Attendance Update?
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Posted by geezer

I don't know if you keep the data or not, but I was wondering where we are in number of registrations compared to last year at this time.  This is Gen Con 50 so are you seeing a bump in registrations this year as compared to the last 2 years when about 60,000 attended each year?  If you don't keep the data, do you have a general sense of what the attendance might be?

Posted by watchdog

Gen Con tends to keep that kind of info pretty close to the vest. In previous years you could try to guesstimate based on how long it took the downtown hotels to sell out, but since they spread out the sign-in times this year I don't think we can even use that.

Posted by aaronmlopez

Because this is the 50th Gen Con it may attract more people, however this may be offset by the days that this years event is being held as there may be many who are unable to attend due to school starting. 

Posted by bigfathairyguy

I didn't even think about the school. Most of the schools in Indiana go back the week before. I will be interested to see how this affects Gencon. I know for sure commute times will increase. Also Gencon is taking place right in the middle of the Indiana state fair. Normally it starts the weekend of Gencon. That may be part of the reason the hotel space is a lot tighter this year.

Posted by aldctjoc bigfathairyguy

franknbeans wrote:Also Gencon is taking place right in the middle of the Indiana state fair. Normally it starts the weekend of Gencon. That may be part of the reason the hotel space is a lot tighter this year.

You might be right, but I don't know... For some odd reason I've got it stuck in my mind that the average fair goer wouldn't visit for more than a single day, and I'd think a good number are there to catch a specific thing, like one of the concerts. I admit, though, about all of my opinion is inductive reasoning i.e. most people interested would be in state residents, and a large majority of those would be just taking a single day-trip in. 

Still, I can't help but have personal doubts that fairgoers who aren't involved in some way would've planned and reserved hotel space this far out. I mean, the fair itself doesn't appear to have thought too far ahead! Their own "More Information" link on their site is blank (http://www.indianastatefair.com/event/2017-indiana-state-fair-aug-4-20/).

I wish there was some hard data out there on this. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I sort of hate being stuck in an indeterminate state of not knowing. 

Posted by trace_sl

Numbers from few years:


  • 2016: 60819
  • 2015: 61423
  • 2014: 56614
  • 2013: 49058
  • 2012: 41000+

Think we have hit the level off phase of Gen Con, around 60000 and I expect to see the number at that mark this year. 
 

Posted by divachelle trace_sl

trace_sl wrote:
Numbers from few years:

  • 2016: 60819
  • 2015: 61423
  • 2014: 56614
  • 2013: 49058
  • 2012: 41000+

Think we have hit the level off phase of Gen Con, around 60000 and I expect to see the number at that mark this year. 
 

I think the 50th is going to push this some higher.

Posted by njseahawksfan bigfathairyguy

franknbeans wrote:
I didn't even think about the school. Most of the schools in Indiana go back the week before. I will be interested to see how this affects Gencon. I know for sure commute times will increase. Also Gencon is taking place right in the middle of the Indiana state fair. Normally it starts the weekend of Gencon. That may be part of the reason the hotel space is a lot tighter this year.
The Indiana State Fair lasts three weeks.  It has been concurrent with GenCon for years.  This year would have no greater or lesser impact than any of the other years.

Posted by aldctjoc njseahawksfan

njseahawksfan wrote:The Indiana State Fair lasts three weeks.  It has been concurrent with GenCon for years.  This year would have no greater or lesser impact than any of the other years.

Right, but I presume his point was that it was the middle of the fair, therefore arguable that it would be overlapping with the peak of attendance (as opposed to the beginning or end, where it can be argued that attendance is starting to rise or beginning to tail off). I myself missed that point and wrote a whole post listing overlap dates for the fair and GenCon before I went back and reparsed his comment to make sure I understood. :)

From that research (yeah, I spent waaay too much time on it), I found that going all the way back to '03, there were only 2 years that didn't overlap dates at all (2003 and 2015, incidentally both years with a July start date for Gen Con). And one year I couldn't find State Fair dates for (2005). Of the remaining, 3 had the State Fair starting the day after Gen Con's start ('10, '11, and last year). 2009 had the con smack dab in the middle of the fair, and the remaining 7 years had the con and the fair ending on the same day. So the conclusion is that 10 out of the last 14 years, Gen Con overlapped either the start or the end of the State Fair, and only one other time since it's been in Indianapolis has it landed right in the middle of it. 

Anyway, I think that's his argument. It's not just that it's concurrent, it's that it's concurrent with what presumably would be the busiest time for the State Fair. 

Posted by mhayward1978 aldctjoc

aldctjoc wrote:
njseahawksfan wrote:The Indiana State Fair lasts three weeks.  It has been concurrent with GenCon for years.  This year would have no greater or lesser impact than any of the other years.

Right, but I presume his point was that it was the middle of the fair, therefore arguable that it would be overlapping with the peak of attendance (as opposed to the beginning or end, where it can be argued that attendance is starting to rise or beginning to tail off). I myself missed that point and wrote a whole post listing overlap dates for the fair and GenCon before I went back and reparsed his comment to make sure I understood. :)From that research (yeah, I spent waaay too much time on it), I found that going all the way back to '03, there were only 2 years that didn't overlap dates at all (2003 and 2015, incidentally both years with a July start date for Gen Con). And one year I couldn't find State Fair dates for (2005). Of the remaining, 3 had the State Fair starting the day after Gen Con's start ('10, '11, and last year). 2009 had the con smack dab in the middle of the fair, and the remaining 7 years had the con and the fair ending on the same day. So the conclusion is that 10 out of the last 14 years, Gen Con overlapped either the start or the end of the State Fair, and only one other time since it's been in Indianapolis has it landed right in the middle of it. 
Anyway, I think that's his argument. It's not just that it's concurrent, it's that it's concurrent with what presumably would be the busiest time for the State Fair. 

Why assume the middle would the be busiest time?  That seems no only completely ad-hoc, but unlikely.

I'd expect the opening and closing to be busier than the middle, or a general downward slope (like a movie)

Posted by choriqueso

50 will break 100k. (fact bomb)

Posted by trace_sl choriqueso

shavenskaven wrote:
50 will break 100k. (fact bomb)

:)  Is that turnstile count?  :) 

Posted by nascragman

while I wish GenCon nothing but success, 100k would be a nightmare.  And honestly, while I love the anniversary, I haven't seen anything special being done to celebrate it that would draw more people.  Frankly the late start is going to hurt attendance, lots of people (Students and Faculty) who might have attended all four days will have to take a pass due to school starting before GenCon.

Posted by geezer nascragman

nascragman wrote:
while I wish GenCon nothing but success, 100k would be a nightmare.  And honestly, while I love the anniversary, I haven't seen anything special being done to celebrate it that would draw more people.  Frankly the late start is going to hurt attendance, lots of people (Students and Faculty) who might have attended all four days will have to take a pass due to school starting before GenCon.
I don't like the late start either, but I think it would be cool to have 100,000 game nerds together in one place.  A fair sized city of our people. :) 

Posted by mikeboozer nascragman
#15

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Posted by squirecam geezer

3 hour waits to eat are not cool.

No way 100k can be handled. Gencon was having issues at 40,000+. Now you want 100k?

Posted by roganca choriqueso

shavenskaven wrote:
50 will break 100k. (fact bomb)
I like the prediction game. I'm going to say 71k. Which is a big jump!

Posted by rhone1

I like one of the previous posters saying we'd get to 100K, which would be insane and make for a really crowded Con.

I'm going with 70K.  Still a large increase.

Posted by bigfathairyguy

I will go with 59k. That the attendance actually drops like last year. I think the 50th year thing will detract as many as it attracts.

Posted by scswan

63,217

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