Here’s the spiel that got approved by the Women in Games IGDA group:
What:
http://archives.igda.org/women/archives/2010/03/call_for_propos.html
When & Where:
Monday, 7/19, in Seattle at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
Link: the Leadership & Professional Development Forum.
This debut pre-Casual Connect conference was a big hit last year!
My pitch:
Successful Female Game Devs Speak: It Pays to Hire Women in Games
Yes, we do need more women in the game industry! We need to make sure girls and women are aware of the opportunities, and make sure employers are aware of the benefits.
Q: What do you get when you hire women to develop games?
A: Successful, fun games that sell! Come hear women from different experience levels, companies, and genres share their experiences in the game industry, plus the learnings and successful games that resulted.
For Panelists - let's go a bit deeper than the "hey we're women in the game industry!"
What issues can we really dig into, for an audience of managers/employers/execs in casual games (many of whom statistically at this conference are male).
Other Panelists:
Maryann Klingman, Senior Producer, PlayFirst.
Maryann’s career spans 17 years and over 40 titles: working in educational software as an Executive Producer and now directing the production of casual downloadable games published by PlayFirst. She is a strong mentor and role model and inspirational team builder.
Because of Maryann’s example, her daughter, Theresa Duringer, grew up inspired by her mother’s success in the game industry. Theresa now works at Electronic Arts as a Community Manager on Spore, among other titles.
Prof. Carrie Heeter,
Carrie Heeter is a frequent speaker at game design conferences. Her current game design and research includes brain games, deliberative decision games, and adaptive learning games. She has been designing interactive media since 1990, winning more than 50 awards. She co-founded the Serious Game Design MA track at Michigan State University and is a PI in the GEL (Games 4 Entertainment and Learning) Lab. Heeter is PI on numerous National Science Foundation grants to study gender and gaming and play style and learning. She is co-editor, with Kafai, Denner, and Sun, of the book Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender, Games and Computing. She is creator and editor in chief of http://investigaming.com , a gateway to research on gender, gaming and computing for game industry professionals and academics.
Karen is an industry veteran and expert in Agile project management: she’s worked at Bioware on Dragon Age Origins; at EA on Online Features including for Mass Effect 2, as well at Linden Lab, Garage Games, and more. She also co-founded the GameMentorOnline site and is the chair of the Women in Games International Mentoring Program. http://www.gamementoronline.org/
Tentative or unconfirmed
- Jane Jensen (Kenny introduced us this week, she has not yet responded)
- Amanda Fitch (who founded and runs her own game dev company, Amaranth Games. Aveyond series.) Just asked her today 4/29 on LinkedIn.
- Erin Robinson (designer/developer of the new adventure game Puzzle Bots. Won Game Design Challenge at GDC 2009. Co-Host of IGF Awards at GDC 2010). Emailing her now 4/29
Moderator:
Solveig Pederson Zarubin, Producer, PlayFirst
Over 12 years in the game industry, from educational software to The Sims 2, to casual games, Solveig enjoys bringing talented people together and guiding them to a finished, high quality game. Or in this case, a panel! Most recently, Solveig has been a Producer at PlayFirst, as lead producer on Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, Wandering Willows and Love and Death: Bitten. In spring 2006 after the Women in Games conference, Solveig also co-founded a small lunch group for women in the game industry, which has now lasted for four years of monthly lunches and networking!
Here’s my LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/solveigpederson
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