The 18th annual Games for Change Festival will take place July 12 - 14, 2021. Each year, G4C solicits ideas for program sessions from the community. This form allows us to gather your ideas for talks, panels, workshops and demos.

For 2021, G4C is featuring games that inspire, ignite, and imagine the future of social impact. Please propose session ideas that celebrate the past and explore the future for the games for change community. Accepted speakers will receive complimentary passes to the G4C Festival in New York City. There is no fee for submissions.

The 2021 G4C Festival talks and panels will focus on four areas:

(You will be asked to indicate into which of these areas your submission best fits.)

Games for Learning: Games reimagine how we learn, both in and out of the classroom. This track features diverse perspectives from educators, developers and experts who are committed to helping learning games reach their full potential as educational tools, especially when transitioning to a remote learning environment. Other noteworthy topics can include reflecting on remote models, lessons learned, and inspiring stories of success.

Health & Wellness: With digital medicine on the horizon, games continue to reshape how medical professionals provide care, comfort, and security. The road ahead undoubtedly includes games and interactive experiences that can improve cognitive skills, fitness, and mindfulness. This track includes forward-thinking sessions around interactive experiences that aim to improve healthcare systems and individual well-being. Strong research and evaluation studies will be prioritized in the review process.

Civics & Social Issues:  As we strive for social equity and justice, explore how games can drive responsible citizenship in an era that desperately needs it. This track highlights how games can bridge the gaps between communities and inspire action in a time when rapid shifts in the political sphere demand that citizens come to grips with the complex systems that govern our lives.

XR for Change Summit: Immersive environments have quickly become a nexus for communities all over the world, providing a glimpse of our digital futures. The XR for Change Summit is dedicated to exploring how immersive technologies are used to address real-world challenges, create empathy and drive social change. This track will explore a range of ways augmented, virtual, and mixed reality can have a meaningful impact in journalism, health, education, issue advocacy, workplace training, and provide a new frontier for social research.

Curators' Note on Diversity

The Festival is a platform for all voices and backgrounds, providing the community an opportunity to celebrate and reinforce G4C's core values: cross-sector collaboration, innovative and progressive thinking, and diverse prospectives. As such, our team of curators will strive to highlight the work and achievements from underrepresented communities.

Please also note that self-promotional presentations that are not focused on transparent sharing of lessons learned, failures, and meaningful takeaways for the audience are unlikely to be seriously considered.

Key Dates

January 12 - Submissions open
February 12 - Submissions close (11:59pm EST)
February/March - Outreach to Accepted Session Submissions
July 12-14 - Games for Change Festival & XR4C Summit

NOTE: This form will auto-save every four seconds, using your browser's local storage feature. In order to access your saved data, you will need to login from the same device using the same browser. Auto-save does NOT save files selected for upload (i.e., supporting materials).

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

The information listed below will be used as the main point of contact if this submission is selected by one of our curators. We will reach out to this contact to share the status of your session submission.

The following questions will help us understand the structure and content of your submission. If your submission is selected, the final format and time allotted to the selected session will be determined in collaboration with and at the discretion of Games for Change.  

Please list the session type that is most applicable to your session.

Talk (20 minutes) - a standard session where 1-2 speakers discuss a topic or subject area of interest to the G4C community.

Panel (45 minutes) - a session where 4-6 speakers discuss a topic or subject area. One speaker will act as the moderator and lead the discussion. Panels do not have Q&A from the audience.

Round Table (60 minutes) - similar to a panel, 4-6 speakers discuss a topic with more nuance. This format also includes opportunities for audience participation in said discussion.

Workshop (60+ minutes) -  workshops are unique hands-on experiences where attendees learn a particular methodology, skillset, etc. Speakers are directly facilitating and interacting with the participating attendees during the workshop.

Project Brief (5-10 minutes) - Do you have a social impact game or project that the G4C community would be excited to hear about? Project briefs outline unique games, case studies, and experiences that are making a difference.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

If you have supplemental materials to provide for your session idea (such as images, videos, audio samples, research papers, etc.), please check the appropriate box. Supplemental materials are not required.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding how to submit your talk, please email festival@gamesforchange.org.

Review Process

Games for Change staff works with curators for each track to review speaker submissions and ensure that topics feel dynamic and relevant to where the sector is today and, hopefully, where it is heading tomorrow.

About Games for Change

We empower game creators and social innovators to drive real-world change using games and immersive media that can help people to learn, improve their communities, and contribute to make the world a better place.