A Recap of GGD PHL #6 – Social Games: How to think about the Metrics that Matter, Hosted by Cipher Prime Studios

July’s record temperatures and humidity didn’t stop local girl geeks from trekking to the second-floor Cipher Prime Studios in Old City one summer night to get the skinny on Social Gaming Metrics. Tristin Hightower, a co-founder and co-organizer for Girl Geek Dinners Philadelphia, welcomed the cozy group, thanked event host Cipher Prime Studios, and noted that many of attendees were new faces.

At Tristin’s suggestion, attendees and a few shy Cipher Prime Studios employees introduced themselves and, in a few cases, explained their particular interest in social gaming metrics.  (The Cipher Prime Studios staffer working diligently in the studio hidden behind the white curtain on which the evening’s PowerPoint presentation was projected was amazingly quiet!)

After a warm welcome from Tristin, Sepiida CEO Anita Garimella Andrews began her presentation by briefly describing her background as a senior Internet and software product management executive who worked on Facebook application products and social gaming initiatives for companies like Wallop and Nutrisystem.com.

As head of Sepiida, an internet marketing optimization and product management services company focused on gaming, Andrews’ current work revolves around helping clients like Zynga Games Network and Softbank increase monetization in part by better optimizing acquisition, conversion, retention, and reactivation metrics.  She polled attendees on what their specific interests were in the social gaming metrics sphere and then launched a presentation that touched on:

• Client desire to see all launches ‘go viral’
• Data mining with end goal of increasing revenues in short term vs. increasing virality and identifying behavior patterns
• How tiny design and text changes can have a drastic effect on acquisition and conversion rates
• Using Daily Active User (DAU) and Monthly Active Uniques (MAU) ratio to derive churn and identify a minimum threshold figure for a successful DAU/MAU ratio

Attendees, most of whom came to the event straight from the office, gratefully noshed on fresh fruit and pizza provided by our gracious event host Cipher Prime Studios throughout the event. And the delicious cupcakes supplied by Mel and The Cupcake Friday Project were the proverbial cherry on the sundae.

About half of the attendees lingered after Anita’s presentation to mingle, introduce themselves to sister geeks, and meet Will, Dain, and the rest of the Cipher Prime Studios crew. Several luck girl geeks went home with free games from Cipher…and an extra cupcake or two.

Photos of the event, taken by Elise Wei, can be found on Facebook.

To stay connected with all of GGD PHL’s upcoming events and activities, follow GGD PHL on Twitter, like them on Facebook, or join the GGD PHL announcement mailing list today. Want to learn more about Girl Geek Dinners and its Philadelphia chapter? Visit www.ggdphl.com. See you at the next dinner!

Recap written by Yvonne M. Jones: Urban Farmgirl, Writer, Filmmaker
Yvonne M. Jones is a writer, filmmaker, and urban farmgirl. She is the brains and the brawn behind Word Soup, which creates lively social events that deepen our relationship to food, art, and each other. Her first book, No Tea for the Fever, a celebration of the most memorable films by and about black women, will be released in Fall 2012. She is in the process of building a sustainable, 172-square-foot, mortgage-free house on wheels–aka, The Chic Shack.