SXSW Day One first impressions

14Mar09

Austin, Texas

The South by South West Interactive festival is underway in Austin and the tech-set crowd had descended from all corners of the globe.

The first thing to try to comprehend is the size of this event. It is massive. Thousands and thousands of the web industry elite have come to learn, listen and speak. Its like Lollapallooza for the Twitter set.

And Twitter is once again a major topic on everyone’s lips. Two years ago Twitter was launched at SXSWi, but this year it is the main form of digital communication for the attendees. Everyone is tweeting their whereabouts, tracking each other down, announcing flash-parties and recording their thoughts and observations.

BlogTalkRadio interview tents

Needless to say, Twitter has been pushed to its physical limits and the fail whale has beached itself here a few times already.

The Austin Convention Center is also a massive venue, taking a good 15 minutes to walk from one side to the other. Rooms are jammed with various interactive panels and sponsors mini-events.

There’s an amazing carnival-like atmosphere throughout downtown Austin and everyone is incredibly friendly. They see the SXSW badges and just start talking.

Given the scale of the event and shear volume of panels, sessions and parties, its nearly impossible to work to a plan. Its best to just go with the flow and be very fluid in your thinking. One minute you’re heading to a panel, the next you’ve been invited to a local bar to have a chat with someone.

The SXSW Interactive Festival officially kicked off around noon on Friday 13 Mar, but Thursday night was already in full swing. Once we picked up our badges/passes, here were several pre-launch parties in the downtown area that lasted well into the morning.

Pepsico SXSW Interactive display

Mack Collier told me prior to arriving that the social events are more important than the panels and I’m starting to believe him. You can suddenly find yourself at a restaurant table or bar stool talking to a dot com start up legend, Weblebrity, or social media guru.You can learn more in 5 minutes there than 2 or 3 sessions.

In the last two nights I have had drinks and chats with (in no order, and I will forget more names than I remember): Dave Armano (@armano), Kevin Rose (@kevinrose), Kevin Gawthrope (@gawthrok), Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), Beth Harte (@bethharte), Heather Rast (@heatherrast), Jeffrey Kalmikoff (@jeffrey), Ken Yeung (@kyeung808), Jason Baer (@jaybaer), Seth from TNT (@mostlymuppet), Leigh Duncan-Durst (@livepath), and Rebecca Caroe (@rebeccacaroe). There are so many more but its hard to keep track of everyone.

SXSW is a mind-blowing experience. Its almost impossible to take it all in and not suffer sensory overload. Its one event every web-focussed business person should get to.

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