Inspiring Conversations with Erin Dean of Triangle Game Night

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Dean.

Hi Erin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
You know it’s funny, I started in the world of event planning in a very unconventional way. I started out in the TV Industry in Miami as a Production Coordinator. Production Coordinators are basically Event Planners, but instead of coordinating live events, you’re coordinating a production crew. You still have to worry about catering, venues and logistical problems. I decided to leave the TV Industry when the writers strike hit and got a temp job working for a law firm. That job eventually turned into a remote position as I decided to relocate to North Carolina for a chance to start over in an area with a better cost of living. While in NC, during the day I worked as a Bankruptcy Legal Assistant (Boring!) and at night, I ran a series of events for singles through my company, Master Dater Events. I did that until I got married and had my son. I had decided that I wanted to shift my focus to my family and family-friendly events, so Triangle Game Night was born. During the day, I would take care of my infant son and run my business. It was exhausting, I won’t lie, but it was also the best of both worlds. And here we are, despite the struggle that was virtual schooling for Kindergarten for the past year, we made it through and we’re thriving.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh lord, the road for me has never been smooth. I’ve lost jobs, venues, employees, money. It’s business, I suppose. There are bumps along the way and being a small business owner feels like it’s a roller coaster. Especially with Covid, I’m sure many businesses felt that was a massive sinkhole instead of a road bump. It’s kind of funny though, my family and I have a personal motto that is “I always break even.” Essentially something pretty bad will happen, but shortly after something good will come that cancels out the bad. I’m never just all good and all bad – I just break even. That’s what I’m hoping for after the disaster that was 2020.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Triangle Game Night?
Triangle Game Night specializes in providing both In-Person and Virtual entertainment services at an affordable price. We do Giant Game Rentals, In-Person Events (such as Game Nights, Trivia Nights and Murder Mystery Parties) and now Virtual Events due to increased demand during the Covid lockdown. Many locals recognize our name from all the Game Nights that we used to host on a weekly basis at bars all over the triangle. There’s also many people who know us for very unique NYE and Valentines Murder Mystery Events where we actually create crime scenes and use Special FX Makeup on our “victims” to create their wounds. Attendees love it and those photos are all over the internet!

Triangle Game Night has evolved so much over the past five years, and having to pivot so many times to the changing times keeps us on our toes. I’m especially proud of the major pivots we made at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Our first major pivot was the launch of our e-commerce store, GamerGoodies4u, where I hand-made masks for people who weren’t able to get them through major retail outlets. I estimate we probably sold over 1,000+ handmade masks in 2020. Our second major pivot came in April, as we launched our series of Virtual Events. Our Virtual Events captured the essence of our in-person events but put them in an easy to use digital format. Imagine my surprise when we started doing events for companies all over the country – from California to New York! We even worked for some big name clients in Pharma, Finance and Tech. It was exciting!

Now that Covid restrictions are easing, Triangle Game Night is gearing up to return to in-person entertainment, but we won’t be leaving our virtual events behind either. There’s still a demand for them – from a company perspective (it’s cheaper than flying everyone to one location) and a personal perspective (it’s an easy option for family reunions and family birthdays). We’re ready to move forward and continue offering entertainment in all forms and we’re even trying something brand new for 2021. In May, we announced the launch of our very first festival titled ‘The Geek and Grub Festival’ which will take place on Oct 9th in Apex. It’s our first step towards dreaming bigger. It’s like our tagline says, We’re Here For Your Entertainment.

How do you define success?
Success is a hard word to define. And it’s very personal to the person who is defining it. To some people, I suppose success is accolades and awards, but I’m not into that kind of thing. I am a person who is always striving for more – even if something is good, it can always be better. To some, I could be considered successful, but I’ll never really look at it that way. There’s more that I want and I will not stop trying to move forward. But for funsies, I’ll consider myself successful when I can justify buying a really big she-shed for my ever-growing crafting collection/hoard.

Pricing:

• All-Inclusive Virtual Event Packages start at $200
• Giant Game Packages start at $300 w/ Free Delivery & Setup in Triangle
• All-Inclusive In-Person Event Packages start at $300

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.TriangleGameNight.com / www.GamerGoodies4u.com / www.geekandgrubfest.com
• Instagram: TriangleGameNight / GamerGoodies4u / GeekandGrubFestival
• Facebook: TriangleGameNight / GamerGoodies4u / GeekandGrubFestival
• YouTube: TriangleGameNight