GDC Europe 2011 Debuts New Summits, Call For Submissions

Author: by Staff

Organizers of GDC Europe 2011 have revealed a host of focused Summits for this year's show, also announcing the call for submissions for this August's conference in Cologne, Germany. Taking place Monday through Wednesday, August 15-17, 2011 at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost, GDC Europe 2011 will again provide the essential pan-European perspective of game development and business trends happening throughout the continent today. Now it in its third iteration and taking place alongside the European-leading Gamescom trade fair, GDC Europe will continue to serve the European game industry by gathering the world’s leading speakers in areas specific to current game development across platforms and development disciplines. The call for submissions for lectures will include main conference tracks in Business & Marketing, Game Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts. Organizers are looking for leading practitioners to propose lectures and panels with major practical takeaways for today's video game market. In addition, GDC Europe 2011 plans to expand the breadth of its conference by offering four Summits to be held concurrently with the main conference. Reflective of the growing development and activity within the continent, GDC Europe will introduce the Social Games Summit, Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Independent Games Summit, and Community Management Summit to its roster this year. "It is our goal to support growth of the European games community by providing a venue for collaboration and business opportunity, as well as a valuable learning experience featuring leading industry tools and techniques," says Frank Sliwka, Event Director of GDC Europe. "This year, the addition of Summits will provide strategic, dedicated content focused on emerging and innovation-driven topics in the industry. We are pleased GDC Europe is returning to Cologne, and are proud to continue providing the forum for innovation and networking for the European game development community." The Call for Submissions for both the Main Conference tracks and all four GDC Europe Summits is now open through Friday, April 8, 2011. You can learn more about the submissions process and guidelines at the official GDC Europe 2011 submissions page. GDC Europe in 2010 hosted over 2000 attendees, 170 speakers, and a global lineup of keynote addresses from Warren Spector, Creative Director of Disney’s Junction Point Studio; Hermen Hulst, Managing Director of Guerrilla Games; Bo Wang, Vice President of Tencent Games; and Heiko Hubertz, CEO and Founder of Bigpoint GmbH. And during its inaugural year in 2009, GDC Europe hosted luminary pan-European speakers including David Cage, CEO & Founder, Quantic Dream; Cevat Yerli, CEO & President, Crytek; Matias Myllyrinne, Managing Director, Remedy; and Hilmar Petursson, Chief Executive Officer, CCP. In 2011, in conjunction with its new conference content lineup, GDC Europe will offer even more business and networking opportunities for attendees, with a developer-focused Expo Floor area, a host of day and evening networking events, and the return of the GDC Europe Business Lounge within gamescom itself. For more information on GDC Europe as the event takes shape, please visit the official GDC Europe website, or subscribe to updates from the official Game Developers Conference news page in RSS form, official Twitter page, or official Facebook page.