Connections UK: Conference Programme

The Connections UK 2018 conference programme looks like this:

Day 1. Tuesday 4 September
The programme includes Lunch from 1.00pm to 2.00pm and Supper from 6.00pm to 7.00pm.

• Introduction to wargaming for newcomers (This will be a day-long course, interleaving example games and presentations):
• Introduction: Why Wargame?
• Example Game: Tactical Kriegsspiel.
• Types of Wargame.
• Example Game: COTS Game.
• Wargaming Effects.
• Example Game: Matrix Game.
• Concluding Discussion
OR
• Megagame (This will be an all-day game on a contemporary topic)
• Component production (An informal evening session)

Day 2. Wednesday 5 September

• Introduction: Relating the conference to the MOD Wargaming Handbook.
• Design (Matt Caffrey)
• Dilemmas and Trade-Offs in wargame design (Phil Sabin)
• Game Design as a form of Journalism (Brian Train)
• Challenges in Wargaming Design (Anna Nettleship)
• Development (Graham Longley-Brown)
• Analysis in experimentation wargaming (Dr Nigel Paling and Col Dickie Taylor)
• Developing the KCL Crisis Simulation (Nick Reynolds)
• Developing a High North nested games family (Dave Manley and Jeremy Smith)
• Model calibration (Volko Ruhnke)
• Games Fair Introduction (Phil Sabin)

Lunch: 11.00pm to 2.00pm

• Games Fair Session 1 (includes a drinks break from 3.30pm to 4.00pm)
• Keynote addresses
• Wargames and systems thinking (Volko Ruhnke) and
  
• Creativity in game design and mechanics (Brian Train)

Supper: 6.10pm to 7.00pm

• Games Fair Session 2

Day 3. Thursday 6 September

• Execution (Howard Body)
• Play as Pedagogy (Aggie Hirst)
• Wargaming case study: 'Cheese, butter & milk powder' (Erik Elgersma)
• Empowering Defense wargaming through automation (Dr Karl Selke)
• Validation (Brian Train)
• Selecting, playing and assessing a COTS wargame (A Distant Plain) (Lt Col Neil Stevens & Lt Col Ranald Shephard)
• Wargaming and reality: a case study of the Ukraine conflict 2014-2018 (John Curry)
• Refinement (Graham Longley-Brown)
• Wargame refinement (Phil Pournelle)
• Wargaming lessons identified: a Senior Officer's perspective (Lt Gen (Retd) Sir David Capewell)

Lunch: 12.30pm to 1.30pm

• Analysis (Colin Marston)
• US/DoD analysis best and worst practice (Lt Col Rob Burks)
• Designing analytical wargames with a view to successful data capture, management and analysis (Peter Williams)
• In the eye of the beholder? Cognitive challenges in wargame analysis (Rex Brynen)
• Facilitation Clinic: A panel session (Graham Longley-Brown, Rex Brynen, Jim Wallman, Tom Mouat, and Paul Strong)

---

I will be taking part in the Megagame on Day 1 and running a game during the Games Fair Session 1 on Day 2. Other than that, I will be sitting back, listening and learning.