If one of our greatest fears is public speaking, then one of our greatest triumphs is the successful accomplishment of it. Two Tempe, Arizona Toastmaster members recently enjoyed that great triumph and great success as they aptly handled a very bright spotlight and a very large audience.  Rio Copa club members, Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink, were in charge of introducing awards at the Independent Games Festival held in San Francisco, February 18-22. Two thousand eight was the tenth year for the growing event, but Matthew and Steve's first year at the helm.

Matthew and Steve own and operate Flashbang Studios , a five-year-old independent video games company in Tempe, Arizona.  They both have been members of the Rio Copa Toastmasters club since January 2007.  Rio Copa is a small club, even by Toastmasters standards, the weekly meetings range from 10-16 people. When Steve and Matthew presented the indie game awards, they did so in front of a live audience of approximately 6,000 people. The event was filmed by G4 television for later broadcast, which has a North American audience of 64 million viewers. 

Wegner praised their Toastmasters' experience for helping to prepare him and Steve for success.  "...The experience we had in Toastmasters was a huge benefit.", Matthew says, "It was pretty amazing to be backstage, waiting to go on, and realizing that we were totally capable of handling this!"

The IGF awards have been described as the Sundance Festival of the videogame industry, and offer both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to the developers of the winning games. The festival was created to "encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers".  The awards are a major celebration of the best in indie gaming.

Steve Swink's and Matthew Wegner's games have been finalists in 2004 and 2006, but their leading participation in this year's event was momentous.  The entire Rio Copa Toastmasters club is proud to extend sincere congratulations to Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink on their notable achievement!

For information on Flashbang Studios:  www.flashbangstudios.com

For information on Independent Games Festival:  www.igf.com