Everyone I know told me I would have an amazing time at SXSW, and they were 100% right. I'm completely exhausted, but it was all worth it - I learned a lot, was inspired, and best of all, met a lot of great people.
I won't do my usually play-by-play of each day, but instead touch on a few highlights of the trip.
Austin
I
loved this city. The first couple of days were rainy and cold (which
was unfortunate, as I packed for what I thought would be Texan
weather), but it warmed up after a few days and the sun finally showed
itself. I loved walking around downtown and checking out 6th street. I couldn't believe how populated that street got at night (most likely due to SXSW)
- all the side streets were closed down and the streets were filled
with people. The whole downtown area was beautiful and very clean... It
reminded me ofLoDo in downtown Denver. I would definitely go back to visit even if it weren't for SXSW.
I also got to check out a nice little area outside of downtown on South Congress street. I think this is what is considered "Old Austin" as there were lots of dated buildings from the 1920's and cute little coffee shops and restaurants. I met my friend Henriette for a delicious breakfast of ginger pancakes and a bit of shopping on my last day here. Very cool area.
Panels
Most of the panels I went to were very enjoyable. My favorite one was Paul Annett's "Oooh, That's Clever: Unnatural Experiments in Web Design,"
which was essentially about going the extra mile on your website and
doing things that most users probably won't notice. However, the ones
who do notice will hopefully think more highly of your brand or tell
their friends, thus increasing brand awareness. All of the examples he
presented were fun to see and his entire panel was very inspiring to me.
I also really enjoyed Gary Vaynerchuk's "Turning Wine Into Gold" panel. For those who aren't familiar with Gary, he's a very successful video blogger who videoblogs daily about wine on his website, Wine Library TV . His panel was more Q&A, but I thought the advice he gave on entrepreneurship and life in general was great and extremely motivating.
There were many more great panels that I attended, but these were the two that stood out in my mind. Most panels have a podcast version for those interested.
Diggnation
Aside from standing in the cold for 6 hours, I had a fantastic time at the live Diggnation.
I arrived in line about 2 1/2 hours early, and I'm glad I did because
the line ended up wrapping around 2 or so blocks, and once I was
inside, I got a pretty good spot to stand and watch the fun. Thepre-show was done by Brian Bushwood
from Scam School and was very entertaining (if not slightly
disturbing). The live show itself was great - I was laughing almost the
entire time. Although after watching the live episode again on
Revision3, I think it was definitely more funny if you were there. The
crowd was huuuuuge, which only added to the energy of the show.
Afterward,
Kevin and Alex hung around for autographs and photos, which I of course
took full advantage of. I also got to meet Hippie Glenn (he was so
nice!), Jeff and Danny from Totally Rad Show, Andrew Bancroft from The Digg Reel, Brian Brushwood from Scam School, and Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg. It was a really amazing night, which ended perfectly by me running into BJ Novak from The Office in line for one of the clubs. Awesome!
Parties
I have to admit, I did not take full advantage of the party scene while I was at SXSW. Having gone down there alone and being as socially awkward as I am, I found it hard to show up at parties by myself and hope that someone would talk to me. I did try as much as I could to be sociable, which to others may have looked lame, but it was a big step for me. Whether it was striking up a conversation with the taxi driver or talking to the couple behind me atDiggnation , I think I did very well for my first time. However, while I was there I saw how important it was making contacts and getting to know others in your industry, so I will be making more attempts in the future to become less socially awkward and meet new people. Any tips from my more sociable readers would be appreciated!
Despite my shyness, I did manage to make a few great friends towards the end and ended up spending my lunches with them, as well as my last night there at the interactive closing party. It was a great time and I really hope I get the chance to see them again next year.
People
As I mentioned, I was able to
meet some awesome people while I was there. On the plane to Austin I
ended up sitting next to two people who were also attendingSXSWi (SXSW
Interactive). My first instinct was to not say anything or interrupt
their conversation, but as I was attempting to be more social, I
interrupted them both to confirm they were both going for Interactive,
and we all three ended up chatting the entire plane ride. It turns out
one of them,Vijay, works for CSU's rival university, CU. Nicole was a
social media marketer from Silicon Valley who was also very nice, and I
ended up running into her on random occasions - she even invited me for
lunch with her and her brother on our first day there.
I also met a really nice guy at a panel named Dave, who I ended up following on Twitter. From him I met Henriette (because we both had a soda alias) whom I spent a lot of time with towards the end of mySXSW experience. And from her, I met a few more people from Denmark who were all extremely fun to be around. Now I'll have an excuse to visit Copenhagen one day.
Things I would do different
First of all, the
money I thought I would save by staying in a hotel farther away from
downtown was probably all spent on the taxi rides to/from the downtown
area. It would most likely have been better to have just sucked it up
and got a slightly more expensive hotel within walking distance to the
convention center - at least that way I could have gone back during my
downtime. This would also alleviate the need to carry everything I need
for the entire day.
Secondly, I need to get some non-business business cards that include my name (with accompanying photo), email, twitter account, website, blog, phone, etc. I saw a lot of them being handed out and I thought it was really clever, as pen and paper are from the dark ages. In addition, you may not want to be affiliated with your company - I don't mean this in a bad way, as I love Burns Marketing, but I believe my personal "brand" is defined differently than it is with Burns, and anything I say or do (Twitter or blog-wise) shouldn't necessarily be reflected as that of Burns. All this aside, I believe you can get a really cheap (and cute) set done at Moo. I will definitely be doing this next year, or maybe even before then.
Third, bring snacks. There weren't many places to buy snack foods near the convention center, and everything that was sold in the convention center was really expensive, so I often went hungry until late when I finally got around to meeting people for dinner.
Fourth, if you're social awkward like me, bring a friend. If that is not an option, practice your conversational skills beforehand, and have your business cards ready!