Connections Wargaming Conferences
Connections Wargaming Conferences
MatthewBCaffreyJr.@Gmail.com
A global all of nation volunteer initiative of wargame practitioners
To Help advance Connections contact Matt Caffrey at matthewbcaffreyjr@gmail.com
MatthewBCaffreyJr.@Gmail.com
A global all of nation volunteer initiative of wargame practitioners
To Help advance Connections contact Matt Caffrey at matthewbcaffreyjr@gmail.com
Value
Connections provides a forum for advancing wargaming and communicating those advancements to the wargame community; as well as providing a means to learn about wargaming and become part of the community.
Mission
Advance and sustain the art, science and application of wargaming.
Method
Each national Connections holds an annual conference and maintains a web site.
Background
In 1992 Col John Warden, then Commandant of the USAF’s Air Command and Staff College and previously lead planner for the Instant Thunder plan for the First Gulf War, asked Matt Caffrey to initiate a conference on wargaming.
Connections US Elements
First day -- basic, intermediate and advanced classes
Keynote speakers -- previous speakers include, Mr. Bob Work, Dr. Thomas Schelling, Lt Gen David Deptula, Lt Gen Joseph Redden, Col John Warden, Dr Peter Perla, Mr. James Dunnigan, Mr. Mark Herman, Mr Larry Bond
Speaker panels, wargame demos and play through, “game lab” fast consultations
Year long working groups with workshops/out briefs
Family of Connections Wargaming Conferences
Connections enables a conversation between all the branches of the wargaming community (government/military, academic and popular/commercial). There are seven established Connections conferences:
Connections US
(first Connections conference, started 1993)
Connections UK
(most international of the national connections, strong web presence, started 2013,)
Connections OZ (Australia)
(reflects Australia's national perspective, started 2014)
Connections NL (Netherlands)
(largest percentage of international student participation, started 2015)
Connections North (Canada)
(strongest coverage of insurgencies, all of government views, started 2016)
Connections France (Serious Games Network - France)
(covers entire spectrum of applied gaming, started 2019)
Connections Online
(live online participation from western US to Western Europe, started 2020)