Merlene Paynter is a SxSW n00b. She’s blogging her experiences to help you out, entertain you and make you seem smarter than you are when you chill @ southby. Say thanks in the comments.

Yesterday was my first day of my first SXSW. I’d been told by the seasoned SXSW pros not schedule myself for too many things. To remain flexible and go with the flow.

My day began with an early meeting and progressed from there into lunch with a few friends, which transitioned into a Tweet-up hosted by Jeremy Wright, then on to a party thrown by the Blue Sky Factory people. After an hour or so of mingling there we headed off to the Mix at Six party – by the time we got there the party was at capacity so rather than stand around in the rain waiting to get in we decided food might be a good idea before heading to the TechSet party a little later.  A nice dinner with some friends (both old and new) then on to the TechSet party which was fun but was so packed it was hard to talk to anyone.

My lesson after Day 1 – eating is good. Every party, every lunch, every dinner – seemed to involve a lot of alcohol and not a tonne of food. I’ve now learned it’s important to eat whenever and wherever you can. And an interesting thing happens when you do go to find lunch or dinner. You always wind up finding a bunch of friends who either got to the same place first or came in just after you. If you don’t see anyone you know? Just tweet your location and how good the food or cold the beer is. You’ll be surrounded by friends in no time.

And the sessions? Rumour has it there were sessions happening yesterday but I never made it to any. When you go with the flow – you usually just flow from party to party to party. Maybe I’ll make it to a sesson or two today but I wouldn’t count on it.