted nearly 3000 hard-core gamers. VGXPO plans to replicate the same success, but please bear with us through our first few events. It's true that we are having some growing pains, but we are working to fix those issues. There is a lot that we want to do - and we can only do it with your support.

I'm still going and plan on having a good time, however things turn out. At the very least I'll get to meet up with some friends, play some games and hang out. And kick some ass in the Halo 2 tourney

[Schenley]

Ugg... I don't like the sounds of this...

I'd rather have a show with 3000 hardcore gamers than a show with 25,000 soccer moms.

[Flack]

Just a few random comments:

As we saw in Dallas and DC, being joined with a tech expo didn't necessarilly bring in a crowd that cared about videogames.

At least in Dallas, the NBC part wasn't a tech expo. It was more similar to what they are talking about for the DC show. The NBC part of the Dallas vgXpo was filled with stray pets for adoptions, food, RV's and more. By "tech expo" I was expecting something like Comdex or E3, not booths selling homemade jewelry and handing out information on dental care.

I don't think this is necessarilly a bad thing. In the past, Phillyclassic has attracted a large following without the benefit of being tied in to any other show. What Ed did joining up with NBC sounded like a sound idea but we shouldn't think that just because the people going to the NBC show don't care about videogames, that there will be a small draw. Hopefully there will be many people attending the videogame show who couldn't care less about the consumer fest.

I agree with this. Just because the two events happen to take place in the same venue shouldn't stop vendors or people from attending.

I'd rather have a show with 3000 hardcore gamers than a show with 25,000 soccer moms.

Again, I can only speak to the Dallas event, but I can't imagine 3,000 people showed up. Some of the vendors I spoke with estimated numbers closer to 300-500 people. With free admission and the mixing of two crowds, we will never have an official attendence count, although I tend to believe the people who were working tables over PR people. Like Rolenta said, the mixing of the two events sounded like a good idea, but at Dallas I saw those "soccer moms" dropping their kids off at the game area while the moms walked around the rest of the show. As many vendors learned, kids don't spend money. I also saw quite a few older people (senior citizens) walking around, either out of curiosity or because they were lost -- either way, they weren't spending money either.

-

In Ed's post quoted by K3V, it's clear what the intentions of vgXpo are -- to become "the main consumer videogame event in the US". The vision he projects is one of a large videogame show, where 25,000 people will show up and major companies like "Nintendo, Sony, EA, Microsoft, SNK, Capcom, Atari, and the many other game publishers" will participate. However, if you look at it, it just doesn't add up to the sum of its parts. While I understand that teaming up with NBC might have sounded like a good idea, I don't see how it benefited vgXpo at all. As I stated in my review, I talked to lots of videogame people in Dallas who had no idea about the Dallas show. I don't think 25,000 random people is the same as 25,000 videogame fans.

I'm losing my train of thought here. My point, if there is one, is that I don't understand how combining a small retrogaming show with a completely unrelated NBC home expo equals the largest videogame show. And what's worse is, it looks like by doing this they're getting away from the PhillyClassic model, which is too bad as I know that's why a lot of people attended vgXpo in the first place.

Every time I get to talking about vgXpo it comes out sounding negative and I don't mean it to. I highly recommend anyone local to the Philly show attend. Without attendees, it will surely fail. At least give the show a chance.

[Sniderman]

First, VGXPO is not PhillyClassic.

And therein is the Kiss of Death for PhillyClassic fans.

[rolenta]

I just want to let everyone know that Ralph Baer will only be attending VGXPO on Saturday, November 12. He'll be there all day but he must return home Saturday night.

Bill Kunkel will be at the show both days.

[K3V]

I just want to let everyone know that Ralph Baer will only be attending VGXPO on Saturday, November 12. He'll be there all day but he must return home Saturday night.

Awesome, that makes my trip worthwhile right there.

[segagamer4life]

I am goin to be there, at least one day, gotta get some good deals.... hey, we should all wear something to distinguish ourselves so we will be able to recognize that were from here, like a pink scarf, or a dildo hat, ala "Orgazmo".... but probably a little more toned down like a name tag maybe. Just some thoughts.

[K3V]

I am goin to be there, at least one day, gotta get some good deals.... hey, we should all wear something to distinguish ourselves so we will be able to recognize that were from here, like a pink scarf, or a dildo hat, ala "Orgazmo".... but probably a little more toned down like a name tag maybe. Just some thoughts.

You go with the dildo hat and we'll all be able to find you