TL;DR: PLEASE DONATE USING THE LINK ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OR THE LINK ON THE EVENT HOMEPAGE. I ESTIMATE THAT WE COULD USE ANOTHER 200 DOLLARS IN THE BUDGET. YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL HELP. FURTHER DETAILS BELOW.
We are now 15 days away from the GLBTQA Gamer Meetup at Bocoup, and I remain absolutely astonished at the sheer scale of this event. We are very close to the venue’s absolute maximum capacity – I had to release all the tickets (RELEASE ALL THE TICKETS!!) and I’m still getting e-mails from people who are eager to go and worried they won’t be able to. I wish I could put those fears to rest. All I can say is this: I will try to get everyone in. We may have last-minute cancellations, we may see some folks leave early to go to other parties. If you show up at the door without a ticket, I might, might, MIGHT be able to let you in anyway, but I can’t promise anything at this point.
You know, every year has brought a new lesson. In 2010, I learned that there was a need for this event. In 2011, I learned that a simple, casual restaurant thing wasn’t really going to cut it. And this year I learned that the demand for this event – particularly given its expansion to cover locals who will not be attending PAX East – is IMMENSE. I’ve also learned that there’s at least some demand for a regular GLBTQA gamer meetup in the Boston area. Well, message received, and lesson learned: planning for the 2013 meetup starts…uh, let’s call it a week after PAX, okay? I’ll need some time to recover. And I’ll look into establishing a monthly event as well, along the lines of Women In Games Boston and Boston Post Mortem. The monthly meeting will probably be a much lower-key affair: just a bunch of gamers, journalists, and industry professionals getting together to talk games at a local pub.
And as for the annual meetup? Well, let’s call it the GLBTQA Gamer Reunion. Or the Spring Ball. Or…I don’t know what we’ll call it yet. Suggestions welcome because my brain is kind of fried. I’ll start fundraising for that one right after we pull this crazy thing off. I’ll find a bigger venue – hopefully a place that will offer catering and booze to those who are of age (while still allowing those who are not of age to participate). I’ll start campaigning for sponsors months in advance. I honestly did not realize what I was getting myself into. Now I know, and I’ll do better.
Okay. That’s enough talk about the future. Let’s talk about what’s happening now. Right now, we still need money. I haven’t had a ton of luck pulling in sponsors and it takes a good chunk of change to provide drinks and snacks to a hundred people. I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got, but it’s going to be tight. Just two hundred more dollars in the kitty would be a HUGE help. Please consider donating. I’ve put a link over on the right hand panel, or you can go to the event homepage and follow the donation link from there. Several people have donated already, and I truly appreciate that, but I need to ask you all to go just a little bit farther.
I also have a couple announcements to make regarding the event (and I’ll be updating the homepage to reflect this): first, Phoenix Online has stepped up as our third sponsor, offering a financial contribution as well as some swag. We’ll be showing the trailer for their first commercial game, Cognition, at the meetup, and I’m trying to see if we can show some other video as well. I’m kind of biased here, because one of my best friends (who I seem to mention every other post) is hard at work on this particular project, but I think the game’s going to be awesome and I’m excited to show you all whatever I can.
Second – and I’ve been really, REALLY bad about announcing this, and I do apologize – Alli Thresher at Harmonix, who has been a huge, huge help throughout this whole process, has told me that Johnny Blazes and The Pretty Boys, a queer soul band she sometimes sings with, will be playing at Jacques Underground the night of the meetup. So if you’re looking for a rocking afterparty, there you go. It sounds like it’ll be an awesome time.
So there you have it. 15 days to the craziest thing I’ve ever done…and I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, have done it without you. Thank you all. This is going to be amazing. And the future looks even brighter.
Diary of a Random Fangirl 
Haha, seriously, I should start to have my own tag on here 😛
Glad efforts are going well! I’d say also leave a ‘tip jar’ at the event itself, so people coming and going can donate a few bucks while there as well.
That might help reimburse any shortfall I have to cover, but my ability to cover said shortfall may be limited (though my own PAX East Emergency Fund may help in that respect). Still, I think I’ll likely do that; if nothing else, excess funds in the ‘tip jar’ could be donated to BAGLY.