2022 Cheyenne Gaming Convention: Part 7, A convention reflection

It is just under one month since the 2022 Cheyenne Gaming Convention happened and I’ve finished recording my adventure there. With the convention chronicles done, now is the time to do some self review. There are very few times where everything goes 100% right the first time you do something new. The convention was not an exception.

Before the critique however, I want to do some housekeeping. I did not interview every vendor I visited, and I don’t think that I did a good job of showcasing some of them. Thus, I want to write some honorable mention paragraphs to ensure that they get some additional profile and proper presentation.

Extra spotlight

Tabletop Card Game Engine: The TTCGE was created by Lewis King of King’s: Cards & Creations. I first highlighted back in “Part 2” of the series, but I don’t think I did a good job of choosing a spot to properly introduce it before explaining it. Because of this, I don’t think I did a good job of telling people to “go here to learn more,” with my hyperlinks. Based on my time playing with it, I would award it the adjective of sleeper. I believe the phrase beauty in simplicity would fit the engine very well. Two of the three games I played with the engine boiled down to matching, yet it was engrossing enough for to devote time to it.

A Journey with Strange Bedfellows: A Journey with Strange Bedfellows is a product of four separate but interesting pieces. The first is a graphic novel over 100 pages for ages 12 and up which combines six short stories from authors including Bram Stoker, Jack London, and Wilkie Collins. The second is an audio drama which won the Mark Time Ogle Award. The third is an education bundle containing the novel, drama, and a 300+ page educators’ guide. The last piece is a four player board game which is coming soon at the time of this writing. What an interesting package.

Castle Bravo Games: Castle Bravo was an interesting sight at the convention. Perhaps the definition of doing more with less. They did not have a normal table. Instead they had a small circular table right beside Our Own Game Company showcasing their newest game called Oscar’s Hot Night Out. I even played two or three rounds. I won’t go into details about the game for the purpose of keeping the blog PG, but I would encourage readers to do research for themselves and see if they might like it or any of Castle Bravo’s other products.

The good stuff

Going to the convention in and of itself was something good. I learned how to be putting myself out there and slowing increasing my profile. It should not go without saying, but each vendor who allowed me to photograph and interview them was very kind to do so. Mr. and Mrs. Henkel went out of their way to spread a little bit of word of mouth about me after I completed the interview with them. I’ve also shared some of my photos with Ms. Crystal Sully, so those might be floating around. So besides an excellent place for content, the convention was a place to do a little bit of networking. We’ll see how it turns out.

The improvable stuff

For me, the biggest difficulty was photography. The vendor portraits for things like the interview thumbnails were fine, but the wide area shots were tough. The best, or maybe in this case the worst example being the collection from Flippers Family Arcade. The quality of the big shot looking down on to the floor is somewhere between “not good” and “awful” or “ugly.”

I think another area where I unknowingly struggled was interviewing. In hindsight, I should have prepared a list of questions to ask each individual or vendor I interviewed. This would have helped create consistency in the topics. Instead, I ended up improvising most of the interviews while only remembering a select few questions. Sure, there are some thing I cannot control like how long someone will take to answer a question, but as a former reporter, I should be trying to ensure that any interviews I do have similar structures.

Conclusion

From my perspective, the convention overall was a success. My photography and interviewing skills can be improved, but it was a way for me to begin getting my name out. I don’t know if I will be able to pursue this independent reporter career full-time at this juncture. Now that this convention is complete, I would like to start posting articles and photos from my time at Wyoming Newspapers, Inc. while sometimes getting a scoop on large local events. Luckily for me, the the Blue Mountain Car Show is coming soon.