Ida-Emilia Kaukonen is Head of Community at Nitro Games. At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12, she'll be giving a talk called Shit on the Floor: Parrot Cage of Game Community?
Click here to get more info on the show, and to buy your tickets.
After graduating from the Game Developer Trainee Program, Kaukonen has worked for years on games and communities, participating in the launches and production of titles such as Heroes of Warland, Medals of War and Raids of Glory.
She is known for her vibrant and engrossing presence when rocking the stage and passion towards anything she does.
In her free time, Kaukonen acts as the Chairwoman of the Board of the Finnish pet bird association. She is also the founder of Cockatiel Chromatics, one of the world’s most popular cockatiel websites.
PocketGamer.biz: What does your role at the company entail?
Ida-Emilia Kaukonen: I manage the continuous development and execution of the community strategy, leading the day-to-day operations of the Community Team and ensuring that all the community management sections perform at top quality.
I build relationships with customers, potential customers, industry professionals, investors, influencers and journalists.
I act as the brand evangelist and, then again, as the representative of the end-customers to the company's direction.
Crisis management and prevention is also part of my job, and that is actually what inspired my Pecha Kucha topic!
What are your thoughts on the way the industry has grown in the last 12 months?
The impact of Fortnite has quite clearly been felt and seen across the whole industry.
From the community management's perspective, Battle Royale as a genre has brought up a new wave of streamers in YouTube and Twitch.
I think the last 12 months have yet again proved how fast things are changing in games. It's a reminder that a company has to be able to adapt rapidly and join the transformation - or get beaten by the modern competitors.
And what is modern now might not be any more in 2019.
What do you think the next 12 months in mobile gaming are going to look like?
I'd say mobile esports will get more and more popular and several companies will seek to find ways to support esports in their games' features.
This would mean overall improvements in performance and stability, and the importance of delivering quality fast gets even more crucial.
Community managers will need to do their homework about esports, if they haven't already. Even if a company didn't go in that direction, it is inevitable that one comes across mobile esports as a topic.
I'm excited to see what kind of creations we will see, as more and more imagination is needed to create unique, successful titles.
Which part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki are you most looking forward to and why?
I'm interested to hear Dr. Mark Ollila's Session: Why Gaming Today Is Less About The Game And More About Social Experiences.
And, of course, the Pecha Kucha! It's actually my very first time as a PGC speaker, although my #PGCParrot Derpla has been interviewed before. He was asked about his thoughts on mobile monetisation.
About Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
In a few short weeks the whole mobile gaming industry is set to descend on Helsinki for Pocket Gamer Connects. The event, which runs from September 11th to September 12th, is packed full of talks, tracks, networking opportunities, and more. You can read about the full conference schedule here.
There are still tickets available for the show, and if you click this link right here you'll get all the information you need on how to buy them, and what's going to be happening in Helsinki over the two days.
