GAMA Supports Our Members and the Tabletop Games Industry

Although 2020 has been tough for all of us, GAMA is incredibly grateful to our members who helped the association in a variety of ways - whether it be volunteering to serve on an association committee, facilitating a workshop or presentation at EXPO in March or the ESSENtial Retailer Summit in October. 

As we reflect on the past year, GAMA is also proud of the work we have done internally while learning to pivot and provide the best educational opportunities, services, and online events to our members during these unprecedented times. Please see below for a look at our year in review.

Advocacy

• Lobbied for full funding of the United States Postal Service during the pandemic as an important lifeline for small businesses. Partnered with ASTRA and Toy Association on this initiative to engage members to join us in our lobbying efforts.
• Advocated for COVID Relief Legislation including the Paycheck Protection Act, Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the CARES Act, and the Employee Retention Credit for small businesses.
• Opposed Trump’s Tariffs - GAMA traveled to Washington to lobby the federal government against imposing tariffs on goods imported from China, created the Tariff Toolkit to educate members on how to contact their elected official to oppose Trump’s Tariff Taxes on small businesses.
• Spoke out against New York’s S. 501B which created an overly broad chemical disclosure program for children’s products and banned products containing chemicals arbitrarily selected as “dangerous”.
• Department of Labor Focus Groups – Met twice with representatives of the US. Department of Labor to discuss the impact the pandemic is having on members and urged the administration to work with congress to extend the Paycheck Protection Program to help our members.
• Fought against Counterfeit products – Advocated for Amazon to require seller's information disclosure rules to fight the sale of counterfeit products.

Education

• Education Advisory Committee - Made up of industry volunteers that are working on developing toolkits, white papers, and other educational resources for members.
• Around the Table – Quarterly magazine which features educational articles, best practices, and tips to be successful in this industry. Most content is created by members of the industry and we have created an Editorial Board to help curate content to ensure that we are seeking our diverse and reflective industry voices to be part of the magazine.
• GAMA’s On-Demand Webinar Platform – Created following the 2020 GAMA Expo. The platform now has more than 40 education programs that are free for members to access, with new content added each month.
• E-Commerce Track for GAMA Expo 2021 – This new track for next year’s Expo will help members develop skills to adapt to the online shopping demands of a COVID world.

Events/Networking

• GAMA Expo – GAMA’s annual B2B show that had more than 1,500 attendees, 180 exhibitors and more than 100-hours of educational and networking programing this year. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 show will be virtual but will still feature the exhibit hall, professional development seminars by your peers, Designer Speed Pitching, Game Nights, networking opportunities and the popular Retailer Appreciation Box.
• GAMA Spring Outdoor B2B Event (New for 2021) – Based on requests from members, we are exploring hosting an outdoor event in late May to provide an opportunity for members to come together to do business and network in a socially distanced and safe manner.
• Spielwarenmesse – In 2020 we partnered with the Nuremberg Toy Fair to offer complimentary badges for more than three dozen members that attended the show, where we hosted several networking events. Nuremberg organizers have already extended the comped badges offer to their July 20-24, 2021 show.
• Origins Game Fair (OGF) – Consumer show with 20,000+ attendees and nearly 6,000 games and events throughout the week. While OGF was cancelled due to the pandemic, we are hard at work planning the 2021 show. It will be a hybrid show with both in-person and livestreaming programming. OGF is an important selling and promotional opportunity for many of our members. All members receive two (2) complimentary badges for themselves or to give to their customers or prize support for giveaways.
• Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) Day (New for 2021) – To support the sale of publisher member products in the retail channel, we are creating a new marketing program similar to Free Comic Book Day or Record Shop Day that will feature a nationwide marketing campaign to drive traffic to FLGS with special events, promotions and more. Additional details in the coming weeks.
• Black Friday Board Game Deals (New for 2021) – A cooperative marketing program to support publishers to promote and sell their games to consumers looking for Black Friday deals on tabletop games and accessories. We are seeking to create a Home Shopping Network for Board Games experience for consumers.
• European Outreach – From December 2019 to May 2020, GAMA employed a European contractor to connect and provide networking opportunities for our European members. As part of these outreach efforts, we researched new services to connect European members with the US marketplace and conventions, ways to connect them to U.S. retailers and explored combined shipping from China to save GAMA members money. While we made good progress on this initiative, demands of the pandemic made it difficult to properly support so it was shelved for the time being. GAMA is an international association with members in more than twenty countries; we will revisit this program when resources allow.
• ESSENtials Retailer Summit – This was our second year offering this program in conjunction with ESSEN Spiel to connect publishers and retailers. For 2020 we held a virtual version of the program with 28 publishers and 155 retailers from eight countries. Plans are already being made to expand the program for 2021.
• Winter Wishlist Retail Buying Guide / Summer Games Guide for Consumers – 120 publishers participated in the second year of this project to provide holiday and new titles for stores to stock for the 2020 holiday season. Publisher members receive a free listing in this buying guide. The guide was sent via email to more than 600 GAMA retailer members. Based on the success of our holiday buying guide, we are working to offer a summer games guide in 2021 for consumers to help promote publisher members products in the retail channel.
• FLGS Locator (New for 2020) – Created online directory to help consumers find friendly local game stores.
• A Game on Every Table (New for 2020) – Toys for Tots (T4T) game donation drive promotion. This project was created by our Market Expansion Committee to encourage consumers to purchase one game for themselves or as a gift at full retail price, purchase a second copy for 50% of MSRP and then donate that game to their local T4T program. More than twenty publishers and dozens of retailers are participating in this pilot program.
• Game Donation Program – In 2020 GAMA partnered with several Central Ohio nonprofit organizations including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Kaleidoscope Youth Center and Columbus Urban League to donate hundreds of tabletop games to families in need. Not only was this a great way to support the local community, but it has also generated positive press for our industry and participating member companies.
  

Member Support Services

• COVID Resources – In the early days of the pandemic we jumped into action to create a suite of resources to support our members which included information on governmental support programs, HR guidelines for employers dealing with labor rules during the pandemic, a coordinated retailer support program from publishers, a new FLGS Store locator to help consumers find retail stores, Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policy Directory, and links to more than a dozen small business resources.
• Exclusive member discounts – We are constantly adding to our member savings program, including important business services for shipping, credit card processing, financial planning services, and a background check service for employees or convention staff. The list is available on our website under Business Services.
• GameManufacturersHealthcare.com – Partnered with a health insurance broker to offer the first industry wide health insurance program. It is a good back-up for the ACA, given the uncertainty of the program. Hopefully as more members join the program, our risk pool will grow, and rates will become more favorable.
• Member Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts – Earlier this year GAMA engaged in an important discussion regarding the diversity and inclusion of voices/perspectives at our table. GAMA hired an outside contractor to facilitate a series of meetings with members to discuss these important issues and craft recommendations on ways we can be more inclusive and reflective of our community. She helped create a series of recommendations we are working to implement. As a result, we have created several initiatives to help our organization be more reflective of the industry, as well as mindful in our role of providing a pathway for everyone in the industry to be successful:
• Diversity Committee (New for 2020) - Will be conducting a diversity audit of our programs and publications to ensure that we are not unconsciously biased or discriminating in our action, words, or programs. The committee will also make recommendations on other ways we can be more diverse and inclusive as an organization and industry.
• Around the Table Editorial Board (New for 2020) - This group of volunteers will help curate content to ensure that we are seeking diverse and reflective industry voices to be a part of our industry publication.
• Code of Conduct Committee (New for 2020) – The board has created a draft code of conduct and has charged the committee to create the implementation and enforcement mechanisms for the code that will be released in early 2021.
• Sexual Harassment Prevention– Partnered with experts from RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) to conduct a seminar on stopping sexual harassment in the workplace and at conventions. GAMA will be creating a workgroup in 2021 to develop educational programs for game convention organizers on this important issue. 
• Scholarship/Mentoring Program (New for 2021) – The board will be earmarking funding in our 2021 budget to support the creation of a new scholarship and mentoring program to ensure disenfranchised or underserved individuals are not overlooked and included in industry programs and events. The scholarships will financially assist those otherwise unable to participate in various industry events and programs. The mentorship program will connect those new to the industry to more veteran peers to help guide and answers questions regarding the association and the tabletop games industry.

• Academy, Origins Awards & Hall of Fame Review and Restructure Committee (New for 2020) – Exploring ways to increase the relevancy and representation of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, including the Origins Awards nominations, review and award ceremony and the Hall of Fame.
• Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design – The Origins Awards & Hall of Fame were created to recognize outstanding work in the tabletop game industry.
• Advocacy Committee (New for 2020) - Helps direct association government relations, advocacy, and lobbying efforts to support the hobby games industry. Potential issues the committee is tasked with include tariffs, customs/exportation, product labeling laws, Intellectual Property Rights, counterfeit product sales, etc.
• Audit Committee – Oversees the auditing of the Association’s finances.
• By-Law Reconciliation Committee - Reviews current organizational bylaws and provides recommendations to the board for presentation to the general membership for adoption.
• Diversity Committee (New for 2020) - Investigates how best to reach out to underrepresented communities within the game industry and to create pathways of success within the organization.
• Educational Advisory Committee - Work with GAMA staff to identify educational topics and opportunities to create a robust training program to assist retail stores, distributors, manufacturers, and designers in effectively operating in the hobby games industry.
• Market Expansion Committee – Researching the most effective and efficient marketing and outreach methods to (A) promote the play of tabletop games and (B) increase the number of people who regularly play games, and to make recommendations to the board for the deployment of association resources to implement these methods.
• Membership Committee - Reviews all new applications for Publishing/ Manufacturing membership and approve or deny membership based on the ability of the applicant to qualify for membership in the association. It will also review any disputes over other membership applications.
• Nominating Committee - Works with the association staff to organize and run the board elections during the Annual Membership Meeting.
• Trade Show Committee - Explores and recommend to the board of directors the location for future GAMA Expos and to be an advisory group to the staff regarding Expo programming.
  

Communications / Social Media

• Weekly E-Newsletter – An e-newsletter is sent out to membership every Tuesday that contains news surrounding GAMA activity including programming, education, events, and more.

• Monthly Staff Coffee – Monthly town hall via Zoom where members can talk one-on-one with the GAMA team to share ideas, questions, and concerns about how we can better serve our industry.
• Member’s Only Facebook and LinkedIn Pages – Forums where you can easily reach other members to engage in industry-related conversations throughout the year.
• FAQ Website Page – GAMA is working on a resource that will be housed on our website containing frequently asked questions by members. These questions with be gathered monthly through the member’s only Facebook page and during the Staff Coffee meetings.