ABOUT
ESI Digital Spring will mark Esports Insider’s return to the events space for 2021. Following the successes of 2020’s three Digital Events, ESI is committed to continue to offer high quality Digital Events all year round as the physical event space rebounds in these unprecedented times.
After a five month gap since ESI Digital Winter, return to our patented and proven Digital Events once again for two days of networking and content.
There’ll be over 60 speakers across the two days, and the themes focused on will be brands and sponsorship, investment, tournament delivery, fan engagement and more.
Attendees can make use of Brella’s market leading matchmaking and networking capabilities, complemented by the truly international ESI event community to discover new opportunities, and experience exclusive content with both regional and global foci that you won’t be able to experience anywhere else.
AGENDA OVERVIEW
DAY 1 – 30 MARCH
ESI Digital Spring opens with a series of sessions focused on sharing insights related to China and its enormous and still growing market. If that wasn’t enough, we also have sessions focused on Valve’s unique approach to their esports products and discussions of how payment processing systems and terms and conditions may effect our ever developing space.
DAY 2 – 31 MARCH
Day 2 will feature more exciting brand showcases, without the Chinese focus. We’ll also be discussing chess’s place in the industry as its role grew throughout last year, fan engagement in esports and the ever changing landscape of esports production for 2021.
SPEAKERS
Hector Rodriguez
CEO
OpTic Gaming
Hector Rodriguez
CEO
OpTic Gaming
Hector"H3CZ" Rodriguez is the CEO of OpTic Gaming. After taking the reins of OpTic in 2007, Rodriguez spearheaded OpTic's ascendancy from Call of Duty sniping team to international esports powerhouse in only a few short years. A respected thought leader in the esports and gaming space, Rodriguez continues to propel the OpTic brand and its #GreenWall forward via the Call of Duty League franchised slot owned by NRG Esports. Most days, you can find him at the HECZQUARTERS in Frisco, Texas.
Trinity Wu
Head of Overseas Marketing
LGD Gaming
Trinity Wu
Head of Overseas Marketing
LGD Gaming
Game lover and passionate about esports. Have a deep understanding of the esports infrastructure in China and love to share/gain insights globally.
Michał Blicharz
VP Product Development
ESL Gaming
Michał Blicharz
VP Product Development
ESL Gaming
Starting out as one of the first esports journalists, Michał transitioned to organizing tournaments in 2009. He led the transition and growth of Intel Extreme Masters events from studios and trade shows to arenas around the world. Currently he designs ESL's products like the ESL Pro Tour. Inducted into the ESI Hall of Fame in 2018.
Dr. Darina Goldin
Director Data Science
Bayes Esports
Dr. Darina Goldin
Director Data Science
Bayes Esports
Dr. Darina Goldin is the Director Data Science at Bayes Esports. She started playing competitive Team Fortress 2 in grad school. While no longer an active gamer, she is still an avid Esports fan. At Bayes, she has created numerous predictive models for Counter Strike, Dota2, and League of Legends. When not crunching numbers, you can find her at the gym training Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.
JMR Luna
CEO
OG Esports
JMR Luna
CEO
OG Esports
JMR’s unique entertainment background and esports experience carved him into the perfect Sunflower Big Boss we could possibly have found.
Film producer for Netflix, MGM and others, member of the Producer Guild in America, former Head of Content at Evil Geniuses, former Vice President of Content and Production at Immortals Gaming Club (IGC), JMR built himself a solid skill set allowing him to think outside the box in pretty much any situation.
Daniel Evans
CEO
Reely.ai
Daniel Evans
CEO
Reely.ai
Dynamic entrepreneur and senior executive with a passion for emerging technology, Daniel now sits squarely at the crossroads of Sports and eSports as the CEO at REELY.AI. Reely offers AI-based, real time video analysis and highlights for live stream content as well as marketing automation tools for fan engagement and content generation. Daniel is a 5x founder, lifelong gamer, and autism advocate.
Bobby Shen
VP International
RNG
Bobby Shen
VP International
RNG
RNG's international lead, also has helped many western teams unlocked Chinese market
Kirsty Endfield
Founder & Director
Swipe Right PR
Kirsty Endfield
Founder & Director
Swipe Right PR
Kirsty is the Founder & Director of Swipe Right, the leading esports and video game communications agency. Kirsty, has a wealth of experience in marketing and outreach strategies in video games with over ten years experience and was one of PCR's Top 30 Women in Mobile and MCV's 30 Under 30. She set up Swipe Right six years ago after seeing a gap in the market for esports communications. Swipe Right was the first agency to offer dedicated esports communications services alongside video games and the team now manages some of the biggest brands in the industry including Red Bull, FACEIT and Team Vitality supporting esports teams, platforms and 10,000 attendee tournaments.
Tricia Sugita
CEO
FlyQuest
Tricia Sugita
CEO
FlyQuest
Tricia Sugita is the CEO of FlyQuest. She started her career in esports competing in and streaming StarCraft II, then interviewing and hosting major esports events as an interviewer and host for major events, then became the Global Director of Esports at Azubu.tv, where she increased web traffic to over 12 million unique monthly visitors. She then joined Immortals and LA Valiant as the Head of Partnerships, securing major partnerships from AEG Worldwide and Omen by HP.
At FlyQuest, she’s using her decade of industry experience to build out a new kind of esports organization that reflects her core values of kindness, grace, and strength.
Andrew Peterman
Chief Content Officer
Envy Gaming
Andrew Peterman
Chief Content Officer
Envy Gaming
Andrew oversees content production, marketing, social media, and creator talent for esports and entertainment company Envy Gaming. In more than a decade of esports experience, he has held leadership roles with 360icons and OpTic Gaming. Prior to being named Chief Content Officer at Envy Gaming, Andrew served as Vice President of Business Development for the Dallas-based organization.
Kaja Snare
Sports Director
Play Magnus
Kaja Snare
Sports Director
Play Magnus
Been working as a sports reporter for 10 years, covering a lot of different sports. In 2014 I was introduced to chess and got hooked on covering this fantastic sports and its original and great players.
Miquel Matthys
CEO, Co-founder
3D Aim Trainer
Miquel Matthys
CEO, Co-founder
3D Aim Trainer
3D Aim Trainer’s mission is to “inspire gamers to go next level”. As CEO of 3D Aim Trainer, I see myself as a service provider. I use our company’s mission as a personal ambition. I try to inspire not only the gamers on our platform, but also, my colleagues and business relations to go next level by providing value whenever and wherever I can. If I can help everyone around me to be more successful, I can safely say I’m going"next level" as well.
On a personal note: I'm 32 years old, married to a beautiful wife, and proud father of a 16 month old daughter. I love to play tennis and badminton, some occasional running here and there, and playing games. I'm not good in any of those hobbies 
Nicolas Maurer
CEO
Team Vitality
Nicolas Maurer
CEO
Team Vitality
From 2004, Oliver was General Counsel on Commercial and IP for 7 years before becoming Secretary-General of the F1 Teams’ Association in 2011. In 2014, Oliver set up OW Advisory and worked with Formula E,
sports rights owners on fan engagement events, and thereafter worked with Virtually Live as Director of Content (and Sports Rights) on VR and gaming. In 2019 Oliver founded LDN UTD as an esports organization
to promote a healthy lifestyle and social issues.
Walter Wang
Head of Operations
TSM
Walter Wang
Head of Operations
TSM
Walter Wang began his career in esports creating and developing the esports/gaming division at HTC from the ground up. There he built a small and agile team that was able to quickly make an impact across the esports industry. In his tenure at HTC, he oversaw the execution of multiple tournaments, including the first 1v1 CS:GO All-Stars Tournament which reached 100k+ concurrent viewers. In addition, under his leadership, HTC produced content such as Team Liquid's Breaking Point, which garnered over 800k+ organic views, and created and managed an influencer portfolio which includes the likes of PewDiePie, Shroud, LIRIK, and Myth.
Walter then brought his valuable expertise to TSM in 2017, the $400 million esports organization named by Forbes as the world’s most valuable, first as an investor and consultant, where he provided strategic guidance to TSM on their Series A $25mm round, their investment into new games such as Fortnite and Rocket League. He transitioned to full time in 2019 as Head of Operations. In his current role, Walter provides key operational oversight of critical departments such as Partnerships, Finance, Operations, Facility, Esports Performance Training Program, and Investor Relations. He was responsible for all aspects of the design and build of TSM’s new state-of-the-art 25,000 square foot Performance Center, the largest of any esports team in North America. He also oversees the management of TSM’s Fortune 500 clients such as Geico, Mountain Dew Amp Game Fuel, Logitech, Lenovo, Grubhub, and more. As part of the executive team, he helped make successful investments into PubG Mobile in India, TSM’s #1 Valorant team, the expansion of the digital platform Blitz, and made key hires such as the Head of Studio Production of TSM and Managing Director of ICON, TSM’s internal influencer agency.
Outside of TSM, Walter also manages the Wang Family Office. Through entities such as WW Capital Group LLC, he spearheads investment opportunities for his family’s portfolio, leading global decisions on over $100M+ USD of family office and family charitable foundation funds.
He lives in Los Angeles.
Gene Hladki
CPO
Starladder
Dan Houl
Head of eSports and Gaming
Nuvei
Dan Houl
Head of eSports and Gaming
Nuvei
In his role as Head of eSports and Gaming, Dan is responsible for identifying, establishing, and maintaining Nuvei’s merchants and partners to facilitate payments for esports, video gaming, and iGaming. Dan’s has over a decade of experience and success in diverse roles in large corporations including three on Forbes list of Top 5.
Prior to joining Nuvei, Dan served at VMware, as their Territory Executive Account Manager. He resides in London with his family, enjoying cooking, reading and video games.
VIEW MORE SPEAKERS
HOW IT WORKS
ESI Digital Spring will use Brella to provide bespoke matchmaking opportunities and 16+ hours of live content across the week of the conference.
NETWORKING MATCHMAKER
Brella’s advanced AI based matchmaking will ensure that you’ll have no shortage of great connections to make to take the next step with your business in these turbulent times.
CONTENT LIVESTREAMS
Two live streams chock full of industry leading content. Tune in between 12:00-22:00 UTC0 to 13:00-22:00 UTC-0 for industry leading insights and discussion on developments within the esports sphere.
VIRTUAL AGENDA
A virtual agenda, customisable to feature your own meetings and the ability to opt into any of the myriad panels offered up across the two day event.
VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS
Check out our virtual exhibition to meet and talk with massive companies and get their insights on our rapidly changing space.
Check out our virtual exhibition to meet and talk with massive companies and get their insights on our rapidly changing space, or visit our virtual coffee room to chat with like minded attendees.
WHO WILL ATTEND
400
ATTENDEES
75+
SPEAKERS
100+
COUNTRIES
REPRESENTED
15+
MEDIA
OUTLETS
40+
ESPORTS & SPORTS
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
30+
BRANDS
20+
INVESTMENT
GROUPS
Who attends
- Esports & Sports Organisations
- Suppliers & Service Providers
- Brands
- Investment Groups
- Other
Job Titles
- CEO's, Chairman & Founds
- C-Level Executives
- Directors
- Managers
- Other
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Gold Sponsor
GRID is a technology platform that serves as a comprehensive data partner for game publishers, tournaments, sponsors and teams around the world. Since the launch in 2018 GRID has worked together with their partners and clients to unlock the vast revenue potential of data assets.
GRID's team of 60+ dedicated staff, spread across 3 main offices share a passion for esports and are committed to revolutionizing esports data.
Esports data is on the GRID.
Sponsors
The world of esports is experiencing explosive growth and, with that growth comes a wealth of opportunities. In a billion-dollar industry, where data is king, we at Bayes Esports have claimed our place as the newest leader in the market.
With our cutting-edge technology-driven products, we solve real issues that esport organizers, teams and media companies are facing everyday backed up by our very own machine learning algorithms. Partnerships with some of the biggest names in the esports and betting industries put Bayes in a unique position that allows the team to make a real impact in this vibrant and exciting space.
We are passionate gamers at heart—a small, agile team of esports veterans building a truly innovative next-generation data distribution platform.
We are Nuvei (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), the payment technology partner of thriving brands. We provide the intelligence and technology businesses need to succeed locally and globally, through one integration — propelling them further, faster. Uniting payment consulting and payment technology, we help businesses remove payment barriers, optimize operating costs and increase acceptance rates both locally and globally.
MADMONQ® is an awesome, health-conscious chewable supplement that helps you game better while improving your body in the process. Stay focused, keep your energy levels steady and your game under control. Sounds good? Perfect. MADMONQ® is a product for you.
We founded MADMONQ® to cut through all the nonsense and help gamers push their limits in a healthy, efficient and sustainable way.
Our love for gaming and expertise in mental performance helped us develop the first health and performance gaming supplement with extraordinary nutritional benefits that is specifically tailored for gamers’ needs. We combined the world’s most scientifically studied superherbs with proven brain compounds into a tasty, healthy, portable tablet that can easily become a part of any gamer’s routine.
Media and Strategic Partners
We are a media group specialized in the gaming industry in Latin America. Our experience in public relations allowed us to multiply and retain our business audience, creating a network of contacts that connects people with the most important fairs in the world.
Swipe Right is a leading global esports and gaming communications agency who elevate brands and help build communities. We’re a London-based agency with an international network of media, influencers and partners and we deliver strategic and creative campaigns that help our clients form their brand identity and deliver their message to the right audiences.
With years of experience, we have managed communications for some of the biggest tournaments, platforms and games in the world, alongside the most prolific teams and talent in the industry. Ensuring we are always pushing the latest trends in the sector, we keep our clients ahead of the game.
Sports Betting Community (SBC) is dedicated to raising the profile and coverage of gambling operators, software suppliers and industry start-ups in the complex and saturated online gaming market.
SBC offers its clients and partners a wide range of services including content provision, igaming consulting, gaming event management, public relations, communications and branding.
Sports Betting Community now has over 5,000 industry members worldwide and has become the largest gaming network for professionals within the sector. The SBC team have hosted igaming networking events in Europe and Asia, and have helped with the organisation and management of major gaming trade conferences.
THE ESPORTS JOURNAL is a publication focused on an in-depth discussion and analysis of the global esports industry. It’ll be distributed at the best B2B events attended by the main stakeholders and executives from in and around the industry; and will showcase some of the main events, companies and trends. THE ESPORTS JOURNAL will be available in print and digital formats.
Punchy, thought provoking, balanced and credible, Gulf Business tackles the day’s most important topics across its various platforms, be it in print, digital, through events or in special reports. We have been giving the inside track on all things business in the GCC for more than 20 years. With its compelling offering of daily news and monthly analysis, Gulf Business provides an unparalleled insight into the key industries driving the region forward and a brave vantage point on corporate matters. The website delivers daily business news amid a changing world.
Headquartered in Shanghai, China,
Mailman is a global sports digital consultancy and agency. We help the world’s leading sports organisations serve their audiences and build their businesses. With over 200 experts across China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US, we specialise in digital strategy, transformation, social media, content production and ecommerce. Learn more about our story
here.
Organised under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, SPORTEL is the stand out event that unites sports media and technology leaders. For over 30 years, global top level executives representing broadcasters, international federations, sports marketing agencies as well as digital platforms and technology providers gather at SPORTEL to develop new business opportunities and determine the future trends and challenges of the sport business industry. While supporting its ever growing and diverse community and providing quality events, SPORTEL is the only convention focusing on media rights for the entire sports industry, whether traditional sports, or looking forward, to esports, virtual sports, sports betting and immersive technologies emerging as a new driving « crossover » trend.
Esports News UK was established in late 2015 and features the latest stories, match reports, interviews and videos covering the UK esports scene.
It's predominantly focused on League of Legends but also covers other games, as well as streamer articles and news from the wider gaming community.
AcadArena is a startup building campus gaming in the Philippines focused on three pillars: competition, education & experience. Their mission is to elevate esports in schools and universities across the country, empower student-enthusiasts, and prepare them for their future careers.
TESTIMONIALS
