If you are a regular reader of my blog, or a subscriber, you may have noticed that it's been a good while since my last post, probably a week or so. I have a reason for this, I promise. This was my first year to attend SXSW Interactive, which is FIVE solid days long. The fact that it's right here in Austin made the decision to attend much easier. I coined my own term for the event: Geek orgy. Get it? Like a Greek....never mind.
Here are a few things that I learned that I intend to implement next time around. (Yes, I will definitely be back next year.) I hope you find them helpful.
1. Get a mobile charger for your phone. I use an iPhone, and with the relentless usage of Tweetie, Foursquare, and texting, the battery couldn't withstand my onslaught. Thankfully, there were lounges available with chargers for pretty much any type of phone around the Convention Center.
2. Use a backpack or one of those wheeled carts, even if it looks a little dorky. I attempted to carry my cinder block Macbook Pro on the first day, and I scrapped that idea in favor of the iPhone for the duration. Had I thought of it earlier, I would have stuck the laptop in a backpack, which would have made my life easier, in addition to enabling me to blog during the actual event.
3. Wear comfortable shoes. This one probably goes without saying, but I can't bring myself to wear running shoes with jeans when I am networking. That being said, I intend to acquire some comfortable yet halfway stylish shoes before next March. I have 11+ months to plan. :) The Austin Convention Center is massive (as in, three city blocks square), and the event encompassed the entire building, along with parts of two adjacent hotels. The parties are held at various locations nearby within a few blocks.
4. Upload your picture ahead of time to the SXSW site. I didn't even think about doing this, but I should have. Instead, my badge displayed me speaking and sort of smirking in mid-sentence because it was taken at the registration. I would recommend using your Twitter profile picture, which hopefully is an actual picture of your face. On an ancillary note, I should have used my office address, rather than my home address, since I had to explain that I'm in Austin because people don't know the suburbs around here, and it showed my home address town on the badge.
5. Don't be shy at all. I certainly wouldn't advocate being an obnoxious blowhard, but I would recommend just practicing the fine art of saying, "Hi". I had a list of a handful of people I really was hoping to meet, and I met several (although not all) of them. I didn't have any hidden agenda - I just enjoy people, and I like meeting people that I admire and respect. Additionally, I found it easier to keep in mind that the other 15,000 attendees are mainly there to network!
6. There's a reason that guys like Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, and Gary Vaynerchuk are famous in the business/blogging/new media world. They are interesting and gracious. Period. I had a chance to meet Chris on the first day, and early. He is ridiculously nice in person, and I met two other luminaries just by standing there with him for a couple of minutes. I heard all three of them speak, and none were disappointing. Darren even agreed to be on our BlogTalkRadio show soon (http://facebook.com/socialmediaedge). Since it airs live at 4am Australia time, we have to record it in advance. Chris spoke with Julien Smith about establishing trust (they did co-author "Trust Agents", after all), and it was both funny and genuine. The energy in the room during Gary's talk was palpable. I left there feeling like I used to feel when I walked out of a "Rocky" movie - invincible and inspired. The dude knows how to work a room.
7. Plan ahead a little more, but remain flexible and go with the flow. If I had been paying more attention before the event started, I would have caught a couple of speakers that I would have loved to hear. However, if I had scheduled every minute of every day, I might have missed meeting some of the coolest people I came across.
8. Learn where some of the "cool kids" hang out. I did. And no, I won't tell you, at least not here. If you're super-interested, get in touch with me and I'll tell you where I would imagine you will most enjoy your time in terms of solid networking where you can actually hear yourself think. If I make it too public, I risk ruining it next time.
9. Overall, they need to do a better job of vetting presenters/panelists. Although I managed to catch some awesome sessions (most notably the ones I mentioned above, along with a discussion led by Chris Heuer and John Biehler), I also witnessed some supremely boring and sales pitch-y garbage, too. I have a suggestion if you are planning to sell stuff during your presentation: Don't mislead the audience. Just call it "Widget I Want to Sell You" or "Walkthrough of My Software". I had to vote with my feet and leave more than one of the sessions I chose to attend. I am sincerely considering throwing my name in the ring for a session for SXSW 2011. Wanna join me on a panel?
Austin remains a terrific town. I'm happy to have called this area home since 1988. It was fun to see the jealous reactions of many of the people I encountered when they learned that I get to live here year-round.
Hope to see you here next year!
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Jason,
Sounds like it was overall a great time at SXSW. I read many of the tweets from the event and have thought about going in the past. Perhaps next year I'll make it there - who knows?
Good morning Jason,
Sounds like quite an event and you came away with lots of excitement and enthusiasm! Thanks for all the tips..you'll make another Newbie one step ahead on their visit next year! I'm sure we will get to read many informative posts in the future from you on things you learned!
Thank you for these tips. .looking forward to hear more about it
Sounds like you learned a lot at this event and will be even better prepared for the next one.
Thanks for the tips and advice!
Jason - It sounds like you had a great experience, and thanks for the advise. The backpack idea will work in any big event.
What an interesting post. Thanks for the information and the inside look at the conference.
To my fellow geek Jason, I just bought an Energizer charger for my phone. I got it at the drugstore. It is awesome! It uses to AA batteries to charge my phone. It comes with micro USB and a mini USB connections. It works great!
I'll be in a class all day tomorrow and it won't matter how many times I hit Send/Receive because I have an auxillary power source!
Jason, thanks for the recap, I do have a suggestion for the phone battery, try going to seidio.com
I have a black berry bold and was charging pretty often, I got an extended life battery from the site and now I charge every other week or so. Honestly, it is amazig the difference, they even come with a modified phone back so handle the larger size battery.
#3...it's all about the shoes! If your puppies are barking, it's hard to concentrate on anything else going on around you. 11 months should be enough time for you to be stylin' in comfort! ;-)
By all accounts, this is an event not to be missed. Austin is a long way from NH, but maybe someday. Glad you had such a great time, Jason!
First of all I can't quite wrap my head around the pic of you being a "newbie" lol...just wrong somehow. Second, great stuff you give us here! Have not popped by your blog for a while and wanted to say hi~
Jason...great advice for any get together. A little prep can make for a fun time.
Jason,
Like the ideas of comfy shoes (so helps any situation, huh?) and hanging out with the cool kids!
Psh. If you had Fibromyalgia, you would have already learned most of that through physical pain trial and error. =P And I always buy a car charger as soon as I get a new phone. I'm anal like that. lol
Lisa - I actually have a car charger, but I wasn't in my car. :) I was walking around texting, tweeting, and checking in on Foursquare for roughly 12 hours each day. I found a pocket charger today for $39 (you charge it up, then keep it on you).
Jason, I had a chance to meet Gary Vee at a REALLY small venue and I could not agree more. He IS interesting and gracious and definitely impacted the way that I speak and interact with people! Thanks for the neat recap...:)
Good advice for any big seminar/conference.
Jason,
These tips are good tips for just about any large or extended conference, and we really don't think about some of them until we are in the thick of it.
I'm so glad that you had SUCH a good time.
See ya' again one of these days when we have time to visit.
I'm now a loyal follower!
I've been to Austin several times, and although I'm a die-hard Sooner...I love the city of Austin. I went to the SXSW film festival a few years ago and remember going to Antone's and as soon as I walked in seeing a "big name" on stage rocking out with the local band. I also remember sitting right across from another well known director and sharing a toast. Great city and people. You ought to think about putting a panel and topic together. Thanks for posting!
Jason,
I have a good friend moving to Austin (already has a ton of connections and family there.) He's actually starting a church called OneChapel. He's a wonderful guy and is already very well known around the country from his 18 years at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
I actually wanted to comment on the backpack/laptop idea. I found an awesome backpack from Swiss Gear that holds my 17 inch HP laptop and has tons of pockets and gear and is very comfortable. Let me know if you'd like more specifics.
Great posts,
Russ Gordon
Russ - Feel free to post the specs here. :)
Sounds like you had a great time. Funny thing is I have been reading about SXSW all over the media. And I never even know about it. Glad you had a good time.
Sounds like you are a seasoned vet now--- are you going to share some of the info you gathered at the show? Comfortable shoes is always a good call! Love your blog-- Kathy
This was a great post - I agree that almost any event (if held in Austin) would have lots of redeeming qualities - - Tex mex and music after the seminars anyone? :-)
I forgot to chime in Jason and tell you how great it was to finally meet you f2f. I also had a blast at SXSWi and will be attending next year. I agree with you in regards to some of the sessions. I guess that is what you get when you have that many and they are decided by voting. I hope they do a better job with that next year. Take care and I hope to see you again soon.
Derek
Jason - Still not exactly sure what the SXSW Interactive is? Where can I find more info about it, and does it change location each year?