SxSW = South By Southwest, a ‘festival’ with an interactive conference, film fest and a music festival. It takes place in gorgeous Austin TX and, like Texas, is super-sized in so many ways. If the number of FANatic visitors wasn’t enough, it has a non-stop agenda with interactive sessions, movies, music and parties involving in or all of the above. For this newbie, it is a bit overwhelming and more than a little intimidating to be navigate – but still very well-worth it. Here’s a few of the lessons and observations on this Texas-sized conference:

1. First, HUGE thanks to the social media agency Collective Bias for sponsoring my conference pass. They focus on brands, shoppers and bloggers – and bringing the three together for great things. Thanks for believing in bloggers and for the scholarship! Also, thanks to their sister company – Nomadic Agency for a fun dinner together on a rooftop on ‘Music Row’ – 6th Street. (Even if the restaurant did kick us out before we could have coffee!

2. Here’s the power of social media and the amazing people involved. I decided to attend SxSW about two weeks before it happened – so not much time to make reservations, find a roomie, etc. I sent a DM (direct message tweet) to a few friends and asked for roommate recommendations. My friend, the smart and kind Liz Strauss, recommended a woman I’d met previously at SOBcon (a fab conference for bloggers who mean business – I attended last year and will be there again in April. See you there?). Liz shared that Hope, from Windy City Social, needed a roommate so trusting my social media friends, so I checked that off the list. Hope was kind enough to research and finding housing. She warned me that the closest opening was a ‘Motel’ but was in walking distance. Surprise! We arrived on Friday to find we were staying in the “My name is Earl” motel. Kinda scary and definitely made it difficult to sleep wondering about the cleanliness of the bed and especially the bath room. Fast forward to a blogger session on Saturday. I met a very nice, smart, savvy blogger Chris (who has two fab blogs – Chicago Wine Diva and Chemo and Vino). As with so many fascinating people at SxSW, we had a great conversation. Little did I know we’d end up meeting the same group of Chicagoans for dinner that evening. And, poor kind Chris, I doubt she thought that Hope and I would take her up on her invitation to stay with her husband Marc and their friend Jessica for the following three nights. (Yep, we packed out bags, left the scary motel and took a cab to a house with three people we barely knew.) Again, the social media connection is pretty amazing and advantageous for making new friends. It was a wonderful experience and three people I learned from and enjoyed spending time with. (And, hopefully they felt the same!) Thanks to Chris, Marc, Jessica and Hope for making it a much more enjoyable SxSW for me! (MAJOR karma points for the Blumers and Jessica – THANKS!!!)

3. I love the energy of passionate, creative people. I attend a few blogger conferences – BlogHer, Blissdom; and social media seminars like Blog World Expo, Blogwell and Social Fresh. This one is like those – but again, Texas-sized. This was 15,000+ of amazing, socially connected and knowledgeable geeks. Which translates into 15,000+ smart phones, 15,000+ often sticker-covered laptops and any other geeky tools one could carry while walking through the trade show. It also translates into countless geeky glasses, people with multi-colored hair, Mohawk haircuts and impressive tattoos, and often tired people who attended possibly one too many parties the night before. In fact, the ad on the back of the show book stated, “We’ll (whomever the ad was about) be there after the show when you’ve sobered up.’ Passionate, creative people also like to party and hang out with other passionate creative people and this festival is designed to accommodate. Thanks SxSW!

4. Being a newbie, it’s sensory overload. Booths of technology solutions, company displays and samples, and the creative, ‘wild’ attendees mentioned in #3 above, it can bring out my introvert side. Just like the ‘Cheers‘ bar, everyone needs a place where people know your name, right? Well, it might not be everyone but at least, based on my connections from Twitter and previous conferences, the Microsoft Phone Blogger Lounge was that place for me. Shown in the photo here, it was an open conference room for bloggers to gather and recharge – be that their laptops and sometimes (if you timed it just right) their bellies. Live music, lively conversations, hugs and new friends made the Blogger Lounge a great place for a newbie like me to feel welcomed. Thanks Microsoft TV / Silverlight!

5. Another overwhelming element was that about 20-30 seminar sessions going on simultaneously. That makes it difficult to decide which one to attend, plus – there are those great conversations going on in the Blogger Lounge and the hallways of the Austin Convention Center (and the outside – since it was beautiful weather except for Tuesday). The ones I enjoyed most were blogging-based – like: blogging for money, community managers, content relevance and FTC info. The discussions were lively and, again, passionate and creative. I loved hearing Tim Sanders speak about going ‘from blogging to social media guru to professional speaker.’ I’ve heard Peter Shankman (aka HARO) is rather arrogant so I kinda expected that (and can concur) but his presentation was good and he is passionate about what he does. Nonetheless, the sessions offer something for just about everyone so they were very worthwhile.

6. Hanging with a geeky crowd (like right now at the Jelly get together for home-workers), it’s a given you’ll at least have an iPhone (Blackberries were, in my opinion, somewhat frowned upon!). Some people don’t embrace social media and technology like I and SxSW attendees do (girlfriend Penny for example, took pride in her recent party being a ‘cell-phone free zone’ – which I prefer hanging with geeks and their smart phones!) Being ADHD and tech-addicted is the norm at SxSW so it is a very accepting crowd for a geeky girlfriend wannabe!

7. Having a corporate marketing background, I think I’m especially impressed when brands stretch themselves and do innovative ’stuff. SxSW is the perfect playground for brands to find innovative ways to connect with the social media crowd (and lowly bloggers like me). For example, AT&T had a mailbox with phone chargers inside the little lock boxes. You could hook up your cell phone and take the key with you - thanks AT&T. Thanks to Bing for offering Bing Cars – basically free cabs offered by Bing. Chevy offered test drives in some of their cars and hosted a party at Lance Armstrong’s bike Shop – Mellow Johnny’s. Thanks Chevy! And cool cars!

8. From live music (during SxSW) in the airport to endless music venues and cool restaurants, Austin is just cool. It also helps to have perfect weather most of the days and eat outside like this Downtown Burger trailer. I was able to take the bus downtown from our home-away-from-the-scary-motel, which was convenient, pretty speedy and, at $2 for a 24-hour period, dang cheaper than a cab.

9. It’s good to have a community. As overwhelming and packed as the days of SxSW can be, the nights are even more so. Between the movies, music, parties and corporate meetings, are the conversations that keep the connections flowing like ‘Texas tea’ (nod to old folks who remember the Beverly Hillbillies). I attended several parties but none that I felt as comfortable in as a private party for SOBcon connections.  As I mentioned above, I attended this conference (which is limited to 150 people who are serious about growing their blogs and businesses) so it was a group gathering where I knew I’d see friends and meet new ones. Yep, having a community is good. Thanks SOBcon! Thanks Liz and Terry! It also was awesome to see my girlfriends there – like Sandy, Melissa, Zena, Krista (who lives in Cincinnati but we never get to hang out!) and other fab female friends.

10. ‘Nothing like a HUGE conference to make you stop and have conversations with new people. Interestingly, the night before leaving for SxSW, I had a conversation with my girlfriends about living more in the moment. Traveling is the one time I generally do live in the present and I love that. Going to a conference like SxSW is a great opportunity to have conversations with new people, to explore innovative thoughts and to experience creative energy. If nothing else, this conference was valuable and meaningful for this alone. Thanks SxSW.

Tags: austin tx, blogger lounge, geeky girlfriend, pepsi refresh, SXSW, sxsw review

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND, Girlfriend Advice and Reviews, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.