2008 International eSports Conference

Berlin, 09.05.2008. This year’s „International eSports Conference (ESCONF)“, which takes place on 27th and 28th of May at Electronic Arts in Cologne, does yet attract a vast interest of the media. Already, the ESCONF has been extensively featured in the media worldwide.

„The Conference Program of this year is spectacular! We have never had such a top-class and exciting pool of speeches”, as Carsten Kohlenbeck, Project Manager of the host Global Games Media, pridefully put it. “The collaboration with our main sponsors Electronic Arts and Samsung, as well as the media partners GamesMarkt and Fragster is in fact intense und does hence give us the possibility to render a further success story for the ESCONF.”

This year’s assembly is themed as “Update your Solutions“ and more than 20 international top-class speakers from countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Poland and South-Korea are expected to discuss with more than 150 participants from all over the world current developments within eSports and break down problems and present approaches on them. These problem areas are going to be tackled by e.g. Konstantin Ewald (Osborne Clarke), Stephan Baack (Cologne 99ers), Ari Wegter (ESNation A/S), Michal Blicharz (SK Gaming), Noha Park (Korean eSports Association), Jens Hilgers (Turtle Entertainment), Simon Papendorf (eSport+Markt), Rolf Kretschmann (Stuttgart University), Jelle Ketelbuters (Belgian eSports Federation) and Jens Christian Ringdal (eSport Denmark) as they will deliver speeches, attend workshops or lead discussion rounds.

The first keynote on 28th of May is going to feature Stephan Baeck, General Manager of the German national league Basketball club “Köln 99ers”, giving an insight into the methods of training of a German national league club and the use of digital media in athletic sport training sessions with his introductory presentation on the “Use of Sport Simulations in the course of professional teams”. As the second keynote, Noha Park from the Korean eSports Association will explain the current situation of eSports in South-Korea and upcoming actions of the association. In the final panel discussion of the conference, representatives of the eSport associations from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria and South-Korea will get together for the first time ever in order to discuss the global perspectives of eSports.

The workshops which will take place on 27th of May will deal with judicial, scientific and editorial aspects of eSports. Moderators will along with further participants elaborate on topics like “Yellow Press in eSports – Blessing or Curse?” and “lawful Aspects of Cheating” to eventually present the results to the audience. Interested conference participants will furthermore have the possibility to attend the workshops as listeners.

With „eSports-Connection“, the matchmaking platform having its debut in this framework, both internationally and nationally acclaimed eSport teams like SK Gaming, MeetYourMakers, Fnatic, Mousesports, n!faculty and Gamevibes will be present to meet companies such as Arvato Systems, EMP, Sellando or FastBridge, forge links, present projects and initiate businesses.

Due to this extensive and high-class program consisting of speeches, workshops, discussions and the new platform „eSports-Connection“, the “International eSports Conference“ further expands the position as a worldwide leading eSports business and networking platform and claims its importance within the gaming and community branch.

The „International eSports Conference 2008“ takes place in the German office of Electronic Arts in Cologne on 27th and 28th of May. The first day will feature three simultaneously running workshops and the eSports-Connection. On the second day, the main part of the conference with keynotes, speeches and discussions will take place. This year, the ESCONF is supported by Electronic Arts and Samsung as the main sponsor, GC – Games Convention and the City of Cologne as sponsors, as well as GamesMarkt and Fragster as the media partners.

The Conference Program and the registration are to be found on www.esconf.com.