Monthly Archives: July 2022

Some SIGGRAPH 2022 Info

I’ve started looking over the schedule for SIGGRAPH 2022, for online and in person attendance. Some things I’ve found (the course links below may be the most valuable):

  • If you’re traveling to Canada (from the US or any country), you must use ArriveCAN before you travel and must be fully vaccinated. You have to fill out ArriveCAN up to 72 hours (but not longer) before your arrival. The app needs to show you a V, I or A after you filled it out. Otherwise you did something wrong and they won’t let you into the country (unless you are Canadian). SIGGRAPH notes this and more info here.
  • Beyond the full program, also take a look at the “at a glance” schedule. That said, there’s no way to dig into any event (no links) from that page. The online “for attendees” scheduler (if you’ve registered) is your best bet for in-depth schedule building.
  • Probably the most important thing on any of the public SIGGRAPH schedule pages is the “spinning person with a black background” vs. the “person sledding or sit-skiing on a blue background” icons – see image at bottom. These are in person vs. virtual. So, for example, all Birds of a Feather sessions are virtual, even those actually during the week of in-person SIGGRAPH days (which I think is a mistake, but let’s go no farther down that path…).
  • The in-person course descriptions on the SIGGRAPH site don’t include schedules, just speaker lists, at best. Here are two courses’ schedules and other information, online elsewhere:
  • There are not a lot of in-person courses. Like, six (some with a few sessions), not including the roundtables (whatever those are – they look to each be 15 minutes long). However, if you go to the full program, select courses, and scroll all the way to the bottom, then click on “Courses” under “On Demand,” you’ll suddenly see 14 more virtual courses revealed.
  • There’s no SIGGRAPH app for the iPhone, etc., this year. I was told “it will be a mobile version of the platform. And it will be available July 25 when the virtual platform launches. Once you log into the virtual platform you will get instructions on how to access the mobile version of the platform.” True. And, so far, the online “for attendees” scheduler is much better than the public site, e.g., you can actually see where Appy Hour will be located (West Building, Exhibit Hall A, near registration).
  • Worried about ventilation and COVID? This account plans to post live-tweet measures of CO2 (which correlates with COVID risk) at SIGGRAPH (and DigiPro).
  • And, yes, you should be a a little worried: this informal poll for CVPR in June shows a third of people attending catching it, and this poll for CVPR shows half catching it, borne out by this other poll. It also spread at GDC 2022, despite precautions.
  • My guess is attendance is down (duh), so the odds of running into people I know is higher, though I might not recognize them with masks (so I recommend we all wear sashimono).
  • For off-the-beaten-path things to do in Vancouver, see Atlas Obscura. Gassy Jack sounds like a character from Borderlands. Also, consider this art exhibit. And, there’s a free Vancouver Murals app – it’s mural festival weekm, e.g., at 437 Hornby a mural is in progress.

I’ll update this post as I learn more tidbits – feel free to write me at erich@acm.org (yes, there, I did it, put my email address)

Keep your eye on these!