Conference worriers:

 I am one of those people who a few years back got my current job (my first
full-time salaried gig) by scraping together the reduced student admission,
booking a (cheap as all hec) hideous red-eye flight across the country, and
staying with family members to attend the AAM conference.

I attended every open forum I could and shared my ideas freely. I continued
those conversations after the sessions, and ended up meeting a lot of
people. People were extraordinarily helpful and would walk me clear across
a crowded hall to meet potential employers. One (saintly) person actually
said "Oh. You're looking for a job? I'll get you a job, hold on.... " and
promptly introduced me to the person who eventually hired me. : ) Contacts
made (or continued) at that conference eventually led to at least 3 other
hires in our department alone.

Aside from its payoff 5 months later, as a newbie I found the conference
*indispensable* as a way to get a current "state of the profession." When
you are starting out, you might not even know what options are out there.
It's worth it for that reason alone.

***     Craig M. Rosa
***     Exhibit Developer, The Tech Museum of Innovation
***     email> [log in to unmask]   vox> (408) 279-7133
***     WWW> http://www.thetech.org/    fax> (408) 279-7197