product owner – Ryan Paul Thompson

product owner

December 28 2022

GAAM Holiday Nerd Market – Crowdfunded and Made Free

ryan Case Studies charity, community management, design, product owner, social media, strategy, ui/ux

The GAAM Holiday Nerd Market started as another off-shoot of the GAAM Show, with the purpose of supporting the creators and small businesses in our community and culture.

This event was branded with idea of marring the holidays and nerd culture together visually (hence the font selection, color palette, and pixelated items), as well as from an experiential standpoint. Gaming, nerd items, and holiday decorations adorned the market to further establish the theme and intended mindset.

After two successful years, we took a break (as did most of the world), and finally made a welcomed returned in 2022! We made the shift to go crowdfunded and sponsored to achieve a free event for attendees AND for vendors (they were given the opportunity for a full refund after the secondary fundraising goals were hit)!

That was accomplished in less than 6 weeks. The crowdfunding campaign and strategy, the vendor curation, event production, design, and content creation…all in under 6 weeks. We sold out, doubled in attendance size, and utilized a time slot strategy to aid in congestion and attendee experience, while also pushing a vendor based agenda to assist in sales.

Below is a quick breakdown of the site and some of the philosophy behind it.

December 22 2022

Space GAAM – New Venue, Out of This World Creations and Do Gooding

ryan Case Studies accessibility, art direction, charity, design, event production, product owner, project management

Space GAAM was our biggest production to date. The cosplay cast was almost as huge as the theme! 😀

As with each GAAM Show, a new theme was created, with content and branding to match and align with the theme.”
However, with a move to a new venue, that was over double the size of the previous, new obstacles arose in terms of how to create, move, set-up, and breakdown the various environments/activation spots with a much bigger space (around 50,000 square feet).

The team stepped up, and team leaders were assigned to different themes and rooms, with others to assist.

Brittani did a fantastic job directing the art murals, and community crafting days were employed not only to engage the community, but also to get additional help in creating items needed for the event.

Gaming stations dedicated to Halo, rooms themed to Star Fox and Metroid, and so many nods were given to the various sci-fi games that have become a part of our culture.

Artists and gaming companies from all over the world contributed their work to be auctioned off for charity during our Charity Art Auction, raising several thousand for various causes.

The biggest moment, by far, had to be when Jay McGowan (“Whoot There It Is,” “Tootsee Roll,” “Space Jam,” and “Come on Ride the Train,”) performed “Space Jam/GAAM” as a surprise performance for the attendees. He truly cares about his city, and the love was definitely felt as he performed that night.