GDC Is The Wake Up Call For Digital Events

We work in an industry that is on the leading edge of the world's technology, yet we are still dependent on spending thousands of dollars to travel around the world and attend conferences in person. Let me be clear, I'm not opposed to traditional conferences. I attend them as well, but the situation with COVID-19 has made it clear we have to look at other options as well.

At this point we've had two major conferences cancelled between GDC and Mobile World Congress. How many companies have lost opportunities for networking and business at this point? On a global scale, Japan has closed schools nationwide, JP Morgan and many other companies are limiting travel for their employees, and travel restrictions put in place by governments are growing. Just this week Phil Rants (Head of Gaming Creators in North America for Facebook) commented that one of his key takeaways from PAX East was (emphasis mine):

"Everyone is talking about the Corona virus. From attendees, they mostly said this is the last convention they will attend for a while. From people in the gaming business, they're nervous about their 2020 marketing efforts and falling stock market."

We need to accept that 2020 is going to see more conference cancellations and it would be naive to assume attendance isn't going to be down for the ones that carry on. In 2018 we started researching ways to help developers that couldn't attend events like GDC because of the enormous financial burden of that show and others like it. As a result we have a Discord that provides networking, support, and mentors for over 800 companies. We go live on YouTube, Mixer, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitch twice per week to bring conference level lectures and interviews to developers. We just announced we're merging our April 2nd-3rd online event with the existing MeetToMatch on-site event. This will enable developers, publishers, marketing teams, and more to meet with over 700 companies at their convenience. We've extended that two day event to cover the entire week that GDC was going to take place.

We aren't the only ones doing this. Gabriel Dal Santo has been building his Pro Indie Dev program for years. The Business of Indie Games from Nicola Freeman and Simon Bailey has been going strong for a few years as well. The move to digital events and conferences has been building for years.

Yes, there is always the benefit of face to face time in building any relationship. But given the travel concerns and simple cost of attending these events, we have to start looking at other options. Digital events are:

• Cheaper - Tickets cost less, there's no flights, no hotels, no Uber, no out of town meals
• Less time out of the office - Even two days out of the office makes an impact on your work.
• More time with family - This was the big one for me. I don't want to be away from the family for a week and then absorbed in "trying to catch up" for another two or three days.
• You're healthier - Let's face it, we've dealt with "con crud" for years before the coronavirus popped up. When you're trapped on a plan for hours, then spending days in a convention hall with thousands of other people, it's hard to not get sick.
• Far smaller carbon footprint - This one is a no-brainer. A video call on your computer versus thousands of people flying around the world.
• You have better meetings - Think about it. You aren't getting to a meeting 5 minutes late because you had to run from another building, you don't have to leave 5 minutes early for the same reason. No one is walking by saying "Hi" and waving while you're trying to meet. It's quiet. How often do you have a quiet meeting at a conference? It all adds up to 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to build a relationship and pitch your product.

All of this doable now. We don't need to create anything new, we're doing it with available technology. Improvements on the technology will be made, but it's an area that we as the video game industry need to start paying more attention to.

If you want to see for yourself, here's a discount link for the event we're running online March 16-20th.