Background
For years, people have been asking when Room Escape Artist would host a conference. In 2020, we saw the needs of our community were not being met so we responded with the inaugural RECON event: RECON ‘20 Global.
Our convention is born out of a love for these games. It is about growing this industry. It is about realizing potential – of creators, of experiences, of storytelling.
We see escape rooms as a new medium for storytelling and play. Our goal is to turn it into a medium that is timeless like theater, music, tabletop games, video games, film, and the written word.
From Room Escape Artist
RECON is presented by Room Escape Artist, your source of well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room reviews, design tips, player tips, and industry commentary since 2014.
At Room Escape Artist, we are wry cheerleaders, critics, and ambassadors of the escape room world.
Room Escape Artist is best known for:
- Golden Lock Award
- Annual Escape Room Industry Report
- Comprehensive US Escape Room Directory
- Reality Escape Podcast (REPOD)
- Escape Immerse Explore Tours
Founders Lisa and David have been featured as industry experts in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. They are the escape room industry’s most prolific leaders.
Take a look…
Technology & Infrastructure
Brendan Lutz
Brendan is the invisible support and structure behind RECON. He has led 50+ person technology teams to success in various industries by continually pushing boundaries.
Today Brendan leads the Information Systems department at Blue Apron, overseeing the DevOps, Network Engineering, and IT teams. He is a professional technology generalist who is passionate about bringing cutting edge tech into people’s day to day lives.
Brendan has been an escape room player since 2014, and he is a 2-time Great Gotham Challenge Champion & Runner Up. He loves the thrill of a good search and discovery escape room. He also loves being a part of growing companies, events, communities and is a bit of a startup junkie.
Sponsor, Speaker, & Attendee Coordinator
Cindi Saiewitz
Cindi is providing the answers to all your questions about attending RECON.
In her professional life, she’s an experienced communicator known for developing teams, solving problems, and getting things done. She has over 30 years of experience in IT management, development, support and global project leadership with Fortune 100 companies and is Project Management Professional (PMP) certified.
As an avid escape room enthusiast with more than 200 escape rooms completed, Cindi chose to get more involved in the community and push the industry forward.
Co-founder
David Spira
David is the most influential international advocate for escape rooms and immersive games, and has been since founding Room Escape Artist with Lisa in 2014. In this role, he has spoken to many dozens of audiences of all types about escape rooms. As co-host of Reality Escape Pod (podcast), he has spoken with a cross-section of creators in this, and adjacent, industries, all of which continually shapes his perspectives on the future of this industry.
He believes that the industry needs a dedicated event for learning, challenging assumptions, and community building. In creating RECON, he applied his professional skills as a digital experience designer to his experience speaking at conferences to design an event around the needs of escape room and immersive gaming professionals.
David is most involved in programming including producing the talks, designing conversation elements such as facilitated discussions, and creating each RECON game. He empowers the RECON team and the RECON guides (volunteers) to make an exceptional event for all who attend. He is always pushing building sustainably, while trying new things and taking calculated risks so that RECON never stands still.
Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
Heather Burns
Heather is an organizer, planner, mom, First Responder, small town treasurer, member of the RECON team, as well as an experienced escape room player. She is often heard saying “I just want to play fun rooms” when her husband gets too far in the weeds discussing escape rooms with his nerd “friends.” She brings her special ability to worry too much about every little thing to the RECON team.
“Eat well and travel often” is her motto. Taking trips to Las Vegas and attending rock concerts are some of her favorite activities.
RECON Producer
Kate Wastl
A project manager by day, Kate is the producer of RECON and a writer for Room Escape Artist. She is an escape room addict from Western New York whose favorite hobby is hopping flights to marathon rooms with REA contributors and other enthusiasts.
Kate appreciates immersion and set design in an experience, and she values puzzle-y, non-linear design. When she is not playing, planning, or writing about escape rooms, Kate volunteers as an EMT and adores playing euchre.
Co-founder
Lisa Spira
Lisa is the most experienced escape room event organizer in the world, and has been since founding Room Escape Artist with David in 2014. She has organized everything from casual meetups, to Escape Immerse Explore Tours that bring 100+ people to internationally renowned escape room destinations. And of course, organizing this convention.
She believes that the industry needs a dedicated event for learning, challenging assumptions, and community building. She brings a data-driven approach to event creation, given her professional expertise leading innovation teams creating products driven by enormous amounts of data, machine learning, and AI.
Lisa is most involved in RECON’s logistics, scheduling, and the behind the scenes minutia that nobody sees… but minding the hidden details is her super power, and makes events run smoothly. She also supports RECON’s internal and external communication, making sure everyone is tuned in to key details. Most importantly, she is the team’s practical problem solver.
Game Designer
Mark Larson
Mark Larson is an interactive experiences and puzzle designer from Minneapolis. His work focuses on combining narrative storytelling, engaging and thought-provoking puzzles and gameplay, and a healthy dose of fun. He’s best known for his series of Audio Escape Adventures created in 2020 and 2021, including Escape from Escape Island, commissioned for RECON 2021.
Escape Room Philosopher
Richard Burns
Richard is a player enthusiast from Wisconsin. Being conveniently located in the Midwest makes it easier for him to plan escape room trips that crisscross the country in irresponsibly tight time windows.
He is a contributor for Room Escape Artist, a member of the RECON team, and a bit of an escape room philosopher. For him, reading, writing, talking, and thinking about escape rooms and what they can be is just as interesting as playing them. Always on the lookout for innovation and advances in the industry, Richard appreciates the business of escape rooms as much as the games themselves. He sees a bright future for the industry as it evolves into a more mature storytelling medium.
Operations
Ryan Brady
Ryan brings over a decade of convention staffing experience to bear on ensuring that the RECON volunteers have the support they need to make RECON run smoothly.
Together with his wife, Ryan forms an enthusiast pair who enjoys working escape rooms into their travels around the country and world.
When not working a convention or being immersed in adventure, he has been found doing less interesting things such as operating a nuclear reactor or being a laser scientist.
Games & Graphics Goblin
Theresa Wagner
Theresa is a chaotic neutral goblin from Washington, DC, who has trusted strangers to lock her in rooms way too many times. When not trying the same code 8 times in a directional lock (of course the combo is right!), she can be found playing Warhammer, video games, board games, Magic the Gathering, or looking up videos of Mariachi bands playing for beluga whales. She used to compete in Super Smash Brothers Melee and Rainbow 6 Siege, but now focuses her video game energy on speedrunning, including Portal 2 and Sly Cooper. Oh, and she also has a bird named Wally.
Technology & Infrastructure
Brendan Lutz
Brendan is the invisible support and structure behind RECON. He has led 50+ person technology teams to success in various industries by continually pushing boundaries.
Today Brendan leads the Information Systems department at Blue Apron, overseeing the DevOps, Network Engineering, and IT teams. He is a professional technology generalist who is passionate about bringing cutting edge tech into people’s day to day lives.
Brendan has been an escape room player since 2014, and he is a 2-time Great Gotham Challenge Champion & Runner Up. He loves the thrill of a good search and discovery escape room. He also loves being a part of growing companies, events, communities and is a bit of a startup junkie.
Sponsor, Speaker, & Attendee Coordinator
Cindi Saiewitz
Cindi is providing the answers to all your questions about attending RECON.
In her professional life, she’s an experienced communicator known for developing teams, solving problems, and getting things done. She has over 30 years of experience in IT management, development, support and global project leadership with Fortune 100 companies and is Project Management Professional (PMP) certified.
As an avid escape room enthusiast with more than 200 escape rooms completed, Cindi chose to get more involved in the community and push the industry forward.
Co-founder
David Spira
David is the most influential international advocate for escape rooms and immersive games, and has been since founding Room Escape Artist with Lisa in 2014. In this role, he has spoken to many dozens of audiences of all types about escape rooms. As co-host of Reality Escape Pod (podcast), he has spoken with a cross-section of creators in this, and adjacent, industries, all of which continually shapes his perspectives on the future of this industry.
He believes that the industry needs a dedicated event for learning, challenging assumptions, and community building. In creating RECON, he applied his professional skills as a digital experience designer to his experience speaking at conferences to design an event around the needs of escape room and immersive gaming professionals.
David is most involved in programming including producing the talks, designing conversation elements such as facilitated discussions, and creating each RECON game. He empowers the RECON team and the RECON guides (volunteers) to make an exceptional event for all who attend. He is always pushing building sustainably, while trying new things and taking calculated risks so that RECON never stands still.
Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
Heather Burns
Heather is an organizer, planner, mom, First Responder, small town treasurer, member of the RECON team, as well as an experienced escape room player. She is often heard saying “I just want to play fun rooms” when her husband gets too far in the weeds discussing escape rooms with his nerd “friends.” She brings her special ability to worry too much about every little thing to the RECON team.
“Eat well and travel often” is her motto. Taking trips to Las Vegas and attending rock concerts are some of her favorite activities.
RECON Producer
Kate Wastl
A project manager by day, Kate is the producer of RECON and a writer for Room Escape Artist. She is an escape room addict from Western New York whose favorite hobby is hopping flights to marathon rooms with REA contributors and other enthusiasts.
Kate appreciates immersion and set design in an experience, and she values puzzle-y, non-linear design. When she is not playing, planning, or writing about escape rooms, Kate volunteers as an EMT and adores playing euchre.
Co-founder
Lisa Spira
Lisa is the most experienced escape room event organizer in the world, and has been since founding Room Escape Artist with David in 2014. She has organized everything from casual meetups, to Escape Immerse Explore Tours that bring 100+ people to internationally renowned escape room destinations. And of course, organizing this convention.
She believes that the industry needs a dedicated event for learning, challenging assumptions, and community building. She brings a data-driven approach to event creation, given her professional expertise leading innovation teams creating products driven by enormous amounts of data, machine learning, and AI.
Lisa is most involved in RECON’s logistics, scheduling, and the behind the scenes minutia that nobody sees… but minding the hidden details is her super power, and makes events run smoothly. She also supports RECON’s internal and external communication, making sure everyone is tuned in to key details. Most importantly, she is the team’s practical problem solver.
Game Designer
Mark Larson
Mark Larson is an interactive experiences and puzzle designer from Minneapolis. His work focuses on combining narrative storytelling, engaging and thought-provoking puzzles and gameplay, and a healthy dose of fun. He’s best known for his series of Audio Escape Adventures created in 2020 and 2021, including Escape from Escape Island, commissioned for RECON 2021.
Escape Room Philosopher
Richard Burns
Richard is a player enthusiast from Wisconsin. Being conveniently located in the Midwest makes it easier for him to plan escape room trips that crisscross the country in irresponsibly tight time windows.
He is a contributor for Room Escape Artist, a member of the RECON team, and a bit of an escape room philosopher. For him, reading, writing, talking, and thinking about escape rooms and what they can be is just as interesting as playing them. Always on the lookout for innovation and advances in the industry, Richard appreciates the business of escape rooms as much as the games themselves. He sees a bright future for the industry as it evolves into a more mature storytelling medium.
Operations
Ryan Brady
Ryan brings over a decade of convention staffing experience to bear on ensuring that the RECON volunteers have the support they need to make RECON run smoothly.
Together with his wife, Ryan forms an enthusiast pair who enjoys working escape rooms into their travels around the country and world.
When not working a convention or being immersed in adventure, he has been found doing less interesting things such as operating a nuclear reactor or being a laser scientist.
Games & Graphics Goblin
Theresa Wagner
Theresa is a chaotic neutral goblin from Washington, DC, who has trusted strangers to lock her in rooms way too many times. When not trying the same code 8 times in a directional lock (of course the combo is right!), she can be found playing Warhammer, video games, board games, Magic the Gathering, or looking up videos of Mariachi bands playing for beluga whales. She used to compete in Super Smash Brothers Melee and Rainbow 6 Siege, but now focuses her video game energy on speedrunning, including Portal 2 and Sly Cooper. Oh, and she also has a bird named Wally.
