SRC ID

SXSW wrap up

So it’s Wednesday morning, the day after the closing of the Interactive portion of SXSW. As everyone likely knows by now, this years event (being my 2nd attendance) was highly energetic. Personally, both positive and negative.

Again, record crowds flooded this years event. Lots of first timers, and lots of old timers. This, I tend to think, is a good thing. More insight, perspective, and experiences to share with one another. But perhaps this massive influx is burning a hole in the side of this community focused event.

The first big issue that arose, and the one flare up that just about everyone heard about (even not geek types), was the Mark Zuckerberg Keynote interview conducted by Sarah Lacy (Businessweek). I was there, in the main room, and man, you could cut the tension with a knife. Plenty of people have posted about this, so quite honestly I don’t want to dwell on the negative. You can read about the various takes by Dave McClure, Michael Arrington (who by the way, was not in attendance), Wired, and many more (just google Zuckerberg Lacy interview). You can even follow the sporadic comments from Twitter: Robert Scoble, Jason Pontin. So I don’t really need to say too much more.

This same audience uprising theme seemed to bleed over into other sessions as well. During the “Social Marketing Strategies Metrics, Where Are They?” book reading, Jeremiah Owyang highlights that the audience revolt was far more aggressive (though passive via meebo). And there’s more. During a panel I attended which discussed the future of music distribution, again, a heck of a lot of tension.

Overall, though some think of these “outbursts” as negative, perhaps it’s actually quite healthy. Debate provides an opportunity for those empassioned around a specific topic to truly get to the heart of the issue, hopefully progressing the conversation to a perspective that leads to change and evolution. Wishful thinking? nah. Ultimately the interactive community is just that, a community. It’s a rare thing in my opinion.

As for the rest of the experience of the 2008 SXSW. It was fantastic. Met up with old friends, was introduced to a number of new faces, learned some new tactics & strategies, but ultimately was able to escape the daily grind and use my brain on an intellectual level and open my horizons based on other peoples experiences. And ultimately, this is why I love SXSW. It’s ultimately not a learning experience (although it can be), and it’s not a networking event (although it is), but it’s a chance for everyone to share what they’ve learned through their experiments, failures, and successes over the years.

I’ll follow up with a few more detailed notes on panels I attended, what I learned, and some new companies / products / websites I’m curious about.

Drama or not, I definitely plan to attend again next year.

Now, off too catch some films before I jump on a plane out of here.