In October of 2023 Aethermon Studios attended its first SXSW festival, and the inaugural SXSW Sydney. This post is a breakdown about how that went, and the second post about this year’s conventions. You can find the previous post here.

SXSW is a little different from the other conventions and games festivals we have attended. Let’s once again pretend that you are a curious enquirer and I am answering your questions. Ready when you are…

Q: What IS SXSW Sydney?

SXSW Sydney (South-by-South-West Sydney) is the spin-off or little sister festival to SXSW which has been held in Austin, USA for over 20 years. Unlike other festivals/conventions which take place at one location and feature one subject or theme, SXSW is split into different streams of thematic content, and takes place across multiple venues in the one city. You can buy a pass to just one stream, just one event, or to absolutely everything.

In the case of SXSW Sydney specifically, the streams were Film, Music, Tech & Innovation, and Games. SXSW Sydney also differs from its Austin sibling in that all of these streams were held concurrently over one week, rather than over successive weeks – which meant a lot of mingling between attendees and cross-pollination of ideas. 

Q: Were you attending the Games stream?

Yes, Aethermon Studios was invited to exhibit as part of the Games Festival, and specifically the Tabletop Games Festival which spanned the weekend of that week. We were scheduled for two exhibition timeslots, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. When we were not scheduled to be exhibiting we had access to all the other Games festival events as a high priority attendee, and secondary or low priority access to all the Film, Music and Tech & Innovation events.

Q: So you didn’t have a permanent booth?

No, we shared our space with other exhibitors over the course of the festival. However, it did happen that our scheduling was back-to-back so once we had set up, we were fortunate to be able to leave our items at our table space overnight and just re-set them the next day.

Q: What was the booth like? How much space did you have?

Booths for the Games Festival varied depending on whether you were exhibiting as a video game or a tabletop game. The video game exhibitors had two chairs and a roughly 1.2m-wide booth space, with a monitor on the booth top and a second television screen hung just above head height. This meant that demo-ers could sit and watch the action in front of them, while passers-by could see your demo booth even over the heads of the crowd.

As a tabletop exhibitor, we had a 6-foot table, six chairs, and the empty 1.2m-wide booth with the head-height television screen. We used the table for our demos, festooned with our branded tablecloth, and the booth at the back of the table held a pyramid of our games. Underneath the booth we kept our backpacks, extra stock, and so on. Because we exhibited after the video games and thus inherited the television screen, we ran a looped (silent) video on the screen. Do note that this was just how things ran in year one – it may well be that future years have different setups.

Q: This sounds very spacious. Was it a bigger space than somewhere like PAX Aus?

Yes and no. The actual venue was the Mercure Sydney, in one of their event rooms, so it was a much smaller venue space, especially once it got kitted out with 30+ booths and so on. By comparison, the PAX Aus venue is the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, so the room itself is a giant hall like an airplane hangar. 

Technically we probably ended up with more booth space at SXSW Sydney, but line of sight was a little different, how people could move around the space was a little different, and expectations of what we could do with the space were a little different too. Overall – they’re just different.

Q: How did you get invited to the convention?

We had to apply – applications closed around August, if memory serves. We then found out we were accepted in September, and the event itself was late-October. If this feels very short-notice, it might be because this was the first year the SXSW teams were taking on the enormous challenge of running an entire festival, so it’s possible that in future years their timeline may be a little different. Sign up for their mailing list if you want to know.

Q: What was the convention experience like?

Overall much more festival-y than other games conventions we have attended. On day one/Sunday we went to collect our badges, but the Games stream of the festival didn’t start until day five/Thursday of the week, and we weren’t scheduled to exhibit until days seven and eight/Saturday and Sunday, which meant the early part of the week afforded us a lot of time to attend other events, talks, music acts, analysis of technology, exhibitions, etc. This was really interesting, and I enjoyed it a lot. Cross-discipline inspiration is a big part of how I like to engage with my work, so this was a good opportunity for that.

Another thing worth noting is that the hours were quite extensive – if you wanted to, you could attend events from 8am (breakfast mixer) to about 2am (music gigs) practically non-stop except for running between the different locations. Of particular note are the industry awards nights.

Once the Games events began, we attended a few mixer events, which were a great way to meet other industry folks. It’s really hard to introduce oneself cold – an event that is specifically for meeting people makes that much less challenging. We also attended a few Games-related talks, although Games, like the rest of the festival, suffered from long lines for each event, meaning frequently the venue was full before we could take a seat.

Come Saturday and Sunday, the festival was much closer to other conventions we have attended, in that we had no free time and were at our booth the entire day. What was different was the attendance. These weren’t the typical games convention attendees – many people from other streams popped their heads in, and there were also a number of industry professionals – publishers, distributors, media, grants officials, etc. This gave a slightly different flavour from previous conventions and a slightly lesser emphasis on purchasing, which our sales numbers reflected.

Q: Did you say awards?

Yes! The Games Festival awards night was on Friday, and included the announcement of the SXSW Sydney Games Festival Awards. Shortly before the festival, Aethermon Studios discovered that we were a nominee in the category of Best Tabletop Game, and we were beyond delighted and honoured when they announced that we won! As we were exhibiting the very next day, we had the additional delight of displaying our trophy at our table over the weekend.

Q: What about the exhibitor experience?

Going in, we didn’t know what to expect. A lot of information reached us very late in the process – again, it was the first year the event was run – so it would have been exceptionally difficult for us to attend had it not been a familiar city, because by then things like hotel bookings were ultra-expensive and frequently booked out. Sydney is one of the priciest cities in the world, and we are very grateful to family for putting us up over this time.

Likewise, we weren’t sure until very near to time whether we would be able to sell our games at the event – in the end we were able to, so it was fortunate that we already had stock in our location because it would have been difficult to get it from our China warehouse to Sydney in time once we found out this info. Worth noting – merchandise sales didn’t strike the right note here, and we didn’t bring any. By comparison, pins and even t-shirts made for a noticeable part of our sales figures at PAX Aus.

Q: Was it financially viable?

For us, yes it was worthwhile attending, although if we had had to afford last-minute hotel fees, it would have been prohibitively expensive. Additionally, because we were invited to exhibit, we didn’t have booth fees or ticket fees to afford, which would have been outside our current scope.

Q: Any last thoughts for future exhibitors?

• Give yourself a chance to explore what the rest of the festival has to offer. We met some lovely people outside of our own Games stream, and it was just a richer experience overall.
• Expect that what I have described may look very different in future years. As a first event, I imagine the behind-the-scenes was a big learning experience for everyone, and undoubtedly they will be looking at how to optimise future events based on this one.

Overall, SXSW Sydney was a fantastic event that we hope to attend again in the future. It offers something distinct from other games festivals due to the multiple thematic streams, and we are decidedly honoured to have received SXSW Sydney’s Best Tabletop Game 2023 award. We’re excited to see the shape of this festival in years to come.

Thanks for reading, AetherRen!

Aethermon Studios attended our second PAX Aus in October 2023. This post is a breakdown of how that went, and the first post about this year’s conventions. You can find the second post here, and last year’s PAX Aus series starting here. Both of these are written for fellow creatives contemplating their first PAX Aus as an exhibitor.

In 2022 we won our Pax Aus exhibition space as part of the Indie Showcase tabletop award, where we were previewing/playtesting Aethermon: Ascent (then titled Tower of Darkness). This year had some major changes. For one, we bought our space rather than winning it, and for another, it wasn’t just previewing – we had games to sell! But not the ones we previewed a year ago – we launched a smaller project this year called Aethermon: Collect – a set-collection strategy game featuring our same Aethermon creatures. We successfully crowdfunded that on Gamefound over four weeks in August – crowdfunding allowed us to manufacture a mini-expansion too.

Let’s pretend that you’re a curious enquirer asking all the interesting questions, and I’ll provide the answers. Okay? When you’re ready…

Q: When did you need to reach out to PAX Aus to secure a space?

We expressed interest in about February, before applications were open. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss out when they were accepting applications. We asked about both a booth and a table – booths were already sold out, and tables hadn’t yet opened applications. I guess the lesson is, open that conversation early and be prepared to wait for confirmation.

Q: So you had a table? Or a booth?

We had a table. A booth at PAX Aus is a roughly 3m x 3m space with walls on two or three sides (depending if you have a corner position). A table is a 2m x 2m space with no walls – although you do get a nice big poster behind the head of your table.

Q: Was a table suitable for you?

Yes, it was excellent this year. There are different advantages to each – for example, by not having any walls, a table doesn’t present the same psychological barrier to passers-by who might be interested in your product (but then again might not be, and would rather avoid having to commit to walking inside a booth before they’re absolutely certain).

The 2m x 2m description is a bit misleading – PAX Aus is very generous and the Indie Tabletop tables can actually be used a bit beyond that allocation, so long as you don’t impede upon foot traffic zones. This enabled us to offer a bit more to PAX attendees than just a flat demo. We did have two games of Collect being demo-ed throughout the three days of the convention, but we also offered giveaways with a spin wheel which certainly drew a crowd, and by keeping our sales to one side, passers-by could watch a demo game even if they didn’t have time to try it themselves.

Q: What did your table setup look like?

On the table, we had an Aethermon branded tablecloth, and two games of Aethermon: Collect to demo. Collect plays for 1-4 players and we could just about squeeze a 2-player and 4-player game in at the same time. At the back of the table we had a little pyramid of games below our poster. Underneath the table, we stacked our boxes of games, merch, and our coats and backpacks.

Aside from demo games, we were also running giveaways and taking sales. We set up our spin wheel to the side of our table next to the walkway, taking advantage of our corner position. Right next to it was our merch stand – a self-assemble set of drawers that held prizes, giveaways and smaller merch items, and also functioned as a sales counter. Directly in front of the stand was our pull-up banner (1.5m high), allowing a secondary line of sight for our main poster, and conveniently hiding the sales counter when it inevitably got messy.

Q: I’m thinking of exhibiting next year. Would you recommend the same setup for me?

Not necessarily. Obviously you want to consider the demands of your product, but after that, its worth thinking about what you can offer. If you can provide something a bit special, note-worthy, or uncommon to attendees, you’re more likely to get from them the attention you’re looking for.

For example, Jye and Baden from Alien Frenzy had a giant bucket of lollipops to keep demo-ers/playtesters energised, as well as giving away pins. Although yet to launch their crowdfunding campaign and thus unable to sell their game, they did a roaring trade in email addresses.

Jett from Wrong Answers Only dispensed with the table and chairs that came with his booking, and brought his own retro sofa and living room decorations, which was not only eye-catching but totally on-brand for his party game.

Jono and Anderson from Quokka Games had a QR code and rules written on their poster, so passers-by could quickly grasp the flow of the game before having to commit to a demo. Time is precious for attendees, so this is a great way to remove the friction in a potential customer’s interest.

In all of these cases, their visual design (poster, setup, uniform) was really strong. So get things right for your needs, but also figure out how you can be part of someone’s great convention experience.

Q: What was the best part of the event?

As an exhibitor, without a doubt it was meeting people. We don’t get a lot of downtime when we’re demo-ing at exhibitions, so every single person who spends time at our stand is extra special because they bring the convention to us. And as with the previous occasion – people are so lovely at PAX Aus! What a truly generous crowd!

Q: Worst part?

The actual setting-up. We’re not the fastest, and this year Chris had a badly sprained ankle, so it was a physically demanding day getting all those boxes from the car to our stand with only one set of arms to do the lifting. Then there were three days of very little physical rest while said ankle ought to have been healing. But hey – we did it! No regrets!

Q: How did you run your demos?

Our game, Aethermon: Collect, is very quick to play, so we basically just invited attendees to play a game. We tried to keep a full table, so very often we sat strangers down together. It’s a testament to the culture that PAX Aus staff has generated at their event that people were so friendly and willing to share this time with each other. Of course, if a family wanted to play together we didn’t split people up. Blessedly, we had a very good conversion rate from demo to sales, and with demos taking on average about 15 minutes, our sales figures were fairly encouraging. These did vary between days – Friday was quieter, Saturday was very busy, and Sunday was a little more toned down.

Q: Did you offer last-day discounts?

No, out of respect for those who bought our game on day one, we didn’t offer discounts two days later. Discounts are frequently applied by stores who don’t want the hassle of returning unsold stock to their home location, and it’s cheaper for them to sell it at lower price. We didn’t have that problem, and besides, our product didn’t get worse in two days.

We did however offer convention incentives – we offered bundle packages of “game + pin” or “game + pin + t-shirt”, the pins being event exclusive colours that we aren’t planning to manufacture again. This definitely boosted our sales figures.

Q: Was it financially achievable for you to attend?

Yes, we turned a profit at this year’s PAX Aus! This is factoring in hotel accommodation, booth hire, travel, staffing, stock, and sundries. We were benefited in this by booking our accommodation well in advance, driving rather than aeroplaning all our stuff from Sydney to Melbourne, and being able to stay a few nights before/after the convention with friends and family. In future we would expect to have additional staffing expenses. We thought three people would be enough: the two of us, plus one very awesome friend helping us who was there half the time and exploring the convention the other half. This was definitely not enough – once again we had absolutely zero breaks, and the days were even longer than last year.

Q: Any further suggestions for future exhibitors?

• Drink plenty of water. Keep at least one bottle at your stall per staff member. Rehydration tablets or sachets can be helpful in the evenings between convention days. Apples, muesli bars, etc for snacks. Huge gratitude to our friends who stopped by with snacks or offered to get us refills. We didn’t have time to leave and that was a godsend.
• You can book long-stay parking under the MCEC which could be quite useful if you can get around Melbourne for the weekend without a car – leave your backup equipment and merch in a car parked downstairs under the exhibition hall and it’s like having a storeroom from which to re-stock.
• You need high-vis on set-up and on pack-up days. This year they had vests available at the door but that isn’t always the case so if you have your own, bring it in your kit on Sunday morning so you can start packing up your stand immediately after close of doors on Sunday evening. Otherwise, you will need to leave the exhibition hall and source a high-vis vist before you can return.
• Consider joining TGDA – Tabletop Game Designers of Australia. They have a Facebook group, a website, and they’re very welcoming. They have a wealth of knowledge to share, be it about exhibiting, game mechanics, sales, product feedback… Tap into that wisdom, and then, in a few months or years, give some of yours back.

Let me end by saying, we are by no means experts at exhibiting. At every new convention or expo we attend, we are learning and changing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them, and I’ll do my best with an answer. Likewise if you have any of your own advice, feel free to share it.

Thanks for reading, AetherRen!