After recovering from what was an awesome time in Austin, coupled with the flu/cold I picked up immediately afterwards which I have seen on Twitter being referred to as "SxSARS", I am just now getting together all my notes from the conference and recapping South By, which by all accounts is taking a lot longer then I expected.

Panels, Sessions, Etc

It seemed that most of the panels at the event were focused primarily on two things.  Design and social interaction with Social aspects being the most prominent.  The social panels were really interesting, everything from scalable application environments to the more basic and how social aspects can mesh and add or detract from your brands integrity.

Panels that I visited included some of the following:

• Rawk SXSW: The Basics - Rawk was basically a crash course on everything SXSWi.  From where to go, and what to see to simple tips like don't carry around the 40 lb guide with you each and every day.  This was a really great panel with some funny surprises right off the bat.
• Respect! - This panel dealt with how to be respected as a Web professional, and how to get past that awkward silence when you tell someone "I'm a Web designer".  Perhaps the problem with our profession, the panel was rather dry.
• Design is in the Detail - I thought this panel might be interesting, but it really ended up not being so.  The single panelist pretty much went through and discussed his personal and friends portfolio pieces, and not even in real detail.  Pretty big disappointment.
• The Contextual Web
• Everyone's A Design Critic
• Social Strategies For Revolutionaries
• Scalability Boot Camp - Mainly about heavily used Web sites and techniques to keep them running during heavy loads
• Social Networking and Your Brand - This panel was really interesting, diving into how using all aspects of social media can help you be found, and create a personal identity for you.  Mainly they tailored this to freelance developers and designers however much of this could also be applied to organizations as well.
• Design Eye for South By - This panel, now 4 years running reworked the Registrants Directory of SXSW.  This was really interesting to see.  The thought and work that went into this was awesome.  Seeing how another group of designers conceptualize and implement things differently then how you might is really fascinating. You can find the final product at http://designeye.org/ in addition to their other works from the past several years.

Peeps

One of the things that became apparent very quickly to someone like me who is new the conference is the willingness of everyone to chat.  Everyone is on the same playing field for the most part.  People we're genuinely interested and looking to make new contacts.

It also became quickly apparent that much or maybe even most of SXSW is not about the panels, but in fact more about meeting people.  The face to face interactions.  One thing I think South By South West does well is create a lot of intimate environments for these interactions to happen.  Smaller panel sizes, smaller venues for the evening events and other things help to foster that feeling of intimacy. 

Meeting people, having fun, and learning from your peers is what it's all about, and I met plenty of cool people from all walks of life, and oddly many of which are from the Seattle area.  Among others I was able to spot Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg.com) as I sat a couple of rows behind him at one panel, as well as Daniel Burka (Designer for Digg.com) who I didn't get to say hello to either, but was standing next to him on the smoking deck.  I was able to meet up with Keith Robinson who I have been reading for years, as well as his Blue Flavor coworker from Blue Flavor and fellow Mid-westerner Jeff Croft.

I think one of the most striking things that I picked up on right away was just how many U.K. folks are at this conference.  I spoke to so many of them, and not just at the Great British Booze Up, but in panels, at lunch, everywhere.  Props to you guys for making such a long journey to the states.

Nightlife

The parties that begin at around 6:00 and end... who knows when are crazy here.  Not only because of the amounts of freely flowing alcohol, but also because of the sheer number of communication and parties that are happening every minute.

This is where Twitter is a crucial application.  Finding and hanging out with the people you want to meet up with here is no easy task.  It's possible you might just bump into them, as was the case with the Blue Flavor guys, however if you really want to meet someone the best thing you could probably do is subscribe to their Twitter updates so you know where they are.

On the down side, here is one are that this conference showed that it is growing out of it's skin.  Just about every party that I attended had serious lines errrr queues waiting to get in, which I have heard wasn't the case even just a couple of years ago.  With as many parties as there are on some nights this should not be an issue, but this also goes back to the issue of intimacy.  Their could be more parties across more venues throughout down town to keep the lines down, but this goes back to the issue of face to face interactions which would also go down as a result. 

A few of the parties/sponsored events I attended:

• Laughing Squid party
• Bike Hugger, Beer & Barbeque
• Avenue A | Razorfish Happy Hour
• Frog Design | SXSW Interactive Opening Party
• Nuclear Taco Night
• Rails Austin
• The Great British Booze Up
• South By North West - 3rd Annual Geekfest Party

Visual Style

The Austin convention center is a relatively small convention center that featured about 9 main areas where they held panels and open discussions.  The venue which in my opinion is far to small to hold a conference of this magnitude is stretching I think out of it's limits and as the conference continues to grow at a large rate soon there will be no choice but to leave the Austin area.

Last year I attended with a few other people, MIX07 conference in Las Vegas and it was very well done visually.  Great graphics, displays, music, game centers, lounges, and lounges made for a relaxing experience on the conference floors.  The conference was held at the Venetian along side another conference that took up the bottom floor so it was plenty big.  And this doesn't include the city itself.

The reason I bring this up is not because I didn't like the city of Austin, or the conference.  In all actuality it was great, however as I walked around and met designer after designer, and began to see the design trend in the panel schedule as well it got me thinking about how bland of an environment they are putting all these designers in.  It would seem to me that things are flipped around a little bit as typically developers would be less worried about the design and architecture of the area.  I don't know, just seemed strange to me.

Take Away's

One of the things that we have wrestled with at both of the large organizations that I have been employed with is how to integrate social media aspects into the site while protecting your brand which in this industry is maybe more important even then others.  At several panels the answer was to not fear it and move forward.  The thinking that you have complete control over what others say about you and your organization is a false one.  As I got to thinking about it if someone wants to write something bad about you bad enough they will find a way other then your own social media outlets.  The better idea is to encourage them to express those frustrations through outlets on your own site where you have the ability to respond, and put out or scale back the fire without it blowing up on you.  In an era when corporate transparency is a huge issue to consumers this fits hand in hand with that strategy.

Friends and contacts is another huge take away.  It was fun meeting up with these people and getting the chance to talk to people that you admire and respect.  Even more exciting will be meeting up with them again at the conference next year and renew those friendships.  This conference is truly about those interactions, and is unlike any other I have seen or been to in that respect.

Notes for Next Year

• Twitter via SMS updates or ability to get on the Web via mobile device is  a must.
• Book hotel early - If there was one thing that was a pain this year it was being so far away from the hotel.   The people that I attended the conference with ended up renting a car, however it was still a pain to have to worry about driving from downtown to the out parts of Austin each evening.