Today began the first day of SIGGRAPH 2010 here in sunny Los Angeles.  The schedule is a bit different this year than previous years, and I thought I’ld share some of the changes.

Perhaps the most visible change is in the Schedule.  Sunday has traditionally been nothing but a registration day, but this year contains tutorials, panel discussions, and talks all afternoon.  To offset this, they’ve completely eliminated the final day of the Conference (Friday), so the Conference runs now from Sunday-Thursday.  Friday has always been a pretty dead day at SIGGRAPH, and this is a clever way to rearrange the schedule around it.

Also this year there is no special ticket for the Electronic Theater.  Showing are every night starting Tomorrow, but the times vary a bit each night (Monday it’s 6-8, but Tuesday it’s 7-9).

From rumors I’ve heard around the conference, it sounds like this year is another unusually low attendance year.  Attendance is down, and the exhibition hall is a bit small as well, compared to previous years.  However, this isn’t impacting the volume of press releases coming out of the event, as I’m currently being inundated with several each day of the show.

Today attendance was sparse, but it’s a Sunday so it’s a bit early to say.  Keep checking back for regular updates from the floor!