It was good to see the aisles of SIGGRAPH/Los Angeles bustling with attendees. Will that still be the case when the show heads to Boston next year? I've heard from the cynics who have been to San Antonio and had only complaints, but what does a guy who sees the glass as half full think?
"We see it as an opportunity," says Ed Caracappa, director of business development at Boxx. The company made the commitment, with their usual 30x30 booth, before they even left for the '05 show in Los Angeles earlier this month. "We expect it to be different, but we expect that to be a good thing. We are excited about the opportunity to get in front of the East Coast audience. And this opens up the opportunity for those who have been going to the show in LA for two years to now visit a different location. "New York is number-two in geography for us, and we know those people will take the ride up to Boston," he continues. "We expect to see a lot of the smaller Northeast shops who cater to commercials, like Spontaneous Combustion, Hornet and Guava Studios/Nice Shoes."
Why else is Boxx excited about Boston? "You've got your TV players that are big for us too:," he says, "ESPN, MTV, World Wrestling Entertainment. These are our people."
And what about visual effects and animation studios that exhibit for recruiting purposes?
"We are looking forward to SIGGRAPH in Boston next year," says Don Levy, senior VP of marketing and communications at Sony Pictures Imageworks. "There is a substantial digital community on the East Coast, and it is a good opportunity to locate the conference in proximity to this activity. Remember too that SIGGRAPH as an organization and conference has its roots in academia and Boston is one of the nation?s great academic cities."
Boston is home turf for Avid's Softimage. What are their plans? "It will be an excellent opportunity for more East Coast schools and facilities to increase their presence and mingle with their West Coast counterparts," says Gareth Morgan, senior product manager at Softimage. "Next year, we are planning to continue our investment and support of education and professional training with even more free classes at the show, from beginner up to expert/TD levels. And of course, being in Avid's backyard, Boston is the ideal locale for us to celebrate Softimage's 20-year anniversary in '06. All around, we are looking forward to being part of it!"
As for SIGGRAPH '05, please see our "3D Animation" feature for the latest software updates.