How to prepare for meetings - gamescom edition
Game Conference Guide Insights - July 2024
The other day a meeting request arrived. These things happen daily, but this one was for gamescom, more than 10 weeks ahead. Was it too soon shortly after the nonE3 week?
During pandemic meeting requests were sent and received and they followed the similar mantra but with a higher cadence. The only difference was, during pandemic you couldn’t travel, you were not bind by the location, nor strict schedule or opening hours.
You could argue that some meeting systems works only during the event, which is true, but the system doesn’t force you to take the meetings exclusively during these days. We are travelling less and learned to be more efficient with calls and messages, so why wait extra 10 weeks, when you can take the call next week?
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We do prepare for events differently. We do have different goals, working on different projects, offering different services catering to wide variety clients, and our approach going to a physical location is different as well. On the outside nothing has changed much, we are still going to travel to Cologne; it might be hot, there will be halls full of gamers, tiny beers, and our schedule is going to overflow.
Personally, I started to prepare for this year’s gamescom shortly after the last one wrapped.
I was gathering updates on hotels, restaurants and cool places, where I could take my friends and updating the meeting places, so the schedule is more efficient next time. It has everything to do with logistics. At this point I am not booking anything, but thinking about alternatives, if there is a sudden weather change for example, or the whole place is going to be booked for a closed-off event.
For me gamescom is not just meetings, and we will get to them shortly.
Early this year at GDC I invited friends for a donut in the park, and it was very lovely. For gamescom, with my close friend we will try to pull off something similar. This activity alone takes more time to prepare, finding the right place, time, putting together reasonable budget, thinking about guest list etc. On top, there are traditions you can’t miss, like the team dinners, annual food and drinks with your close friends or clients and other social activities like running or playing basketball. These were impossible to pull off during pandemic and these takes priority.
Same with tent-pole meetings. These are booked way in advance and around these the rest of the schedule will be built. These are the ones you are travelling to Cologne for. If someone is unable to confirm your meeting, it is for this simple reason. And sometimes, they are confirmed one or two weeks before gamescom. I know, nail-biting.
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At the time of writing, I do have only preliminary meetings booked, and I know that the schedule will be filled very quickly in coming days. My rule for meetings is very simple. I divide my schedule in thirds: tent-pole, clients / close friends and those I never met before. During gamescom I manage to meet more people at social events, or just bumping into them when I am moving from one place to another or at a mixer / party. But these can’t be planned, and for this reason, I am keeping few slots open so we can spend more time and have a private conversation if opportunity presents itself.
The schedule in general is not back-to-back, slots are 1 hour long and spread out, so I have time to write notes, reply to messages and react to sudden changes in the schedule or accommodate a very important meeting that was pending. Gaps between meetings are giving me time to sort my thoughts, prepare for the next one, or just have quick insights exchange with colleagues.
I have seen closed schedules suddenly opening up, confirmations to important client being confirmed on the last minute, opportunities presenting themselves while walking from one meeting to another. You just need to be prepared for them and react accordingly.
Planning is crucial not just for gamescom and having a clearly defined goals will help to combat the overwhelming nature of the event. You can go guns blazing and not have anything booked, but you are asking for a disappointment.
So, when is the right time to book a gamescom meeting? Now. Any day. Week before gamescom. And you have amazing tools to help you with that, like MeetToMatch, my favourite meeting system out there. And I am massively thankful for them to supporting Game Conference Guide since the beginning. You guys, rock! Grab the 10% discount (click the button above) and start booking meetings. It is not too late.
See you there!
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Pavol Buday, curator @ GCG