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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Numbers from few years:
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.
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.
I'd expect the opening and closing to be busier than the middle, or a general downward slope (like a movie)
50 will break 100k. (fact bomb)
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.
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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.
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.
63,217
