Invitation to kick-off workshop for Growing Games 2013

[KirstineA]

GROWING GAMES #1. Strategy and business development
Wednesday April 17 from 9 am to 4.30 pm.

Growing Games is back after a winter holiday and we are ready to kick off Growing Games 2013. Both new and experienced Growing Gamers are invited to take a day to focus on developing strategy and training your pitch.

At the workshop you will be introduced to tools and key knowledge, which you can use to strengthen the strategy of your company. You will be given the opportunity to develop your strategy through sparring with other participants and by pitching the key elements of your business.

As always there will be lots of time to network and meet new interesting people who can help you develop your business.

PROGRAM
- Welcome: Share a cup of coffee with your new network.
- Introduction to Growing Games and testimonial from a former participant.
- Keynote: Strategy, vision and raison d’etre of your company by Anna Porse, Manto A/S.
- Lunch and mingling.
- Mini-springboard with Divine Interactive.
- Keynote: Pitching 101 by Nicholas Hawtin, Connect Denmark.
- End of the day and refreshments.

TAKEAWAYS
- Introduction to Growing Games as a format and how you can use it.
- Key knowledge on strategy development for game companies.
- A chance to further develop the strategy of your company and sharpen the pitch of your value proposition.
- New contacts and network, who can help you develop your company.

TIME & PLACE
The workshop is held @ CHAS. HUDE on April 17 from 9 am to 4.30 pm.
HC Andersens Boulevard 33
1553 København V
http://goo.gl/maps/nuDuQ

SIGN UP
Participation in Growing Games is absolutely free of charge. Sign up by sending an email to growinggames@manto-as.dk no later than April 10.
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About Growing Games

Growing Games returns in 2013 with another series of workshops focused on business development for game development companies. Through expert presentations, network and sparring with other companies Growing Games offers you an outstanding way to strengthen your business and achieve your ambitions. (Læs om Growing Games på dansk)

Throughout the year 8 themes will be introduced, which all present the opportunity to learn from expert knowledge, experienced practitioners from the games industry and outside perspectives. Growing Games gives you the opportunity to develop your strategy through sparring with other participants and by pitching the key elements of your business.

Looking forward to see you all!

/Kirstine + the Growing Games Team

[KirstineA]

Remember to sign up for our kick-off workshop for Growing Games 2013. More than 29 people – both new faces and familiar ones – have already signed up, so be sure to join them, when we take a day to focus on developing strategy and training your pitch.

Looking forward to see you all!

/Kirstine & co

[Lau Korsgaard]

Sorry to hijack the thread

How was peoples impression of growing games last year?

I only went to the first event in witch we had to pitch ideas to a board of people who didn't knew anything about the game industry - that didn't gave me anything. Did those who stuck got anything out of the following events?

I see that pitching is the topic of the kick-off workshop again this year so I'll skip that. I might go to later events, if people can tell me they have actually gotten something out of it.

for the record: I have never done a pitch in my professional career, except at pitch training sessions (done a lot of those). I have talked to lots of publishers and investors trying to sell myself but never in a pitch format.

[Vanulla_Ace]

Well, I think the idea is, that the pitch forces you to become more focused about what it is you project/game is about, even if you don't pitch it as such to publishers or investors.

That being said, I felt that the meeting end networking with other gaming startups was as important and useful as the more formal content of the sessions for me. So even if the content of the current session might not be useful for me, I never felt like it was wasted time. Your mileage may vary

[Zacker]

I think I participated in two of the Growing Games workshops and all in all it has been a positive experience. I also had the chance to pitch to a panel though which turned out to be a waste of time as the panel was not really able to provide any kind of useful feedback. Which partly seemed to be due to the panel itself but also just due to their tough task of providing quality feedback on me having talked for just 3 mins.

[timgarbos]

I participated a few times spread over last year (or how long it's been running).

I am also a bit skeptical about the pitching sessions. Of course pitching is important and it helps you focus your idea, but it really does not make your idea or business case any better. Maybe the odds of you getting an investor or publisher, but not the idea.

I participated in one workshop on the theme of business models or something similar, but it was somewhat vague and didn't explain much you wouldn't find by google "Game business models" and probably not even that much. The part about what investors are interested in was quite good though. I think that the initiative is good, but I could find a lot of other places to go for pitching training. The sessions where you had feedback from some industry people were obviously better.

The springboards seems like a good idea, but let's here from somebody who tried it?