Austin GDC Part One: Planning

I haven't been to an out of town conference (other than the ones I've planned) in 6 years, so I was a little nervous about what I should do with myself. Which pass should I get? Where should I stay? Who am I going to eat lunch with? Please don't let me be the awkward shy person that retreats to her room for meals!

Passes

My options were as follows:
1) All Access
2) Main Conference
3) Summits and Tutorials
4) Game Career Seminar
5) Expo

This was the scariest decision, in my opinion. I was afraid that getting the cheap-o pass would doom me - socially and in terms of accessibility. Would certain passes brand me as a n00b? I caved and went with the all access, despite the hefty price tag. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be disappointed with my choice later. Erring on the side of too much to do with my time seemed better than missing out on something awesome.

Housing

I initially freaked out about picking a hotel. Where would the people I end up getting along with be staying? How far away from the event center is too far? What if the housekeeper missed the dead hooker under the mattress?

Thankfully, a wonderful friend of mine suggested a hotel alternative - vacation rentals. She assembled a group of what she felt were compatible people, and one of them volunteered to help research our options.

Before I left, I knew we had 3 women and 5 guys in our group and two houses to pick from. And one of the houses was a castle. Literally.

Stifling shyness

I wasn't sure what to do about my ridiculous agoraphobia, so I rented a car to make sure I had an escape route. But that brought up the issue of how much I hate driving in new places. Blargh! And don't even get me started in terms of worrying about wardrobe choices.

More on how these decisions affected my experience coming soon ...