Denver, My New Favorite US City

Was only there for a few days, but goodness, Denver is a nice place. Big enough to feel metropolitan/cosmopolitan, but small enough to avoid the pollution, traffic, crime, etc... Plus the hotel had free broadband!

I was invited to town by industry buddy David Thomas, who was helping to coordinate a panel session at the annual conference for the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. It was an important opportunity to speak with newspaper folks about the need to (better) cover games and game culture. David also helps out with the local IGDA chapter and worked with the chapter team to keep me busy while I was in town.

My schedule looked something like this:

• Thu-8pm: arrive at airport
• Thu-8:30pm: speak at local chapter meeting
• Thu-10:30pm: hang out with chapter folks at pub
• Fri-7:45am(!): AASFE conference panel
• Fri-noon: lunch with students from Colorado University
• Fri-3pm: roundtable session with ~15 academics/faculty from local universities to discuss curriculum, industry needs, etc
• Fri-7pm: dinner with some local pros
• Sat-10am: "breaking into the industry" presentation and Q&A session with 125+ students
• Sat-5pm: went to see Serenity (awesome movie!)
• Sun-8am: flight home

Not to mention all the email/phone/etc work in between everything. Ya, it was a busy little trip! But, very worthwhile in getting to know the local scene better and having had the chance to interact with so many different circles of influence.

BTW, Gary put up some vids/info/etc from the chapter meeting and the breaking in session over at the chapter site.