[arg_discuss] GDC 2009: what ARG events do you want?

[Adam Martin]

It's that time of year again: preparations for the next Game
Developers Conference are getting up and running, and this year there
are some format changes that affect us.

I know a lot of people on this list won't be at GDC. But also quite a
few of you will be.

So, to that latter group, it would help enormously if you could chip
in with some feedback and/or ideas for what you'd like to see
ARG-related and ARG-SIG-related at GDC next spring...

Previous years:

For the last 3 years, we've had a "Group Gathering", hosted at the
IGDA booth. Attendance has varied between about 20 and 30 people.
Sometimes this has worked very well as a space, other times it's been
hard to hear what was being said (pot luck with timings, because the
booth itself was always on (the edge of) the show floor or main
thoroughfares).

The format we adopted was approximately:
 - 10 minutes for introductions, everyone says "hi" and a little about
what their interest is in ARGs. In the first year we also did a quick
stint on "what is an ARG?"
 - 5 minutes for ARG SIG business. Usually a call for more volunteers

:), but also some quick feedback on what people liked and didn't like

about the past year's SIG activities (usually "more, please").
 - 60-90 minutes of mingling/networking/socialising/chatting

So, a mix of "SIG business", roundtable-type discussions, and (mostly)
general networking.

This year:

- we might be able to get a private room (much quieter) for doing a
sort of "mini AGM" of the SIG, for anyone to come to who's interested
specifically in the SIG and what we could/should be doing next
- we might be able to get a roundtable as one of the main GDC
sessions: if you haven't been to the GDC roundtables, FYI they are
anywhere from 10 to 60 people, a freeform informal chat with a
moderator to keep it becoming a free for all. They're great for having
a wide-ranging explorative conversation with lots of people. They're
terrible for doing networking / socialising with lots of people.
- and we can certainly do a traditional Group Gathering again, but
it's not yet clear whether the location provided for that will be
better or - possibly - much worse than previous years, in terms of
amount of ambient noise. Opinions welcome.

So ... what did you like? What do you want of the above? How much
value do each of them provide?

PS: to everyone involved in ARGology: Excellent work!

Adam