Pro tips for indie boothing

I thought I knew what to expect having worked at my company booths at PAX East and GDC, but PAX West 2024 taught me to be more … prepared in the future.

Here are some updated tips for being an exhibitor / booth staff.

Feel free to also peruse Alexandra Dahlberg’s 2017 blog, “How to plan your game convention booth”, and Kyle Pittman’s 2015 blog, “A Newbie’s Guide to Exhibiting at Events”.

For context, I am the Writer/Narrative Designer at Sticky Brain Studios, and Rooster is a beautiful, point-and-click narrative game about the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. If I say “we”, I mean “the Sticky Brain team.”

Things to Arrange Ahead of Time

BOOTH LOCATION & EQUIPMENT

I don’t handle the logistics prior to arriving at the booth, but if you get a choice, I will say that the top of the T-junction, a corner edge and/or next to a large open space (like a meeting area) across the way that gets visibility are great locations. For Rooster, our two monitors were on tall stands (without audio, which worked well for visibility amongst a crowd) and we used a tall backdrop banner with large standing cutouts of our characters so people could see our very distinct artwork from afar.

Other tips:

If not all the convention center lights are on normally, ensure that there is something above your booth. Stick around for the “light test” if there is one. You’d be surprised at how dark your beautifully designed booth can look without light.

Wired one-unit controllers are best for public testing since it’s a single handheld unit and you don’t have to worry about faulty connections at two points, or batteries dying partway through. They also don’t go “missing”.

If you are local to the venue, bringing a vacuum for your booth carpet is incredibly helpful, especially if the venue charges $100/day for someone else to do a three-minute once-over.

Use headphones for any audio or forgo it completely. Conventions and conferences already have an overload of sounds, so blasting sound through a speaker only annoys your neighbours (and yourselves!) who will also get tired of your soundtrack.

BOOTH SWAG

Practical, lasting giveaways that people can use every day are really the greatest swag. Kudos to Unreal for handing out super comfortable t-shirts at GDC. Indie studios don’t usually have the budget for that.

Stickers of our Rooster Zodiac animal characters are the most fun and cost-effective for Sticky Brain Studios, so that’s what we hand out. For PAX West, we handed out a different sticker for every day, and people enjoyed coming back for the rest, especially when we remembered them. We love hearing about people who put them on their phones/tablets/laptops!

Remember to put your logo/URL on your giveaways. It’s up to you whether it’s your game name and/or company name, but definitely have that branding on your booth clothing. Have other people market your game by using your giveaways!

BUSINESS CARDS / FLYERS

It’s a good idea to have some business cards on hand to give out to people who ask for them. For general consumer-facing events, have the generic company ones on hand. For industry events, use your specific role ones.

I honestly try not to collect any flyers or business cards if I can help it. I’d rather take a photo on my phone and input relevant information (on iPhones, swipe up on the photo to edit caption) like a person’s name.

LinkedIn is my current preferred method of keeping in touch professionally, especially with pictures and profiles being in one place. Dana Ramnarine from rhum.hr taught me to put the QR code for my LinkedIn profile as my phone wallpaper, and now I have another one for wishlisting Rooster. These are great to design ahead of time, although our talented Animation Director E. Joan Lee made my gorgeous one in 10 minutes before the second day of GDC.

A QR code linking to your Steam page is one of the best activations so people can wishlist your game on-the-spot. Physically post that QR code in multiple places so it is still accessible when your booth is crowded. For bad wifi/signal situations, memorable branded swag is really the next best thing. In my ideal world, depending on the game, I would drive post-event online and purchase traffic with a card listing a code-initiated, event-specific, one-time use only, in-game item for exclusive hype. Or for non-hype practical use, offer a discount coupon code.

If email subscriber lists are your thing, make sure to have a system where people can directly type their info to your mailing list on a connected device, and be verified so that they’re not rejected as spam.

Getting There

BOOTH PURPOSE AND PERSONNEL

Ultimately, you’re there to publicize and have people remember your game, product, or service. Regardless of the booth size, plan to have at least two people at all main times (opening and closing are a different story, I know). Otherwise, it can be lonely without traffic, and you can’t leave your booth equipment unattended if one of you needs to use the bathroom. For various purposes, six team members seems to be ideal for Sticky Brain, rotating two co-executive producers and four leads when necessary.

Of staff who are able to travel, choose personnel who can handle “the public” and be the most welcoming. You can hire local booth helpers, but it’s much better to have your staff there since they’ll know your game/product/service the best and be able to answer or refer people appropriately. If they are media-trained, this is even better.

Have one technically-inclined person who can quickly handle blips with the build (e.g. figuring out that an upside-down mouse was making the virtual cursor act weirdly). I am one of those people who are better at bringing people into the booth rather than one who can patiently walk visitors through the demo. Some of my colleagues are particularly good at that. Either way, your team will figure out a good flow and individual strengths become quickly apparent. Lean into them!

I’ve found that repeating the pitch over and over is good practice for honing and mastering it. The challenge is altering it slightly depending on the audience, e.g. engaging kids versus a potential publisher.

You can gauge when people want to visit if they’re stopping and perking up at the sight of your booth visuals (at which point you welcome them in enthusiastically), but I found that waving in a friendly manner to passersby worked well enough to appear approachable if they made eye contact (usually waving back), without being overwhelming. This was great for people who were perhaps shy or introverted.

TEAM ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURES

If budget allows, all staff booth team members should arrive the day before the conference/convention start. For accessibility accommodation purposes, Sticky Brain co-founders Sasha Boersma and Ted Brunt have offered us the option of arriving two days earlier and leaving the day after closing which helps immensely. For PAX East (I was with a different company then), I should have scheduled my flight the day before as opposed to arriving and going straight from the airport to the convention center while the booth was in full swing. It was a hassle to wait outside for my boss (who then had to leave the booth) to bring me my pass, and then going through security with my luggage.

If you have the ultimate budget, I’ve always wanted to do a team city sightseeing tour if it’s a city I’ve never been to, and that’s a fun activity as a team bonding experience. It’s also a baseline for everybody to see the same highlights, especially if some people get stuck in their hotel rooms doing work that can’t be put off.

At the very least, it’s a good idea to have a team dinner, just to catch up, get reacquainted, especially if your team is hybrid/remote, hand out or collectively grab your badges, and figure out strategy, or just disperse information for the booth. Sometimes this is also where you can hand your staff their branded clothing so everyone arrives the next day, ready to go upon entry.

It's up to you whether your team stays for the closing, but I’ve been there for different scenarios. I don’t recommend skedaddling from the booth to the airport, having stashed luggage somewhere behind a podium. It’s a bit stressful clearing out of a hotel in the morning while prepping for a booth day. I’ve had to leave early while the rest of the team remains (kids’ school started the next day!). I’ve also stayed long enough to see people still trying to play our demo even after GDC had been declared over. In all three of my experiences, our PR person handled booth teardown, which was marvelous.

PR TEAM

Sticky Brain had the pleasure of working with Marshal Carper of Carper Creative for both GDC and PAX West this year. Marshal wrangles booth design with input from our team leads for art, tech, and narrative; setup; daily management; teardown; shipping logistics; media contacts; facility liaison (essential for convention center shenanigans); personnel support; and much more. I highly recommend him and his team.

Being There

THINGS TO PACK

I got lulled into complacency expecting indoor venues to be cool and comfortable.  It is a wise decision to also pack clothing like shorts that complement your booth attire. Clothing with pockets large enough for your phone and collecting business cards (if that’s your thing) is also helpful.

Standing all day at your booth (and if you manage to walk around other booths) is exhausting. Pack and wear your most comfortable shoes! And if it’s a new pair of running shoes, make sure you feel like you’re wearing couches on your feet. I made the mistake of thinking the new shoes would get better. They didn’t.

If noise levels are too high, consider wearing earplugs. One visitor to our PAX West booth was wearing Apple AirPods without listening to anything - it was just for the noise cancellation.

Cough drops/throat lozenges and immune system boosters are helpful after talking for 8-9 hours, almost nonstop. Joan also introduced me to hot water with honey and lemon, which was delightful at A/Stir in Seattle.

MASKS AND HAND SANITIZER

This is entirely a personal choice, but I am convinced that wearing a well-fitting, comfortable mask and copious use of hand sanitizer has staved off illness for me. Especially with the sheer volume of people talking in close proximity, a mask eliminates the saliva potentially flying from one’s mouth while speaking at a raised volume, leaving bad breath memories from snacks in between booth visitors, and taking the edge off some visitors being more pungent than others. Even with my mask on, people still laugh at my jokes, wishlist the game, connect with me on LinkedIn, and happily take the stickers I offer.

REPLENISH YOUR BODY!

PAX West eventually required constant access to hot tea, and I eventually took to holding the cup and stickers in one hand so I would remember to have it while hot. Keeping hydrated meant frequent bathroom breaks, but as someone who tries to stay at the booth as long as possible (for catching friends, possible business development opportunities for the company, media, and memorable visitors I don’t want to hear about later, second-hand!), bathroom breaks are a good reminder to pause from the goings-on of the show and rest one’s voice. Unless you’re a voice actor or professional vocalist, I have no idea how people go to karaoke after being at a booth all day.

MISCELLANEOUS

Combining a work trip with a family trip

If you must (i.e. because of a child’s birthday) turn a work trip into a family trip, bring along two adults to help wrangle small children during the day. I do not recommend it for events (even consumer-facing) that have long hours and already require a great deal of energy.

Overall, I appreciate the opportunity and generally have a great time at conventions. It’s always fun to bond with my team, especially being the only out-of-drivable-area team member.

I hope these tips are helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. You can reach Sticky Brain Studios at [email protected].

Rooster is headed for launch in Q1, 2025 and can be Wishlisted on Steam.