This is my first time attending SXSWi, in Austin TX. Wow – it’s a different conference! At the many library conferences I usually attend, I bump into a few people I’d term “creatives.” You know the ones – their hair points to the sky, it’s died green, and they wear stripey socks. Well… all of those people have converged in Austin to attend SXSWi. Not that I’m complaining – I like hanging around creatives, and I’m certain I’m going to learn some cool things. It’s just… well… decidedly NOT a library conference.
And you get to come along with me, because I’ll be blogging what I see and learn! So strap in, hold on to your hats, because away we go – to my first day.
First off, I registered – and immediately saw Harry Knowles, the guy who runs Ain’t It Cool News registering for the film part of the conference. So I’m already geek’d out, and I don’t even have my badge yet!
After getting my badge, my bag of schwag, and lunch, I attended the first session, How to Rawk SXSW: The Basics. Some people from Valleywag sat in front of me, typing and snapping photos the whole time. This was an “introduction to sxswi” and was led by a panel that included Matt Mullenweg, Tim Ferriss, Min Jung Kim, Ian Lloyd, Jason Toney, and Rannie Turingan. I don’t remember who said what exactly, but I wrote some interesting quotes down:
- Don’t try to pace yourself – try to do everything at the conference
- The liver is evil and should be punished
- lots of talk about how to party, how to get over hangovers, how to extend your caffeine rush (take aspirin), etc.
- make sure to talk to people, introduce yourself to people, etc
- You want to be memorable (there’s lots of “remember me” networking going on)
- some discussion on how to meet someone who’s Internet Famous
- Geeks are nice, and usually want to meet you, too
- Say your name and blog URL
- Remember that Internet Celebrities are not real celebrities
- The people who are going to be big in 5-10 years are here
- Lots of language…
- And the panelists downed a whole bottle of bourbon during the session
- Hey, it was something to do… 🙂
Next, I went to Respect! Say it Loud: I Create Websites and I’m Proud! Also a panel, led by Jeffrey Zeldman. Panelists included Douglas Bowman, Liz Danzico, Erin Kissane, and Jason Santa Maria. This session was a loose discussion of figuring out the value of what we, as web dudes, do, and how we translate that to others. Random quotes:
- at Google, speed trumps everything – it’s a type of common ground for Google during meetings
- One person mentioned having a session where clients draw what they think they need in a site or app – this helps them feel part of the design process (even if you don’t use what they drew)
- A new Google employee is called a Noogler (ie., New Googler)
- Zeldman mentioned the Alzheimer’s approach to meetings – remind non web types what was decided in the last meeting, why we’re going a certain way, where we are in the process, and back it up with stats, studies etc – basically reminding them frequently of what’s going on
- watch out when marketers write content – it can sound too markety and not web enough – it starts sounding like a polished salesman.
Finally, I attended a party and hung out with some web developers from the National Geographic and the Pentagon.
Again – a very interesting start to a very interesting conference!
Joe Clark says
All the panelists you listed are partners or employees of Zeldman or his company. While all is fair in love, war, and Web development, was this disclosed?
Joe Clark says
All the panelists you listed are partners or employees of Zeldman or his company. While all is fair in love, war, and Web development, was this disclosed?
davidleeking says
Not really disclosed… but everyone DID mention where they work…
davidleeking says
Not really disclosed… but everyone DID mention where they work…
jason t. says
Thanks for coming to our panel! I hope it was fun or helpful or both.
jason t. says
Thanks for coming to our panel! I hope it was fun or helpful or both.