Trade Show Fu (tradecraft)

I'm going to the Gama Trade Show this month. Looking at my open-to-buy worksheet, I have around $4,000 to spend. Would you like some of that? It's burning a hole in my pocket. I'm losing money by not spending it. So will I spent it all at the show? Probably not.

If you're going to the show as a publisher, please follow rule zero: Take their money. Is the guy manning your booth there because he's your second cousin's boyfriend's brother who has a strong back, or is this a key man in your operation? Can he answer question? Can he take orders? Most importantly, can he take my money right now?

There are well known publishers that have a terrible time of this. There are several levels of ineptitude when it comes to not taking my money. The worst is when they hand you a catalog, a thing that will sit at the bottom of my backpack and may get perused by staff in a month or two.

The next is the guy who takes my order and promises to hand it to the people who can actually take my money back home. There's a 50% chance this ever happens. If they take my credit card (some don't wanna), the chances go up a little.

Finally, there's the smart guy, the one who has Square attached to his bank account with a free smart phone reader. That guy takes my money right now. That means I know my remaining budget. It means I can generally plan without having to pretend to spend $8,000 because half the vendors flake. Please take my money.

If you're at the Gama Trade Show and you can't take my money right now, you have no right to complain about retailers or distribution or the foibles of the game trade. You are the barrier.