WiG has strong ties with the Women in Games International group, spearheaded by a gaggle of gifted girls (please excuse, the alliteration was too compelling) over in the US, with industry and conference track records several hundred feet long. At the most recent WIGI meeting (I sit on both steering committees), it came to our general attention that the “International” component was sadly lacking. After putting heads together, we thought one of the simplest ways to remedy this oversight would be to incorporate more women in the UK games industry into their informal mentoring programme. Briefly:
Women in Games International is pleased to announce the WIGI Mentoring Google Group. Take a moment today to visit the WIGI Mentoring home page to request an invitation to join the group. Once a member, introduce your self to the Group and then begin the process of becoming a mentor, finding a mentee, or both!
They’re looking for people who would like to get involved with the industry or would like to guide potential industry employees through the battlefield.
WIGI is an extremely prolific events-based organisation, and over on the other side of the Atlantic, they have formal get-togethers with seminars and conference rooms organised by the Steering Committee and informal “Mixers”, organised by WIGI members themselves. The latter have proved extremely successful, and it would be marvellous to have some over here:
Basic Mixer Responsibilities
1. Find location and arrange for food and drink2. Find sponsors to pay for venue, food and drink as necessary and provide giveaways if possible.3. Create badges for each attendee based on RSVP Evite.
4. Print and post banner for mixer listing all sponsors (I will create a file for you for large format printing if it’s available to you. Otherwise, I will create the banner and mail it to you.)
5. Collect business cards of all attendees for giveaways. Save business cards for delivery to WIGI.
6. Take photos of the event, especially of the event banner. These photos are needed for sponsors
7. Act as event host, welcoming attendees and encouraging them to participate in networking. (I created “Get-to-Know-You” bingo cards that require attendees to meet others and find out a bit about them. Feel free to use any icebreaker you want.)
As part of the deal, WIGI will cover up to 25% of costs. If you’d like to provide the platform for a local get-together, here’s a handy “Mixer in a Box” to get you started. Let us know if you intend to put one on, and we’ll happily advertise for you!
Hm…. that sounds like a good idea.
There are lots of women playing games these days.