Bosslady Blog: Be Seeing You

In her final GDC Bosslady blog, our long-time general manager Meggan Scavio makes an announcement around, well, why this is her final GDC Bosslady blog.

My first Game Developers Conference was in 2000. We were in the San Jose Convention Center and I was in operations/logistics. The operations team assigns most first-timers to the role of Conference Associate liaison. So my introduction to GDC was via a group that was more family than volunteer. And I was hooked.

Over the years, I've held different roles within GDC but none as fulfilling as general manager. Having the opportunity to lead an incredible team and guide an event that's wholly community-focused has been fun and challenging and rewarding and complicated. Which is why it's so hard to say goodbye.

I will remain with GDC through June 30th, after which I will become infected with an alien virus and birth a new species - oh wait no that's a movie. I will remain with GDC through June 30th, after which I will depart for the red planet - what is wrong with me? Well, that's the date of my departure, and next, I'll be doing something else which I will eventually tell you about and it doesn't involve space. Unfortunately.

After 18 GDCs, writing this feels very surreal (which may explain why I keep trying to launch myself into/out of our solar system) but it also feels right. That is 100% a testament to the team that's been running GDC for years.

As executive vice president, Simon Carless, with his game dev background, has shown unwavering support to the team. He's been a driving force in helping the event maintain its community focus and gets maybe a little too giddy when wacky ideas cross his path (me: "Hey Simon, what do you think of a Seaman Classic Game Postmortem?" "Simon: WUT?! YEESSSS MAKE IT HAPPEN" but in a British accent).

We've got a stellar content team in charge of managing the GDC Advisory Board, the Summit Advisors, and the hundreds upon hundreds of speakers who contribute to the conference program every year. Victoria Petersen, Megan "1G" Bundy, and Ashley Corrigan are the rock stars who work all year toward making sure you have the best sessions/roundtables/tutorials/panels/all-the-things to go to all week.

(Please note: I will forever take credit for changing the conference start time from 9am to 10am via my very important "we're in charge so we can do what we want" rule. It's my proudest moment.)

There are so many other GDC staff members I should tell you about but I get sadder the more I think about them. Just know you're in good hands. All of the credit I've been given over the years genuinely belongs to them. The GDC team will forever remain committed to the goal of presenting an event that is representative of the industry as a whole. We aim to achieve diversity of voice, experience, and perspective and that will never change.

I can't wait to visit GDC as an attendee! I'll be the one wandering around - slightly disoriented - complaining about where they've hung the entrance banners.

Meggan "2G" Scavio