Update::Highlights from the Indie Game Challenge Awards will be shown this Friday night on X-Play on G4 TV. Check your cable listings for the schedule in your time zone.
After all the DICE conference sessions, the networking, the AIAS Awards (you'd never believe Jay Mohr's joke about me even if I told it), we wrapped up the week with Friday night's Indie Game Challenge awards ceremony.
The competition was sponsored by GameStop, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and the Guildhall at SMU, and all three should feel intensely proud of this event.
In addition to being an evening spent celebrating the passion of game creators, it was also a great reminder about how strong managers can bring out the best in people.
First of all, thanks to GameStop the two winning teams -- one professional and one not-yet-professional, each won $100,000 for their games. No, that's not a typo. One hundred thousand bucks for each team.
The mood in the room, however, would have been almost as great even without the cash prizes. One by one the twelve finalists were celebrated with video trailers, and Adam Sessler of G4 interviewed a member of the development team on stage. Each received a very heavy and very cool-looking crystal trophy.
We heard the same themes over and over again. Someone loved a certain kind of game. They got an idea. Some friends pitched in. They worked insane hours. They released it to the world. They got feedback and worked more insane hours to make it even better.
And having people love to play your game is one of the sweetest feelings you can ever have during your time on this planet.
I mentioned Adam's interview with the leader of each of the twelve finalists. Up on a stage in front of a crowd in a hotel ballroom. With TV lights and cameras and a microphone in the person's hand. Sitting on a folding chair so tall you had to climb up on it to sit down.
There is no college class, even at the Guildhall, where they prepare you to sit on tall chairs under bright lights with TV cameras in your face and a microphone in your hands.
Most of the competitors probably had never done a full-scale TV interview in their lives.
Adam opened the event by giving out one piece of advice about coming up on stage. "Remember to breathe," he told them. "Breathing really helps."
As each person made their way to the too-tall chair and took the big silver microphone, Sessler waited for them to get settled. Then he started them out with a compliment and a simple question. It might be something like, "What I really loved about your game was the animations and the art style that reminded me of classic coin-op games. What gave you the idea to use that visual style in the game?"
OK, Adam had played all the games. Good journalist doing his job. But there was more to it than that.
* Sessler made the first question just long enough to let the person in the chair get settled in, collect their thoughts. And breathe.
* Adam started with his personal praise, showing he was knowledgeable about the game. The game developers saw that Sessler understood and supported them. You could see them relax a little in that uncomfortable chair.
* He had prepared enough questions so that he always was ready to jump in. But he was also prepared enough to ad lib a question based on an interesting answer. When the person doing an interview takes charge it lets the other person relax, and it's something that pro's like Sessler know how to do in a subtle way that feels natural to viewers.
* If someone got a little off track, Adam jumped in and pushed the conversation ahead.
* He made the end of the interview very clear and positive. It went for a while and then he wrapped the discussion on a high note. Compare this to interrupting someone to say they're out of time and doing an awkward transition.
I know that many of the people on that stage were really nervous as they walked up to take their turn. But most of them neither looked nor sounded uncomfortable. Pretty cool, huh?
Whether you're a CEO, a journalist or a hiring manager, sometimes you're going to ask people questions in a setting where they're nervous and uncomfortable.
As Adam Sessler did...
* How can you let someone get settled in and comfortable before you start the difficult parts of a conversation? Sessler did it in 20 to 30 seconds -- no need to discuss the playoffs for five minutes.
* What positive comment could you open with to help the person relax? They may have worked on a game you really liked. Even in a tough problem-solving setting there's usually some common ground to start from.
(One exception: If you're sitting down to bawl someone out for a mistake, just get to it. If there's relationship building to do, that comes after the bawling out is done.)
* If they're nervous, how can you carry the conversation for a couple of minutes until they settle down?
* Do you pleasantly signal when the discussion has come to an end?
Congrats to the finalists and winners of the 2010 Indie Game Challenge. All 12 finalists -- out of 250 entrants -- deserved the honors they received.
Congrats to GameStop, the AIAS and the Guildhall for sponsoring this great event.
And congrats to Adam Sessler for reminding us how good managers can handle high-pressure situations with people and make everyone come out looking good.
Copyright (c) 2010, Don Daglow. All Rights Reserved.
Very informative blog. Thanks for taking the time to share your view with us.
Posted by: Corbin | September 06, 2010 at 10:52 AM