By Leif Conti-GroomeSure, I know a lot of people can make games with their fancy programming skills and unique art styles, but can they promote their gems so someone outside their indie posse will play it?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) are teaming up to increase the chances of Canadian video game companies attending this year's Game Developers Conference having their titles being picked up by those big, successful developers. To achieve this, the two organizations are hosting a free workshop called “Sharpen Your Pitch for GDC".
The session will be divided into two parts; one will be an interactive webinar, and the other, an in-person workshop where attendees are taught promotional skills and will have a chance to practice with the group. The webinar component will be a virtual classroom setting where a few chosen experts will prep attendees on the basics of pitching. The online session will be held tomorrow, February 12, at noon (Eastern Standard Time) and will last roughly an hour. During the webinar there will be a Q&A sessions where attendees will be able to ask the experts questions. The link to the webinar can be found here.
Attendance for the webinar is not mandatory, but it is advised for those attending the "Sharpen Your Pitch for GDC" session. The event, which takes place on Monday February 22nd at noon, will bring indie game company representatives face-to-face with selected coaches who will help them navigate the world of game promotion. The session will last until 5pm and will include a free lunch, which is incentive enough for me. Writers have to eat too!
A select number of company reps will be selected to have a chance to present their game to a panel of undisclosed experts to wrap-up the session. And, the luckiest of the lucky will be selected from those selected to receive private coaching with the experts some time before GDC in March.
The featured coaches of the day will be Catarina Von Maydell from Innovation Synergy Centre of Markham Investment Network and Brian Brennan from Max Potential. Both companies provide business mentoring and executive coaching to help employees gain confidence for those particularly daunting presentations. Neither of these consulting firms have worked specifically with video game developers or publishers but I have been assured that "(the coaches) will be doing research on the industry to prepare" by workshop organizer, Candice Rice. Both ISCM and Max Potential have quite the list of accolades and clients that can be found on their respective websites.
Interested developers can find more information on this link found on Interactive Ontario's website. If you want to attend the workshop on February 22, and find your MAX