​Ryan Stevenson
Game Developer's Conference
I was a speaker at both GDC's 2018 and 2019 Esports Conferences. My first talk was about starting Varsity esports programs in Universities, as was targeted at students looking to begin scenes at their University, and faculty wanting to understand the importance of esports. My second was about online tournaments and spectatorship in esports, and how platforms like smash.gg and twitch are revolutionizing how people compete in games
HH International Esports Conference
After my GDC Talk in 2019, I was invited to Taiwan to participate in their first-ever televised esports conference. I refined my previous GDC Talks as well as added additional talks about mobile esports. It was an honor to travel abroad to share my experience in collegiate esports with both future academics and future leaders in Taiwan's esports scene!
USC Smash Club and USC Esports Student Union
From 2015-2019 I've been on the eboard of the USC Smash Club as Communications Manager, President and Varsity Manager. Me and a few of my IMGD classmates were able to pitch varsity esports to faculty, and within a year our League of Legends team was created, followed by our Overwatch, Hearthstone and Smash Bros team. Before I graduated, I helped create the format for varsity tryouts. The smash club's primary role is our biweekly tournaments every other Friday at 7pm. I created the stream overlay as well as started the first broadcast for Smash 4 using OBS. Since then, we've gain 2 dedicated commentators, a partnership with FlySociety for equipment, and an average of about 80 players per tournament (some of which are the best in SoCal)
USC Smash Club Links
Flyer designed by me
SMC Esports Team
The Santa Monica College games program is currently working on an esports certificate program, as well as a varsity team. I can't share much about this program at the moment, but I am reprising my role with USC at SMC