SIGGRAPH 2009!
Adam Benson made the trip to New Orleans for SIGGRAPH 2009.
After much work and lots of anticipation I finally got everything finished in time for SIGGRAPH. This was my long term goal for the year. The real catch was, with the struggling economy, getting a pricey week long trip to happen within the budget, and to get a really nice press package to come to fruition. To top it all off, the last few months before SIGGRAPH have been incredibly busy ones. So, not only did I have to get all of the travel logistics taken care of, and take the time to develop and produce a really nice publicity package, I had to get extra loads and loads of work done on top ot it.
The good news is that I had a plan! I stuck to it and everything fell into its proper place. Sometimes it felt like things were just skimming by, but in the end the eagle landed and everything turned out great.
For those of you who don't know, SIGGRAPH is a large convention, held every year for Visual Effects Artists, Animators, Rendering Gurus, and other Film and Video Game related professions. Each year the biggest players in the industry come to show off their latest and greatest innovations and upcoming events. They also do a bit of scouting on the side. These usually include Pixar, ILM, Dreamworks, AutoDesk, Intel, EA Sports, Blizzard and just about everyone else in the biz.
Back to our struggling economy... This year a couple of the big dogs chose not to show up. Too bad, but understandable. The booths they put up are usually on the order of a couple million bucks to put together. For that reason alone I'm not too surprised. A bit disappointed, but not surprised.
This year SIGGRAPH was held in New Orleans. It moves every year across the country and across the world. It is, after all, an international event. I was staying in the historic French Quarter, just a few blocks from the convention center. If you've never smelled the French Quarter... there's really nothing like it. It's something that you really must experience yourself. The history alone in that part of New Orleans is really something else.
Overall the trip was a fruitful one. I made lots of contacts, and got my new demo out to a number of great people. I'm looking forward to see the results!
