Received this press release a few minutes ago - thought I'd share (sorry if someone already beat me to it):

" GEN CON INDY WRAPS UP 2008 WITH RECORD ATTENDANCE
Charity Donations Also Reach Record High

SEATTLE, WA  (August 26, 2008) - Gen Con Indy 2008 wraps up its 41st year
with stellar attendance! Gen Con was enjoyed by over 28,600 unique and over
95,800 turnstile attendees who converged on Indianapolis to make this year¹s
Gen Con the most successful to date. Both figures represent an increase of
6% over 2007 attendance, a testament to the growing interest in gaming.

Attendees participated in over 6,000 events over the course of the four-day
event. Some of the successful events included Wizards of the Coast¹s 4th
Edition D&D Tournaments, Upper Deck Entertainment¹s World of Warcraft
Miniatures Demos & World of Warcraft TCG Continental Tournaments, the eGame
Arena with extended hours made possible by sponsor Cryptic Studios, Training
Grounds &Settles of Catan World Championships sponsored by Mayfair Games,
the Gen Con Dance, True Dungeon and the SPA program.

³Given the state of the economy, the attendance we had at Indy tells me that
gaming is more important than ever in our attendees lives, and that Gen Con
adds a fun and unique experience to everyday life. We appreciate the support
from all our attendees, sponsors and exhibitors who make Gen Con the show
that it is and for that we say thank you,² said Adrian Swartout, president
of Gen Con.  ³I¹m looking forward to Indy 2009 and another great show!²

Not only were attendance number high but there was a significant increase in
the charity donations. Attendees participated in a variety of events to
raise money for Gen Con Indy¹s designated charity. Through donations from
ESG Security, donation boxes as well as participation in the Charity
Auction, Cardhalla, and Aces to Aces over  $20,000 was raised to support the
Fisher House Foundation. This number represents the largest donation amount
ever raised over the four-day event. The Fisher House Foundation, a
non-profit organization best known for the network of 39 comfort homes it
provides as support for military families, was chosen this year to honor
Gary Gygax, founder of Gen Con who recently passed away. "

If that's the case, then I'd like an explanation for why there were literally hundreds of extra swag bags this year.  Stood in line & got 5 myself, and this was well after some people scored whole boxes.  Plus the lines was dang long, so its not like we're talking just a few dozen here. 

That is an interesting thought, but you've also made me depressed now thinking about all of the free stuff that I missed out on. I knew I would end up forgetting something - and the extra swag bags on Sunday turned out to be it...*slaps forehead*

 Not that this accounts for all those extra bags, but there are hundreds of volunteers and exhibiors that do not even claim the bags they're entitled to. I never bother to get one since I get my badge at the All-Hands Meeting before the show starts, I'm sure many Senior Volunteers do not bother picking theirs up as well.

I'm gald there are some left over, since I would not want to hear the moans and groans if there were not enough. As many extra as this year? well, that is another issue. 

I don't see how extra swag bags coresponds with less people.  Almost every year there have been extras, it's smart planning.  No one was happy the year they kept running out of bags. 

Sherilyn:

I don't see how extra swag bags coresponds with less people. 

Hypothetical example.  If there are 20,000 swag bags made & then they are giving out 5,000 extra swag bags then it stands to reason that there was around 15,000 people.

Sherilyn:

IAlmost every year there have been extras, it's smart planning.

I don't know if you saw the same line that I was in, but we're talking several hundred bags.  But it should be noted that extras cost those companies more in terms of making the materials & then paying GenCon to put those materials into the bags, so I'm not sure how happy they'd be to have seen people dumping 90% of the bag just to get the MtG start deck & fancy die, then chucking the rest.

Sherilyn:

  No one was happy the year they kept running out of bags.

Mos def.  And I'm not saying that they shouldn't have given out the bags- on the contrary, that was very cool of them & GenCon no doubt earned some goodwill via that.  What I said was that between the appearance of less crowding & all those extra bags being handed out, I'm truly shocked that this year was bigger than last.  Truly.

Last year it seemed there were just as many given away.  It was pure madness when they did it and they didn't even do it when they told me they were going to last year.  I remember all the trash that ended up being left behind just because people wanted the WoW cards and the Axis and Allies start packs. 

I'm not surprised it was bigger but seemed less crowded, since many events were going on in hotels.  It appears I missed a lot of stuff this year from my normal wanderings, just because it wasn't all in the convention center. 

Perhaps there are more people like myself, who do not even bother to pick up the swag bag anymore?

I know I just never used any of the stuff from those bags I picked up over the years, and just stopped waiting in line for them several years ago.

Now, I have no evidence there are significant numbers of people with the same views as mine, but that is what occured to me.

I think you're right. I always pick one up, for the coupon book, but a few friends without kids just look mine over. If there isn't anything in there, they don't pick one up. They ALSO have this thing about not having their badge marked on or punched, and the last two years GC has done something to the badge to indicate having gotten a swag bag already.

So it is possible others out there are the same.

I have been to Gen Con the past five years and have never picked up a swag bag.  If there is something I want, I'll go buy it.  Most of it would end up in the trash anyway. 

Yep, most Swag for me is pretty useless.

BUT (and on topic), good to see the numbers are up.  Combined with all the other festivities, it sure did make for a crowded weekend.  Glad attendance is up; we need more gamers.

AvatarArt:

Sherilyn:

I don't see how extra swag bags coresponds with less people. 

Hypothetical example.  If there are 20,000 swag bags made & then they are giving out 5,000 extra swag bags then it stands to reason that there was around 15,000 people

Actually it doesn't.   All it means is that 15,000 people picked one up.

Outright discounting the possibility that people won't grab one for any of a dozen reasons is kinda silly.

Cloak72:

Actually it doesn't.   All it means is that 15,000 people picked one up.

Well, it doesn't to you.  ;P  And I'm not saying its a ultra-precise way to count people, but its a decent ballpark yardstick.  When you have to guesstimate, you use whatever guesstimation tools you can.  If we want to get ultra logical, I could take your argument a step further & say; "Actually, all it means is that 15,000 bags are gone."

Cloak72:

Outright discounting the possibility that people won't grab one for any of a dozen reasons is kinda silly.

True that.  And this thread seems to prove that theory, but I'm also sure that there are plenty 'o people who got more than 1 even before the Sunday give fest: it'd be equally silly to ignore the multiple SWAG-loving threads on the boards.

And to be fair to me man, I'm not the only one who thought attendance was down this year based on what felt like smaller crowds. 

AvatarArt:

Hypothetical example.  If there are 20,000 swag bags made & then they are giving out 5,000 extra swag bags then it stands to reason that there was around 15,000 people

 Quite an assumption you are making here, slippery slopes are very dangerous.

I have never been to a convention where extra bags are not common-place. Origins (where I have volunteered many times) has literally thousands of bags left over after each Con...many GenCon attendees have benefitted from this because the extras are often brought to GC and given away. Each year they incease the number of bags they produce...the logic being that the Con will grow each year, which it seems to do in terms of number of people attending.

Cons over-estimate intentionally, because could you imagine what would happen if they ran out of SWAG bags? As much as people complain when there is nothing "good" in them, the complaining would increase ten-fold if they didnt get that "crappy SWAG"!!!

I, like many other posters did not pick up "my" bag. In fact, I was with a group of 4 and only 1 person did. We saw what he had and figured no point in picking one up if I didnt plan on using any of it and didn't want to waste it. I certainly hope it was given to someone who would make good use of the cards or whatever.

 

Wow uh....yeah let me just say, how many swag bags are picked up is MUCH less accurate an account of how many people attended than things like....oh,  I dunno.....badge sales? :)  There's no need for unscientific guesstimates anyhow when we can have an accurate badge count. :)

The fact is that lots of people do NOT pick up their swag bags, so how many are left over on Sunday is simply not indicative of attendance.

I have to say, I was just thrilled when I heard how much attendance was up.  Honestly, I'd been somewhat worried about attendance, with gas prices and all, but the numbers don't lie, and the numbers show a great spike in attendance, which I think is awesome!  Shows that even in a weak economy, Gen Con is one of those must do events for people.  Hopefully, these good numbers will keep people from worrying about Gen Con for next year. 

I know some people felt that attendance felt down; I didn't feel that, but I suppose it might have felt that way to some people simply because events were spread out more?  For instance, we never used that first floor Mariott space before, and that absorbed a lot of people at times, and I know there were other new places used, like rooms in the Cantebury.  And of course we lost a lot of space in the convention center, so all those people had to move to hotel space.  So if it felt less crowded, things being more spread out was probably why. :)

Hopefully the added attendance meant more revenue for Gen Con so they can get out from under some of their debt.  If there was no GEn Con, what would keep me going all year long??

marimacc:

I know some people felt that attendance felt down; I didn't feel that, but I suppose it might have felt that way to some people simply because events were spread out more?  For instance, we never used that first floor Mariott space before, and that absorbed a lot of people at times, and I know there were other new places used, like rooms in the Cantebury.  And of course we lost a lot of space in the convention center, so all those people had to move to hotel space.  So if it felt less crowded, things being more spread out was probably why. :)

 

I found it great to have the minis events spread out as they were.  Fewer games at a time, fewer gamers per room, less noise per game.  I am all for the spread.

 To me-- it seemed like the dealer hall was much more crowded on Thursday than previous years-- it felt like a Saturday to me...

As far as the swag bags-- I picked mine up for 2 things only-- the gencon die and the special die-- only to find out- my bag didn't have either...        So anyone who got an extra bag this year, save me a die pretty please....

Ladyflame:

       So anyone who got an extra bag this year, save me a die pretty please....

I got extra, i'll be happy to give you a set

 Ahem. Swag bags aside, this is great news. Thanks for posting this, brandy.