Powering Up: Boston's Digital Game Industry | Saturday April 21, 2007 Hosted by The City of Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, at Northeastern University Presenters include Leaders of Boston's Academic, Artistic, Game Development, Government, and Investment Communities Develop strategies that support the growth and sustainability of Boston’s Game Industry! * Boston’s Creative Economy and the Digital Game Industry * Growing Boston’s Game Industry Workforce: Bridging the Gap * Boston’s Digital Game Industry: The Investor’s Perspective * Creativity and Game Design * Convergence of Filmmaking and Gaming Keynote Speaker: Doug Church, Executive Producer, Electronic Arts			Registration is FREE but online registration is required, seating is limited! Register Campus Map Parking and Directions
SCHEDULE Final schedule subject to change
8:00am -9:00am	Upper Lobby, West Village F	Registration/check-in
8:00am -9:30am	Lower Lobby, West Village F	Continental Breakfast
9:00am -9:15am	Amphitheater Room #20, West Village F	Plenary Session with distinguished speakers: Joseph E. Aoun, President, Northeastern University Mayor Thomas Menino, City of Boston Bob Coughlin, Undersecretary for Business Development, Executive Office of Housing and Economic
9:15am -10:15am	Amphitheater Room #20, West Village F	Keynote Speaker: Doug Church, Executive Producer, Electronic Arts Doug Church has been instrumental in developing relationships between industry and academia by serving as co-chair of the IGDA (International Game Developer's Association) Education Committee and helping develop curricula to train the next generation of game developers.
10:15am -10:30am	Lower Lobby, West Village F	BREAK
10:30am -11:15am	Amphitheater Room #20, West Village F	Boston’s Creative Economy and Digital Game Industry Carole Walton, Manager, Create Boston (BRA) Presented by Kent Quirk, CTO of CogniToy and Organizer, Boston Post Mortem This session focuses on the current state of Boston's Digital Game Industry including Create Boston/BRA research on creative employment, revenue generation, and growth trends. The goal is to establish a context for a rich discussion on how to grow Boston's Digital Game Industry.
11:15am -1:00pm	Classrooms #260, #270 and #272, West Village F	Growing Boston's Game Industry Workforce: Bridging the Gap During this session, conference attendees will break into three panel-led focus groups with the goal of bridging the gap between the state of readiness for graduates of Boston's creative industries academic programs and the needs of Boston's game industry. Game industry leaders will share their perspective on the needs for a highly skilled game industry workforce. Panels will consist of academic and industry leaders, creative sector representatives and moderators to facilitate the discussions. Active participation from conference attendees will be encouraged and expected. Each breakout group will be recorded for podcast and transcribed for distribution in the weeks following the conference. Focus Group Panel #1 (Room #260) Anthony De Ritis, Director, Digital Media programs, Northeastern University; Philip Tan, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; Susan Gold, Chair, International Game Developers Association Education SIG; Kent Quirk, CogniToy, LLC and Boston Post Mortem; Dan Scherlis, CEO, Etherplay Focus Group Panel #2 (Room #270) Ann McDonald, Multimedia Studies, Northeastern University; Anne Marie Stein, Associate Dean, Professional and Continuing Education Massachusetts College of Art; Terrence Masson, Chair, SIGGRAPH 2006 Computer Animation Festival; Michael Enright, Vice President of Technology and Project Management, Turbine Entertainment Focus Group Panel #3 (Room #272) Cynthia Baron, Associate Director, Digital Media, Northeastern University; Alice Robison, Harvard Interactive Media Group; Tessil Collins, Industry Cluster Coordinator of Arts Media & Communications Technology, Boston Public Schools‚ Office of High School Renewal; Scott Triola, Chief Operating Officer, Blue Fang Games, LLC
1:00pm -2:00pm	Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Center	Buffet Luncheon
2:00pm -3:00pm	West Addition, Curry Student Center	Boston's Digital Game Industry: The Investor's Perspective Moderated by Dan Gregory, Director, Digital Media I-cubator, Northeastern University Panelists: Jon Carson, Chairman & CEO, C-Market; Oscar Jazdowski, Sr. Relationship Manager, Silicon Valley Bank; Jim Matheson, General Partner, FlagshipVentures; Dayna Balcome Grayson, Principal, North Bridge Venture Partner; Nabeel Hyatt, Founder & CEO, Conduit Labs This investment panel will discuss how Boston can successfully lead a regionally based economic development strategy designed to stimulate investment in Digital Game companies and the continued growth of the industry. Panel members are from the investment community and entrepreneurs from the Digital Game industry and are united in their interest in building successful digital media and game companies in the Boston area. The panel will explore the criteria the investment community considers as they approach investment in local digital game companies and the entrepreneurs will recount their experiences trying to launch their businesses in the Boston market.
3:00pm -4:00pm	West Addition, Curry Student Center	Creativity and Game Design Moderated by George Fifield, director of Boston Cyberarts Festival Panelists: Josh Randall, Creative Director at Harmonix Music; Jay Laird, Founder and Lead Game Designer of Metaversal Studios; Gina Kamentsky, animator, toy designer, sculptor and teacher, Pixeltoons Organized by the Boston Cyberarts Festival, this session will examine the aesthetics and structures of the most innovative and creative of individual computer and Multi-Player Online Games. The artists and designers who create today's commercial games are well known to the gaming community but the skills and ideas behind their success have received scant attention. Game designers like Will Wright, the creator of the SIMS and the soon to be released, Spore, are famous for the thoughtful complexity of their game design. Game designers and cultural critics will discuss creative elements of contemporary interactive environments.
4:00pm -5:00pm	West Addition, Curry Student Center	The Convergence of Filmmaking and Gaming Presented by the Alliance for Independent Motion Media (AIMM) Moderated by Mike Bowes, Co-director, Central Productions, Co-founder, Alliance for Independent Motion Media; James Dingle, Independent artist; Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer, Turbine, Inc. Each year we increasingly see two major entertainment vehicles - filmmaking and gaming - intertwining in new ways. Increasingly the look and feel of games can be aptly described as "cinematic" for their visualization, strong characters, and increasingly intricate storylines. Similarly, filmmaking is utilizing CGI and integrated digital effects to make locations and events, once only impossible in the imagination, now fully integrated into the scenes and storylines of movies. This panel will present a cross-section of the convergence of gaming and filmmaking both from the small independent artist/filmmaker/free-ware game developer to the mass-market online gaming industry to present and discuss how this is happening today.
5:00pm	West Addition, Curry Student Center	Refreshments & Networking
For More Information, Contact Carole Walton 617.918.4259
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