[games_access] GDC

[d. michelle hinn]

Hi Thomas --

I had surgery Friday so I'm a bit behind on things, understandably 
(although regretfully!).

I'm a bit concerned about the sponsorship thing and our return on 
investment, as this is a very different expo than E for All where we 
could reach consumers who had never thought about fellow gamers who 
might have disabilities. The GDC expo is going to be more of a booth 
where visitors expect something slick and packaged and will ask "well 
what is our return on investment" rather than general awareness 
raising. Yes, awareness raising can happen too, of course...but what 
is the return on OUR investment -- $8000 is a lot to raise and then 
there's the issue of who will stand at the booth (expos might seem 
short...until you've been on the other side of the booth...it's very 
exhausting!).

What I'm sensing is as bit of a warning sign (ie, maybe we shouldn't 
do a booth) is that there have only been a few voices from the group 
adding in their opinions...I think that the last thing any of us want 
to see is the bulk of things falling in my lap for GDC -- it's not 
healthy for me personally or all of us as a group!! It's been a year 
of learning for all of us and I think that's a 100% positive thing. 
But I definitely am seeing unhealthy patterns re-emerging and I know 
that no one wants to repeat GDC 2007!

Meanwhile GDC is holding fast to the December 1st date on letting us 
know how many (if any) talks were accepted. Talks have already been 
accepted but these are just the first wave...it's not a sign to panic 
that nothing got accepted. Believe me, I've already panicked about 
that -- nothing to panic about. Yet. But if you are me, you are 
always panicking. :)

As I mentioned sometime last week, we have 1 roundtable sponsored by 
the IGDA (different than the ones that went through the regular 
system -- this is a courtesy for SIGs). This is already on the 
website (gdconf.com). It's an accessibility arcade, only very small 
-- just a few games/controllers with the emphasis on more specific 
info about the things being shown. We also have the "meet and greet" 
where we meet up at the IGDA area to answer questions from anyone 
interested in finding out about the SIG.

Anyway, I will post more as I find out more. Meanwhile Kevin and I 
are preparing to give the SIG workshop at next week's FuturePlay. 
Unfortunately Dimitris and Eelke just learned that they cannot attend 
so the two of us are re-designing the workshop.

Michelle

>Hello
>
>what do we do with the sponsor thing, should we go on with the booth 
>and raise money through sponsors?
>
>if yes:
>what do you think about the template sponsor letter I wrote? 
>anything to change or add?
>
>/Thomas
>
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