Hey everyone!

ConTessa 2013 was a huge success, and we decided to move ConTessa 2014 up to February (7th - 9th) as the summer can be dicey for people's schedules.

Here's the quick pitch:

QuoteConTessa is a free 3-day completely online tabletop gaming convention run entirely by women, but open to all for games, panels, contests, demos, and more. ConTessa's aim is to celebrate the many women who play, run, and create tabletop games by having a nonstop online gaming party. ConTessa runs from February 7th – 9th via Google Hangouts on Air, with contests and other preliminary events happening throughout January.

ConTessa's IndieGoGo Campaign, which is collecting donations to offset the cost of offering physical prizes like books, t-shirts, and games as door prizes for the convention, runs until December 25th.

We're also once again looking for sponsor donations. I *think* I've reached out to everyone from therpgsite who helped out with June's convention, but in the off change that I missed some of you, take a look at our Treasure Vault to see what's been donated, and our Become a Sponsor page for more information about sponsoring.

Oh, and as we've only got 9 days left on our IndieGoGo andy signal boosting services would be greatly GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks for reading!
Stacy Dellorfano

Do what you can to make T-shirts as cheap as possible. They are not products, they are marketing tools.

Also, is there a possibility that you can convert ConTessa's fanbase and GMs into a theme room at GenCon or Origins? I wonder if your fanbase would be more forthcoming with cash if they had a chance to meet live. I wondered if the RPG.net crowdsourcing project is having trouble for a similar reason.

Good luck!

Great, more ConTessa! I enjoyed watching some of the videos of sessions in the last con.

A good way to garner donations and raise awareness is to post on discussions in forums with a link to the ConTessa site in your sig, I mean I'd no idea it was going on and there's just 9 days left in the funding drive.

These sites are much less opaque than say G+ or twitter, where you have to be specifically following someone rather than just browsing the internet at random.

RPG forums are incredibly adversarial and frankly quite clique-y. It would take an enormous investment of time on my part to be able to be 'seen' in a forum, and I don't have that time to invest. The only reason I'm here is because I was invited, otherwise I'd never make an account on a forum just to shill for my convention and do nothing else.

It'd ultimately be great if I wasn't the only one talking about ConTessa. If all of the promotion comes from me, it's way less impactful than if it comes from someone who's already in one of those cliques or who already has friends on a forum. From me, it's just 'Hey, I have this convention'. From others, it's 'Hey, there's this convention going on that I think is cool because X,Y,Z'. That's why I'm asking for signal boosting support from others rather than just spamming the internet.

We already have plans in motion for Gencon, but as ConTessa 2014 is in February, that will be for ConTessa 2015. I can't afford to dish out $300+ dollars for a decent set of t-shirts at a price break that makes it worthwhile to nearly give them away without some indication that I can replace that money. Right now, I'm not even seeing a lot of interest in t-shirts at all, so investing money into something like that isn't something I'm keen on doing. Remember, ConTessa isn't a for-profit venture. I'm not trying to make a buck here, I'm trying to introduce more women to leadership roles in roleplaying games.

Yes, the internet, where people with different opinions sit around shouting at one another. It's good for shaking up ossified mindsets as long as you don't take the headbangers seriously.

Anyway, I contributed financially to the last ConTessa and I'll probably contribute to this one too after I take a closer look at it, but I think people would have to know you a bit better before advertising your event. Whatever, your call, keep up the good work.

Yeah, upon review I'd rather saw off my left bollock than contribute to this again. Too precious to get your feet dirty mingling with the hoi polloi? Well the little peoples' money is too precious to grace the inside of your wallet.

What a tit.

Quote from: ConTessa;716638It would take an enormous investment of time on my part to be able to be 'seen' in a forum, and I don't have that time to invest.

I assume you have an email list of all your GMs and attendees from last year. Outreach to them, asking for their help promoting your con. Help them by creating a basic marketing blurb that they can use if they choose.  

Quote from: ConTessa;716638It'd ultimately be great if I wasn't the only one talking about ConTessa.

True, but most regional cons only have one marketing person doing social media and online marketing. However, its not too hard to turn last year's attendees into this year's marketing evangelists.

How many people do you have helping you in your ConTessa team?

Quote from: ConTessa;716638We already have plans in motion for Gencon, but as ConTessa 2014 is in February, that will be for ConTessa 2015.

Cool. What are the plans for GenCon 2015?

Quote from: ConTessa;716638Right now, I'm not even seeing a lot of interest in t-shirts at all, so investing money into something like that isn't something I'm keen on doing.

The reason I like T-shirts is they create walking billboards, especially when worn in target rich environs. Just 10 women with bold eye-catching ConTessa T-shirts walking around GenCon, ComicCon, Origins, etc would be useful to get your concept known in the RPG world.

Considering the investment for core evangelists for ConTessa.

Quote from: ConTessa;716638Remember, ConTessa isn't a for-profit venture. I'm not trying to make a buck here, I'm trying to introduce more women to leadership roles in roleplaying games.

What is your 5 year plan? Will it be a non-profit? Do you plan to fundraise? And how will you convince The Traveller to sew his left bollock back on? Those left bollocks can be so tricksy!

Quote from: The Traveller;717799Yeah, upon review I'd rather saw off my left bollock than contribute to this again. Too precious to get your feet dirty mingling with the hoi polloi? Well the little peoples' money is too precious to grace the inside of your wallet.

What a tit.

(Imagining The Traveller without his left bollock, walking in circles because he is now lopsided.)