Besides the IGDA Scholarship, there's
another way to attend the Game Developer's Conference gratis this March. We've got to warn you in advance, however,
that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. You'll sweat for your ticket.
Here's the deal: click the link below to apply for a position as one of a hundred or so Conference Associates (CAs). Each CA is required to spend 20 hours of his time during the conference doing things like guarding doors, managing queues, stuffing conference bags, entering survey data into computer systems, and so on. It's more or less gopher work (hey, conferences are a lot of work and someone's got to do it), but the perqs are excellent:
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The program's managers (Tim Brengle and Ian MacKenzie) run a really tight ship. You'll learn a lot from them
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Lunch and breakfast Monday through Friday are included
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CAs receive full Giga pass privileges ($1325 value) when not on-duty
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Access to all events and parties including the IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards (part of the Giga pass)
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Reduced hotel costs by sharing rooms with other CAs
I participated in this program this past spring and highly recommend it to anyone who'd love to attend GDC but is on a tight budget. Post your questions below and I'll do my best to provide answers.
[Photo is from Iwata's keynote speech at GDC 2005]
