[games_access] E for All and GDC booths

[d. michelle hinn]

Yes I agree -- or at least find out how willing to be dedicated and 
learn more about accessibility through supporting our work.

Looking at the list...we can throw Garage right out the window. They 
have failed to respond to any emails or calls about Eelke's work 
(with Reid helping test) on Torque[cc]. I don't know what happened 
and I'm 99% sure it's not something we did wrong. It's a strong 
lesson for us on dedication from the industry, although they sure 
made it seem like they were on board because they contacted us first. 
It's a shame...nothing more or less to say about that.

I think we also could ask Nintendo, as Eitan has been leading the 
effort on AudiOdyssey and this could get some more support from 
Nintendo and Nintendo 3rd party studios after E for All. We can also 
go the "brain age" route and tell them why things like this are so 
important for cognitive abilities.

We could also ask Microsoft and Sony -- I doubt that they would help 
sponsor given their track record to date but, hey, it doesn't hurt to 
ask. I/we just need to figure out who the best people to ask are and 
my contacts plus former colleagues have not been able to help. 
Organizations for, say, the blind might also be able to provide some 
monetary support (not as much as a game company but every bit counts, 
every bit adds up). And we need to start writing the SIG into grants 
when it makes sense.

And, yeah, E for All...that's going to be whatever money we can beg 
for after the fact. I wish I was a billionaire (don't we all?) and 
that this would be pocket change for me...but it's not. And we're too 
close to do something like cancel because (1) I signed a binding 
agreement that will charge me for the booth if we don't show or 
decide not to show at this late date that is MORE than what I have 
already had to cover and (2) too many people will get hotel penalties 
(the travel group for this conference charges you a day if you cancel 
now) and airline penalties. So anything we can get now would be great 
but it's mostly a done deal.

So...we have to start learning about how to raise funds. I think we 
can do it if we all do what we can to help. The days of as many GDC 
passes as we want are over. The days of not needing to raise money 
are over. And I need to set us up (and find out the IGDA rules for 
this) as a charitable non-profit in the US (which is where the IGDA 
is set up, although they aren't a charitable non-profit -- boy have I 
been learning a lot) so that we can get our Tax ID and a bank account 
that will help cover things like this and maybe even travel for those 
of us who do important work for the SIG and for game accessibility in 
general but cannot afford to attend conferences.

Ah...growing pains. :)

Michelle

>OK, for GDC it's time to find out how dedicated the industry is
>
>As we have some great examples to show from the big league, I think 
>it should be possible to get sponsoring from example:
>
>- Valve:  HL2 [CC] features + Eelke's one button mod
>- Id software with Doom 3 [CC] and AudioQuake
>- GarageGames with [CC]
>- Adobe with games/tools made with Director: Terraformers and Audio Game Maker
>- others, please continue...
>
>If we put them on display in the GDC booth it will be really good 
>for them and they should see the value of it
>
>(for E for all time is against us to hope for sponsors, so I don't 
>think it's worth to ask for that)
>
>/Thomas
>
>
>10 okt 2007 kl. 18.26 skrev d. michelle hinn:
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>Ok some really bad news...
>>
>>I admit I have NEVER but together a booth for an expo as large as E 
>>for All. Because I'm not a marketing person (although I tend to 
>>play one with the SIG) I have just learned that I have to pay up to 
>>a thousand dollars for carpet, tables, electricity (that whole 
>>exact number of things that need to be plugged in, union money, 
>>etc). Wow.
>>
>>Yeah. Crap. Nice thing to learn with a week to go. There are two 
>>unions that a required to (1) put the carpet, tables etc in our 
>>booth and (2) actually set up and plug in our stuff IF it takes 
>>more than one person 30 minutes to set up the whole booth. 
>>Yeah...and I heard from a friend who used to exhibit at E3 that the 
>>unions will watch people like hawks.. I realize that we have a 
>>number of people showing up at staggered times (ie, not everyone 
>>will be there on the Wednesday we set up and some set up will occur 
>>later). I'm hoping that late set up of some things can be done 
>>quickly and less intrusively so we don't occur more cost.
>>
>>If anyone going to the show can help out with the cost (and I'm 
>>about to learn the total damage), please, please do so. I'll 
>>obviously just need to eat the cost (thank you nearly maxed out 
>>credit card) at this point but any/all donations and/or ideas for 
>>post-show sponsorship is GREATLY appreciated. If you have ideas for 
>>last minute fund raising...please let me know with exact details 
>>and contact info (please don't just tell me to ask disability 
>>organizations -- exact contact info is what I need at this point).
>>
>>More bad news...the GDC booth...
>>
>>There was some major miscommunication -- IGDA is NOT covering the 
>>cost of the booth (they will cover the cost of fliers for both 
>>shows) and I'm waiting to find out the total for a 100 square foot 
>>booth (same size as E for All) -- CMP is going to give us a 
>>significant discount but I just don't know what this entails. 
>>Because we are finding this out now, we have time to beg for a few 
>>hundred here and there (for any tech we show that is earning 
>>revenue, as much as possible is appreciated). I realize that none 
>>of us are making big money if we are making any money. So the bulk 
>>of the fund raising is going to have to come elsewhere. And I'm ok 
>>with that. But the same weird rules for E for All (carpet, drapes 
>>for the tables, the cost of the tables, etc is also going to be 
>>tacked on.
>>
>>Yes...I found this out AFTER the GDC proposal deadline and we 
>>didn't have a main GDC arcade (we're trying for an indie games one 
>>now but that won't get the people that don't show up until 
>>Wednesday. I really want this booth to work out. And we have time 
>>to raise some cash because we have a few months to do so. So if we 
>>can come close to cost, that will be better than nothing.
>>
>>Welcome to the big leagues. Sure, the booth is a significant boost 
>>and we can get more press attention and dev and gamer attention 
>>(all are important in spreading the word). For E for All I have 
>>(believe it or not) sent over 700 press release style emails to 
>>raise press awareness) -- can you believe my contact list is that 
>>big now??? I didn't realize how hard I have worked to get these 
>>until I put it into excel.
>>
>>So thoughts? Ideas?
>>
>>Michelle
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