Aka how IGDA Finland grew from small group having random meetups to one of the most active IGDA Chapters in the world.
Finland:
Population: 5.4M
Finnish game industry employs 2000 ppl
On average we have 230 visitors at the monthy IGDA Finland Gatherings!
Image: IGDA Finland Gathering -- full house!
IGDA Finland got Most Valuable Player Award in 2007 and in 2012
President of the Republic of Finland awarded IGDA Finland with
Internationalisation Award.
IGDA Finland became the first formalized IGDA Chapter
outside North America.
Why? How?
We believe in the power of community. Finland is a small
country and game industry is international by nature. Finnish game developers and open
and willing to help others to succeed. The other motivation is location. IGDA
Finland is far away from IGDA Central. Finnish IGDA members love their IGDA
membership cards but they do not benefit that much from the membership. We
wanted to make it more valuable to become a IGDA member.
What do we do?
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IGDA Finland Gathering every month
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IGDA Finland Presentation 3-5 times a year
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Igda.fi web site and discussion forum
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IGDA Finland Facebook community
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Twitter channel and hashtag #igdafi
Image: Igda Finland Volunteers have fancy IGDA Finland Hoodies.
IGDA Finland
Gatherings
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Benefits:
o
Discounted drinks to IGDA members
o
Potentially free garderobe
o
Potentially ‘IGDA VIP cue’ when very crowded
event
-
IGDA Finland Gatherings are open to everyone –
IGDA members get additional benefits
-
We send the first invite 2 weeks before the
event and reminder 3-4 days before the event
-
Hint! Regular meetups are the key – sponsored
drinks draw more participants but it is already enough just to organize the
events, invite people early enough and keep the Gatherings cosy and informal
IGDA Finland Presentations
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Benefits:
o
Free of charge
o
Better seats for IGDA members
o
Potentially an invitation to ‘Meet the speakers’
events
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IGDA Finland Presentation are open to everyone –
IGDA members will get additional benefits
-
The presentations are organized in an auditorium
with good AV equipment
- Live streams (and recordings at YouTube)
- Live streams (and recordings at YouTube)
-
Hint! It is good to provide events with
different profiles as it attracts broader group of people. Broader audience
means better visibility and reaching people who cannot or wouldn’t come to the
pub.
Image: Our famous Door Duty system - fast and easy way to register visitors and follow the numbers year over year.
Our team and the
tools:
-
We have a team of Coordinators (6-7) who are
responsible of different areas: lead, volunteers, events, communication,
technical support and graphical design, photography
-
We have a pool of Volunteers who help us with the event organizing
o
Volunteers are typically students who want to
get into the business
o we offer IGDA Finland Hoodies to all Volunteers
o
We offer good possibility for the Volunteers to
meet people working in the industry. They will be greeting all Gathering goers
at the door and registering the visitors
o
We organize special events to the Volunteers
(get together, studio visits, occasional invitations to industry events)
-
Tools:
o
Skype, email groups and online documentation to help
the planning of events
o
Digital door duty system, developed by our tech
wizard to easily register visitors, keep statistics and update new visitors to
the system automatically
o
Roll up to promote IGDA Affiliate Studios and
Industry Partners
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As a legalized entity, IGDA Finland can better
serve local IGDA members
- Very well known and respected game industry veterans, our partner associations Neogames Finland and Pelikehittäjät - Game Developers associations and Finnish game studios (Remedy Games, Housemarque, Rovio, Supercell and others) are committed to help IGDA Finland and local Finnish game developer community to grow
- Very well known and respected game industry veterans, our partner associations Neogames Finland and Pelikehittäjät - Game Developers associations and Finnish game studios (Remedy Games, Housemarque, Rovio, Supercell and others) are committed to help IGDA Finland and local Finnish game developer community to grow
Image: We organize special get together to our volunteers, this photo is from IGDA Finland Picnic 2011.
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We publish After Action Reports (AAR) after
every event to show and tell what you are missing out. We share the number of attendees,
highlights, sponsor greeting and photos from the event
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We also publish stories about local developers
and local game development hubs in Finland
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Additional tools:
o
Jobs.igda.fi – game industry specific jobs
boards
o
Forum – discussion forum for general and local
topics
o
Photos section: people love to see photos from
the events
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The web site also works as a communication
channel towards game developers who cannot join the IGDA Finland Gathering
Collaboration:
We collaborate with Assembly (one of the largest computer /
demo parties in the world), Helsinki Youth Department (Happi Game House, game
development clubs), Global Game Jam organization and other partners. With the
collaboration we want to support game jamming and game development clubs for the
youth.
Image: Mentoring Network for Women: artists, designers, managers and programmers.
Mentoring Network for
Women
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The mission is to make game industry more
appealing and transparent to women who have not yet worked in games industry
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Women's mentoring network founded in 2011
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IGDA Finland supported activity but run by a
group of women working for various Finnish game studios
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The mentoring network also works as a way to
connect with other women working in the industry
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We arrange get together events on demand
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We have active Facebook group to keep the community
live
o
One common group
o
Separate sub-groups to Finnish Game Artists,
Programmers and Designers
Photos: Joona Pulliainen / IGDA Finland
