[game_edu] GDC with Students

[Adam Moore]

Excellent questions Monica - I've been going to GDC since 2006. I went annually as a student and have plenty of great advice.

1. Nearby Hotels
To keep your costs down, I recommend the Spaulding. It's a one-star hotel - it isn't fancy or comfortable, but it's cheap and conveniently located. If your students are in the hotel room for more than sleep & showers, they're not using their time at GDC wisely. If you're flying, I usually use SFO instead of the Oakland airport. The flights have been chaper and there is a BART station inside SFO. You'll want to take the BART to Powell Street Station. BART prices have gone up (it's $8.10), but it's faster and cheaper than taking a cab. From Powell Street Station, you are within walking distance of both GDC and your hotel.

2. Inexpensive Food Options
- Peanut Butter: I have a couple friends that I stayed with at the Spaulding a couple years ago that sustained themselves on a diet of peanut butter and gummy bears.
- Fast food: There is a Burger King nearby.
- Pizza: If the students are up for splitting a giant pizza, check out Blondie's Pizza
- Chinese: You're in walking distance of Chinatown.

3. Help with Registration Costs
- Volunteer: Conference Associates are expected to be present for the full week. They are expected to put in 20 hours of work and they receive an all access pass. Financially, the extra nights in the hotel just about even out to the 3 nights plus expo pass.
- IGDA Scholarship: Unfortunately, I believe the deadline has passed on this one, but you can save the info for next year.

4. Fundraising
- Game Artists: Here's one of our fundraisers we're using to send our artists to Italy. Have the students form a portrait platoon - set up easels in a high traffic area and draw portraits for donations. It's life drawing experience for the students as well as a fundraiser.

5. Advice
- Parties: GDC has a lot of parties and they're one of the best ways to meet new contacts - encourage them to go to as many as they can. However, getting stupid drunk does not leave the best impression on professionals.

- Split them up: It's difficult to meet new people if you're with your socializing with your group of friends. There's no reason they can't all go to the same party, but encourage them to split up and meet new people.

- Business Cards: All of your students should have business cards. Their job title is not "student" and unless they work for your college, it shouldn't have the name or logo of your university. The back of the business card should be a blank surface that is easy to write on. Make a game of networking - have the students meet people, trade business cards, and take notes about these people on the back of their business cards.

- Buddy system: When walking the streets (especially at night), make sure the students don't go anywhere alone. GDC is pretty close to a really tough neighborhood called the tenderloin.

6. Which pass to purchase
Unless you're local, the student pass is not worth your students' expenses. It gets you on the expo floor for the last day... when everyone is packing up and going home. I recommend getting the expo pass as the most cost-effective for students; It will get your students in for all 3 days of the expo. Higher tier passes are targeted more towards professionals that are already in the industry.

________________________________________
From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of McGill, Monica [mmcgill at bumail.bradley.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 8:02 AM
To: game_edu at igda.org
Subject: [game_edu] GDC with Students

I plan on taking a small group of students (no more than 8) to GDC for the
first time in March. We are obviously very carefully watching our budget. If
we can get our costs down, I'm sure we could get close to having 8 students
attend. If not, only 2 or 3 may be able to commit to this important
experience.

We plan on arriving on Tuesday and leaving on Saturday, giving students 3
full days of activities. I'm looking for advice on the following:

1) Nearby hotels. Hotels within safe walking distance that only cost an arm,
not necessarily an arm and a leg!!! Due to costs, at this point I am opting
to have students 4 to a room, one room would be for male students and the
other for females. I'm open to other suggestions to cut down on costs.

2) Inexpensive food options for students.

3) Help with registration costs, other than the early bird registration.

4) High-impact fundraising ideas that students can engage in now to raise
money for the trip.

5) Any advice from people who have taken students before. (What are the must
do's for those three days for them? Any issues or problems that you've
experienced that might help me prepare better? Etc.)

6) Anything else you can think of!

Feel free to post here or reply directly to me and I would be happy to
summarize all replies and repost.

Thanks in advance!

Monica

-------------------------------
Dr. Monica McGill
Department of Interactive Media
Bradley University
Peoria, IL 61625

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