The 2012 Game Developers Conference (GDC) is still well over a month away, but the program is steadily coming together in anticipation of the big event. Speakers are being confirmed and added to the schedule, and a few sessions are now on the list.

Sorry, did I say “a few?” I meant “over four hundred.” With more speakers and sessions being added every day, there are now 400+ sessions for GDC attendees to consider during the five-day conference. Do you have room in your busy schedule to see Dave Theurer, creator of Missile Command, receiving the GDCA Pioneer Award? Or do you want to check out Sid Meier’s advice on game design? How will you choose between Tim Schafer and Cliff Bleszinski? The mind reels.

TriplePoint will be there, of course, growing intimately familiar with the three-block stretch between our San Francisco office and the Moscone Center. We always enjoy having so many of our clients, industry friends, and TPPR staff in town at the same time. If you’ll be there, we’d love to hear from you – feel free to drop us a line, even if you just want to drop by to say hello, or see which parties we’ll be attending.

Also, if you will be attending, whether this is your first GDC or your fifth, TriplePoint is happy to supply you with a few helpful GDC tips:

• If you haven’t completed your registration, create a new tab and do it now. Early Bird pricing ends in less than a week.
• Wear comfortable shoes. Yes, you’re going to be meeting titans of industry and valuable new business contacts, but you’re going to be doing so while on your feet for several hours at a time, walking the length of the convention center and waiting in lines. Find a good balance between style and sensibility.
• Master the Elevator Pitch. You’ll be meeting a ton of people, and those people will have tons more people to meet. When you get the obligatory “What do you do?” opening, you need to have an answer in 30 seconds or less that gets someone interested in your game or business. The better an impression you’re able to make, right off the bat, the more memorable you’ll be. If you work on a mobile game, don’t be afraid to say “Let me show you” and pull out your phone.
• Pace yourself at the parties. Five solid nights of open bars can be extremely tempting, but with sessions starting at 10:00 a.m., and keynotes as early as 9:00, don’t be that guy who paid $1,000 plus travel to sleep through the morning sessions. If you have a booth to run at the expo, don’t forget you’ll need to arrive even earlier to set up.
• Not sure how to manage all of the sessions, as mentioned earlier? The GDC website has a great Schedule Builder that will help you organize all of your desired events into one jam-packed day planner. Good luck, by the way.
• There are some great new games you can check out on the expo floor, especially in the IGF Pavilion. Just watch out for cameras when you’re playing, or you might be recorded while making a really stupid face.

See you at the show!