Making the most of Develop Brighton

Develop: Brighton is running 9-11 July and provides a great way for game developers to connect with each other and learn, have fun, network and meet people that can make a big difference to their business. Alongside talks, panels, roundtables, mixers, awards, parties, demos and an expo, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with it all. If it’s your first time, or you are a regular, here are our tips to making the most of Develop Brighton this July.

Who is going to Develop: Brighton?

Before we start, we wanted to share some of the amazing Game Republic official partners Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology, our amazing affiliates and members that have told us they’re going, so you can arrange a meeting with them, or say hello! You can also come and meet some of them at the Game Republic Narrative Design Panel on 9th July at 2pm in Room 3 with Rhianna Pratchett, Charles Cecil-Revolution, Paul Cornell and Judi Alston – Dreaming Methods.

Studio heads, publishers and production services attending Develop Brighton

Adam Clewes-Boyne – BetaJester
Simon Barratt – Cooperative Innovations
Luke Mills – Dink
Kimberley Turner, Mark South and Lee Hutchinson from Double Eleven
Hans Michael Ansel Hess
Rob Hewson – Huey Games
Storm Karlsen and Adelaide Da Cunha – Northrak
Jay Waters – North Wave Audio
Marco Ng – Otterweave Games Studio
Paige Grant, Josh Weedon, Connor Tracey – Pitstop Productions
Derek Cowap and Des Gayle – Radical Forge
David Harper from Skyhook Games
Nina Cliff – Sumo Group
Terry Haynes – Tanglewood Games
Sam Sadeghi – Team17 Digital
Bobby Thandi – XR Games

Support services including investment, technology, talent, legal, finance and marketing

Elaine Dowman and JP – Barclays
Jonathan Lloyd – CG hero
Neil Parmar and John Stopforth- Escape Technology
Chris Taylor – Eaton Smith
Andy Coley – Game Studio Training
Andrew McMillan and Ryan Milne – Johnston Carmichael
Aaron Trebble – Lewis Silkin
Matt Hitchcock and Richy Pears from Other Things
Luke Thomas – Plus Accounting
Dave Pain from PQube
Harry Flanagan – Save Room Club

Education / Training / Research
The IGGI games research programme will have a stand with around 20 games PhD researchers from York and London
Adil Abrar and team from Mastered
Charlie Blay from NextGen Skills Academy
Staffordshire University Games Institute

and of course we’ll be there too – Jamie Sefton – Game Republic and Jackie Mulligan – Game Republic

Focus on what you want to achieve from Develop Brighton

What are your goals?
What are you pitching? (project(s), yourself, the company)
Which companies are you really aiming to meet?
Which individuals in those companies do you need to meet? Do your research
Make sure what you are proposing / pitching / selling shows that you know what they are looking for…
Start booking meetings EARLY – Check out the Develop Brighton Meet to Match App
Write up notes on who you met, meetings, actions to take after the conference

There is a more in-depth Game Republic presentation on SlideShare with links to useful “How To Pitch” guides from Sony PlayStation and publisher Raw Fury. If you are a Game Republic member, don’t forget to ask us about our contacts at these events and how we can help you and your business when you are at the event

Sessions, roundtables, panels and more

Plan ahead so you can get to the content you want in time and have questions in mind as there is usually a Q&A
Speak to the person next to you – if you are coming to see this content, chances are people next to you might have similar interests, so have a chat
Bring your business cards, but many people now just use LinkedIn QR codes
Check out the bar area in the Brighton Metropole hotel, where lots of meetings take place and parties too including GamesIndustry.biz
Drink lots! (of water) it’s easy to rush around but don’t get dehydrated
Share where you’re at on socials so people can connect with you – use #developconf

Looking after yourself at Develop Brighton

Our friends at Safe in Our World have put together an excellent guide to looking after your wellbeing at Develop – among the tips include taking time out, planning meals and much more. You can read the guide here – on a side note the location of this event by the beach means taking a moment or two to enjoy the natural surroundings can be very restorative too.

What to do when you’re back from Develop Brighton

Review your daily notes, look at the actions you wrote down and act on them
LinkedIn hook up with everyone you met
Remind essential meeting contacts of where you met / things you discussed even if it was brief
Email follow-ups, sign that deal!