Speaking History + Presentations

I enjoy speaking, moderating panels, and curating content & presenters.  Here is an incomplete list of talks I have given, sessions I have organized, and conferences I have advised.

Slides are available for some of these. Don’t hesitate to ask for them.

This page includes:

Business, Finance, & Media

Colleges & Universities

  • Harvard Alumni Association (HAA): Glimpses
    • Dan co-created (with fiancée Kate Elliott Smith, RIA) and produced Glimpses, a collection of 5-minute personal talks that has been embraced by the HAA, is now included in most  Harvard reunions of 20th-century classes, and has spread to several other schools.  Designed as an antidote to didactic panels of designated-successful classmates, Glimpses is about classmates getting to know each other. Each Glimpse is personal: accomplishments, career news, and Powerpoint slides are forbidden.
  • MIT & Wesleyan
    • Guest critic & judge for classes taught by Christopher S. Weaver.
      • MIT: “CMS.610, Media Industries and Systems: The Art, Science and Business of Games”
      • Wesleyan: “CIS 250, Computational Media: Videogame Design and Development”
  • Northeastern Business School
    • Guest lecture: “Competitive Strategy in an Internet Venture”
  • Harvard Graduate School of Education
    • Guest lecture: “Massively Multiplayer Online Games”, 
      for “T-539, Emerging Technologies in Educational Contexts”, with Dr. Karen Price.
  • Harvard Interactive Media Group (Student organization)
    • Advisor.  Speaker
  • MIT Entrepreneurs Club
  • ENJMIN, Angoulême, France (via video from Boston, US), March 14, 2008
    • Lecture and discussion: “Making Games: Personal Observations”

Games for Health; Games for Entertainment

  • Serious Play Conference 2016, Chapel Hill, NC, July 26-28
    • Lecture: “Strategies for Commercial Success: A Health-Game Example.”
  • IEEE-GEM 2015, Toronto, October 14-16 (schedule)
    • Keynote lecture: “Bringing games from lab to marketplace: Best practices for successful commercialization”
  • Games for Change Europe 2015, Paris, June 15-16 (schedule)
    • Lecture: “Successful collaboration between Games Developers and Scientists”
  • Games for Change 2015, New York, April 22
  • Games for Health Day at mHealth Summit, December 2014
    • Host (moderator)
  • Games for Health at Games Beyond Entertainment Week
    • Games for Health 2012, Boston, June 13 (schedule)
      Moderator: “Business Models Beyond Grants”
    • Games for Health 2011, Boston, May 19 (schedule)
      Moderator: “Massive Multiplayer Meets Massive Health: How Do We Use The Scale of Big Games to Attack Big Problems?”
  • Osney Media Events, London
    • Marketing & Monetising Mobile Games (3MG), June 26-27, 2013
      • Conference Chairman (panel moderator, opening & closing remarks)
    • Connected, Community-Based & 3D Mobile Games, August 31, 2005
      • Conference Chairman
    • Mobile Games Forum, January 26-27, 2005
      • Conference Chairman
    • Multiplayer and 3D Mobile Games, August 31, 2004
      • Conference Chairman
  • IGDA Summit (International Game Developers Association) at Casual Connect, Seattle, July 2012
    • Chairman, Community Track.  Moderator.
  • MIT Business in Games (MITBiG)  
    • Advisor
    • MITBiG 2011, Boston,
      Moderator: “Rhythm, Motion and Immersion: How Technology is Changing Gaming” and
      Moderator: “Why So Serious, Games?”
    • MITBiG 2010, Cambridge,
      Moderator: “Game Companies’ Financial Analytics”
  • GDC (Game Developers Conference): Several lectures and roundtables.  (This list is incomplete, especially for older GDCs!)
    • GDC Online, September 2011,
      Roundtable moderator: “Exploiting the Analysts: What Game Designers Do with that Data”
    • GDC Austin, September 2007,
      Moderator:  “F2P/Microtransaction Games: Considerations, Risks and Potential Rewards”
    • GDC, San Francisco, March 2007,
      Roundtable moderator: “Casual Games on Multiple Formats: Mobile, Web, Handheld, PC or Console”
    • GDC Casual Games Summit 2005,
      Moderator: Mobile panel
      Moderator: Other-Markets panel
    • GDC Online 2004 (pka GDC Austin, née Austin Game Conference), September,
      Moderator: “Implementing Multiplayer”
    • GDC 2004, San Jose, March.
      Lecture: “Mobile Games: Lessons from Online Games”
    • GDC Mobile 2004, San Jose, March,
      Moderator: “Game Design Case Studies: Made-for-the-Medium Original Titles“
    • GDC Casual Games Summit 2004, San Jose, March 23,
      Lecture: “Business Models for Casual Games”
      Panel Presentation: “Leveling-up in Non-Game MMOGs”  (this before “Gamification” was first uttered)
    • GDC Europe Mobile, August 26, 2003
      Lecture: “Multiplayer Games and Mobile Communities” (revised version)
    • GDC, San Jose, March 2003,
      Lecture: “Doing Business with the Telecom Industry: Understanding their Deal Terms, Culture, Rites & Rituals”
    • GDC Mobile, San Jose, March 5, 2003,
      Lecture: “Multiplayer Games and Mobile Communities”
    • GDC Mobile, San Jose, March 5, 2003,
      Moderator: “Beyond Downloadable Games: How New Technologies Will Drive New Forms of Interaction”
    • GDC Boston, September 8, 2000,
      Lecture: “Brainstorming, Economics, and Discipline: Where Do New Games Come From?”
    • GDC: late 1990’s, lectures on developer/publisher partnerships (based on early strategic-partnerships work I’d done)
  • Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC), Melbourne, Australia, November 20-23, 2003
  • E3Expo, Los Angeles: Backup moderator. Also:
    • E3Expo 2004, May 12-14
      Moderator:  “Social Systems in Online Games: Don’t Build One Without It”
    • E3Expo 2003, May
      Moderator: “Survive The Platform Shakeout In Mobile Gaming”
    • E3Expo 2002,
      Panelist: “Startup Workshop”
  • New York Games Conferences from Digital Media Wire
    • NY Games 2010, September, New York
      Moderator: “The Smartphone Revolution – What are the Latest Trends in Games and Social Networking for Mobile Platforms?”
    • NY Games 2008, September, New York
      Moderator: “Games on the Go – Challenges & Opportunities In Creating and Distributing Mobile Games”
    • Games & Mobile Forum, 2006, New York, April 25-26
      Interviewer: “Featured Interview and Q&A: Lou Fasulo, Cingular Wireless”
      Interviewer: “Featured Interview and Q&A: David Gosen, I-Play”
    • Games & Mobile Forum, 2005, New York, April 21
      Interviewer: “Featured Interview and Q&A: Jason Ford, Sprint Wireless Games”
    • Games & Mobile Forum 2004, New York, April 15,
      Moderator: “How Will Content and Business Models Evolve for the Mobile Market?”
    • Digital Sports Forum, New York, July 14, 2003
      Moderator: “Wireless Distribution of Sports Content”
  • Microsoft’s GameDev Day (college student outreach):
    • GameDev Day 2010, Cambridge (MS-NERD), Moderator
    • GameDev Day 2007, Cambridge (Harvard), November
      Co-presenter, “Creating Games – What *Really* Goes on Under the Covers”
  • Interactive Media, Tel Aviv, July 18, 2007
    • Lecture: “Massively-Multiplayer Online Games: Lessons from the Past, Opportunities for the Future”
  • Games & Mobile Forum at LA Games Conference, from Digital Media Wire, May 2007, Los Angeles
    • Moderator: “Casual Games on Any Platform?”
  • Mobile Multiplayer, 3D and Location-Based Games Forum, from C5, Barcelona, Spain, April 14-15, 2005
    • Conference Chairman (Day 1)
  • Korea Global Games Conference 2002 (from KIPA), Seoul, Korea, December 3-4
    • Track Chairman (arranged speakers and program, moderated)
    • Lecture: “Online Games” Principles, Trends, and Platforms”

Other Conference Presentations

(These want more detail, and/or to be sorted into the above, and someday maybe I’ll do so.)

  • Mobile Games, Madrid, 2003
  • iWireless
  • Mobile Entertainment Institute, University of Southern California, 2003, 2004, …
  • Comverse Worldwide User Forum (on behalf of Comverse)
    • Kos, Greece, June 12, 2002
      • Lecture: (The Games Industry)
    • Deauville, France, September 10-13, 2001
      • Lecture: “Mobile Games: Lessons from Online Games and Online Communities”
  • GDC 2001, Sponsored Session, for Comverse, March 22, 2001
    Lecture: “Comverse Game Network”
  • CTIA 2006
  • Mobile Entertainment Forum’s E3 Event, May 23, 2002
    Lecture: “The State of the Mobile Industry”
    Panelist