The Leadership Forum is now open for registration! While the event is still several months away, given the limited seating (under 300) we expect things to fill up fast. Pricing is a very reasonable $350 for IGDA members (and $395 for non-members) until the early-bird deadline of August 6th. For those travelling, we have a block of reserved rooms you can book at the amazingly low price of only $109/night (plus applicable taxes/etc). Hope to see you there!
Events like the Leadership Forum cannot happen successfully without the support for sponsors – those kind companies and organizations who simply want a bit of your attention and to build good will with the community. So far, Autodesk, EA, Hansoft, Midway and NPD have stepped up to sponsor the Leadership Forum.






There are still many chances to support the event. Full details on sponsorship opportunies available online.
While we believe the title and content of the Leadership Forum makes the intended audience self-evidended, we figured it best to actually add an “intended audience” blurb: The IGDA Leadership Forum is intended for all those who serve in a leadership role in the game development industry. This can include:
- producers and project managers of all levels
- team leads of any discipline (eg, programming, art, design, etc)
- departmental directors
- studio heads and execs
- those soon to be promoted into leadership roles
We are delighted to have two excellent keynote sessions lined up for the Leadership Forum:
The sessions for the parallel Leadership and Production tracks have been locked and loaded. The sessions are:
Leadership Track:
- Building the Perfect Team – Mike Capps, Epic Games
- Leadership Lab – John Farnsworth, Destineer
- Death By 1000 Ideas: Managing Designers and Creatives – Tim Gerritsen, Big Rooster
- Managing Engineers – Mike McShaffry
- Managing Artists and Art Outsourcing for Next-Gen Games – Mike Swanson, Gas Powered Games
- Communication Breakdown: How to Prevent This on Your Watch – Tony Van, Ubisoft
- Caught in the Middle: Managing Staff, Teams and Executives – Catherine Herdlick, gameLab
- Panel: Motivation & Team Morale – Jason Della Rocca, IGDA; John Farnsworth, Destineer; Catherine Herdlick, gameLab; Mike McShaffry; Tony Van, Ubisoft
Production Track:
- How Not To Schedule A Project – Jamie Fristrom, Torpex Games
- Agile Implementation – Trent Oster, BioWare Corp.
- Something from Nothing – Tim Longo, Crystal Dynamics
- Working with Publishers as a Developer Producer – Chris Natsuume, Boomzap
- Local Anesthetic: Painless Game Localization – Heather Maxwell Chandler, Media Sunshine
- How To Create a Console Game With 10 Core People – Shekhar Dhupelia, Midway
- Due Diligence on Developers – Michael Heilemann, Stormfront Studios
- Leveraging Outsourcing to Enhance Development – Aaron Pulkka, Vivendi Games
- Panel: Production Potpourri – Mike Capps, Epic Games; Shekhar Dhupelia, Midway; Jamie Fristrom, Torpex Games; Tim Longo, Crystal Dynamics; Trent Oster, BioWare Corp.