My first experience at a Siggraph convention was in Orlando Fl. back in 1998
I walked into the convention center in Orlando and I remember thinking to myself that there was a job waiting for me in that hall somewhere. I had just graduated from Ringling School of Art and Design and was about to head out into the world of 3D Computer Animation. I was impervious to all negative criticism. By now I had already gotten that first and most terrifying rejection letter and was a bit calloused by the "Don't call us, we will call you" letters.
However when I opened the door out into the main hall of the convention center I then realized the one thing I had never considered before...competition. By competition I don't mean a few hundred people. I mean 34,000 people all looking for that same job in the industry. There went my feeling of accomplishment and in its place was a feeling of anger mixed with bewilderment and denial.
I stood there looking up at this massive 20 foot tall billboard sized resume post with at least 800 to 1000 resumes. I thought to myself this was no big deal until I turned the corner and realized this was one of 12 boards and worse. There was a back to each of them also filled to the top.
Siggraph is a MASSIVE trade show, job fair and classroom all wrapped into one. They have a trade show that displays the newest software and hardware. Companies that deal with the business of movie making were all over (Pixar and ILM). They also have seminars with guest speakers whom talk about the movies they are working on...pant...pant...pant.... It was like an orgy of technology.
I was so overwhelmed all I ended up doing was walking onto the show floor and looking at some new software. Mac was still the Multimedia champ back then and Unix based machines called O2's where the 3D machine of choice. I had an opportunity to meet a few people and shake hands but I was more over ready to leave 2 hours after I had arrived. That was my first but not last experience to this massive event.
As the years went by I was sent to one in 2001, 2002, 2004 and finally last year in 2005. Each year they grew and grew. Themes change and the show floor displays more of what we all wish we could buy. It has become less of a place for job hunting and more of a place for learning. The job posts have gotten small in size compared to the inflation of the industry but the seminars have not suffered one bit. As the conventions have come and gone they have left me with a sense of awe and wonder as how huge this industry has become. How industry phrases like 3D and Photoshop have become main stream.
I have to admit I did like it better when it was just us few select that knew what 3D was and new that Adobe Photoshop was not the free software you got with your new PC. I would however suggest to everyone interested in the Multimedia and 3D animation fields to attend at least one if not more of these conventions. Not only are they in beautiful towns but it gives a real perspective to what we do. I can guarantee that you will learn a thing or to while your there.
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