With SXSW 2009 fast approaching I reminisce to a posting from my personal blog about SXSW. Last year was my first year at the conference. I think these sentiments are just as relevant today, probably even more so.
In many ways conferences are like summer camp for adults. You meet a lot of new people, run into some old friends and learn a lot in a condensed amount of time. You feel as though you’ve found long lost friends, people you knew in a previous life because you’re bound by the common interest. There’s usually some drama created by the nature of debate. And while most of the happy hours and parties start at the end of each day, there’s sheer joy in connecting with like minded people.
It’s been at least two weeks since I returned home from the SXSW interactive conference. As I organized my notes into a somewhat comprehensible archive, my managing director asked all those in attendance to create a 60 sec (or so) video preso about their experience at “South By.” Given all the other duties I had to do that week this seemed a little daunting, since I really wanted to take more time to build out the message. In the end what I had time for (cobbling together some pics and vid) actually expressed the core essence of my experience which expresses the real education I got from of the event. Clearly there is power in cutting out the extraneous.
The background music is one of the bands I discovered in Austin they’re featured in one of the photos. The People’s Party – We AM One.
[Splashcast YDTU9335GX]
User Experience Design Life 