After attending the special GAMA meeting (see "GAMA Executive Director John Ward Gets Vote of Confidence"), Michael Mindes, Founder and CEO of Tasty Minstrel Games, thought it was important to send the following letter to the GAMA Board of Directors, PMM Members of GAMA.
19 October 2018
Dear GAMA Board of Directors and My Fellow Hobby Game Publishers,
Regardless of the causes attributed, the current turmoil is obvious. In addition to internal turmoil, as producers of entertainment products,.we have more competition than ever before from television, movies, video games, comics, toys, sports, and so forth.
Now is the time to act. GAMA's direction needs to lead to significant industry success and growth. GAMA is an event management company moonlighting as a trade organization, and the main event of Origins has gone from obviously the 2no best convention held in the United States to potentially being the 6th best show, thanks to the various PAX shows. In addition to this, there are many regional conventions which are becoming more competitive to Origins.
lf GAMA is going to become relevant to the industry outside of organizing 2shows, then it is time now to become a trade organization that is funded by successful events.
This starts by making 2 key foundational declarations:
- All publishers of physical hobby board games are welcome and will be embraced by GAMA regardless of chosen business model. This includes but is not limited to businesses that utilize distribution-retailer channels, Kickstarter, online marketing, direct sales, and ecommerce.
- The majority of GAMA's trade organization efforts will surround bringing benefits to retail stores and helping them to have successful operations selling hobby board games.
The first is a declaration of acceptance and the second is a declaration of where the majority of the efforts of the organization need to be.
The new executive director of GAMA should be charged with the following:
- Securing the funding operations (namely GAMA Trade Show and Origins) by hiring an appropriate event manager to concentrate on this portion of GAMA's operation. Freeing the executive director to concentrate on building the trade organization.
- Concentrate on building the trade organization.
- Commit to a year of stabilization and researching the needs of the trade organization by speaking with at least 2 unique publishers and 5 unique retailers every week.
Yours for the success of hobby board
Michael Mindes
Founder and CEO of Tasty Minstrel Games
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