Most of us are going to the Penny Arcade Expo East to frolic with our fellow nerds and grab as much schwag as we can get our mitts on. However there are apparently some people who go to industry conventions to engage in actual productive behavior, like discussing how to improve the gaming industry.
While we're in line to get a keychain with Activision's logo, other people will be attending panels held by the International Game Developers Association. That group will be doing panels through the whole weekend targeted at people who work in the industry; in fact the very first thing on the schedule for the Expo is the IGDA's Panel: State of the Industry: What Are Your Career Options?
Their other panels will cover subjects like starting your own game company, legal matters for game developers to consider, paper-prototyping and more. They're even holding mock job interviews, and evaluating resumes and portfolios.
Fernando Paiz, executive producer of Turbine, will keynote the IGDA sessions. His talk, “The Game Monetization Revolution: Embracing new business models that are good for both players and developers” will kick off developer sessions on Saturday, March 12.
Both PAX and the IGDA panels are highly recommended for our readers. More on PAX East 2011 can be seen on the PAX website, and you can learn about the IGDA at www.IGDA.org.
