The online gaming industry’s biggest conference will have a new look and a new name when it takes place at the Amsterdam RAI next month.
Organisers Clarion Gaming have brought together the iGaming Super Show, EiG and Amsterdam Affiliate Conference to become a consolidated event called iGB Live!, which will run from July 17-20.
“We’re expecting more than 5,000 people and it should be the biggest show we’ve had,” said Clarion Gaming’s portfolio director Shona ODonnell.
“Every year it grows and gets bigger and bigger and this year the take up has just been phenomenal. Whether we had changed it to iGB Live! or not, people love the Super Show, they love Amsterdam, they love the venue.
“It’s a show that really works for people. What I love about it is it is not a show where people just talk about doing business, it’s a show where people are actually signing deals.”
ODonnell said they were trying something “completely different” with the conference format in the shape of iGB Live! HQ, which is split into four areas –Hive, Elevator, Counsel and Boardroom.
The Hive will feature “curated networking”, ODonnell said.
She added: “We have got regulators from a lot of areas coming so they will be the speakers, but they are not speakers as such. We are going to have them in that space but it is not a conference session, it’s not about someone talking to you.
“We are doing things to help people start conversations, ways to try to facilitate networking and trying to make it a bit more exciting.
“We know how important networking is to the industry so we want people to feel like they can have open conversations and that they have a starting point.”
In the Counsel area, delegates will be invited to participate in debates led by a team from the Cambridge Union.
Topics for debate will include whether affiliate marketing will disappear, whether esports will exceed football in its fanbase and that gaming will never attract positive media.
ODonnell added: “We are going to ask the really difficult questions, we are going to ask the questions that make people angry, that get people really fired up.
“All of the sessions in this space are really designed to get people interacting with us and talking to us and sharing their opinions and not feeling as if they are a passive member of our audience.
“We want them to get involved and have a really engaging debate in the really big questions that are happening in the gaming industry today.”
In the Elevator area speakers, including William Hill head of technology Martin Kuegler, will be among those giving 15-minute presentations on the latest products, processes and technologies, while views from outside the world of igaming will be on offer in the Boardroom.
ODonnell added: “Everyone is really positive about it and I think what shows it is working is not only have we seen a lot of new people come on board, we’ve seen a real increase in investment from people who have exhibited in past years.
“That shows it is working for them because people are not going to invest if it is not working.”