Yes, I have been to SIGGRAPH. It's a great experience, especially if you have never been before. It can be a little confusing and stressful if you don't plan ahead though.
Here are a few suggestions...
1. Bring an extra (empty) bag. You will need it to carry all of the accumulated stuff back home with you.
2. Book your hotel early, all the good ones run out fast.
3. Get a hotel close to the convention center. There is nothing worse than a 30+ min commute to the convention center.
4. You might want to bring some snacks. Convention center food usually isn't that good. It's also overpriced and it usually takes a long time to get it. (the lines are long)
5. Plan your trip. Look at all the users group meetings, parties, courses, panels, papers, etc... before you go. This way you won't just be wandering around, wasting time, because you have no plan. (It will also keep you from missing things that you really wanted to see.)
6. Take a Palm pilot! Last year they had stations where you could download Maps, event schedules, etc... into your palm. This proved to be invaluable when you needed to check something really quickly or needed to find that classroom/booth and didn't want to get out that giant paper map.
7. If you are looking for a job, don't forget to go to the career center and give them copies of your resume. Also, bring some demo reels. You can get a lot of interviews while you are at SIGGRAPH. While they may or may not get you a job, you can produce very valuable feed back for your reel.
Ed
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