Ed - I agree with you - that small conferences can be so much more personable. I used to go to this small conference in Philly many years ago - called SCAN (Small Computers in the Arts Network) - and covered many related topics - like computer graphics, computer music, sculptures created on the computer - and such. This group would range from about 40 in some years to as high as around 100. Now THAT was a small conference. (But, this group died off some years ago).
But, the SIGGraph conference is an animal of a completely different sort. Yeah - its really BIG - but, in this case I like it that way. Its probably one of the biggest conferences of its kind. And, what goes on there runs the gamut (and, with lots of people - you have lots of companies - and many big parties too!). The SIGGraph conference is divided up into a number of areas: 1) Exhibit Hall (Pretty Huge - although its gotten smaller over the years) 2) Art Gallery (and there is many times that the art stuff is interactive) 3) Emerging Technologies (University & corp. research projects are presented - and in most if not all cases - you interact with some wild stuff like VR feedback type devices, robots and more) 4) Animation Festival (Rooms where lectures are given by individuals or companies, re: research or special Effects - as well as showcasing animations from around the world - which includes animations of research) 5) Courses (all types of technology lectures - from hard core math of graphics or sound research or how effects were made in movies) 6) Job Fair 7) The Studio (where you get to play with computers & other hardware - and even produce special output like RapidPrototyping - the production of a small scale plastic model based upon something you sculpt in the computer - as an example) So - you can imagine why I am so excited to go every year! L8r, -K- -----Original Message----- From: profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Ed Leafe Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 6:21 PM On Feb 22, 2010, at 10:39 AM, Kurt Wendt wrote: > Although - sadly enough - the number of attendees - and the overall size > of the conference has been dwindling over the years. I remember about 8 > or 10 years ago - which I went to the conference when it was in LA - > there were about 60,000 attendees. Yet, in the past few years when its > in LA (the conference occurs in different cities each year - with past > years being San Diego, Boston & New Orleans to name a few) - the numbers > have only reached about 35K to 40K. (When held in other cities like > Boston or New Orleans - it tends to only get to around 20-23K.) The > reason its so big in LA - is that this area of CA is at the heart of the > movie industry - with Hollywood being there - as well as many of the > biggest Animation studios! There was some serious talk among the organizers about setting a cap on attendance. The feeling is that if it gets too big, it will lose the feeling that makes it special, which is one of the big attractions. Instead, they're considering a series of regional conferences, so that people can go without traveling cross-country. I also told them that I knew someone who had a lot of experience putting on such conferences, and said that he might be a good resource - as long as it was in Milwaukee!\ -- Ed Leafe _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/289ea162f5642645b5cf64d624c66a14071a1...@us-ny-mail-002.waitex.net ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
