Village Gamer

Vancouver – Several founding members of Women In Games Vancouver (WIGV), along with several women (and men) from Vancouver’s game development community will be participating in a new Leadership Development Forum taking place on July 20 in Seattle. The Forum, being held one day prior to the start of Casual Connect Seattle, will offer a variety of topics relating to business, development, careers and community. Presented in partnership with the Casual Game Association, Women In Games International and the IGDA Women In Games SIG, topics will be presented on three consecutive tracks: Business, Design and Production.

Taking place at The Triple Door, the Leadership Development Forum will begin with registration and networking at 11am. Attendees will be welcomed by Jessica Tams, Managing Director at Casual Games Association and Annie Sumi Nam of WIGV. They will be followed by keynote presenter Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of Her Interactive, who will speak on the Importance of Leadership. Please read on for information on the full schedule, and a special thank you to Kerry and Kalinka Corlett over at AnnexPro for their generous sponsorship and support of WIGV’s first official international speaking event.

Anyone who is attending Casual Connect will have full access to the Leadership Development Forum. For those who only wish to attend the Leadership Forum, tickets are $25.00 (USD) and include networking, panels, roundtables and the post-event mixer.

Forum Topics:

1pm – The Art of the Pitch: How do you make a lasting impression without droning on? Perfect your pitch, of course! This session will help you present yourself, your game or your company in the best light possible – fast.

Moderator: Brenda Bailey, Deep Fried Entertainment (WIGV)
Brittney Buchan, RealGames
Ariella Lehrer, Legacy Interactive
Asra Rasheed

1:30pm – Reinvigorating and Facilitating Corporate Culture Change: Experts discuss how to change corporate culture to improve diversity in the workforce, encourage organizational excellence through enhancement of existing positive trends, and promote growth through effective leadership and mentoring.

Moderator: Krissie Franco, Hydrogen Whiskey
Peter Anderson, Big Fish Games
Brenda Bailey, Deep Fried Entertainment (WIGV)
Chris Oltyan, Zeitgeist Games

2:00pm – Designing Games for Women: A panel of developers and gamers will discuss the game industry’s history of trying to reach the ‘elusive’ female demographic: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Moderator: Dora Cheng, Big Fish Games
Mark Baxter, Fit Brains (Vancouver)
Sheri Graner Ray
Tara Mustapha, Independent (WIGV)
Dierdra Kiai, Hothead Games (Vancouver)
Sandy Spangler, A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games (Vancouver)

2:30pm – Designing for Both Casual and Hardcore: As gaming becomes recognized as an ever-growing cultural phenomenon, the lines between casual and hardcore are blurring. This session explores how you can successfully bring the casual and hardcore audiences together through smart game design and utilizing the natural advantages of the various consoles.

Moderator: Carolyn Carnes, Flash Fire Communications
Dana Hanna, Microsoft
Dierdra Kiai, Hothead Games (Vancouver)
Tara Mustapha, Independent (WIGV)
Lee Pederson, Hellbent Games (Vancouver)

3:00pm – Play Games to Work Smarter: How is the gaming paradigm being adopted by businesses today, why women need to be involved in this new emerging market, and how women can uniquely contribute to this innovative way of affecting global change. Discussion will focus on the why it is important to create alluring entertainment titles for girls as a way to get them interested in math and science and how games play a key role in engaging women in high-tech careers.

Moderator: Noelle Hunt Bennett, Big Fish Games
Dennis Chenard, Centre for Digital Media (Vancouver)
Mark Baxter, Fit Brains (Vancouver)
Sheri Graner Ray
Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign
Melissa McManigal, Screenlife Games

3:30pm – Building Community: Compared to project managers, community managers’ roles are less defined and constantly evolving. What does “building community” really mean and how does the community manager integrate with the development team?

Moderator: Dell Monson, Hidden City Games
Lani Blazier, NCSoft
Tami Quiring, Village Gamer (WIGV)
Paige Meekison, No Robots Interactive (Vancouver)

Once all of the panels have concluded, attendees are invited to participate in any one of the following Roundtable Discussions:

Discussion 1: Contractor, Freelance or Employee?
Noelle Hunt Bennett, Big Fish Games
Belinda Van Sickle, GameDocs
Adrian Crook, Game Consultant

Discussion 2: Starting and Running a Small Business
Brenda Bailey, Deep Fried Entertainment (WIGV)
Krissie Franco, Hydrogen Whiskey
Ariella Lehrer, Legacy Interactive

Discussion 3: Career Development in the Game Industry
Dennis Chenard, Centre for Digital Media (Vancouver)
Dana Hanna, Microsoft
Tina Merry, EA (Vancouver)

Discussion 4: Marketing Casual to the Hardcore
Carolyn Carnes, Flash Fire Communication
Dell Monson, Hidden City Games
Sarah Thomson, IUGO Mobile Entertainment (Vancouver)
Tracy Williams, Activision

Discussion 5: Art Feature – Portfolio Preparation
Sherry Floyd, Monolith/Warner Brothers
Su Skerl, artery.ca (WIGV)
Michelle Parent, Big Hadron Games (WIGV)

Discussion 6: Social Networking and Branded Games
Ada Chen, Mochi Media
Vicky Tamaru, Plexipixel

Following the Roundtable Discussions will be a brief summary of conclusions reached during the discussions. Attendees will then adjourn to our networking mixer for refreshments, snacks and possibly some swag – but you’ll have to attend to find out for sure.