I arrived back in DC on Tuesday after spending six days in Austin at SXSWi, aka Geek Spring Break. I had a blast there, not only reconnecting with people I’d seen at other conferences in the past, but meeting a ton of new folks as well — both people I knew from their work online, and those I hadn’t yet been exposed to. Though many of the panels and speakers I went to see were valuable and interesting, I know I’m not alone when I say that the real value of SXSW centers more on the social aspects than it does on the panels.
Kevin Lawver and I were talking over migas con queso at Las Manitas, and he described SXSW as being the one event during the year that really gets him jazzed for the work he does on a daily basis, providing a momentum and a motivation for the rest of the year. Now that I’ve gone, I can definitely concur, and came back from Austin feeling sleepy, but eager to buckle down on some things I’d been putting off recently.
The Panels
Grids are Good and How to Design with Them
Just one of the panels I missed, Mark Boulton and Khoi Vinh dive into grid-based design.
There were a ton of panels at SXSW, as compared to other conferences I’d been to, and while this can be a downside at other conferences, the sheer number of people at SXSW made it absolutely necessary. I say a downside at other conferences since multiple tracks or multiple sessions can segment the audience and make you feel like you really missed out on some great info. At SXSW, on the other hand, you quickly accept that there will be some great stuff that you will miss, no matter how hard you try to catch the good stuff, and you get over it right away.
Also unlike other conferences to which I’d been, there were pretty much only panels here: where there were individual speakers, they were either flying solo because their partner had been abandoned or because they had simply applied to do a panel alone. For most of the panelists, who were speakers in their own right, the format of a panel proved to be a significant challenge, at least from my perspective. Many panels took the form of several “panelists” giving micro-presentations for 8-10 minutes, followed by a brief wrap-up from the moderator.
I haven’t seen that an eight-minute presentation can yield much beyond a very superficial view of the topic at hand.
I find that I prefer the opposite style, in general, where the panel takes the form of a discussion more than it does a presentation, as I haven’t seen that an eight-minute presentation can yield much beyond a very superficial view of the topic at hand. A discussion-oriented panel, under the eye of a skilled moderator, can delve into some topics deeply, when interesting and appropriate, and skim the surface of others. Granted, there were relatively few moderators who did a great job in this respect, and some moderators acted like just another one of the panelists, but when the moderator ran a panel well, it really did show. One of the better examples of this was Maxine Sherrin’s handling of the Tags to Riches panel, which really exceeded my expectations by fostering a discussion that ended up being quite interesting, despite my expectations otherwise.
The Parties
As much as there are a ton of panels at SXSW, there seem to be even more parties. As Jeff Croft said, “This may sound like a good thing — and basically, it is — but it just leaves you with the felling that you missed something.” I had a blast at so many of them, and couldn’t pick a favorite like Jeff did, but I do have a special place in my heart for bowling.
Even Sparkleby got to go bowling at the Avalonstar bowling event. Yes, it’s true that Keith and Tiff had to help him roll, but don’t hold that against him. He invented bowling.
Bryan Veloso’s Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza was about 80% what it was cracked up to be: competitive bowling, lots of trash talk, and lots of fun. The biggest problem was the flow of the tournament — by the time 1am was rolling around, the 8 teams left in the tournament were given 25 minutes to bowl as quickly as possible to get the highest score during that time period. Okay, I know that it’s tough to fit a full tournament into an evening, especially with the Web Awards conflicting, but I’d suggest next year making all rounds except the finals five frames, and start the bowling earlier in the evening. There would be shorter delays between rounds, which means less idle drinking for the nclud guys, which could have meant that my teammates might have been able to walk in a straight line while bowling. Yes, you heard me, I blamed the Refresh DC team’s poor second-round showing on the delays! I had a blast either way, and am looking forward to next year.
The People
Of course, parties can’t be great without great people. While I’d say that most of the people I spent time with at SXSW were people I’d met before, either at Refresh in Orlando or Web Directions North, there were plenty of new and really great people that I met down in Austin. The web industry, or perhaps this slice of it, is incredibly interesting in that everyone seems to genuinely want success for others in the field — it’s as if we all realize that there is enough work to go around, and that we’re more likely to succeed in our own endeavours by helping others succeed in theirs. And if I’m the only one thinking that, well, ignorance is bliss ;)
So to all those with whom I was fortunate enough to spend a bit of time in Austin, it was quite a pleasure, and I look forward to the next time. If I have anything to say about it, it won’t be a year from now.
