SXSW Interactive Recap

Today, my SXSW experience comes to an end.  With this, I return to my daily life a more enlightened person.  This is an annual phenomenon for me.  At an event like this, you experience an idea overload.   This experience works in unison with sleep deprivation.  This is SXSW.  The discussions about new technologies, ideas and how we can change the world through the digital medium starts early in the morning and goes late into the night.  You reunite with old friends.  You make new friends.  If you have ideas, you have a countless number of ears to spill your ideas to.  For five days this is Disneyland for many of us.

I can go on and on, waxing poetic about SXSW, but to save you any further revelry, I will outline some of the things I will take from this year’s SXSW:

• 10,000 tech geeks in a 10 block radius, 80% using iPhones will cripple AT&T’s 3G network
• Guy Kawasaki is now synonymous with spam
• A bigger Nashville presence this year than last (but we do have work to do)
• No controversy this year close to last year’s Zuckerberg-Lacy debacle
• I’ll get to speak on a panel next year
• The world is here (at least Europe, hello friends)
• The tech community is increasingly going Mac.  Last year was 70%/30% Macs to PCs.  This year is closer to 90/10.
• If you have either a client that you represent at SXSW, this is an excellent opportunity to get together in a laid back setting where all the layers can be easily cut through and you can establish much better conversations as a result.
• If you need a job and don’t mind moving, you could get one here.  A guy overheard my conversation and came up and within 5 minutes was trying to recruit me to move to Portland.  Sorry, I am neither A. Moving to Portland or B.  Interested in taking your job.
• The more times you use #sxsw on Twitter, the more envy you build up amongst your followers who did not attend.
• Zappos is a great company to work for and buy from, but when you attend a Tony Hsieh keynote, expect the same general discussion he always leads - customer service is #1, everything else follows.  Don’t be disappointed by this, its his deal, you should know to expect it…
• Seeing certain high profile technorati shitfaced on 6th Street is another experience unique to SXSW
• Crutches suck at SXSW - Just ask Scott Gordon (http://www.theantipimp.com)

Go ahead and make a commitment to be here next year.  And keep these tips in mind as you plan your 2010 SXSW experience:

1. Pay the extra coin to stay within walking distance on downtown and the convention center
2. Don’t forget your power cords (Phone chargers, etc)
3. Bring a powerstrip.  You will be everybody’s friend.
4. If you are introverted, find a way to be an extrovert for a few days.  It makes all the difference.
5. Use tools like Twitter to connect with fellow attendees before the conference begins
6. 1st day of SXSW is not mandatory, but stay until Tuesday afternoon
7. The accelerator event at the Hilton has tons of free Startup T’s - take full advantage

I hope you start planning your 2010 SXSW now.   I have already started mine.  How to see you here next year!

SXSW

Its day 3 of SXSW Interactive and I have to say I’ve found some of the sessions very beneficial and informative. Other sessions have been a complete waste of time. Then we have the keynote today from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. As a social networking community developer, I was really looking forward to this. What a disappointment. A complete debacle.

I’ve gotten more out of the social scene than anything else, meeting a lot of cool people along the way. Next time, I think I will spend half as much time in sessions and twice as much time at the parties. As everyone who knows me can attest, I have a lot of ideas. This is the place to explore those ideas and the potential they hold. Many of the industry leaders today were here just a few years ago exploring those ideas as well. Most of them still use the experience sxsw provides to enhance concepts.

I am tired, but I am inspired.