Spreading out into local restaurants is both implausible and unnecessary.

You want social distancing? Look at the housing block. Connected hotels are still sold out, and for downtown hotels only the Hilton Garden Inn has rooms (it's only 5 blocks away!). Everything else... wide open.

The attendance at this year's Con looks to be in the 20k-25k range, going off of hotel occupancy. And you can bet there will be a raft of cancellations before the June 8 deposit deadline.

I think some form of social distancing -- 3 or 4 feet? -- will be easily achievable without any extra space if attendance is 33% of usual.

Unless the venue (or section of tables) is rented out for said gaming. In that case it could well be a smaller amount of servers for the room cause they wouldn't need constant attention like a lunch or dinner crowd would need. 

In answer to your question I would be willing to tip more for a long duration at a table, especially if I can order something to drink and an appetizer during the game (with a place away from said game to put said drink and food). 

I would even be good with an increased ticket price since that could allow me to flex schedule food in during a game and not have to leave a block of time out to hit a restaurant between games or have it eat into my exhibit hall time. 

But I personally plan a busy Gencon, I can rest after the Con is over. 

I've been kind of wondering how much more hotel conference room space might be available locally for gaming.  It's been a while since I have done a dive into where all the events are held, but I have to believe there are a number of hotels in the area that have no events at them  (As an example, I know there are events at the JW Marriott.  Right next to the JW Marriott are 3 other marriot hotels which I am not sure if any events are held, or if there is space for any events).  I'm not sure if they have conference room space that would be available for gaming or not though.  Could be a thought as opposed using restaurants.

I was thinking if you could move a number of the random events that normally happen in Halls A-C for example to more hotel space, if you could then expand out the dealer hall into those halls as well to create more space between booths and such.  Move the CCG Tournaments/Miniature games down to the field at Lucas Oil or something.  Could be a thought.  (I am aware this is not a well fleshed out thought, more of a brainstorm idea).

Might be cost prohibitive to get more spaces at hotels, but with the state of the industry at the moment, if you could almost guarantee that the rooms in that hotel would be filled for 4+ days, it might be a negotiating point.  :)

Any empty storefronts in the mall?  Put carpet over the ice at Pan Am plaza? 

Who pays for the extra space? Badge and event cost go towards ICC, LOS and the usual hotel space used for events.

The events I attend for are mostly exclusive to GenCon including foreign exhibitors (Worldbuilders, Ennies, unique games by authors, brewery tour of Sun King, Tower of Gaxx, etc). Possibly 2 rpg events of 8 hours total are feasible to do virtually. The rest are based on social interaction.

For mental health it would be good to have it sooner.

Again, not a sincere question, but something that may well be a crucial factor in how hard they're able to push to make it happen, or are waiting for their hand to be forced by the city or state. Just from my meager experiences working with a major (Canadian) real estate management firm, a 10 or 20% haircut on income would be bad. Half or less would likely be a killing blow from a budgetary perspective. Unless they were making money hand over fist, I'm doubting that going from record setting attendance (and thus, ticket sales, cash from event tickets, merch, etc) to 1/2 or 1/4 or whatever is going to be done without a (figuratively) audible clunk from the fiscal engine that makes our beloved event possible falling out.

The lack of event scheduling is, imo, indicative of the problems they/we face, but also a good sign that those issues are being taken seriously. The question becomes a very 'unstoppable force vs immovable object' kind of thing. They need events to be sorted out and lined up for this to all realistically come together, but with a fluid situation it's difficult (if not actively counterproductive) to try to forge ahead as usual. The question becomes when is the last date that they can realistically get companies and individuals to commit to running events, and then get the event system queued up for people to buy in.

Some of that, I imagine, is going to tie to the big names like True Dungeon and Paizo (probably don't need to spend on holding things in the stadium if TD is out and attendance is expected to take a bit of a stumble). As was noted in previous posts, that could become a series of dominoes; with fewer big draw events/names presenting, fewer people are likely to attend, which only increases the likelihood of more vendors/big name guests dropping out, which reduces attendance, and then we're (imo) definitely back at an 'is attendance below the financial feasibility threshold' issue.

Like, if 20,000 people show up, physical distancing becomes a lot less of an issue, but can they even afford to run a reduced event (especially one that could become a PR disaster if COVID becomes an issue tied back to the event)?

To avoid confusion, I'm simply trying to reflect on the various things pushing and pulling everyone; Gencon itself, the vendors, the attendees, the city overall. I don't envy anyone trying to thread this particular needle. To do the right thing for as many as possible. I find it to be an interesting conversation to have with likeminded folks, and ever since my first Gencon back in 2015, I've felt confident that the team will do what is best for the communities involved (Gamers and Indianapolis alike).

As noted before, we need to be patient. And I am. And part of that is shooting the sh... breeze with y'all.

I agree it's hard to imagine the company could turn a profit at less than half less year's attendance. Hardly any company can do that.

But there are two counters: one, Gen Con's growth has been so explosive in recent years, maybe their profit margins are great. After all, we expect they made a profit in 2010, right? Their attendance was 28,000. Have their costs scaled up since then? Maybe. And maybe they can scale them down a bit for this year. Get back to a 2010 model.

Here's the other counter: what if Gen Con does lose money on this year's Con, but less than they would lose if they outright canceled without a force majeure clause triggering insurance or the return of deposits, etc. The company might find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to throw the Con even at a loss.

I hope that latter one is not the case. I want the company to flourish.

Factor in this possibility as well...

it IS possible that Indy, the IC and even the owners of the LOS would drop the amount charged to Gen Con just to actually have the convention go off —- better to get some money, if I were the venue, than a big fat zero...

Hope you Gen Con guys have a good negotiator.

G
 

The cynic in me thinks that GenCon is waiting to cancel the convention until as close to (or even after) the June 14th badge cancellation deadline in hopes that the people cancel their badges themselves on their own and GenCon gets to keep the $10 cancellation fees.  I've attended GenCon for years and I love it, but the lack of communication is making me think the worse.

I, personally, plan on waiting until June 10th to cancel. I imagine that Indy will have adjusted their timeline by then. 

What is the date in which we have to request a refund or have our badges moved to 2021?

Would hope this is the case.   As probably the 1st major event in Indiana (and possibly the US) to be put on since this started, probably going to be a lot of eyes on this to try to make it work as best as possible for all parties interested and show it can be done.   The convention, gen con, vendors, restaurants, hotels all have a vested interest in this as all are going to be hurting.   Coming at GC with a 'oh well, you signed up, don't care, pay up' is going to put a really bad taste in GC's mouth and I'm pretty sure they would be out of the city after 2023.

For the full scoop, here's the link to the Refunds & Exchanges page:https://www.gencon.com/attend/refundpolicies

I requested a refund a while ago and haven't heard back.  I imagine they're very busy with refunds/contingency plans and just keeping afloat.

Keep in mind, the city is losing money hand over fist without the conventions this year. And there is real risk of losing downtown business's without the conventions. Which means even more loss in revenue.

Plus there is already talk of delaying to out right canceling the Mega Hotel project because of all of this.