Gen Con hires The Dice Tower’s Camilla Cleghorn as head of events as show looks to scale beyond record attendance

Gen Con has hired longtime The Dice Tower presenter and convention organiser Camilla Cleghorn as its new head of events, putting a familiar face from board game media in charge of planning and delivering one of the tabletop industry’s largest event programmes.

Cleghorn’s new role will see her lead Gen Con‘s events team and oversee the planning and execution of the massive convention’s event programming, while supporting the organisers responsible for the thousands of events run each year.

News of Cleghorn’s appointment came less than a week after the close of this year’s show, which continued a record-breaking run by drawing in more than 74,000 attendees.

That figure extends the show’s steady post-pandemic growth, following record crowds of 70,000 in 2023, 71,000 in 2024 and almost 72,000 last year – all of which broke the 2019 pre-pandemic high.

But the convention, which has sold out before opening for three consecutive years, is operating at a hard capacity ceiling at the Indiana Convention Centre – and is set for a significant floor space expansion next year alongside its 60th anniversary.

The expansion includes an extra 143,500 sq ft of floor space – roughly the size of 2.5 American football fields – and 800 new hotel rooms through the opening of a new Signia by Hilton hotel.

Cleghorn told BoardGameWire that growth would create both exciting opportunities and new challenges, adding, “The opportunity is finding ways to welcome more people and experiences while maintaining what makes the convention special. The challenge is making sure the systems, communication, and support behind that growth scale along with it.”

She said, “From the publisher and exhibitor side, I’m fortunate to come in with experience working closely with many of those partners, but I don’t want to arrive with a list of things I think need to change before I’ve had the opportunity to listen and learn.

“Gen Con has an experienced team and a tremendous community of partners. My priority will be understanding what’s working well, where opportunities exist, and how we can continue to build on that together.”

Cleghorn confirmed that Gen Con’s veteran director of events Derek Guder would be “transitioning into an adjacent role” at the business, but said they would work closely together.

She joins Gen Con after several years as a prominent member of The Dice Tower team, filming reviews for its more than 360,000 YouTube subscribers as well as helping to grow Florida-based convention Dice Tower East and working on the show’s annual crowdfunding campaigns.

Cleghorn described her decision to leave the review channel as “bittersweet” in a Facebook announcement to fans.

She said, “I’m incredibly grateful to have been a part of The Dice Tower’s journey over the last several years, and I’ll always be thankful to Tom, the DT team, and all of you for giving me opportunities I never imagined I’d have.”

She told BoardGameWire, “One of the things I value most about my time with The Dice Tower is that I’ve had the opportunity to experience the hobby from a lot of different perspectives: publishers, designers, content creators, convention attendees, and the people working behind the scenes to make events happen.

“It’s taught me that each group has different needs, but ultimately they all want a great experience and clear communication.”

Cleghorn added, “The timing also felt right for me personally and professionally. I’m incredibly proud of my time with The Dice Tower and everything I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of there, and I’m excited to take what I’ve learned into this next chapter.”

BoardGameWire contacted The Dice Tower creator Tom Vasel to ask about the impact she has had at the reviews giant, her biggest achievements at the business and what he will miss most about her moving on, but did not receive a response.

He did briefly mention Cleghorn’s new role in the most recent episode of Dice Tower News, joking about Gen Con’s “thievery” before saying, “We’re excited for her, excited to see that happening”.

He added “You’ll still see here occasionally here on The Dice Tower but she’ll be really busy working for Gen Con.”