Casual Games Association to host Casual Connect Europe

The Casual Games Association has announced that it will be hosting an event called Casual Connect Europe from February 6 to 8 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The event is being held to gather industry leaders in the hope of promoting casual games as well as securing its continued growth, development, and boundless creativity.

Various keynote presenters and lectures will be present during the event proper. As a matter of fact, quite a number of big companies are scheduled to make presentations including Microsoft, Google, and Eidos. Here's a list of the scheduled lectures:

• Google s Advertising Initiatives: What this Means for the Casual Games Community
• Microsoft s Gaming Experience Group - Chris Early, Microsoft
• Character Cash or Financial Fictions: The Art and Business of Story Development in Casual Games - Kenny Dinkin, PlayFirst
• Portals - John Vechey, PopCap Games
• Maximizing Revenue With New Business Models - Alex St. John, Wild Tangent
• Portal to High Street - Ian Livingstone, Eidos
• Funding: What Every Business Person Needs to Know - Adeo Ressi, The Funded.com

In case you aren't familiar with the Casual Games Association, it is a group which represents over 4000 casual gaming executives, publishers, and developers. Among the key goals of the organization is the promotion of casual games for general consumers as well as providing educational resources for game development.