Post-SXSw

I think I'm probably last out of the gates on the whole SXSW wrap-up thing, but by now I think my loyal readers (both of you) have come to expect posts to be few and far between. I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's posts on SXSW, especially from those I had the great fortune to meet. The mantra about SXSW that gets repeated everywhere is it's all about the people. Well, I've got something different to say: hold on, can't read my notes here... oh... nevermind, it actually is all about the people.

I was a little nervous about going by myself to Austin, but now I'm really glad I was on my own. It meant I had to be outgoing and start conversations, and I ended up meeting a lot of great folks (and a few stinkers... no just kidding). I was surprised by a few things over the course of the conference, mostly by how big it was. I think I both expected it to be big (because of the SXSW name and history) and small at the same time. All the panel rooms were like 5x bigger than I thought they'd be, which is a pretty good thing given that nearly every one was packed. I heard somewhere that there were over 3000 interactive attendees. I can believe it after the frogdesign opening bash.

Another shocker: tons of university people! I went to the University Meet-up at "Buffalo Billiards":http://upcoming.org/venue/5082/, and just like "Josh said":http://www.worksology.com/archive/2006/03/on_austin_part.php, I was expecting older people. I don't know why, it really doesn't make any sense. Instead, about 40-50 20-somethings (mostly) from all over the country.

Being in the community of fellow web designers and developers (and all those whose blogs I read every day and whose books I own), and not just the online community anymore, was incredible. I quickly ran out of business cards. Next year, I'm going to take Faruk's advice and bring at least 75.

SXSW is about the people, but the conference itself is great too. Most of the panels I attended were great. My favorites were:

• Traditional Design and New Technology
• How to Convince your Company to Embrace Web Standards
• Web Design Superhero (gotta love Andy and Andy)
• Microformats
• Web 2.1: Making Web 2.0 Accessible
• Holistic Web Design: Finding the Creative Balance in Multi-Disciplined Teams
• WaSP Task Force
• WaSP Annual Meeting

All in all, an awesome experience. I can't wait for next year.