The information on this page reflects 2021 info, please check back soon for updates.
The VRDC call for submissions closed February 15, 2021 at 11:59 pm PT.
The GDC Summits and Game Career Seminar call for submissions also closed February 15, 2021 at 11:59 pm PT.
The GDC Core Concepts call for submissions closed January 11 at 11:59pm PT.
Questions?
If your question isn’t answered in the FAQ below, email Molly Portillo for Game Career Seminar, GDC Summit, and VRDC questions, or Ashley Corrigan for GDC Core Concepts questions.
Submission Guidelines
If you would like to submit, please take note of the following:
Diversity and Representation
VRDC aims to achieve diversity of voice, experience, and perspective. Please take this goal into consideration when considering who would be best to speak on behalf of your company or department and/or when submitting panelists.
Vendor-Specific Proposals
VRDC does not accept product or vendor-related submissions. If your talk is a thinly veiled advertisement for a new product, technology or service your company is offering, please do not submit. If you would like to publicize a product, please visit the become a sponsor page for more information on sponsored sessions.
Original Authors
VRDC only accepts submissions by original authors of the presentations. PR firms, speaking relation firms, and all other parties who are not direct authors of submitted presentations are discouraged from submitting a proposal on behalf of their clients/speakers. VRDC requires direct contact with presenters to expedite questions during the submission review process.
Selection Criteria
The VRDC Advisors will review and rate submissions based on the following criteria:
- Concept: This is the basic idea of your submission. Is it interesting? Is it relevant? Will it be beneficial for game developers to hear? There is plenty of room for innovative ideas and also the tried and true.
- Depth: Is the basic idea well considered and thought out? To what extent will the audience gain insight? The more in-depth, the better.
- Organization: Are your ideas conducive to present in front of an audience? Will the VRDC Advisors understand what you are trying to say? Organization helps.
- Credentials: How do your credentials qualify you to speak on the topic you have proposed?
- Takeaway: Is the attendee going to leave this session knowing something they didn't know when they walked in? Are they learning or being inspired? This is the most important aspect of every VRDC session. The submissions will be rated on a one to five scale by each of the reviewers and the resulting scores are averaged. Submissions in each category with the highest scores are considered first. If there is too much topic overlap, a lesser scoring submission may be selected to keep variety in the program.
Speaker Expectations
VRDC attendees are very intelligent. They are looking for material that is not obvious and expect excellence from VRDC speakers. After your presentation, they will evaluate it based on delivery, knowledge of the topic and the visuals presented.
Preparation is one of the most important factors in delivering a successful talk at VRDC. Please keep the following in mind when you propose to speak:
- The proposed outline you submit now must match the talk you present at VRDC. Consider the talk’s duration and submit content accordingly.
- Plan to commit AT LEAST 25 HOURS to prepare for your session
- Rehearse the delivery of your session to be more effective; preferably in front of your peers and/or record yourself speaking then review it. Both are great ways to practice pacing and timing. Your presentation materials must be completed and submitted four weeks before VRDC
- Please note the VRDC Advisors and content team are here to help. If you have ANY additional speaking questions you’d like VRDC to cover, please email Molly Portillo.
VRDC Descriptions & Topics of Interest
The VRDC Advisors are seeking proposals on the following topics, which are the foundation of the programs this year. However, feel free to submit your own original ideas for consideration as well. At GDC and VRDC, we aim to achieve diversity of voice, experience and perspective. When considering who would be best to speak on behalf of your company or department, we strongly encourage taking this goal into consideration.
Game VR/AR Track
Advisors are soliciting submissions exploring virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in game development, pertaining to topics across multiple disciplines including Design, Narrative, Production, Programming, and Visual Art. Submissions should be representative of interesting and current work happening in VR/AR/MR game development and have valuable, actionable, and/or inspiring takeaways for the VRDC audience.
Entertainment VR/AR Track
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality is about so much more than just games. For the Entertainment VR/AR Track, advisors are soliciting submissions spanning VR/AR/MR application, design, implementation, and development across multiple industries including Entertainment, Travel, Retail, Fitness, Product Design, Journalism, and Sports Entertainment. If you're developing an immersive VR, AR, or MR experience or application that goes beyond games, we want to hear about it!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the submission deadline?
The VRDC call for submission deadline is Monday, February 15 at 11:59 pm PT.
What makes a good submission?
- Review the submission guidelines on this page and follow the instructions.
- Incomplete proposals or proposals that are commercial or marketing in nature will not be considered.
- Write your proposal so that it is easily understood. Concise, precise language and a discernible thesis will also help your chances in the review process.
- The advisors will read many submissions. Get to your point as quickly as possible. Consider what the proposal is about. Why is it interesting? How is it important to development? What will developers get out of the session?
What do I need to provide in my submission?
The submission form will require these key items. You may be asked to submit additional materials before a decision is made on your proposal.
Speaker Contact Information
We require the speaker's direct email address to be associated with the Speaker Profile in the submission form. Should the speaker have a PR or administrative representative assisting with the completion of the submission form, that person's contact info should be entered in the 'PR reps' section of the speaker profile to ensure all parties receive conference communication.
Session Title
Provide a session title in fewer than 10 words. Please try to include keywords, topics, and game titles covered in your talk.
Session Description
In 100-150-words, provide a concise description of your session as you would have it appear on the GDC website. Write in 3rd person, present tense.
Attendee Takeaway
In 50-words or less, tell us what attendees will gain from this presentation. Be specific by giving concrete examples and remember that VRDC attendees are experts in their field. Do not use bullet points, write in 3rd person present tense.
Intended Audience
In 50-words or less, describe your target audience and who will benefit from your presentation. Is prerequisite knowledge necessary for understanding the content of the session? If so, what are the prerequisites? Do not use bullet points, write in 3rd person present tense.
Presentation Outline
You have about 500 words to outline and describe to the VRDC Advisors what your talk will be about, and why it will be interesting to VRDC attendees. This is not the abstract for your talk for the GDC website, it is not meant for attendees to read, it is not a teaser, and it is not a place for cute wordplay. It is for you to describe concretely and succinctly what is compelling about your talk to the advisors, a group of people who have probably read 250 of these descriptions by the time they get to yours. Do not tease with something like, "My lecture will reveal amazing findings about how people play puzzle platformers," instead say, "We have found 90% of people only play puzzle platformers while eating pepperoni pizza," or whatever your amazing finding actually is. If you need more than 500 words to describe your lecture in this way, you can upload supplemental materials (.doc, .pdf, .txt) to your submission.
Supporting Materials
It is optional to submit supplemental information that supports your session proposal. Additional materials may include white papers, code, demos, videos, images, proof of concept, etc.
Past Speaking Engagements & Weblinks
If applicable, list the conferences, the title of the lecture, scores, and references. If you can provide references for these lectures, include a name and contact information. Add links to your company's website(s), personal blog(s), projects you're working on, etc., to support your proposal. Please do not offer links to news articles.
What are the session formats?
The final length and format of accepted sessions will be determined by the advisors. Please select what you feel will be the most appropriate.
| Format | Duration | Description |
| Lectures | 30 or 60 Minutes | Lectures are issue-oriented, provide concrete examples, and contain both practical and theoretical information. GDC generally prefers only one speaker but we may accept two if you can demonstrate the second person is necessary. Postmortems and case studies are included in this category. |
| Panels | 60 Minutes | Panels take many different viewpoints on a topic or issue and combine them in one debate session with a moderator. Debate among panelists (with very different opinions) is welcome and audience Q&A time should be accounted for. We prefer 60 minutes for this format and no more than 5 people with diverse representation. Include all of the panelists you have confirmed in the proposal. A very limited number of panels will be accepted. |
How do I choose a session format?
60-minute lectures tend to be case studies or inspirational, high-level, or detail-oriented talks. 30-minute lectures tend to cover a single, narrow topic in depth. Panels tend to examine a controversial or difficult topic with no easy answers and lots of interesting, diverse talking points; panels are always 60-minutes, which is enough time for about eight planned questions. In all cases, expect to leave a few minutes at the end for Q&A. Also consider who is speaking. Most lectures are given by a single person, unless there is a compelling reason that requires multiple speakers. Panels generally have a moderator and three or four panelists with unique experience or viewpoints who are known experts on the topic.
How does the submission and selection process work?
- We will email you a confirmation when we receive your proposal. If you do not receive this confirmation, contact Molly Portillo.
- Save the link to your proposal, you can revise your submission details until the deadline.
- The advisors will review all submissions in the coming months and determine the status.
- GDC conference managers will then notify you of the status of your submission by late March.
The following criteria are considered when reviewing your submission:
- Concept: This is the basic idea of your submission. Is it interesting? Is it relevant? Will it be beneficial for game developers to hear? There is plenty of room for innovative ideas and also the tried and true.
- Depth: Is the basic idea well considered and thought out? To what extent will the audience gain insight? The more in-depth, the better.
- Organization: Are your ideas conducive to present in front of an audience? Will the VRDC Advisors understand what you are trying to say? Organization helps.
- Credentials: How do your credentials qualify you to speak on the topic you've proposed?
- Takeaway: Is the attendee going to leave this session knowing something they didn't know when they walked in? Are they learning or being inspired? This is the most important aspect of every VRDC session. Submissions will be rated on a one to five scale by each of the reviewers and the resulting scores are averaged. Submissions in each category with the highest scores are considered first. If there is too much topic overlap, a lesser scoring submission may be selected to keep variety in the program.
- A Note On Writing Style: Unless we've seen you speak before (or you link to a video of you speaking at some other conference), we tend to assume that your writing style is at least somewhat correlated to your speaking style because that's all we have to go on. Write the way that you would speak at VRDC.
Who will review my proposal?
The VRDC Advisors review all submissions. They are distinguished industry professionals who volunteer their time to help develop the numerous sessions at VRDC. They work to ensure that the quality of the content provided to attendees is high-level, relevant, and timely.
If I submit to VRDC, can I submit to Core Concepts, Summits and/or Game Career Seminar too?
Yes. There is no penalty for submitting a proposal for the GDC Core Concepts, Summits, and/or Game Career Seminar, however, should you submit the same topic more than once, keep your audience in mind and adjust similar content as you deem appropriate. Each program has its own advisors and will be reviewed separately.
What are the benefits of speaking?
The benefits of being a speaker include:
- Complimentary registration
- Access to all Core Concepts sessions, VRDC, GDC Summits, Game Career Seminar, and the Expo floor
- Speaker meal card for the Moscone Center
- Invitation to our annual VIP networking event, the Level99 Speaker Party
- Your name and presentation featured in our conference program and website
- A year subscription to the GDC Vault (recordings of all GDC events, past and present)
How do I propose a vendor-specific session?
We want our talks to be opportunities for professional game developers to share their ideas and experiences. Proposals that are commercial or marketing in nature will not be considered. In general, content specific to proprietary products and technologies are considered sponsored material. The VRDC Advisors and conference management reserve the right to exercise their editorial discretion. If you would like to publicize a product, please visit the become a sponsor page for more information on sponsored sessions.
What does GDC expect from speakers?
When you agree to speak at GDC or VRDC, you are making a commitment to deliver a well-prepared talk and to speak on the topic you have proposed. We ask that you do not drastically change the submitted topic or content. You will be evaluated by attendees on how well you delivered your presentation, aim to be among the top 50 presenters, so we can make it available online. We ask speakers to submit the final version of their presentation to be made available on GDC Vault.
When will I be notified of the status of my submission?
You will receive an automated email response once your submission is received. We will notify you of the status of your submission by late March. If you do not hear from us by then, please contact Molly Portillo.
How should a PR Rep or Executive Assistant submit on behalf of a potential speaker?
First, it is ideal for the speakers themselves to submit as they can provide the most detail about the content. However, if you are a PR representative or someone submitting on behalf of a potential speaker, fill in the speaker's contact info in the first section and also list the speaker's information in the speaker profile section, but be sure to add yourself as the 'PR contact' associated with the speaker profile(s). This will ensure that you receive all email correspondence relating to VRDC in the same email as the speaker(s). Without complete speaker details, the submission will be considered incomplete and will not be able to advance until speaker contact info is received.
