South by South West or #sxsw, as referred to in twitter is a yearly festival on the topics of interactive (web, mobile, etc), music and film. I am only speaking to the interactive portion in this post as that was my area of exposure to the event (for the first time this year).

The interactive portion alone was massive.

As my friend and collegue @mherzber described it, “its like opening up a fire hydrant and sticking your face in the stream of water”.

Nearly every successful online company is represented in some form or fashion.  Panel discussions, book signings, interviews and keynotes are happening all day in multiple locations on extremely different subject matter, which all tie back to interactivity.  At times there were 3-4 conferences that I wanted to attend at the same time.

It was very fitting that at the entrance they set up a massive piles of legos because this conference is truly what you make of it.

Who should go and why?

Anyone working in or interested in the interactive space.  It sounds broad but that’s because it is.

Web developers, designers, technology companies, game developers – these are all “no brainers” for attending.

If you’re a marketer, you need to be there to learn about managing brands online, managing communities and learning how to use social media technology to be more effective. Same goes for public relations, journalism and communications in general.

I was sent to SXSW by my university.  Based on some of the panels I attended, I would say there were around 100-200 higher ed folks at the conference. Also based on how full one of the higher ed specific talks was, this seems like it will be growing niche at SXSW.

Party like a SXSW Rockstar

Yes they are plentiful and yes there are mostly open bar events.  Much like the conferences during the day, the parties at night offer the same variety.  Many people feel that they are the most important part of the SXSW events.  From a networking perspective, you could meet web celebs like @garyvee or even get a chance to speak with the entrepreneurs behind the most successful websites in the U.S.

As a marketer,  I would mention again that it’s what you make of it.  There were meet ups specific to higher ed but I personally found the most value in learning at the conference and following the “back channel“, as twitter is referred to if I was unable to attend a discussion.

Can’t we just get most information online after or even during the conference?

This is absolutely true.  Especially this being a conference full of web cams, bloggers and social media mavens.  If you have the discipline to do this, you could absolutely try.  In fact, I wonder if a good exercise for my communications team back at FIU would be to take a full day and watch a best of, or a tailor made list of events and discuss amongst ourselves. The truth is however, that the amount of knowledge and excitement about these topics is only present at the conference.  One could also argue for not needing to go to class to learn and I say if you have that discipline or you are wired that way, it just might work for you.  I for one do not believe it would be even half as beneficial.

It’s what you make of it

Chris Brogan used “legos” to describe social media in general while speaking in a panel discussion and this analogy is fitting for the entire event as well.

marketing, social, social media, sxsw Hide