
SXSW 2012 was my second venture through one of the largest interactive conference in the US. I broke the conference down by the themes that occurred during the week below.
The Weather
The big story for the first 2 1/2 days was the crappy weather. Schedules were based on how intense the rain was between sessions or whenever you had to venture outside. The rain was coming down in buckets and many, including me, did not have the proper attire to swim from venue to venue. The rain was good for Austin and the state of Texas however. The region has had record droughts and a lake north of Austin is 40-feet below average.
Sessions
The interactive sessions were hit and miss as usual. You pick sessions based on the assumed content and the presenters. I skipped a few sessions with known presenters to view some based on content… swing and a miss. The big one I missed was Sean Parker (napster, facebook) interviewing Al Gore. Gore was a surprise to the session but I had a chance to go and skipped it. A surprise was Billy Corgan (smashing pumpkins) being interviewed about the state of the music industry from a business view. Corgan was rather raw and wanted to be challenged. Great interview and I walked in on it by accident.
Most sessions, good or bad, are always better once the Q & A segment starts. There are no subjects off the table and the answers from known web personalities can offer memorable quotes.
Twitter hashtags for the sessions were almost nonexistent after SXSW pushed it hard before the conference.
The Apps
Every year a new set of apps launch at SXSW. Twitter, Foursquare and GroupMe all had their big break there. The theme this year were apps that let you know when friends or potential friends are close by. The most notable of these apps was highlight (logo hurts my head). These apps were a combination of a bit freaky and lame. I am sure highlight and the like were downloaded countless times but I knew few who used it.
After continuously hearing about the new Tweetbot and how great it is I finally coughed up the $2.99 and never looked back. Tweetbot is WAY better than the native Twitter app and well worth the cost. The Twitter app was promptly deleted.
The app that changed my experience was the “winner” of yesteryear, GroupMe. I used it with my colleagues from GSW to organize the 10 of us that were down there. At times the app was a bit overwhelming when you have 70+ unread texts but it was a great app.
The Food
The food was great. It varied from bar food, steakhouses, tex-mex, vietnamese and of course barbecue.
The Trade Show
The SXSW trade show is often just a race to see how many free T-shirts I can grab before they run out. I acquired 16 shirts this year but loss to a GSW friend who got 27. I felt bad for the booths that either had only one person working it or nothing to give away. Little traffic saw those booths and the floor space is not cheap.
Final Thoughts
This being my second year at SXSW the event was a bit underwhelming, or better put, last year was overwhelming. I learned a ton again but got the gist on how it works and where to go last year. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to go again next year.