[arg_discuss] ARGFest: updated information & keynote announced

[Brooke Thompson]

The ARGFest committee has been working like crazy over the past couple  
of weeks and it looks like it's beginning to pay off - we've got some  
great things in store and have recently made a couple of announcements:

Jordan Weisman is going to deliver this years keynote.
I'm sure he needs little introduction on this list, but just in  
case... it was his twisted mind that pulled together the team for The  
Beast. And then took them to 42 Entertainment. And then helped to  
create Cathy's Book (and Cathy's Key and Cathy's Ring). The latest  
book, Personal Effects: Dark Art just hit the stores and his latest  
company, Smith & Tinker, just launched their first game: Nanovor. To  
say we're thrilled & honored to get him when he's so busy is an  
understatement by many orders of magnitude.

Mazda's 33 Keys is going to be the subject of the featured presentation.
A number of the guys that put this together will be speaking and in  
attendance. Rumor has it that they're very eager to share what they've  
learned and we'll get a lot of information from them on the production  
and deployment. As this game took place in Quebec and so much of the  
material for it is in French, I am very excited to be able to get some  
info that my English language brain can understand. Plus, there might  
be talk on metrics and the like - not so exciting for the players  
among us, but happy making for the producer types.

Robot Speed Dating will lead us into the Friday night cocktail party.
The new and independent team behind Must Love Robots is coming and  
they're going to put on Robot Speed Dating Friday before the cocktail  
party. Judging from the things they've been doing, it should be  
hilarious and fun. But, I wonder, will some of us get dates to the  
cocktail party?

Lots of great speakers from lots of great teams & companies. A growing  
list can be found here: http://www.argfestocon.com/about/speakers/


Hotel reservations need to be made before June 26th if you want to  
take advantage of the reduced rates. You can read details on the  
booking page: http://www.argfestocon.com/location/booking/


We are still very much in need of donations and sponsorships - putting  
together a conference ain't cheap! So please, consider donating as an  
individual (just $10 will get you Order of the Trout but more is more  
better!) and/or as a company. We're very generous with giving credit  
and will plaster your name all over stuff if you want us to. Of  
course, the more you give, the more stuff we'll plaster. Also, if you  
know of anyone who we should approach for sponsorship, please let us  
know - getting money out of folks often takes a connection or two,  
especially in this economy. You can read more on the sponsorship page: http://www.argfestocon.com/sponsors/sponsorship/ 
   and you can check out our media kit if that helps: http://media.argfestocon.com/files/ARGFest_2009_Media_Kit.pdf 
  (link goes to an 8MB PDF)


I really hope to see you there. I won't lie - I had my doubts earlier  
on. But it really is shaping up to be one fantastic weekend and I'm  
crazy excited about it. I can't put my finger on what feels different  
- ARGFest has always been fun - it just does. And, yay!, it's less  
than a month away!