Recently, many of us gathered downtown for IGDA Chicago’s Post-GDC Meetup at Day 1 Studios, for a roundtable on March conferences. As suspected, GDC was the most frequented of events last month, and everyone had a great deal to exchange!
Retaining Wisdom
One of the top areas of discussion was retaining knowledge from GDC. Some attendees pointed out that the GDC Vault was highly useful. Instead of taking notes during the sessions, they would focus on the content, then revisit the video at a later date to further absorb the talk. An attending student mentioned Columbia’s Twitter hashtag, which was intended to act as a sort of communal journal for the group. Live-tweeting from sessions has certainly become a more active tradition in recent years, a gesture appreciated by both conference-goers and those following from home.
Meeting New People
As GDC is an enormous opportunity for networking, our discussions inevitably shifted to the fact that it can be difficult to remember specifics on new contacts after meeting so many people throughout a given day. Jotting notes directly onto cards was mentioned as a tried and true method, and a related strategy involved reviewing collected business cards each night at the hotel room and making more detailed notes. It was also pointed out that there are now apps for smartphones that can collect and convert data from business cards, bring contacts into LinkedIn, and facilitate digital note-taking.
Nurturing Chicago
Lastly, the group had some great responses in regard to the information or lessons they brought back that could help make the Chicago game development community even better. There was a great deal of support for sharing information and knowledge between studios big and small, in the larger interest of helping each other. Some mentioned that GDC was wonderful for recharging developers’ passion, which they could in turn bring back home and infuse into their teams. Additionally, a great deal of inspiration was taken from developers from all over the world. GDC offers the unique experience of getting everyone together so they can exchange ideas, show their latest work, give and receive feedback, and overall grow together.
In short, we gathered in the spirit of sharing our collective conference knowledge, and in the process, we reaffirmed the positive benefits of sharing in the development community.
Thanks again to everyone who attended, and of course, huge thanks to Day 1 Studios for hosting the event and providing plentiful food and refreshments for all!
Coming up in April, don’t miss Indie Game: The Movie on April 17th at the Music Box Theatre!