Why You Should Attend the LOGIN Conference

The LOGIN Conference is consistently one of my favorite conferences of the year. It’s held in Seattle each May and I’ve been speaking at it every year since its inception in 2007. It’s an online-focused conference — it started out as mostly an MMO conference but it now encompasses social, mobile, and browser games as well. I enjoy LOGIN so much that last summer I accepted an invitation to be on their Advisory Board.

And in the interest of disclosure, in addition to being an Advisor for LOGIN, we’re running a friendly contest to see which Advisor member can make the most referrals (I get an iPad if I win). Hence this post. If you want to attend LOGIN, I encourage you to:

use my discount code
KAZE001955
for $100 off registration

So as a good Advisor, this is where I tell you why LOGIN is the best show of its kind.

1. Great business environment. Because of the scope and size of the show (a relatively narrow topic with about 400 people present) it is very easy to get business done here. The attendees tend to be mid-to-high-level people at their companies and many people have the authorization to make business decisions. In fact, something like 75% of my clients in the last three years have been people I met at LOGIN!
2. World-class content. LOGIN features some of the best talks I’ve ever attended. A few that come to mind: in ’08 Todd Northcutt of GameSpy gave a fantastic talk titled “7 Cool Things You Can Do With Buddy Lists” (slides at the link), and Joe Ludwig’s augmented reality overview (slides and audio at the link, thanks Joe!) was the highlight of the 2009 show for me. And 2010 has some great content lined up, including Brenda Brathwaite discussing the move from AAA to social game development, and Corvus Elrod’s indie all-star panel discussing the obstacles that indies face in the online space.
3. Lunch keynote format. I usually hate keynotes. They’re often little more than veiled advertisements. And even when they’re good (like sci fi author Charlie Stross’ vision of the future at LOGIN 2009) I also hate being forced to see something. Fortunately, LOGIN does the lunch keynote: you get to eat lunch in a big room at round tables while watching the keynote. This does several things: it gives me something to focus on if I’m not interested in the keynote, it makes everyone have lunch at the same place and time, it forces people to sit together in a more social environment than a lecture hall, and it gives those people something to talk about (the keynote itself). It’s a nice way to format a keynote but even more importantly it’s a great networking opportunity!
4. Amazing food. I know the organizers of LOGIN are tired of hearing people talk about the food, but holy cow do they offer great food to the attendees! Far and away it’s the best I eat at any conference. Lunch is always amazing and even the snacks between sessions are wonderful. (I just about fell over when I saw them roll out the ice cream bar one year during the afternoon break.)
5. Beautiful setting. Seattle in May is about as good as it gets. It’s not rainy or overcast, it’s pretty much gorgeous outside the whole time!

So, yeah. You should attend LOGIN, especially if you’re an online game developer. Doubly so if you’re looking for clients! And let me know if you’re coming, we should hang out.