Game Masters

As always, our most important resource for Origins is you, the Game Master and Event Organizer. Without games, there’s not much point in coming to Origins, and you bring the games.

We had a great game schedule in 2007, but we are always striving to make things even better for our attendees every year. Towards that goal, we are going to be undertaking a lot more “schedule crafting,” where we take a good look at what is being played at any given time and making sure we don’t have too much of one game (or style of game) and not enough of another.

As such, if you are particularly keen to run something, and you know it’s likely others may seek to run either the same thing or something much similar, it may be a good idea to “stake your claim” early. For example, there’s only so many “Burrows & Bunnies” games that we will need on the schedule; the third submission may well have to be turned down.

Please contact Trey Reilly at programs@gama.org if you'd like to be added to the Origins GM mailing list. This is an announce-only list, so don’t worry that your boxes will fill with conversations. As last year, we will only use it for regular announcements about what is happening with events, alerting you to deadlines and other information important or useful to Origins Game Masters and Event Organizers.

Please note this change. We will no longer be accepting event submissions via the online data form. Events - 1) will only be accepted by excel form 2) will only be accepted if there is space 3) may not make it into the OSB even if accepted.

We are rapidly moving forward with our plans for events at Origins this year, and we want you to be a part of them. The Event Submission Spreadsheet for this year is ready for download, and it's easier and more complete than ever before. Just follow the embedded directions, fill out a line for each event, and send it to Joby Miller, Events Coordinator.

We also have an Event Submission Data Form you can use right here on the Web. It asks for all the same information. It's not quite as convenient for those who have lots of events to submit, but it works great if you only plan to run a small number of them (or just really don't like Excel spreadsheets).

  

Deadlines are a necessary part of putting on a great show. We like to encourage you to get your events to as as soon as possible. The sooner we receive details of your events, the sooner we can start to promote them to all the people eager to start planning their Origins experience.

The first major deadline for Event Submissions is January 25th, 2008. Anyone who wants feature text and special mentions for their events needs to get at least general description and publicity information about those events to us by no later than January 25th.

As with last year, we won't be posting full event grids in the Pre-Registration Book. Instead we will be focusing on more promotional descriptions of events that are either very special or that promote the various themes of the show this year.

However, we will be putting up full event grids online, so the sooner you get your full event schedule to us, the better chance you stand of getting all of the space and positioning you desire, as well as having the maximum exposure to the fans who will be signing up to play. You will also have the opportunity to have feature descriptions of your event posted on the Web site.

Please note that the final deadline for Event Submissions will be April 4, 2008. Events that are submitted after that deadline cannot be guaranteed to be in the Onsite Book if accepted.

Event Policies are a neccesary part of Origins, as they ensure that we are all reading from the same rulebook. Make sure your events follow the Origins Event Policies, so that your submission process will go more smoothly.

Wednesday: Remember that Wednesday is now a full day for scheduling events. Events may be scheduled starting at 8am. There are no exhibit hall hours on Wednesday, so the Blackout Period does not apply.

Event Blackout Period: No event may start during the last two hours of Exhibit Hall time (i.e. 4-6pm on Thursday).  Events starting earlier may not end more than an hour into the block (i.e. an event that begins at 3pm should end at 5pm, rather than 6pm).  Exceptions to this rule are given to Show Sponsors and for full-day tournaments. 

The Exhibit Hall hours for 2008 are:

• Thursday June 26th:    10am - 6pm
• Friday June 27th:        10am - 6pm
• Saturday June 28th:    10am - 6pm
• Sunday June 29th:      10am - 4pm

Event Fees: Events at Origins have a base cost, which helps us to pay the additional overhead for the event space and other resources used.  The base calculation for Event Fees is $2.00 (one generic) for every two hours of game play.  This amount goes entirely to GAMA to cover room related expenses; if there is a need to cover special expenses by the event organizers for the event, an Upcharge is normally requested. (All requests for upcharges are reviewed by GAMA, and may be denied for any reason.) For your convenience, a pricing list is given below:

• 1-2 hours: $2.00
• 3-4 hours: $4.00
• 5-6 hours: $6.00
• 7 hours and over: $8.00

Demos, Seminars, and some Special Events are exempt from Event Fees. Exemptions are determined by Origins Staff.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Trey Reilly, Programs Director, at programs@gama.org.