I used to live in Austin - looking forward to going back this fall to see some old friends and how much its grown… thankfully paid by my company.
Looks like its tied in with www.aclfest.com already have my ticks… this should be really cool.
A few other good things I’ve heard - something called Design Alley going on rather than traditional studio open houses. I’m sure it will be a nice party as its quite the party town.
Also heard the after party is at Stubbs… a music and BBQ institution there. Supposedly Spoon is the band that will perfrom since they are local and there for the festival.
It’s always been expensive… I remember $1000 being the basic point of entry number for some reason. I think the cost this year is $895… probably about average over the past 10 years.
Compared to other large professional organizations IDSA does have a high national conference cost [2X I believe compared to AIGA, etc]… maybe they need to hire an accountant to straighten their issues out?
anyway… I can see how it would be a challenge for an individual to participate. I guess it depends on how relevent the subject matter is, how fun the city/entertainment side of things are going to be, and how important networking is to an individual.
Cool… looks like you’ll be able to network regardless as folks will be out and about partying. Design Alley should be open to the general public as well.
We do not usually go when is this far away but I think this year is going to be worth the trip. I hear that it is really a great city? Yo, when you get a minute, send me a private message. I might have some budget to help pay your way if your schedule allows.
Is there anybody going who wants to share a room at the Austin Hilton (students or recent grads in specific)? The IDSA reserved rate is $160 per night for a double, from September 17th to the 21st (the total is $736, so split it’ll be $368 each).
But we can split differently if you’re getting there later or leaving earlier.
I’ve already reserved the room, PM me if you want to share a two bed room and split the cost with a 22 year old, male, non-snoring, non-smoking, recent Notre Dame grad.
<<<<update: I’ve got a roomate who’s leaving Wednesday afternoon, and I can share the room Wed night in case anybody decides to stay for the party on Wed and leave Thursday. Hit me up.>>>>
It is not publicised (well maybe now!), but you can also save on the conference registration fee if you opt-out of attending the IDEA Party & Opening Reception. Work on your negotiation skills and call IDSA directly.
I would catch the international panel for sure… live feeds from lenovo, samsung and others in asia and india covering globalization of design topics. Something we all need to deal with. No other conference has done anything like this… should be cool.
I think it runs late into Tuesday night to catch the time difference with Asia.
Is there anybody going who wants to share a room at the Austin Hilton (students or recent grads in specific)? The IDSA reserved rate is $160 per night for a double, from September 17th to the 21st (the total is $736, so split it’ll be $368 each).