A new game site (focused more on non-electronic games, but they're still open on that subject), Ministry Of Entertainment, just opened. I know one of the founders, so I wanted to mention it since it could be good career experience!
– Steven Savage
Godakiko Con – The Vendors speak
Godaiko Con is an old-school anime con that tries to go back to the day when cons were about promoting anime and many attendees were inspired to art and creativity. It's heavy on community focus.
They extend their community to include the vendors, and the vendors actually get their own panel. The staff noticed a lot of vendors were fans themselves, some in fact had grown from fans to professionals, so a vendor-centric panel was created. So of course, I asked them about it . . .
The Vendor panel gives vendors a chance to introduce themselves, talk about their experiences, and how they got there. One of the motivations of the panel is to dispel illusions and share information – Vendors see a lot people may take for granted or not realize that they know.
The results so far have been pretty good, getting a lot of attnetion, and even once causing a person to miss "regular" panels because of all the tales.
Sounds to me like Godaiko Con took the idea of "maybe the vendors could talk" and takes it all the way. Might be an idea to try for your con . . .
News Of The Day 5/4/2011
Economic news, geekonomic news, more bad news for Sony
The Great Sony Outage:
Sony kind of blames Anonymous for the hack – because, apparently, Anonymous enabled them or something. This is dumb, petty, and only inviting retaliation – it feels like a desperation PR move.
Catch the timeline here and realize how long it took to tell customers.
Economics/Geekonomics:
Well, the US has shown some job gains.
Looks like Portugal reached a bailout agreement with the EU.
MUST READ: The Sharing Economy – how sharing changes things. This is a growing trend I don't think enough people have followed – and it alters demand rates, efficiency, and sales.
Comics:
Why Thor released outside the US before inside – Which really shows just how global the market is. Also the reviews seem good overall.
Social Media:
LinkedIn is going to list itself on the NYSE, no the NASDAQ. That's kind of dissing the tech-heavy NASDAQ.
Commenting tech company Disqus has secured $10 million dollars. Just a good note on a rather well-known company (and with only 16 people maybe they should hire . . .).
Technology:
Google is going to launch an aggressive series of ads for promoting Chrome – on TV. Note how they talk of the value of a Chrome user, so they're thinking long-term loyalty building (on top of everything else). What the yplan to do with it is interesting too . . .
Video:
DVD sales fell 20% in 2011. Not surprising considering streaming. Interesting thought here – indie DVD publishing is very easy, so what's the solution as the DVD keeps fading? How do small voices get out? Also how much of an "enemy" does Netflix become to other companies as it becomes the one-ton gorilla in the streaming room?
Video Games:
Nexon is doing pretty well.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: So how far will DVD sales drop in the next year?