Final WGDC ​​event through the eyes of the organizer

The WGDC ​​competition finished with a warm informal meeting of third-party developers in Minsk. Below is a brief diary of one of the organizers, photos and many videos.

Training

The award ceremony in Minsk was supposed to be the final chord of the entire competition, and we tried very hard not to let the guests invited to Minsk. There were a total of 53 people: in addition to the 16 teams and participants who became winners, another 24 teams (participants) from those who did not have enough a bit before the prizes.

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The main challenge in preparing for the event was to coordinate the delivery of all participants to Minsk. Given the wide geography of their residence (Hannover, Prague, Moscow, Kaluga, Minsk, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Lviv, Chelyabinsk, Kharkov, Novokuznetsk, Grodno, Ufa, Krasnodar, Sumy, Karlovy Vary - and this is still an incomplete list), it looked scary on paper, but in fact our logistics turned out quite well. Wargaming acquired tickets for the plane from the indicated point by the participants themselves, and covered the expenses for the way to the airport on the spot, in Minsk.



Officially, the event began on Saturday, December 13, but participants began arriving in Minsk on Friday morning and were finishing closer to midnight. The latest representatives of Habr arrived from Moscow last Saturday. Wargaming employees met the arrivals at the airport and took the shuttle to two hotels - IBB and Bonhotel. Why were there two hotels? Finding in Minsk so many rooms in one hotel was not possible. And it would be somewhat rude to embarrass participants and strangers to each other and settle them together. From one hotel to another, our shuttle cruised on time, the journey took only 15 minutes.



The program for the weekend was made with the expectation that Saturday would be dedicated to business (a conference with presentations from Wargaming representatives and WGDC ​​participants and professional communication), and Sunday to entertainment (tours, buffet and award ceremony).

Saturday

To be honest, when planning the Saturday conference, we feared that it might become a formality with reports readable on leaflets and awkward pauses, breaks between them. In fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite: if it were not for strict regulations, heated discussions could last for hours.



At the IBB hotel we had the opportunity to use three rooms at once, there were many presentations, we wanted to talk a lot about things, and we thought to the last to divide the participants into streams of interests. At that moment it seemed that this was the only way to do everything. As the events of Saturday showed, it is very correct that they did not. Everything was done to us in time by clearly following the timing of the conference and moderating the event director Nastya Blokhina. We used the two remaining premises as negotiations: one for press activities, the other for participants' communication.







The conference was opened with a welcoming speech, Andrei Yarantsev, head of the publishing division of Wargaming:







Then the system architect Maxim Baryshnikov told about the architecture of Wargaming.net services:







At the beginning of the speeches, the participants seemed a bit constrained, but after Maxim’s speech, they began to boldly ask questions and were fully involved in the discussion when discussing the following 11 reports, which were interrupted by two coffee breaks (or even sandwich breaks). Time until seven in the evening flew almost unnoticed. In many ways, thanks to the following speeches of developers:







Take a close look at this speech by Andrei Karpushin. Those who considered the prizes of his Armor Inspector and Battle Assistant undeserved should be very ashamed after that.







Of course, this is not all the fun. Any of the 13 speeches can be viewed in a special playlist on our YouTube channel . They are quite voluminous, but worth the time spent.



For a whole series of speeches followed by dinner. It would seem that the time for the participants to relax and distract, but the guys broke up into groups and continued to enthusiastically discuss their current projects and joint cooperation on the future. I have a lot of experience in holding events, but I haven’t seen such interest even at meetings with players.

Sunday

The closing day began a little crumpled: according to our schedule, breakfast was supposed to start at 10:30, but in hotels, contrary to common sense, on Sunday at 10 am breakfast was already ending. We really fought for our guests, but unfortunately the train left.



However, we have more than caught up in the course of the day. At 12:15, the first group left the IBB hotel, then on arrival at the Bon Hotel, the guys split into two groups - about half went to the Stalin Line, the rest went on a sightseeing tour of Minsk with a visit to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. We collected requests for excursions in advance, but before leaving the participants could change their mind and switch places, there were no restrictions.



The group that went to the Stalin Line was already there in an hour. At first, a tour of the complex awaited her: the guides told how everything was arranged and how the Line worked during the war. After the excursion, the guys could shoot from small arms (AK and the "three-line"). Then they all divided into two groups and went to ride StuG'e and PT-76. At the end, everyone was waiting for lunch in the field kitchen.















In parallel, a sightseeing tour of the city took place in Minsk: from the National Library to the central part of the city. The end point was the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Yury Reytar Fedchenko, our historical consultant, became the museum guide. During a walk through the halls of the museum, he once again proved that he is the best. On that day, all the museum's regular guides were busy, and we asked Yura to help us. He has never been to a museum, but he knows the story very well. And once again it turned out that Yura saw some objects and immediately gave historical references. People who were mere visitors to the museum, eventually, began to approach and listen to Yura, then guides joined them, who also listened and even made notes in notebooks.















Those who stayed in Minsk lost the pleasure of trying weapons and military equipment of the times of the war in practice, but they were waited for dinner at the Lido restaurant-bistro.



Both groups returned to the hotels around 17: 30–18: 00, and all had the opportunity to rest for at least an hour, take a shower, and prepare for the awards ceremony.



It was opened with a welcoming speech by representatives of Habr, who were just an hour after waiting for the plane to Moscow.







Then the reward began. The presenter announced the winner or the winner. WGDC Project Manager Igor Olekhnovich presented prizes to teams and personal certificates to their participants. The participants themselves have a few more words about their project. Then - in addition to the souvenir set of the first day - absolutely everyone who came to Minsk received diplomas of the participants.







At this official part was completed, and the buffet table began. Again, we thought about the concept of the event for a very long time, considered pretentious options with red carpets and Oscars, or a retro party in USSR style, but, in my opinion, we chose the right format. A minimum of pathos, a warm tube atmosphere, a buffet, without exaggeration, an excellent cover group Feedback, a small show from chefs, joint photos in Happy Box and a lot of informal communication until one or two nights.























The rise on Monday at the overwhelming majority of participants was at 6: 00-6: 30: morning flights to Moscow and Kiev were waiting for them, from where they were transferred to flights to home. Despite the early hour, there were no delays and overlays. The only adventure awaited Dmitry, a participant from Karlovy Vary, a little later. He was going on a flight to Prague, and on our way to the hotel one of the cars broke. In a hurry for an hour and a half before the flight, I had to order him a taxi. After a couple of hours, I dialed Dmitry's number to make sure that everything was normal, and his phone already in Czech reported that he was in flight. Managed.



The final event and competition for this was completed for us. We really tried, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.



At the end - the final movie, which will give you the opportunity to plunge into the atmosphere of what was happening in Minsk.







If I missed something in my story, you can add me in the comments or ask any questions.