SXSW Personal Observations & Experiences
March 19, 2010Here’s a few other random off the top of my head comments I have:
- Julie T and Trevor are just amazing, Tim Hayden is a class act, Mary Dean and Carol Thompson are admirably passionate
- Martha from Stanford is extraordinarily interesting, and her delight in being in the middle of new ideas all the time is inspiring
- Guy Kawasaki’s personal honesty is refreshing, um, and enchanting in a Papa Berenstain sort of way
- People from Austin who didn’t buy a ticket should do so next year. Save now. Start a SXSW Savings Club account. Just sayin’. Perhaps we should approach SXSW for a proven zip code discount. After all, we DO provide an awful lot of tour guide help.
With that said, though, I got my money’s worth in spades every single day. - People who complained about panels should remember they voted for them. Same thing happens in elections; people don’t realize what they’re voting for because they don’t look closely enough.
- Omar Gallaga’s content for the Statesman cartoon (can’t remember who drew this; I’m sorry!) was THE biggest laugh I had this month. See the point above this one about choosing panels. (BTW, did you know Omar is on NPR, too?)
- I forgot my recorder one day. I went all the way back home (25 miles each way). I was angry, angry at myself. So angry, I came up with two inventions to make sure I, and other head-in-the-clouds people like me, can potentially avoid this in the future. One is an application, the other is a physical object. If someone has experience designing physical objects and getting them to market, lemme know!
- Serendipity happens. Someone tweeted before SXSW started that the best way to approach SXSW was to plan in advance so you’re prepared, but be flexible when you got there. That stayed in my head the whole time, and served me well. Each thing that went wrong, had a good thing happen that wouldn’t have otherwise. I was glad I made each gut-feeling choice; I appreciated each serendiptious happening, and I learned a great deal from each conscious pre-planned choice. You choose your experience.
