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For Jamil Moledina, his 15 minutes of fame lasts almost a full week, which might freak out a weaker man or woman. But contrary to that expectation, GDC director Moledina appears to be in complete control.

We should hope so. More than 10,000 people are basing their schedules around the Game Developers Conference, looking to extract meaning, inspiration, and tools from the almost 400 lectures, panels, presentations, workshops, and parties that will fill all of next week.

We spoke with Jamil this week, just days before the event's opening day.

GameSpot: What guides you as you try to keep a program like GDC fresh? What are the standards you hold yourself to? Where do they come from?

Jamil Moledina: I have several guides in keeping the GDC program fresh. We have a great advisory board, composed of several of the industry's leading developers, and I have an extensive network of developer contacts that I worked with when I was editor in chief of Game Developer magazine. Furthermore, I have a fantastic team to work with, whose sensibilities have been honed by years of experience running the GDC.

My standards are high, but simple: GDC content has to be exceedingly compelling and productive. It needs to present a strong takeaway and/or capture the imagination of the game-creation community. My compass on all this comes from being an avid gamer since Space Invaders, developing a journalist's eye for a good story, and having a deep respect and affection for creative professionals.

GS: This is a hard one, but it needs asking. If you had to pick only three sessions to recommend, which would they be?

JM: A lot of people ask me to recommend sessions to them, and I'll always ask what they’re interested in. GDC has over 300 sessions, and while there’s something for everyone, it helps to know more about the interests of the attendee. The Vision Track does feature universally appealing speakers like Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, and John Underkoffler (the futurist behind Minority Report). However, there are three sessions that should be in everyone's interests:

March 9, 9:00am, Cell: A New Platform for Digital Entertainment, Mark DeLoura, Manager of Developer Relations, Dominic Mallinson, Director Research and Development, Sony Computer Entertainment America
March 9, 10:30am, The Future of Games, J. Allard, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft
March 10, 10:30am, The Heart of a Gamer, Satoru Iwata, President, Nintendo Co., Ltd.

GS: What's on the top of your to-do list, Jamil? Be real now...and how long's the list, in all?

JM: 1. E-mail GDC Advisory Board. 2. Rehearse keynote introductions. 3. Rehearse Game Developers Choice Awards presentation.

Those are the actual top three things on my dry-erase board, which has 16 main objectives, each with at least two action items. The board has a limited area, and every time I erase something, two things in smaller handwriting go up. But that's actually not the case anymore, since most of the things are now done.

GS: Who is the one guy or gal that got away? The one individual you wanted to get so badly but just didn't manage to catch?

JM: Some of the top people I wanted for the Vision Track couldn't make it because of timing but are very interested in presenting at GDC 2006. I'll tell you more when I finalize them.

GS: What year was your first GDC attended? Do you have any specific memories of that event? Any one session or sessions you recall vividly?

JM: I covered GDC 2004 for Game Developer magazine, and I had a great time with it. Approaching the show as a journalist, I was intent on covering all sides of the event and threw myself into the interconnectedness of it all. For example, when the Three Rings guys won an IGF award for Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, CEO Dan James and team all got up on stage in suits and partial pirate gear. I thought that was a very cool move, and it really made them stand out. I would later interview them on the show floor, and later still party with them in a suite. And that's the amazing thing about GDC. There are so many opportunities to connect with different people in the industry.

GS: Your predecessor, Alan Yu, surprised a lot of people when he left the organization last year. Are there any elements of an Alan Yu legacy remaining in the atmosphere? Or is it all Jamil this year?

JM: Alan did an amazing job adapting the GDC to the changing climate of the industry. For example, he was instrumental in nurturing the Business and Legal Track into a form that would enable it to stand alone as an executive conference within GDC.

As for me, there are a couple of things I've been working on to keep GDC progressive. The concept of Future Vision and the Vision Track rose from several ideas from within the advisory board, as well as my own “Visionaries’ Visions” 10th Anniversary feature from when I ran Game Developer magazine. Given that mandate, I've steadily built our vision track into its current form, with Hollywood designers, special effects wizards, game design gurus, and interactive music innovators all giving us a glimpse into the next 10 years of interactive entertainment.

I've also put a lot of effort into creating our Global Developer Program, which, loosely put, is the idea of making every level of GDC more accessible to the global development community, thereby improving the diversity of experiences and knowledge for regular GDC attendees. For example, this year’s Focus on Japan brings us speakers from Square Enix (Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu), Konami (Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka), and Capcom (Viewtiful Joe creator Atsushi Inaba), three companies that have never spoken at GDC, as well as Namco’s Keita Takahashi, who will give a postmortem on his groundbreaking Katamari Damacy.

We're also offering wireless translation of our Japanese talks into English, as well as select English-spoken sessions into Japanese. It's all about bringing down the barriers between developers and giving the collegiate atmosphere of the GDC a chance to flourish.

GS: What are the criteria you will use to judge the success of the event? What will signal to you: "Job well done"?

JM: Well, besides the hard data, such as the detailed attendee surveys and the P&L data, there’s an intangible vibe on the show floor, in the hallways, and at the events that I’ll keep tuned to. Developer feedback is critical to making sure we continue to hit the right notes, so I'll be paying very close attention to e-mails, blog comments, journalist coverage, and in-person feedback.

GS: Any regrets having taken this beast on?

JM: I do miss running Game Developer. I thoroughly enjoyed writing full time and working with a great team of editors and contributing developers. But you know, GDC also has a great team and offers a whole host of new challenges and opportunities.

GS: Certainly there must be some unsung heroes within the GDC organization. Who are they?

JM: The biggest unsung hero of the GDC is Susan Marshall, our associate conference director. She primarily manages the speakers, but this year she also produced the Game Developers Choice Awards. The show looks outstanding, and I am really proud to be working with her. In fact, she’s the main person I have in mind whenever I talk about having a great team to work with.

GS: How are you going to spend the weekend before the show opens?

JM: Be Cool opens this weekend. It's more Elmore Leonard, so that should be fun.

GS: At this late date, what could possibly go wrong?

JM: GDC 2005 is locked and loaded. Unless Moscone West crashes into an iceberg, we're ready to go.

GS: Good luck, Jamil. We're looking forward to next week.

The GDC Web site has all necessary details surrounding the event.