Numbers matter - the longest standing seminar from Witten Financial. We talk you through the basics of financial satements to help you manage your business.
Description:
We will use actual game industry financial statements (names withheld :-)) to walk you through how financial statements work. this seminar will give you the basics to help you look closer at your business performance so you can better identify your strengths and areas of opportunity.
Free Money? The ERC Is Real, There Is A 99% Chance You Qualify
Summary:
If you operated in 2020 and/or 2021 you may be eligible as a distributor, manufacturer, retailer. Learn how you may qualify; you may be eligible for up to 26K. Turns out dragons & ERCs are real.
Description:
The ERC is a government program for companies that stayed open during the Covid shutdown (Q2 2020 through Q3 2021) and had non-family members on payroll (W-2s); you may be eligible for up to $26,000 per non-family W-2 employee. Witten Financial has filed over 100 ERCs, including several from all the game industry tiers (distributor, manufacturer, retailer). This seminar talks about qualifying factors and how the program works.
From brainstorming to budgets there are many steps to creating your own TTRPG. We show you how we collabed with the Storytelling Collective to help teens create, publish, and market their own TTRPGS.
Description:
For teens who want to break into the world of TTRPG design, there is no clear path. Together with the Storytelling Collective, we have adapted their RPG workshop into an accessible series of workshops. In these workshops, teens learn how to brainstorm, edit, design covers and pages, market, publish, and everything in between. They are shown what goes into getting your work out in the open and what you need to do to put yourself on the map in the gaming world. After the workshop is over, they will have a digital and physical copy of a book that encompasses all of their work where they are properly credited to circulate in our library system and be sold online. In this program we'll be walking you through all the steps we took to get from contacting the Storytelling Collective to getting the finished copy of their book, and how you can implement similar style programming in your library.
How can educators bridge the game table and the classroom? Join a panel of designers and educators in discussion on the trials and triumphs of gaming as education.
Description:
What are the best practices, challenges, pitfalls, and rewards of using tabletop roleplaying to help students learn history, think critically, and build curiosity? Join Patrick Mooney (Lead Designer of Nations & Cannons), professional educator Mollie Brewsaugh, and others in discussion about the trials and triumphs of gaming as education.
Use design thinking skills to create a Proof of Concept idea for a game. During this hands-on workshop, we will use design mindsets and process to design a game. All materials will be provided.
Game Studies Podcasting with Subject Matter: Table Top
Summary:
Subject Matter: Table Top is an academic podcast about board games and the subject matter that animate them. Join the hosts as they reflect upon playing games with subject experts over the last year.
Description:
Subject Matter: Table Top (SM:TT) is an academic podcast about board games and the subject matter that animate them. Hosts Steve Gotzler and Jordan Tynes explore the world of tabletop games with people who possess a deep understanding of the themes, settings, systems, or content that we encounter in them. What does a historian think about while playing Pax Pamir? A labor organizer sitting down for a round of STRIKE? A space anthropologist and Terraforming Mars? SM:TT considers how games communicate information about the subjects they take up. It also asks how games can influence players’ feelings about each other, and the world that they inhabit. From the physical components strewn about the table, to the rules we share while playing, SM:TT explores the cultural relevance of tabletop gaming. Join the hosts for a discussion about game studies podcasting as scholarly research.
Using classic Game Theory models on conflict, trust, ethics, and decision-making, attendees will learn via role-play a series of engaging classroom experiences.
Description:
Using common, easy-to-find, materials, participants will learn the mechanics and the theory behind numerous Game Theory archetype games. The activities will range from the Prisoner's Dilemma to the Ultimatum Game as well as the Stag Hunt to name but a few. We will also very lightly debrief the mathematics and history that drives the underlying engines driving the games presented. Applications from Nuclear War to business and ethics will be touched on.
Common business & educator situations and the game industry collide in this Clue-meets-Family-Feud style seminar. Case studies, in-class analysis, & expert advice!
Description:
A seminar favorite, revised for this year! We identify cases (I am making lots of sales - why don't I have more money in my bank account?) and in game-style fashion, the audience shares their thoughts and we share ours (treats/prizes for matched answers!!). Slides sent to participants after the convention.
We will explore the ways in which gaming can act as a bridge to alleviate the educational disparity amongst young adults. Focusing on fostering literacy and encouraging social and emotional growth.
Join us as we talk about the importance of gaming in libraries, how to acquire games to build a collection, and how to run successful library board game programs.
Description:
Join Librarian and tabletop gaming enthusiasts, Ryan LaFerney from the Indianapolis Public Library, and Zachary Balgeman from the Avon-Washington Township Public Library, for a session that explores tabletop gaming in libraries. We will discuss the importance of gaming in libraries; how to build a collection from scratch (with attention given to accessibility, cataloging and processing),; and how to run successful programs that focus on tabletop games.