Between 2002 and 2012, I organized over 50 events for the Austin Museum of Digital Art. These shows were held at various locations in Austin, featured hundreds of musicians and artists from around the world, and were attended by thousands of people. I set the initial vision behind the Digital Showcase Series and made strategic adjustments over time to ensure continued success. I also oversaw a team of volunteers responsible for artist relations, equipment rental, front door logistics, audio/visual setup and operation, lighting, stage management, and teardown. The photos below (taken by Craig Washburn) document the results. More photos can be found here.
DJs performing at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
Musician performing at Laptop Battle (with live video art in background)
Playful audio synthesis devices set up for audience interaction
DJ performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Live band performing at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Digital Showcase in costume (with props in foreground and video art in background)
Audience at Digital Showcase watching a performance
Audience member viewing print pieces
Musician performing at Laptop Battle with video art in background
Live band performing at Digital Showcase
Installation piece hanging at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Digital Showcase
Multiple screens of video art at Digital Showcase
Rapper performing at Digital Showcase
Video art at Digital Showcase (with shadows of audience members)
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
Musician performing at Digital Showcase (using a modified Nintendo GameBoy)
Emcees announcing upcoming acts at Laptop Battle
Live band performing at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
Print pieces hanging on wall at Digital Showcase
Vocalist performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Audience members viewing installation art piece at Digital Showcase
DJ performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Rapper and backup DJ performing at Digital Showcase
Audience members viewing video art (and printed programs) at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
Audio synthesis devices set up for audience interaction at Digital Showcase
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
Band performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Rapper performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Musician performing at Digital Showcase (with video art in background)
Musician performing at Laptop Battle
AMODA Marketing
In addition to planning events with the Austin Museum of Digital Art (AMODA), I also oversaw the organization’s marketing and PR efforts for many years. This involved high-level strategic decisions, like where to deploy our limited resources, the ideal message to reach our audience, and how to create a strong brand for the events / organization. I also wrote press releases, promoted events on social media, communicated with journalists, and cultivated our email list. One big component of AMODA marketing is the flyers that promote each event. I provided input on the designer selection, visual design, and content for each flyer. A small sampling of the results can be seen below.
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
Digital Showcase flyer (front)
Digital Showcase flyer (back)
ATX Mobile & Indie Game Dev
In early 2013, I founded a meetup group focused on game development at independent studios and/or for new platforms (mobile, HTML5, wearables, microconsoles). The events feature talks by industry professionals and hobbyist developers with useful lessons in areas like engineering, marketing, game design, project management, fundraising, art, and audio production. I’m responsible for securing the space, booking speakers, lining up sponsors, promoting the events, and making strategic adjustments over time to maintain community engagement. The events are held monthly at Capital Factory, a startup space in downtown Austin. The group has now grown to over 750 members and our events are often at capacity. Below are some images from these events.
John Warren and the crew from Minicore Games shared lessons learned from their development of the mobile puzzle game Tumblewords (pictured here).
Adam Saltsman shared marketing and PR tips for indie devs. Pictured here is Adam's game Canabalt.
This is another of Adam Saltsman's games, the hit mobile puzzler Hundreds.
George Royer from White Whale Games spoke about game design concepts. Pictured here is the company's game God of Blades.
Patrick Curry of Fun Machine compared developing for consoles to mobile game dev. Pictured here is Awesome Eats (built on contract for Whole Foods).
Board game creator Jonathan Leistiko spoke about game design analysis and deconstruction. He discussed ideas that apply to both paper and digital games.
Trent Polack, Creative Director of Team Chaos, spoke about the experiences that led to his current position. Pictured here is the company's mobile game Dragon Trials.
John Watson, Technical Director of Stoic Studio, discussed adapting their game, The Banner Saga (pictured here), for mobile devices.
Shay Pierce discussed game design prototyping, reflected on the creative process, and shared lessons learned from recent projects. Pictured here is his game Connectrode.
Randy Smith and David Kalina, of Tiger Style Games, explored the differences between developing their first mobile game, Spider (pictured here) and its work-in-progress sequel.
John Arras spoke about using shared code between several titles. Pictured here is his mobile and Facebook game Super Cute Animal Rumble.
Troy Gilbert discussed using Adobe AIR for rapid, cross-platform development of simple 2D mobile titles. Pictured here is his game Puzzles By Thumb.
Dan Magaha, of GameSalad and formerly Firaxis, talked about rapid prototyping. Pictured here is the GameSalad authoring tool.
Matt Piersall, of GL33k, provided tips on working with sound designers. Pictured are some of the games GL33k has worked on.
M. James Short discussed game jams and the role of humor in game design. Pictured is his iOS title Hyperemesis Pizza.
Lauren Ellis, of Ignis Studios, shared tips about game UX design. Pictured is her mobile puzzle game Mosaic.
Adam Gabbert, of Manitou Games, spoke about the technology and lessons learned from his recent release, Turtle Up (pictured here).
Finn Staber, of Portalarium, covered developing games for mobile VR and for smartglasses, including the Epson Moverio (pictured).
Matt Meyer revealed the ideas and design process behind his award-winning music game Ephemerid (pictured here).
Saam Pahlavan discussed the emotional aspects of releasing a long-in-development indie title. Pictured is his game Disorder.
Various Companies
Much of my work experience relates to marketing. At EnviroMedia, I provided both strategic and tactical guidance to clients and internal teams on the digital elements of various ad campaigns. At Enspire, I helped brainstorm and implement ideas for making online courses more engaging for users. At Ricochet Labs, I researched and documented marketing issues for the founders, created print and web marketing collateral, and participated in strategic discussions about product direction. Also, I regularly help my wife with content strategy, analytics, SEO, social media, branding, email list maintenance, and WordPress implementation issues for her long-running design blog, Mirror80.
Digital Media MBA
I also extenstively studied marketing as part of earning my MBA in Digital Media Management at St. Edward’s University. In our many marketing classes, we covered marketing strategy, branding, quantitative data gathering, qualititative research, and much more. We also completed a number of major group projects related to marketing, and my Capstone was focused on providing B2B marketing recommendations to Bazaarvoice to maximize upsell performance. You can find a sampling of my coursework in the MBA Projects section of my portfolio.
