Preview: Develop 2010
Tandem Events director Andy Lane gives us a glimpse of what's to come in Brighton this year
I have to say we were really pleased with the way it went last year, certainly in terms of delegate numbers - we achieved just over 1200, which was slightly up on the year before, but if you put that against a backdrop of what happened for conferences generally in 2009, the average was about 12 per cent down.
So for us to maintain that level is testament to the importance of the event within the development community.
One of the great things about the conference is that we've got a lot of diversity, in terms of the sessions that we offer. There are upwards of 80 sessions, which allows us to put on some very forward-looking sessions, but also to concentrate on some of the technical focus sessions that drill down into the business of producing games, looking back at case studies, and what's been successful.
But the Evolve conference last year was very well received - we've had great feedback on that, and it was the right event at the right time, in terms of looking at the new market places, new platforms, new technologies. That Tuesday has now become an important part of the whole Develop week.
Well, E3 has been, for a number of years, the main industry event from a publisher and retailer point of view. From a developer point of view you'd probably look at other events, such as GDC - so it's a slightly different focus.
It's an event that's a million miles away from what it is that we're putting on, both in terms of the content, but also the nature - and of course from a geographical perspective.
So anything that gets the industry together and talking about how to improve the way in which they make games, how to learn from one another and how to make better games in the future - that's got to be a good thing as far as we're concerned. It's certainly something that the Develop Conference plays a part in doing.
It's coming along very well - we've still got a few weeks to go, but we're really pleased with the programme we've got. It is always an ambitious programme that we want to put together, and we set our sights very high. I think if you look at the calibre of speakers we've got this time around, we've certainly managed to achieve that - 80-plus sessions, with 100 or so speakers are all coming along.
What's interesting is that they're not just UK speakers, either - we're pulling from the US, Canada and Europe as well, so I think that's a measure of the event's success that those people want to come along and talk to the audience we deliver.