A Media Rep’s Guide to Navigating E3: Act Like
a Killer
Part
2: Act Like a Killer will coincidentally cover how to act…like the pro we both
know you can be.
For the past three years, I’ve been attending E3 as a member
of the media for various outlets, from a college paper to my own website to
working as a writer for an indie game company, to a publicist for that same
company. To say I have a little experience would be an understatement; I’ve
been through this ringer and keep coming back. The first two years I was more
or less on my own and had to learn what to do when on my own, but this past
year, someone saw fit to give me minions to use in my yearly conquest of the
biggest video game convention of the year. Admittedly, I gave my CEO no advance
notice that I’d be going as a publicist last year, but he hasn’t complained
about my deception, so I kept going with it until he gave me the actual title
that I’d been passing off as my own. Make no mistake, if I’d fucked off or
screwed around or shed an unpleasant light on the company, then I would have
been caned…or canned in the blink of an eye. The moral of the story is that you
can call yourself whatever you please as long as you can back up that claim
with your actions. A lot of people suggest that that people dress for the job
they want, not the job they have; I’m suggesting people take that a step
further and ACT like you have the job you want rather than the job you have.
Is my way the right way for everyone? Hell no. Is it the
wrong way for everyone? Hell no. It happens to be the way that works for me
however, and I have a better idea than most as to how one should navigate E3
successfully.
Do research however you do it best, I make phone calls and
set up meetings for the second two days strictly, leaving the first one wide
open. Have an idea in your mind where everything is, sure they have floor plans
and you can (and should) download the E3 app for your smart phone, but no one
wants to be the shithead who has a meeting they have to sprint to because they
have their places mixed up. That guy
sucks, always and forever.
Everyone has a different way of tackling huge things put in
front of them; some write everything down and have a very structured plan to
cover everything they could possibly need, some map a route out with bullet
points and outline everything carefully, some have a general idea of where to
go first or whether or not to either go from the biggest companies to the
smallest or vice versa and how their moves will have the biggest effect, some
go in flying by the seat of their pants hoping things go well. As much as I
would love saying I were one of the former two, I cannot; I’m very strongly a
mix of the latter two, with a little smattering of the second.
Anyone
can record any and everything they please these days, and if there is something
you’re interested, you would be a fool not to. That being said; make sure to
bring a pen (or five if your colleagues are assfaces and steal them, like some
members of the company I’m shamelessly calling out) and paper on the not so
unlikely chance you’ll need to write something down. It will happen and no one
wants to try carrying on a conversation with some dude whose head is buried in
his phone. Another important thing is to get business cards made. I cannot
stress the importance of that enough. Everyone has a card at E3 and it is
really the only way to carry on meaningful conversations with anyone after the
show is over. I had 500 made, and used just under half of them. Will everyone
who gave me a card or got a card from me contact me? If you think that, you
must be out of your damn mind. I gave out so many cards at E3 this year, that
my colleagues started calling me Gambit. That’s a nickname I’ll wear proudly,
cuz Gambit is a badass…and I’ll gladly welcome any and every such correlation.
If
this is your first E3, congrats on attending…that’s fucking awesome! If you’re
a veteran, congrats slightly less, but that’s still wicked awesome! Take a few
minutes and let it sink it; you’re at E3, the biggest and best video game
convention of the year. One thing to realize quickly is that you’ll never be
able to see it all, it just won’t happen. There will be things that don’t interest
you, and it’s up to you to recognize that regardless of what’s coming in the
next Madden or NHL, which you still won’t give a shit about, because you don’t
play sports games.
Bear
in mind that I’ve only attended as a member of the media so unless you have a
media or special access badge, you won’t have the access to half of the things
that I will. That’s how the chips fall, sorry. After letting it sink in that
I’m at E3, I get down to business, I always head to the meeting rooms first.
Those are the things you won’t have access to unless you have a media guy with
you who is awesome enough to create bullshit jobs for you, or one of these
coveted badges. Such bullshit jobs can include but are not limited to
photographer, hype man, director of party favors, genre expert, dictation
minion, phone holder, interview minion, body guard, useless hanger-on, general
minion, or anything else you decide to create. If you do have a media badge and
you offer to let someone into behind the scenes stuff with you, you’ll make
plenty of friends, it’s up to you whether or not you want to return friendship,
or accept that people are using you for your access. It sounds cold, sure, but
unless you are overly concerned with others’ opinions of you then it shouldn’t
matter, then proceed how you see fit. I had no problem sharing my access
regardless of the intent of those I shared it with. It’s because of those
friendships that I am where I am today.
After
that awesome tangent, we’ll get back to day one and the meeting rooms at E3 2013. These
are all on the second floor and usually have some of the cooler shit you can
see from smaller companies. This year we got to see stuff from MadCatz, 505
Games, Steam, Epic, Sony Europe, and other companies that don’t always have AAA
titles. While checking everything out, I also made meetings with some of the
people who didn’t have time when I first stopped by. This is exactly why I
always leave the first day wide open; to make meetings work when I cannot fit
them in while strolling by. You won’t be able to get meetings with everyone you
want to, there won’t always be time. It will happen, a lot. With the meeting
rooms done, I make sure to get to the small room between the concourses, which
has more of the same; smaller companies that actually make the foundation of
the convention. After seeing what everyone there has to offer and set up any
important meetings, I actually hit the show floors.
The
mistake that everyone makes their first time is to rush to the biggest and
brightest areas of E3. The Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Activision, etc, are
always swarmed at the beginning by fan boy hoping they will get to see a flash
of Master Chief, like every 16 year old boy hoping to see a nip slip during
the course of his favorite television show. Those huge names will still be
there on the second two days, and the annoyance from all the fan boys will be
gone because they all were sated on the first day. Meanwhile, you’ll have the
gratitude of the smaller companies who weren’t expecting much of anything until
after the big names were addressed. It keeps the busy and it’s usually a lot
more fun to have meetings that aren’t stressful. You might even be able to joke
about selling babies on the black market or jokingly pitch your idea for a
terrible app that would make millions.
If
you’re reading this and have any questions, hit me up! That’s what I’m here
for.
