Call for Speakers

Based on feedback from our attendees, below are some of the hot topics they'd like to hear talks on plus our suggested session ideas.

Our suggestions for 2025 sessions include:

AI
Advancing AI technology and how to take advantage of it in game development is a huge topic for 2024. We don’t have a dedicated track for it, but we will include relevant AI focused sessions within our existing tracks. For example:

• The future of AI for your business/game development
• Ethics of AI within game development
• AI in game coding
• AI and game narrative
• AI in game art
• 3D assets in creating user-generated AI
• Generational AI
• AI Tools
• AI and the Environment
• AI and dynamic game difficulty balancing 
• AI and game testing 
• Audio and AI
• Case study of notable use of AI in games

ART (To inspire artists and creatives across the whole spectrum of game development)

• Practical drawing class
• What is a tech artist?
• Art case study of your game
• Portfolio review tips/best practise

AUDIO (For anyone involved in sound or music and games)

• Inspirational sound design – telling story and enhancing/informing gameplay through sound
• Masterclass on a specific sound design area e.g. weapons, foley, creature vocalisation etc.
• Audio implementation deep dives
• Interactive music systems and new approaches to integrating music
• Best practice managing large dialogue projects
• Lessons learned through rich, deep and extensive careers in game audio
• Best practice process and techniques for mixing game sound, dialogue and music
• Future directions and methodologies for game audio

BUSINESS (Tackles the commercial issues and opportunities of game development, including production and funding)

• Self-Publishing:
  - Is perceived wisdom from trad publishers becoming less relevant and why?
  - Getting funding without strings
  - Kickstarter, Patreon, Government funding case studies
  
• - Boutique publishing - how does it work?
• How to get your game funded
• How to work with external partners
• Licensing for games
• What does it take to run an indie studio?
• Hiring - top tips and case studies (esp. for remote teams)
• Creating and building your company culture/successful initiatives
• Mental health - how do you help your team/studio?
• Diversity and Inclusion working from home
• Best practices for working from home
• Managing a neuro diverse team
• Funding/Diversity funding - what's available?
• Blockchain technology - what's new for game making?
• Agile production best practice
• Game production post-mortem - lessons learned
• Life/Work balance - how to achieve it? 4 day week case study

CODING (A focus on the tech side of game development aimed at programmers of all levels)

• Coding case study of your game
• Engineering machine learning
• C++, Unreal and Unity case studies
• USD as an open standard for asset creation & pipelines
• Developing for Apple VisionPro
• Rendering “anatomy of a frame”

DESIGN (A focus on issues facing game designers, best practice tips and deep dives into real-life projects)

• Design case study of your game
• Environmental sustainability/embedding sustainability into a design
• Narrative game design
• Writing established characters
• Game design UI/UX

DISCOVERABILITY (Finding and attracting the right audience, nurturing your community and building good relationships)

• What are the new trends in selling games?
• Marketing case study for your game - lessons learned
• Social media marketing - what's the latest platform?
• Using social media to sell your game - lessons learned
• How to market your game successfully - real life case studies
• How are you building your communities for the long term?
• How to make great trailers
• Case study of successfully using Influencers

INDIE BOOTCAMP (Free sessions for students and start-ups)

• Any topics to help inexperienced game devs across all disciplines/tracks

MOBILE (Best business strategies, technical challenges and game design for mobile F2P games)

• Monetisation - review of current trends
• Return on ad spend - launching and scaling
• Soft launch case study 
• Mobile game case study
• User acquisition diversification
• Profitable UA: How to monetise your game
• Using TikTok as a cheap and effective UA
• Porting your game to mobile
• Share your mobile game success story

ROUNDTABLES (A safe place during the conference for open discussions)
In previous years our roundtables have mostly sensitive topics such as being LGBTQ+ in the games industry, or mental health issues for game devs. However, we're also happy to include some more vocational topics for discussion.

• Mental Health in Games
• Menopause in the workplace
• How to cope with redundancy
• Narrative storytelling in games
• AI in Games

VR/AR  (Inspiration and best practice for creating augmented and virtual reality games)

• How to make money with a VR/AR game
• Headsets case study
• VR/AR game design case study
• Psychology of design in VR/AR
• Case study on developing for Apple Vision Pro

What our attendees really want from the conference sessions across all tracks is:

• Practical "how to" advice
• Best practice guidance
• Game making skills
• Tangible takeaway that can be implemented back in the studio
• Inspiration and information to help them make better games and be more successful

Types of session that we’re most likely to accept:

• Case studies or post mortems of game dev projects
• How-to/training style sessions across all disciplines
• Advanced coding talks which tackle real-life challenges
• Technical talks by tools providers
• Deep dives into the development process of a successful game or studio
• Data analytics talks
  

If you have any questions about submitting a talk please email Susan Marshall at [email protected]

Please note: We don't accept sales pitches - if you would like to promote your company, service or product to our visitors in a talk, then there are a limited number of sponsored sessions available - just contact Andy Lane: [email protected]

Your submission must fit into one of these:

• ART – to inspire artists and creatives across the whole spectrum of game development
  
• AUDIO – for anyone involved in sound or music and games
  
• BUSINESS – tackles the commercial issues and opportunities of game development including production and funding
  
• CODING – a focus on the tech side of game development aimed at programmers of all levels
  
• DESIGN – a focus on issues facing game designers, best practice tips and deep dives into real-life projects
  
• DISCOVERABILITY - find out how to attract and retain a paying audience for your game
  
• INDIE BOOTCAMP - covers the basics for start-ups, anyone interested in setting up a studio or those looking for a career in games
  
• MOBILE - exploring the best business strategies and game design for mobile F2P games
  
• ROUNDTABLES - a safe place to discuss sensitive topics, plus personal and vocational issues affecting game devs today.
  Please note: The roundtable discussions are hosted by one person - the moderator. As the moderator, you will prepare a list of topics for discussion before you arrive - these are a starting point to help encourage people to talk. You can invite guests to contribute to the discussion and support you, and on some occasions were happy with two co-hosts but this must be agreed with Susan Marshall in advance. We'll ask people to turn off their devices so that conversations can be uncompromised. Topics for roundtables in the past have included diversity, mental health and managing work-life balance. However, if you’ve wanted to submit a roundtable on more vocational issues like the problems with game narrative or the daily challenges of producers, that would be great too. These sessions are free to attend and open to everybody.

All submissions need to be in a lecture or roundtable format, not a panel:

Duration: 45 mins

Lecture Format

Talks should be issue-based, provide concrete examples or case studies and may contain both practical and theoretical information. There's normally only one speaker, but we do sometimes accept more than one if that works better for the session. Please include time for Q & A within your time slot. Our delegates are particularly interested in:

• Best practice advice on all disciplines
• Case studies of successful or innovative game development
• Case studies of lessons learned
• Industry trends, stats and analysis

Roundtable Format

The roundtable discussions provide a safe place during the conference to discuss sensitive topics, plus personal and vocational issues affecting game devs today. And we'll ask people to turn off their devices so that conversations can be uncompromised. Topics for roundtables in the past have included diversity, mental health and managing work-life balance.

Please note: We don't usually accept proposals for panel sessions, however if you are interested in doing a panel instead of a talk please email Susan at [email protected] rather than completing the Speaker Submissions Form.

Here are a few things to think about before you submit your talk:

• How good are your delivery and presentation skills?
• Who are your audience and how relevant will your talk be to them?
• Your talk really must match your session description, so please make sure you are able to deliver what you promise
• What visuals and/or other assets will you use to enhance your talk?
• What's the outline for your talk - what is the structure/flow and content of your talk going to be and what supporting materials will you use?
• What's the "Takeaway" from your talk? What 3 tangible things will delegates get out of your session?
• Please be aware that all talks will be filmed
• All sessions are reviewed by delegates and low scorers won't be invited back!

The speaker submission form will ask for the following:

1. Contact Information, Bio and a Photo of Yourself
Please provide full contact details, a biography and a SQUARE high res jpg image no larger than 420px x 420px of yourself which will be used to promote your talk should you be successful.

2. Title of your proposed talk
This needs to stand-alone as well as with the session description, so keep it concise and relevant so delegates can easily understand what this session is about. Having said that - we need to fit your title onto a timetable, adverts etc so please don't be too wordy! Clear and concise are the key words here.

3. Track
You need to decide in which area of expertise your session sits best - select one of the tracks listed – Art, Audio, Business, Coding, Design, Discoverability, Indie BootCamp, Mobile and Roundtables.

4. Session Description
This description will be used on the website and in promotional materials so delegates can determine whether or not they should attend this session. It's really important that it is clearly written and that delegates can understand why this session will be interesting and exactly what they will get out of it. Please use third person and present tense.

5. Session summary
Please summarise your talk in 140 characters - this is a mini version of your description, for use in social media and other promotion.

6. Session Outline
Give us a detailed outline of the structure, flow, content and supporting materials for your talk so we can make sure it will deliver what we need from a quality session.

7. Session Takeaway
Exactly what will delegates learn in your session - please list as separate bullet points, 3 min - 6 max.

8. Session Level
Choose from the following:

• Beginner - for entry level game devs, students or people wanting to join the industry
• Intermediate - for devs who have some previous experience or knowledge in this aera that will help them get the most out of the session
• Advanced - for devs who have a lot of previous experience or knowledge in this area. These sessions are highly technical or focus on a specific area of expertise in great depth
• All welcome - general interest sessions that require no previous experience or knowledge

9. Intended Audience
Exactly who would benefit from attending this session - you can use job titles or specialist areas of responsibility or roles. Is there any prerequisite knowledge needed for understanding the content of this session?

10. Previous Speaking Engagements
Please tell us where else you have spoken - conference name, title of session and if possible a link to footage of you speaking.

When you hit the submit button at the end of the form you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive this email please contact Susan Marshall at: [email protected]

Please note: if your talk is accepted then we will use the information given in your form to promote it, so please only submit information you are happy for us to use.

Q. What is the submission deadline?
The Develop:Brighton Call for Speakers deadline is 24 February 2025.

Q. What makes a good submission?

• Be very clear exactly what you are going to talk about, make it appealing
• Be clear who your talk is aimed at
• Explain what is compelling about your talk
• Give clear take-away for attendees, bullet points work well for this
• The best session titles are the ones that clearly and succinctly summarise the talk (on the at a glance schedule this is the only info immediately visible)

Q. What is considered a sponsored session?
Develop:Brighton does not accept sales related submissions. If your talk is an advertisement for a new product, technology or service your company is offering, please do not apply. For sponsored session opportunities please contact Andy Lane: [email protected]

Q. What do I need to provide in my submission?
The Submission Form will ask for the following information:

• Contact information, bio and a photo of yourself

Please provide full contact details, a biography and a high res jpg image of yourself which will be used to promote your talk should you be successful.

• Title of your proposed talk

This needs to stand-alone as well as with the session description, so keep it concise and relevant so delegates can easily understand what this session is about. Having said that - we need to fit your title onto a timetable, adverts etc so please don't be too wordy! Clear and concise are the key words here.

• Track

You need to decide in which area of expertise your session sits best - select one of the tracks listed – Art, Audio, Business, Coding, Design, Discoverability, Indie BootCamp, Mobile and Roundtables.

• Session description

This description will be used on the website and in promotional materials so delegates can determine whether or not they should attend this session. It's really important that it is clearly written and that delegates can understand why this session will be interesting and exactly what they will get out of it. Please use third person and present tense.

• Session summary

Please summarise your talk in 140 characters - this is a mini version of your description, for use in social media and other promotion.

• Session outline

Give us a detailed outline of the structure, flow, content and supporting materials for your talk so we can make sure it will deliver what we need from a quality session

• Session takeaway

Exactly what will delegates learn in your session - please list as separate bullet points, 3 min - 6 max.

• Session level

Is your session aimed at all experience levels so no specific experience needed - beginners, intermediate or advanced?

• Intended audience

Exactly who would benefit from attending this session - you can use job titles or specialist areas of responsibility or roles. Is there any prerequisite knowledge needed for understanding the content of this session?

• Previous speaking engagements

Please tell us where else you have spoken - conference name, title of session and if possible a link to footage of you speaking.

Q. What are the benefits of speaking?
The benefits of being a speaker include:

• Complimentary pass to the conference (includes access to all conference sessions, networking events and the expo)
• Lunch
• Your name and presentation featured in pre-event promotion, on our website and digital event platform
• Opportunities for press interviews
  

Q. When will I be notified of the status of my submission?
You will receive an automated email response once your submission is received. We will let you know whether your submission has been successful or not by the end of March 2025. If you do not hear from us or have any questions, please contact Susan Marshall at: [email protected]