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20 reasons why you need to (virtually) attend Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020

250 expert speakers, 21 conference tracks, 1,500+ industry professionals, exciting fringe events - next month’s online conference is set to be a cracker!

20 reasons why you need to (virtually) attend Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020

It’s just over one month to go until Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020goes live on Monday, September 14 to Friday, September 18, and you absolutely have to join us online!

Before we reveal our top reasons why you should be logging online to virtually attend our conference, book your tickets now and you could save more than $190 with our Mid-Term discounts.

Now without further ado, here are 20 reasons why you should be there!

1) Takes place online

Unfortunately due to current world events, we are unable to return to Helsinki in person this year. But we decided to do the next big thing and bring our annual show in Helsinki to the digital realm, enabling those who would normally not be able to attend in person explore the Finnish market - and vice versa!

2) 15 mobile conference tracks throughout the whole week

Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 features 15 conference tracks taking place all throughout the week, covering all aspects of the mobile games industry to the latest development trends. Each track will be streamed live online, enabling participants to interact with our speakers, while also being recorded for those who can’t quite make the live streams to catch up at a later period.

3) 250 world-class speakers

We would say that’s a lot of speakers under one roof, but our conference takes place online! That being said that’s still a lot of speakers and they are ready to share their expert insights, experiences and advice with you on our seminars, talks, panels and keynotes.

We have some incredible speakers from some amazing companies lined up for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020, including Microsoft, DICE, Sony, Ubisoft, King, Rovio, Unity and many more.

4) Short, sharp seminars

The Connects international series is famous for hosting a conference schedule comprising short, sharp seminars - and our upcoming conference is no exception to that. With no time to waffle, our speakers get straight down to business and put their expertise and industry insight in the spotlight.

5) The whole industry

No one puts you in touch with the global games industry like Pocket Gamer Connects. From indie studios and students, to the biggest publishers, mainstream media and international developers, you can meet them all.

6) 1,500 industry professionals

Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 will have over 1,500 industry professionals logging onto our systems throughout the entire week from the comfort of their own workspace - and you can meet them all online! Whether you’re a developer looking for a way to get your game on the main stage, or an investor looking to find a hidden gem to spend the right kind of money on, you can meet them! The rest is up to you.

7) 680 companies represented

Over 680 leading companies from the games industry will be represented at the show, including developers, publishers, investors, analysts, the media and indies. Get ready!

8) Free access to the MeetToMatch meeting platform

We’ve partnered once again with MeetToMatch, a much trusted meeting platform you’ll know from other industry events such as devcom, Nordic Game, GIC, Quo Vadis and more. This system promises great functionality and reliability so you can organise and carry out your meetings with no bumps along the way.

9) Big name sponsors

We’re proud to be able to say that some of the biggest names in the games industry will be supporting our online Helsinki event. Sponsors such as Microsoft, AppLovin, Unity, App Annie, Tenjin, Miniclip and more back us because they believe in our Connects series and what we do for the games industry.

10) Blockchain Gamer LIVE! Digital #1

Partner event Blockchain Gamer LIVE! Digital #1 makes its online debut alongside Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital, bringing a further six tracks covering the latest blockchain basics, NFT know-how, blockchain game design, investment insight and game developer stories. This event features speakers from the finest companies in the blockchain games industry, including Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Axie Infinity, Blockchain Cuties and many more.

Combining Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 and Blockchain Gamer LIVE! Digital #1, that’s a total of 21 conference tracks for you to sink your teeth into!

11) Publisher SpeedMatch

Whether you’re looking for a publisher for help releasing your game, or looking for new titles to add to your roster, then why not try our Publisher SpeedMatch sessions? This event pairs developers and publishers together to make initial contact in a series of speed-dating style meetings, with the possibility of a follow-up meeting during or after the conference.

12) Investor Connector

Investor Connector pairs pre-selected applicants looking for funding with investors looking to spend the right kind of money in the right sector in a series of one-on-one meetings. So if you’re a developer with a cool project and need funding, make sure you sign up here.

13) Big Indie Pitches

Our Big Indie Pitch series is a much-loved pitching competition which enables indie developers to showcase their games to a panel of expert judges to gain incredible feedback and the opportunity to win prizes worth thousands of dollars. To cater to a wide variety of developers, we are running two Big Indie Pitches. One of the pitches allows entry for mobile developers, and the other pitch sees PC and console developers take the spotlight.

14) Pocket Gamer 2020 Sessions

Our speakers let their hair down! The Pocket Gamer 2020 Sessions feature our experts speak on any topic in just 20 slides, each visible for 20 seconds. Come and see what the madness is all about!

15) Dedicated Discord server

Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 will have a live Discord server for our virtual attendees. The channel will be available 24 hours a day throughout the week, and there will be somebody from the Pocket Gamer Connects team present during the times of the show. There will be a dedicated customer support channel, channels dedicated to each topic of the event, and a news feed channel bringing in key updates from PocketGamer.biz.

16) Careers Week

Previously featuring at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2, the Careers Week returns to the digital realm! Throughout the week, there will be dedicated talks, panels and roundtables regarding recruitment as well as a persistent digital jobs board where recruiters can list their openings.

We have a range of free and paid opportunities for business looking to hire new talent. If you would like more information about premium recruitment opportunities, sponsorship or get involved in some other way, please contact chris@steelmedia.co.uk.

And to support jobseekers during this difficult time, we’re offering free tickets to those currently out of work and looking for the next step in their career. If you’d like to get involved, please fill out this form. We will carefully consider all applications and get back to you if you qualify for participation.

17) IGDA Finland Mentor Café

The IGDA Mentor Café is returning to Finland, but this time in a new digital format. During the Mentor Café, games industry leaders will share their knowledge and expertise in short, 15 minute mentoring sessions. After these sessions have finished there’ll be a chance to mingle in a relaxed environment for more conversations.

18) Journalist Bar

Getting your games in front of the media can be tricky, so we’ve taken the hassle out of it. Come to your dedicated virtual Journalist Bar and meet the journalists from Pocket Gamer, and get instant feedback on your game.

19) Established international audience

Since 2014, we’ve had the pleasure of delivering pocket Gamer Connects conferences across the world; in that time we’ve brought annual events to seven countries across multiple continents and met a whopping 27,000 games industry folk who have attended, participated and become a part of our amazing Pocket Gamer community!

Following the global pandemic, in our continual effort to support the games industry, we took our conferences online and were blown away by the response and support. The Pocket Gamer Connects Digital series has gone from strength to strength, attracting a larger, more diverse audience with a total of 68 countries represented, a massive increase on our live events which averaged around 45 countries represented respectively.

20) Previous attendee feedback

Previous attendees have voted Connects the ‘best value conference’, 97% would recommend us to a colleague and 96% tell us they’ll come back for more.

Save more than $190 and book now

Join us online for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 next month. Book now and you could save more than $190 on the price of tickets with our Mid-Term discounts. But hurry, these prices won’t last forever, so grab your tickets now!

Events Writer

Charlie is the Events Writer at PocketGamer.biz

You can catch him on Twitter @CharlieScowen_ talking about anything gaming, TV or football related whilst also sharing too many memes.