In the last couple of years I've been organising several video game-related events in Berlin, always in my spare time and with little or no budget, such as Join – 1st Local Multiplayer Summit, Talk & Play and the Berlin Twine Jam. In this talk I'd like to share some of the lessons I’ve learnt and give tips to people interested in organising a conference, meetup, game jam or other type of event, focusing on the importance of making them as culturally inclusive as possible. I've collected some additional resources for people who'd like to organise events here: http://bit.ly/tips4events This presentation was created for a talk I gave in October 2014 at GameCity 9 in Nottingham, UK.

1. Flowers,
hashtags
& tyvek.
How to organise
an event about games
with no budget.
!
@LorenzoPilia

2. T A L K
&
P L A Y

5. This is the conversation that
made me want to start organising
my own game events a couple of
years ago:

6. Are you a game developer?

7. No.

8. Are you a game designer?

9. No.

10. Are you a game development
or game design student?

11. No.

12. What are you doing here then?

13. (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

14. T A L K
&
P L A Y

15. Picture by Iwan Gabovitch (@qubodup)

16. M E E T
S H A R E
P R O M O T E

17. Things I’ve learnt organising Talk & Play:
!
I. Know your local scene before you start
II. Team up with other organisations
III. Promote through different channels
IV. Keep going, don’t stop
V. Try things out

19. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

20. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

21. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

30. Things I’ve learnt organising the Berlin Twine Jam:
!
I. A jam doesn’t have to be 48h long
II. Collect all games made in one place
(a blog post is enough)
III. Document it

32. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

33. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

34. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

35. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

36. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

37. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

38. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

39. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

40. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

41. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

42. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

43. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

44. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

45. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

46. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

47. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

48. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

49. Pic courtesy of graffitiresearchlab.de

50. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

51. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

52. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

53. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

54. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

55. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

56. Things I’ve learnt organising Join:
!
I. Think small, but not too small
II. It’s never too early to pick a date and start
promoting you event (btw: the 2nd edition of
Join will take place on August 1st, 2015!)
III. If you want to invite people from abroad,
try asking embassies for support
IV. Document it

57. some other things I’d like to tell you
even if I didn’t manage to create
proper slides for them, because
yesterday I spent the entire day next
to Patrick Ashe (a lovely bloke)

58. Picture by Đurđica Selec (@djuro)

59. ask yourself why you’re doing this,
and for whom – doesn’t have
to be just game developers!

60. pick a date (pros and cons of during
the week vs end of the week, consider
doing it as a fringe event if there’s
something else in town, particularly if
you live somewhere where there’s
little going on) and start
communicating well in advance so
people can make plans for it

61. start small, possibly free, unless
you’ve got an existing proven
audience

62. make a FB event, but not ONLY that.
also use gameconfs.com, Lanyrd,
meetup.com, post on relevant boards
and FB groups, go to other events
and bring flyers there…

63. set up a newsletter: tinyletter.com is
easy (Mailchimp is great but has
more features than you will probably
need at first)

64. tools: Trello, Google Apps, Evernote,
Eventbrite (if places are limited or
event is paid)

65. having some form of RSVP
will help you

66. keep a doc with expenses as you go

67. low cost branding (tyvec wristbands,
gaffer tape…) – as long as it’s all in
the same colour, that’s good

68. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

69. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

70. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

71. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

72. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

74. merch: tote bags & badges
rather than t-shirts, which
are more expensive and
complicated to produce

75. Picture by Lorenzo Pilia (@lorenzopilia)

76. Picture by Julian Dasgupta (@spunior)

77. don’t bother renting screens to
showcase games, ask people to
use their own devices

78. find a venue providing chairs,
tables, projector and wi-fi
(aka the essentials)

79. possibly centrally located,
near public transport and
wheelchair accessible

80. #

81. an hashtag for the event will make it
much easier for you to collect all the
feedback and documentation
(e.g. using Storify)

82. golden tip! if you can pick your own
wi-fi network name: use the hashtag
of the event – appears first that way
and people will not get it wrong…
they always do

83. you can also hand out small
notes with wi-fi details and
the hashtag at the entrance

85. hire someone to document the event
(pictures are cheaper than video and
possibly more effective)

86. unless event is really small,
don’t organise it alone

87. try to get as much done before
the event as you can, you want to be
available for emergencies during
the event

88. website: why do it yourself?
use SquareSpace etc. instead

89. visualising schedules is a huge pain,
consider using sched.org if you’ve
got a complicated one (multiple
locations etc.)

90. flowers!

91. make sure to include an
anti-harassment policy
on the event’s website
!

92. keep in mind diversity (not only in
terms of gender, but also sexuality,
race and ethnicity, nationality,
language, religion, age and so on)
!

93. if you can’t afford to reimburse
people from out of town, at least
offer them a place to stay

94. if food is provided, go vegan

95. offer free coffee if there’s budget

96. some mistakes I’ve made:
non-inclusive image for Join (guys
only), put safe spaces policy online
too late… you learn by doing

97. Thanks!
!
@LorenzoPilia
lorenzo.pilia.it
!
Useful links:
http://bit.ly/tips4events