Achieving impossible things while staying connected
Game Conference Guide Insights - November 2021
It is not sustainable, not worthwhile. It is foolish to go down this road, some said. And here we are. One year later. The website is up, being supported by amazing companies and clearly helping you to find your next event by the look at the monthly increase in number of visits and sessions. I may sound like a broken record at this point but let me have this one for myself. I want to talk about how important the 1st anniversary of the Game Conference Guide is to me.
But before we continue, think about this for a second:
How long would it have taken you to find out all events through traditional web-browsing means?
How many sites would you have to visit?
How many newsletters you would have to subcribe to?
Isn’t having one website covering events just… better?
Consider supporting Game Conference Guide by buying me coffee.
Why to support? The newsletter shares useful knowledge to everyone, and I do not want to charge for it. I feel you might want to support it existing.
Now, lets continue.
When the world stopped last year, I ended up stuck and disconnected from everyone and everything. Imagine one day waking up without a job, purpose, and no future. I believe everyone felt the world is going to change and with that also our lives. Some figured it out sooner, some later. And I can’t be more thankful to friends who were willing to chat and pick up the phone whenever I was on the other side. Seeing games industry companies with record breaking revenues, engagement and spending made me happy. What was gut-wrenching when same companies were saying: “We don’t need events anymore. We are more than fine.”
When summer slowly arrived, nothing made sense anymore, movies, music, games, work. I was stranded and left out. Saying it was tough, doesn’t do the justice to the feeling of being disconnected. All the friendships, laughs while playing new games, hanging out at Yerba Buena Gardens, busy hallways, running to meetings. Gone.
Same as the event industry was experimenting with virtual space, I was trying to find a way to reach out and stay connected to an industry that allowed me to travel, meet amazing people and see places from my wildest dreams. Game Conference Guide was my way out of depression, and it kept me occupied for every day for nearly four months. Trying out new things, scripting for the first time, watching tons of YouTube tutorials, asking for feedback, accepting it and learning from it.
And whenever the dark thoughts are coming to cloud my mind again, I am looking at the growing audience, and seeing people being connected by me via a tool I created.
The core principles of Game Conference Guide will stay the same
We have probably never met, but I am thankful to you for using the Game Conference Guide. I am glad that you managed to find your next event and hopefully it helped you to make new friends, present your project to new audiences, and managed to get the spotlight for your company.
Massive thanks goes to the lovely people who provided me feedback in the early days (you know who you are) and companies supporting the project via Partner of the Month programme. Check out the new one below!
Game Conference Guide in Numbers
Recently, I asked you about the feature list via a short survey. More than 70% said they are more than satisfied what the website is offering, and they claimed the features (mainly database, calendar and deadlines) are essential to them, which was super humbling to see. Same as the growing number of subscribers to this newsletter, there are 650 industry professionals regurarly reading about insights and learning about games industry events. Mind blowing.
And here are some numbers since the launch in October 2020 I want to share with you:
30K – page views with session lasting on average 108 seconds
650 – number of subscribers of this newsletter
645 - entries in the calendar
540 – tracked events in the database
321 - tweets by a bot announcing events
105 – deadlines tracking
14 – monthly newsletters filled with insights
1 – super happy creator.
The results from the user survey validated my initial goals to keep the website as simple as possible. Ideas that you will be able to buy passes to multiple events and book hotels with one click, are impossible to achieve. And honestly this was not the goal. Adding features just for the sake of it is something I would like to avoid.
The core principles of Game Conference Guide will stay the same: offer very easy access to info about events without gatekeeping + additional details distributed via a monthly newsletter. That’s it.
Insights for November
The slow return of in-person events is a very positive trend. BlizzCon 2022 is not going to happen though, as Blizzard is reconsidering the nature of the show (not surprising with the current trouble within the Activision Blizzard), and PAX South is being sunset for the forseeable future.
Others like Sweden Game Arena and mainly Develop Brighton showed us it is finally possible to meet new friends in person and interact face to face again. I kept saying for months that one conference would make it, to become the beacon of hope, connecting international audiences, attracting larger group of people and make waves around social media. And Develop: Brighton did it. Not sure if anyone from organization team is reading this, but massive congratulations!
Looking at the database, it currently tracks 541 events, 300 for 2021 and 40 scheduled for 2022. 70% out of the later are planned as in-person events. Even if you see the label Hybrid next to it, they are planned as physical first with some online activities connected to it.
Seeing this transition brings such a positive energy. And with this the main graph on the website is now showing all scheduled events for 2022 with a green line. Go ahead and check them all out.
As promised, I will be returning with predictions, how games industry events will look like in 2022 in one of the next issue of newsletter. So, make sure to click on the button below.
PARTNER OF THE MONTH
gamesweekberlin always embodied the idea of coming together to challenge, discuss the world’s difficulties and to change them. As in 2021 we certainly won’t stop. In regard of the still ongoing, unforeseen disruptions to everyday life, we can’t and don’t want to go back to on-site events this year.
Still, we urgently feel that providing a safe space, by raising awareness to tackle pressing questions of equality, is absolutely paramount in these times of transformation. And to do so gamesweekberlin will come to your screens.
We invite you to join us on Nov 23-25 for 3 days of gamesweekberlin PRO X 2021! 100% online!
Opening Breakfast: connect with key leaders and other lovely people from the games industry.
Finale of the PRO X: Dev Booster - who will win this year's indie game contest?
Kickstarter Gathering: meet inspiring creators and experts (details to follow soon!).
Womenize! Games & Tech 2021: offering workshops on topics like game development, founding, diversity and awareness - seats are limited!
gamesweekberlin PRO X Career Day 2021: bringing recruiters and job seekers together - live on Twitch and on our MeetToMatch networking platform.
Networking via Meet To Match will be open on all 3 days and for all Biz level ticket holders!
Get your Ticket now: https://www.gamesweekberlin.com/tickets/
More at: https://www.gamesweekberlin.com/proexperience/
Do you like Game Conference Guide?
Here are few ways how to make it better:
Spread the word, tell your colleagues, friends about your favourite feature and share with them a link to the website and tell them how Game Conference Guide is helping you to navigate through the saturated games industry events landscape
Send me direct feedback. Tell me what could be improved, streamlined, what do you miss.
Buy me a coffee on Patreon.
Thank you for reading and supporting Game Conference Guide. Consider sharing it with your peers, colleagues and community.
Pavol Buday, curator of GCG
[Game Conference Guide is tracking games industry & game developers events, trade shows, festivals, conferences and events around the world.]