Vancouver International Digital Festival

Are You a Painting Tiger, or a Swaying Monkey?

Ok, so we’re getting close now to the next great epic instalment of the Vancouver International Digital Festival (or, as us early-adopters like to call it, “VIDFEST”, or “VF”). At VF, there’s people to meet. Deals to be made. Gear to show off. Things to be inspired by. Stuff to drink. Man–we’re talking, like, only a few days to go. So maybe it’s time to start thinking about how to maximize your VIDFEST experience.

Of course, like any good strategist, you need to apply the right approach to suit your particular skill set and goals. So who are you? What do you expect? Well, I’m here to give you an insider’s edge to the grand event. Below are a few combat styles I’ve found that might suit your unique qualities. This list isn’t exhaustive by any means, so feel free to email me with your own profile if you want some specially-tailored advice.

Find yourself below, check the Program, and get the most out of VIDFEST!

Painting Tiger Style
You love to make stuff. Your family says you’re artsy. You hate the term “artsy”. Your casual-but-funky shoes, ironic T-shirt, jewelled jeans and tousled hair are meticulously-crafted for maximum conversation-starting and top-of-mind-ness. Your workday consists of espressos and MacBooks and your idea of fun is going out to see a movie about a font.

I recommend: a) get maximum exposure at the Opening Gala (the place to be seen by all the cool kids), b) maintaining your culture cred by being seen at the film screenings on Sunday, using terms like “pull-back-retraction” and “long shot”, c) getting inspired at the Creative Exchange Conference, and d) bringing your laptop to the workshop on Tuesday so you can tell your friends that your latest project was “a collaboration with artist/designer Joshua Davis“.
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Way of the Early Tech Adopter Style
You breath gadgets. Even if you’d live on a small island in the Pacific, you’d still manage to somehow score an Apple iPhone before anyone else (thanks to that aunt living in Baltimore) and even get it unlocked. And even though you couldn’t use it as a phone, you’d still have earned some major street cred as the uber-hip early adopter in your village. Add that to your Blu-ray and HD DVD players, Slingbox, and Wii, and it’s clear you’ve got the inside track on the hottest, latest stuff.

I recommend: a) bring your iPhone, but please show restraint (flick, tap and pinch is sooooo July 2007) just occasionally answer it, b) definitely take some photos of the event (in a nonchalant way that’s sort of, “Oh? This? It’s just my iPhone. Yeah, it takes photos. Oh, you want to see…?”), c) get to the Pitch ‘n Play on Saturday and don’t miss the Creative Exchange Conference on Monday.
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Way of the Creation Matrix
If you get the above reference, then you need not be described any further here. We know that you’re a proud, card-carrying geek who know which Star Wars film is the best and loves Voltron, who sweats the small stuff-like whether the MVC design pattern is better than Symmetric Proxy (seriously, though: who cares? You do!)–and who hates crowds of people that aren’t just like you.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Good news: at VIDFEST, there are people that are just like you (like me), the bad news: there are also other people that are way cooler than you (like Andrew Keen, recently guest on the Stephen Colbert Show). Fortunately, the cool kids are friendly, and it’s pretty neat to rub elbows with some of the most interesting people in culture, Interactive Design, Gaming, and Digital Film. Reach out. Geek out. It’s ok.

I recommend: a) ease off on the sauce (since we all know what happens when geeks go wild), b) not getting temporary tats in an effort to look “all hardcore and shit” as they may rub off on Josh Davis’ clean, white T-shirt, c) check out Ori Brafman’s keynote and the Pitch ‘n Play on Saturday, and d) just be yourself.
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Swaying Monkey Style
You are in your nth year of design school. You like to indulge in the flowing libations and love to shout the occasional whoop-whoop while the jams spin. You heard there’s beer at this VF thing. And grooves. I’ve got great news for you: there IS beer and wine at this VF thing. And food, too. Remember food? Take a break from the usual student fare. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.

You can easily get your par-tay on three days out of the four VIDFEST days (of course, no one’s stopping you from BYOB-ing at the premieres and special screenings on Sunday… well, no one except the Vancouver Police Department, so I don’t recommend disorderly conduct and public drunkenness).

I do recommend: a) keeping in mind that you may one day be working with, or for, some of the folks at these events so don’t get too zonked, b) becoming good friends with some of the New Media BC staff (they may start giving away drink tickets as they get tipsier), c) going to the Opening Gala, and the final Happy Hour on Tuesday, and d) before you hit the bar, take advantage of your sobriety and go to the Recruiting Fair. Who knows? You might line up a sweet J-O-B and be able to pay for your own food someday.
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Way of the CrackBerry
You’re into networking and deal-making. And checking your email. A lot. You love meeting people and finding out what they do and how you can work together. You can move mountains to make cool digital enterprises take off and, more importantly, make them profitable.

OMG, VIDFEST is going to blow you away. Have you checked out the confirmed speakers this year? Those, coupled with the explicitly synergy-powered-handshaking that is the IPF, the crowds of movers and shakers that will be at the Opening Gala and the Happy Hours, and the rare opportunity that is the Pitch n’ Play, all this combines to create a networking ecstasy that will leave your throat dry and your wallet business-card-less.

I recommend: a) not saying “synergy“… like, ever, b) don’t give out your business cards to people that ask for it so it looks like that you’re so popular that you’re clean out (instead, give out your fake business-only Facebook email on a napkin), c) stop looking at your Blackberry long enough to make eye contact with the people you’re talking to.
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Which of these styles is for me, you may ask? Probably a bit of each, to a degree.

And my own personal style? Well, I’d like to think that my style is so technically precise, so rich and nuanced, and so socio-acrobatically agile, that I can’t even begin to divulge it’s secrets. I’d like to think that I draw from all styles and effortlessly moment-to-moment shift to right posture for the right occasion. The reality is probably much more mundane. Next time, I’ll describe the Way of the I Forgot to Shave and Dress Nice Because I Was Up Too Late Playing My 360 Style. Eh, maybe not.