I just got back from BGGcon 2009, and I have to say that on a Return on Investment basis, it was a lot better as a selling opportunity than when I had a booth at Origins 2008.
At Origins, I sold almost $1,000 worth of games, but had to spend $700 plus on having a booth, which I had to man for much of the entire convention. I had to ship three large boxes of materials to the site, and then one box back home at the end.
At BGGcon, I simply signed up for the Flea Market, which took place for one hour on a Saturday. People usually sell their used games there, but they don't mind small publishers selling stuff there as well. When I posted on the geeklist the games that I was selling, a number of people signed up to buy them. With that information, I was able to anticipate exactly what I'd be able to sell. I wound up selling everything that I brought to sell. It was great since the people who go to BGGcon are an informed group, and so many of them have heard of me. If my math is right, I think that I sold about $800, without the outlay that I needed at Origins for the booth. Plus I didn't have to be stuck at the booth for hours on end. It was definitely a good experience.
I should say that it was helped by having a new game that hasn't been widely available before now with Restaurant Row, and that this game is more expensive than the games that I sold at Origins, so that helped with my total sales amount.
I think I will display at Origins again, though only in the right circumstances. I definitely will be back at BGGcon soon, though, with the great experience I had this year.
At Origins I actually already had a discounted price via my membership with the GPA. Even with that it only barely made sense to display with the Chopstick Game as my big seller. In any of the years before I did the Chopstick Game, the niche nature of my mostly abstract games would have made for a very poor outing in terms of sales.
Having a booth at a major con is a big step, and should only be done when you have a good foundation and strategy to go with it. That's just an observation that was further cemented by my first BGGcon outing, and the way I was able to move some games relatively casually.