Are You Ready for Develop as a Candidate?

Every year, thousands of people flock down to my wonderful home town of Brighton & Hove for Develop, the UK's leading games industry conference, stacked to the roof with talks, events, expos and networking opportunities. It's an absolute hotbed for business discussions and deal closing, but as a candidate, the whole experience can come across quite overwhelming, especially if you are relatively new to conference season.

Whether you're attending your first ever industry event, returning after a few years away, or simply trying to make the most of your time there, a little bit of preparation goes a very long way. Develop can open doors, introduce you to people you've admired from afar and give you genuine opportunities to progress your career, but only if you're ready to make the most of it.

With that in mind, I wanted to put together a quick list of things to remember and eventualities to prepare for, so that you can get the absolute most out of the week.

1 - Use Meet2Match and write down your meetings beforehand.

It's so important to make the most of the event, and what better way to do that than by utilising the conference's networking platform. Meet2Match allows you to search across the people attending, identify those you genuinely want to speak to and arrange meetings throughout the event. Better still, it will automatically assign you a table space to meet.

I would highly recommend having a copy of your schedule, meeting times and people's contact details either printed out or accessible from your phone. Signal can be a little hit and miss with so many people packed into the venue, and there is nothing worse than realising you've forgotten where you're meant to be five minutes before a meeting starts.

2 - Have your CV and portfolio downloaded and ready to access.

Although there are Wi-Fi points and plenty of opportunities to get online, having your CV and portfolio downloaded and ready to go can make a huge difference. If somebody asks to take a look at your work, you don't want to spend half of your allotted meeting time waiting for files to load or hunting through old email attachments.

If possible, have everything available on a laptop or tablet rather than relying on your phone. Larger screens make reviewing work significantly easier and allow conversations to flow naturally. There is nothing worse than two people hunching over a cracked phone screen trying to zoom into an environment breakdown or animation reel.

3 - Get contact information in advance.

It sounds incredibly simple, but asking for a contact number or email address ahead of time can save a lot of unnecessary stress. Develop is a large conference, the Meet2Match area is tucked away, there are multiple floors and lifts, and people inevitably run late from previous meetings or talks.

Having a direct way to get hold of somebody means that if plans change, you're not left standing around wondering whether you've been forgotten about. A quick message can often be the difference between a missed opportunity and a great conversation.

4 - Give yourself time between meetings to catch up.

I wouldn't recommend having more than three meetings back to back, and even then, try to make sure they're in roughly the same area of the venue. Develop is bigger than people expect. There are stairs, queues, crowds and plenty of opportunities to get sidetracked by a fascinating talk or an unexpected conversation.

Everything is always an extra five minutes away.

Build breathing room into your schedule. Give yourself enough time to make notes, grab a drink, recharge your phone and reset before diving into the next conversation. The quality of your interactions will almost always be better if you're not sprinting through the Brighton Centre trying to shave thirty seconds off your travel time.

The simple reality is that nobody attends Develop and manages to do absolutely everything. You'll miss talks you wanted to attend, you'll bump into people unexpectedly and your schedule will probably change at least once across the week.

That's all part of the experience.

The goal isn't to leave Brighton with a job offer, twenty business cards and every possible networking box ticked. The goal is progress. Have meaningful conversations, ask questions, be curious and make genuine connections with people across the industry. If you can walk away having learnt something new, met a few brilliant people and taken a couple of steps forward in your own career journey, then you've had a successful Develop.

Most importantly, enjoy it. It's one of the few weeks of the year where the UK games industry gathers under one roof, and that's a pretty special thing to be a part of.