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DreamHack, the world’s premier gaming lifestyle festival, was founded in 1994 by Kenny “K2-ICE” Eklund and

Martin “DH admin” Öjes. Initially launched with 40 computer enthusiasts in a school cafeteria in Sweden, DreamHack is

now the world’s largest digital festival, with major events hosted in Europe and North America.

Industry: LAN parties, esports and gaming

Home base: Sweden

Fun Fact: DreamHack Austin 2018 attracted more than 30,000 attendees, along with 30 esports teams who competed for nearly $400K in prize winnings.

THE TRADE GROUP®

Case Study DreamHack Austin 2018

Since 2016, The Trade Group has acted as General Services Contractor for DreamHack Austin, the world’s premier gaming lifestyle festival. The multi-faceted, three-day event was held at the Austin Convention Center June 1-3, 2018, and is known for its massive BYOC (bring your own computer) LAN party and high-stakes esports tournaments with nearly $400K in winnings on the line.

Attendees also come to explore everything gaming and esports, including art, music, cosplay, tabletop, arcade, indies, panels, LAN, PC, console, mobile, screenings, expo hall and more.

TTG Resumes General Services Contractor Duties forMassive BYOC LAN Party, Gaming Festival, Expo and Esports Tourneys


As GSC, The Trade Group helped facilitate the event from pre-planning stages through tear down in order to ensure attendees, gamers and exhibitors enjoyed a seamless experience.

According to Hillary Fluster, Event Account Specialist for The Trade Group, “As GSC, we controlled the chaos – from receiving the first piece of freight, to delivering exhibits to the correct booth, to ensuring numerous events on the DreamHack show floor went off without a hitch. We were the go-to for anything the exhibitors needed. We also built all of the competition stages and even provided security for some of the events.”

‘We control the chaos.’

Three days of gaming fun – what we did and how we got it done.

“This year’s Austin festival was the fifth event we’ve managed for DreamHack. It’s gotten easier over the years as our relationship with the client has continued to mature, which helped this event run so smoothly. The festival has evolved since it launched in 2016, and many entertaining activations and experiences were added to make this year’s event the best yet,” Fluster says.

Pulling off an event on such a grand scale as DreamHack requires the help of experts in multiple disciplines. The Trade Group was responsible for managing a team of engineers, technology and network experts, electricians, stagehands, logistics specialists, laborers, esports event experts and others.


Other highlights of TTG’s involvement in DreamHack 2018 include:

Exhibitor services for DreamHack. The Trade Group coordinated all aspects of DreamHack, from selling exhibit services to coordinating logistics at the event to running the website to facilitating registration, billing and communication regarding exhibitor needs. As Fluster explains, “Anything the exhibitors needed, we provided. These services included delivering pipe, drapes, tables, chairs, carpet and A/V to the exhibitors’ booths. Our team also coordinated and monitored the loading dock, controlling material handling, freight and shipping.”

The Trade Group also supported clients – and exhibitors – Wargaming and HyperX at DreamHack. Both game developers have partnered with The Trade Group for exhibit design, engineering and installation for many years and regularly exhibit at gaming and esports events.

Stages for tourneys, presentations, parties and more. TTG managed the design, engineering, A/V, sound, lighting and installation of all stages needed for presentations, panels, shoutcasting, esports tournaments and other types of fun and game play at the event. Stages ranged in size from smaller structures (CounterStrike, Rainbow Six and FGC) to the large (CS:GO – sponsored by Corsair and H4X – and the StarCraft competition) to the enormous (a double-decker competition stage for the PUBG tourney).

According to Fluster, “The two-story PUBG competition stage was built using truss and took four days to complete. The end result was truly amazing. With more than 30,000 attendees during the 3-day festival, word spread quickly throughout the esports world of how incredible the stage really was.”


Signage. The Trade Group’s commercial graphics expertise was also on display at DreamHack. As attendees approached the convention center, they were greeted by a gigantic 20’x50’ perforated vinyl DreamHack hanging sign that was rigged to the rooftop. TTG’s in-house graphic design and production team also produced all of the graphics for the stages at the event.

BYOC LAN party. DreamHack’s 24-hour LAN party is billed as the ultimate social experience for gamers. Attendees could purchase a seat in the massive hall, hang out and compete against other gamers in BYOC tournaments. The Trade Group was responsible for sourcing the tables – all 1,400 of them – where gamers could set up, plug in and play.


Special events and misc. support. While the main stage was used for opening remarks, panels and other presentations, it was also the place to be Friday night. “TTG transformed the main stage for DreamHack’s huge dance party, which had big musical talent this year, including Krewella, an electronic sister duo popular among gamers,” says Fluster.

The Trade Group also helped with security for DreamHack’s Cosplay Contest and arranged to bring in a SumoSphere Game, where attendees could face off in human-size “hamster balls.” In addition, the TTG team handled set up of booths for the Indie Zone – a cool space for fans to test out up and coming games by independent game developers.

Since delicious, affordable food is important to gamers, The Trade Group collaborated with the convention center to make sure attendees had plenty of great options this year. Four food vendors selling pizza, salads, tacos and more were located in a side hall. One of the vendors, Pecos Pete’s, sold metal cups that attendees could use for free re-fills throughout the event. Everyone was walking around with Pecos Pete’s cups and was a huge hit.

Need a GSC, trade show exhibit or graphics for an upcoming event?

The event production, commercial graphics, exhibit design and esports specialists at The Trade Group are here to help. Just give us a call at 800-343-2005 to speak with a sales consultant today.

case study - ttg-thetradegroup.netdna-ssl.com · services included delivering pipe, drapes, tables,...

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