SxSW (pronounced “South by Southwest” or “southby” for short) starts up this week. Friday is the Interactive component (which is huge to those of us who attend it, but inconsequential to those who go to Music or Film). And if this is your first time going, you’re probably halfway between shitting yourself and completely confused. Let’s fix that, shall we?

Wolfmother at SXSW 2006
Image via Wikipedia

This will be my fifth southby, and given that there are a tonne of new folk going to the Interactive component (my part of the show), and that a bunch of those folk are (understandably) overwhelmed, I thought I’d jot down some of my thoughts.

However, since my thoughts are free (and worth every penny),  I’ve decided to include other people’s thoughts in here as well. So what will happen is for the next 5 days (til Thursday, SxSWi begins Friday) I’ll writeup my thoughts, interspersed with quick tips from readers, friends and experts in the space. Then, during the conference, I’ll have daily thoughts from veterans I know and respect.

Because the reality is that while southby (Interactive, but I’m sick of repeating that, so it’s now officially assumed) is one conference, there are about a dozen different ways to experience it. It is trade show, conference, networking, party time, fantastic music, ability to meet new friends, private time with old friends, exclusive access to new tech, a swagfest, a babefest, a geekfest…Sadly, it is not (in my experience) an orgy, an Evanescence concert or a lovesick puppy chasing you around ;-)

In short? SxSW Interactive is something between Burning Man, TED and Cheers. You get out of it what you put in.

The Agenda (ish)

Here’s what you can expect from this series:

  • Sunday: The basics, the tools, the structure, what you can expect. In essence, if you’re feeling lost, this should get you found.
  • Monday: The survival guide. First and foremost how to have a good time, how to adapt and how to get the most value possible.
  • Tuesday: Building the perfect schedule (or lack thereof). The SxSW schedule is completely over the top. You can feel totally overwhelmed. Let’s help you make sense of it and figure out (now) what kind of conference you want.
  • Wednesday: The social side of SxSW. It’s a social conference, with its own rules. They’re different than you’re probably used to, but learning them will exponentially increase the value you get out of the event.
  • Thursday: For SxSW non-n00bs: if this isn’t your first one, how to get the most out of it, and how to get a different southby than you’ve ever had.

Want to Contribute?

SXSW 2007
Image by Laughing Squid via Flickr

I’m looking for 4 kinds of contributions during the series:

  1. Short little ones that aren’t specific to any one area (where to find power, best bathrooms, best food, worst food, etc)
  2. 50-100 word “how to get the most out of sxsw” submissions, that cover your personal experiences (like what happened when you couldn’t get into Mix at Six, but how you still had a FAB night, probably by going outside your comfort zone)
  3. A story. Any story.  About why you loved SxSW and the value you got.
  4. A full-length feature post for during the event to help people spread their wings a little bit.

Feel free to send any of these to me via email at jeremy@b5media.com. Or to tweet short ones to me @jeremywright. Or to leave a comment on any post. You’ll, obviously, get attribution, a link, etc.

Some quick related reading, while you wait for my genius to descend upon you like a lovesick dove: