That was a huge advantage. From there, I sent out a mass message to everyone i knew, and the first lan had about 10 of us. Well, it was good. Boring, long, and tiring, but it was good. And since then, it has snowballed.
Word of mouth is a great ally.
I managed to get an average of 30 gamers per month, just via word of mouth. Don't get ya hopes up about this tho. Just make sure that they will jam it up. Check back later, and if they haven't. Here as some tips for you, Tips learnt the hard way.