IT Thoughts

This post is part of a series, head over to the SxSW Interactive Tips page to read all of the posts in this series (in intended order).

Just the Facts

Before we jump into the specifics of rawking out to, adjusting to and thriving in southby’s unique environment, let’s get some basic facts out of the way.

SxSW Interactive is held in Austin, TX from the 13th-17th of March, 2009. If you are new to the event, spend 10 minutes reading the official FAQ before you do *anything* else. You’ll find everyone from web celebrities to total newbies to PR people to politicians (no, really) at the event.

There are really 5 key parts to southby:

1. The sessions: this is the actual conference itself
2. The on-site social stuff: Guitar Hero competitions, blogger lounges, etc.
3. The trade show: see companies and what’s up
4. Screen Burn: the video game component
5. The off-site social stuff: official or unofficial, this tends to involve drinking, media acces, music, dancing or some combination of all of the above. Oh, or bowling. Bowling is big ;-)

Most people tend to gravitate towards 2-3 parts of the show, since all 5 are a little bit much to take in. Hell, just the sessions are a little bit much to take in. Don’t believe me? Try and figure out what sessions to go to, when and where using the official schedule!

But more on navigating the intricacies of SxSW on Tuesday when we cover building the perfect schedule!

A tip from @fuzzz:

Bring lots of Advil and drink lots of water when you get home at 3am…

What SxSW Interactive IS

Per the above, for most people, southby is one part conference, one part networking and one part social. Striking the right balance is key to getting enough value out for you, your company and your career. Going to just the sessions will, I promise you, fry your brain. Going to just the social stuff and you’ll end up with the world’s worst hangover (and not in a good way), and spend all your time networking and you’ll not only be burnt out, but nobody’ll remember you since they spent much of their time at the social stuff.

Getting the most out of the event is really about balancing all three areas. Get some learning in via the sessions. Meet new people any way you possibly can. And have fun at the social stuff, because even the biggest web celebs are, and they won’t take you seriously if you arent’ able to have fun too (oxymoron? yeah, but then we’re all a bit moronic in this industry!).

So Southby is a conference, but it’s not your typical conference where you need to be in every session (since that’d be physically impossible even if you HAD managed to bypass the laws of quantum entanglement). Southby is a networking event, but it’s not your typical networking event where you just hand out cards. Southby is a social get together, but it’s not your typical one where you just get drunk and act like an ass (unless you can pull that off with class, in which case it’s cool).

Quick Tip from Alex Hillman

Throughout this series, I’ll be including great tips from folk. Have one? Email me (jeremy@b5media.com) or tweet me (@jeremywright). Here’s @alexknowshtml‘s on conserving battery life (which is CRITICAL):

SXSW Battery Conservation So you’ve got a shiny iPhone, and you realize that without a swappable battery, you’re going to spend all day hunting outlets to charge it. First, make sure you carry a charger with you. Some other things to do to conserve power include:

1. lower your screen brightness as much as possible; the backlight sucks a LOT of juice.
2. kill the wifi/bluetooth. the wifi at SXSW usually sucks anyway. don’t bother.
3. Try using twitter over SMS exclusively, and shut off vibration/audible notifications. Set up SMS notifications for only friends whose tweets you want to get. Believe it or not, SMS is the lowest power consumption per message compared to sitting and refreshing Mobile Safari, Twiterrific, or Tweetie. It’s a little harder to sort through, but your battery will last longer.

What SxSW Interactive ISN’T

Southby isn’t your typical networking event. Schmoozing is fake. Fake isn’t welcome. “Real” is welcome. You can, quite literally, walk up to the biggest folk in the industry (Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Kevin Rose, etc), say hi, say you love their work, ask questions and end up spending the entire day/night with them (not in that way, though that does sometimes happen too). Everyone’s chill, and the more chill you are, the more you’ll get along just fine.

Southby isn’t your opportunity to “spam” everyone about your company. You will get to talk about work. In due time. When asked “what do you do”, shorter is better. When asked “what’s new”, only answer what’s truly interesting, dont’ read out your entire product brochure (and for goodness sakes, don’t hand it out!).

Southby isn’t an excuse to just get drunk. Granted, you undoubtedly will (though it’s not a requirement), doing so should be done with a group, in the proper way and you should all leave as a group.  Remember: it’s social, so if you’re going to get drunk, keep it social, keep it clean and remember: there are a lot of cameras around, and many of them are uploading to flickr or streaming live! Remember: what happens at southby goes on YouTube/Flickr/FaceBook/Qik/Ustream!

From @iFroggy:

How about, when you want to go to the bathroom, go to the Marriott, as opposed to convention center. Less busy, more clean. :) heh.

How to Approach the Event

The single biggest thing to remember about southby is this:

You get out of SxSW what you put into it.

Fundamentally this means that you can’t just run around trying to get your pound of flesh. The more you help, help be social, help others find their way around and generally GIVE, the more folk will give back to you. It’s incredibly karmic, and by golly it really works. For some this will be about as natural as walking a penguin in Manhattan. But I promise: it works, and it’s worthwhile and it’ll work 1000x times better than your standard “schpiel and peal” approach to other conferences.

This also means that if you’re an introvert, you need to step out of your shell. Approach groups you don’t know and ask if you can join them (not cool at other events, this is expected at southby!). How do you do this? Easy:

Hey, this is my first southby and I don’t really know anyone, you guys mind if I tag along?

Trust me, as an introvert, I know how hard it can be,  but it really does work. Cause either its their first southby, in which case they’ll want to meet new people… or it’s not, in which case they’ve done what you’re doing a dozen times and appreciate how hard it is. Unless it’s a private event or they are jackalopes, they’ll appreciate it and invite you along. If they don’t, the next group will. And while rejection is never easy, the truth is unless you started with your Twitter ID, they won’t remember you anyways ;-)

From @iFroggy:

Don’t be afraid to not party all night. There’s nothing wrong with being functional in the morning. :)

Where to Find Stuff

A quick list of places to find out what’s going on, get tips, get info, meet people, etc:

1. my.SxSW: Context, meet folk, just help plan. It’s hard to use, but very useful.
2. Sched: The ultimate way to figure out what sessions you’re interested in, what parties are going on, etc.
3. Facebook: More parties, and people.
4. Upcoming: EVEN MORE parties, and people.
5. Twitter: You might not like it, but there’s nothing better during southby. Add everyone you meet, add the connectors (@davidcrow, @accordionguy, @micah, @technosailor, @scobleizer, @jeremywright (yes I put myself, but I tweet events, so yeah), @jaygoldman, @briansolis, @stephagresta, @chrisheuer, @trishussey, etc). These people tweeet gatherings, events, etc.
6. SxSW Twitter Wiki: Lots of Twitter folk on there. Lots of info. Have at it!

Quick Tips & More Reading

Here are some quick tips from a handful of folk:

From Alex Hillman (a true veteran, a superstar and one of the coolest and nicest guys you’ll ever meet) on his tips post from last year:

• Attend the newbie panels (they really do help)
• Don’t overplan your itinerary, go with the flow!
• Don’t take pictures, participate in them
• Talk to everyone
• Don’t hero worship
• Have meaningful conversations, don’t be afraid to let them go on and on
• Invite folk for dinner/drinks. It works.
• Bring tonnes of business cards (ed: I recommend 500)

And from Aaron Brazell who just published his list of tips, and who’s had some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen at southby, so believe me when I say his tips are from personal experience:

• Pack light: you’ll get free shit there
• Plan to not be in your hotel a tonne
• Sessions matter, but not that much
• Don’t try to go to every party
• Don’t lose shit
• Bring an extra pair of shoes (ed: I had to buy Aaron a pair one year after the downpour he mentions… one happens at EVERY southby)
• Get sleep
• Get a hotel near the convention center

And my quick tips to get you rolling:

• Drink an incredible amount of water. Like Vegas, it’s easy to forget to hydrate. And with the amount of walking you’ll do it’s critical
• Don’t be afraid to miss stuff. You can’t hit everything you want. Don’t even try.  Going to 3 GREAT things per day is better than event hopping.
• RSVP for everything. But don’t be stressed about not showing up (nobody’ll be upset, unless it’s a dinner for 10 people and you’re the dude who didn’t show up so folk got stiffed with the extra gratuity)
• Leave your laptop at your hotel. Unless you’re liveblogging, your iPhone/Blackberry is enough. Or you can borrow someone’s laptop to check email. Someone said southby participants walk an average of 10 miles per day. Do you really want to lug your lappy around for 10 miles * 5 days? No, I didn’t think so.
• Eat. You can’t really eat too much. Between the heat, the walking, the drinking, the socializing, etc, you’ll burn your calories. Eat whenever you can.
• Join random conversations. Join random groups. Join ad hoc conversations.
• Core Conversations. These, seriously, are the best sessions to go to. Skip a session everytime to go to these.
• If you meet someone, and they’re speaking, go to their session. Then grab them afterwards and give them feedback. They’ll appreciate it.
• If you get invited to a smaller gathering, go to it.
• Use Twitter. Even if you never use it again, use it during SxSW.

Basically, be smart, be prepared, be flexible, be friendly and be smart. SxSW rawks. If you let it rawk you.

Contributing

Remember: if you have tips, stories, thoughts, questions, comment, email (jeremy@b5media.com), twitter (@jeremywright) and I’ll  include them/answer them!

Tomorrow we’ll  cover the SxSW Interactive Survival Guide.

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