Planning and Budgeting for a First Time Game Conference

What could possibly go wrong?

We are co-hosting Circle DC: A Conference on History, Education & Play on March 31-April 2, 2023. The Civis Institute, a 501(c)(3) is the sponsoring entity and we will be doing most of the planning and implementation for the conference.

The Naval Lodge Building at 330 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC

A bit about the conference. We are hosting in the Naval Lodge on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast, which is about three blocks from both the Capitol and Labyrinth Games & Puzzles. The space can hold up to 199 people, but with game tables and a few vendors, I think any more than 150 would be crowded.

Checking with the people to see what they would like to see at Circle DC.

We will be doing a few things differently at this conference. On Friday, we will be hosting an academic track with the tentative theme of “Historical Tabletop Games In and Out of the Classroom.” We will be planning several outings (see the above list for some of our ideas, feel free to make recommendations) that reflect the DC area. And on Friday evening, we will be hosting our first annual “Big Debate” - the resolution is still being determined.

Could this be a prize for the big winner of the Circle DC tournament?

We will have a historical game tournament - the tentative plan is the first three rounds on Saturday (where a player will play both sides once) with each round featuring one of Watergate, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea, and The Shores of Tripoli. On Sunday, the top two players will face off in the finals playing Votes for Women. If the number of tournament entries warrant it, we will add a semi-final round, perhaps with Flashpoint: South China Sea.

Similar to the fantastic San Diego HistCon Summit, we expect to have a sizable number of designers in attendance. While a number of big names have already committed, we want the designers to feel like our guests and not merely marketing props to drive attendance.

Of course, we will invite all of our neighboring companies to join us - Labyrinth Games & Puzzles, Multi-Man Publishing, Canvas Temple Publishing, North Star Games, Blue Panther Games, and anyone else who wants to join in the fun.

The Rebel fleet preparing for battle!

Of course, there will be plenty of open gaming. The space will be open 10am-10pm on Friday and Saturday, 10am-6pm on Sunday. I will be making most of my personal library of games available to the convention. And because we enjoy history from all periods - even from history from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away - we will have a Star Wars: Rebellion game set up with gorgeous painted planets and pieces.

THE COSTS

Venue: $4000

We have already negotiated the venue fee and we got an amazing deal. It must be my charming, boyish good looks.

Labor: $2000

One of the requirements of the venue is that we have two people at the entrance at all times. Once you see all the historical items in the venue, you will understand why they place such an emphasis on this. Plus, we will need some assistance setting up and taking down the tables and keeping things clean.

Travel Subsidies: $3000

We recognize that some of our designer, author and media guests will need to travel to the DC area, and staying here is not inexpensive. We have budgeted $3000 for travel subsidies.

Video: $1000

We will be taping all of the academic presentations, the “Big Debate” and a bit more at the conference. If it is not on YouTube, did an event even happen?

Printing & Prizes & Supplies: $3000

This is sort of a miscellaneous category. We will certainly have great prizes for any tournaments - those of you who participated in the online tournament for The Shores of Tripoli should know that! We might need a few extra tables and we will need to print some signage and buy cases of water and trash bags and… you get the idea. I’m also tucking any transaction fees for ticket purchases here.

TOTAL COST: $13,000

THE REVENUE:

We expect 100 paid attendees at $75 per ticket. $7500

We expect 25 paid student attendees at $50 per ticket. $1250

We expect 25 paid Friday-only attendees at $25 per ticket. $625

We will be running a big raffle each evening for donated games at $1 per ticket. $1000

Sponsorships: $3000

TOTAL REVENUE: $13,375

I am sure the final numbers will end up quite a bit different than this budget. It will be interesting to revisit this post in mid-April of 2023 and see how right or wrong these estimates were.