The game developer’s conference is next week in San Francisco. I'm a pretty big fan of GDC although what I get out of the conference has changed over the years. I've only missed one GDC since 1996 so I've really seen how the conference has changed over the years. In the past I spent the vast majority of my time going to technical talks about rendering or other esoteric topics. These days I mainly use it to catch up with all of the people in the industry that I don't get to see very often. These days the show is also more work than play because I have a lot of meetings. Many of the opportunities that I've had in the past to work on interesting projects have come out of the connections that I've made at the conference. Even with all of its flaws I definitely recommend it as a place to go if you want to get more involved with the games industry.
One thing that I really do lament is the cost of the show these days. They've really made it a very expensive show to attend (over $1000 for a conference pass). For those looking to go on the cheap they still do use volunteers to run the show. Anyway, I hope I see some of you at the show!