Please Stop Your Complaining About SXSW
3/18/2010 9:18:06 AM Central Standard Time by Main - 6 comments.
The SXSW conference has now come to an end for me. If you’re not sure what SXSW is it’s a conference held in Austin, Texas for social media, technology, film, and music fans. I suggest checking out their web site for more information if you’re interested in attending next year.
I just drove six hours in the car by myself so I have had a lot of time to digest and think about my experience with SXSW. As I listened to the top 20 hits on my radio I was reminded of dancing at some of the great parties I attended. “Spring Break For Geeks” really is a great description of this event. No offense to the geeks out there because I’m right there with you. My love for Star Wars, web sites, video, and Twitter puts me in the club too.
So what was my beef with SXSW? Nothing. Sorry to disappoint by not ripping SXSW apart, but I’m just not that type of person. I’m always a glass is half full kind of person.
Now don’t get me wrong some feedback to improve the event for the next year is always great. I actually just submitted my report card online. But people who complain just to complain I just don’t get it. It’s just not me.
Now I’m not always happy. I have days that frankly suck. But I try to look on the bright side of things or if I’m not happy try to change what’s making me not happy.
I couldn’t believe when I heard people complaining about their company paying for their tickets and making them go to this event. Are you kidding me? What an incredible opportunity and you didn’t have to pay a dime.
For me I’m the CEO of my own company so it’s a little different. I decided I wanted to go and it’s a business expense for the company.
Ok now I feel like I’m complaining about the complainers! So let me share with you what I loved about SXSW.
I loved the people....
The people are probably the best part of SXSW. About 12,000 people who get social media, are open to meeting anyone, and have so much motivation to do amazing things in their business. I was excited two of my friends from different sides of the country came together and roomed with me during the conference. I highly recommend finding a buddy to either room with or hang with during the conference. As a woman I especially felt safer having other people to walk around downtown with and eat dinner with. But if you don’t have this it’s ok. Everyone is very friendly and if you go with the flow you will just end up going to dinner with whoever is around when you get hungry. Or you can always grab a slice of pizza and sit on a street corner which I did one night.
You also never know who you are going to meet and when. While trying to figure out the weird parking meter that wouldn’t let me pay I met a CNN producer who was very nice.
And I got to reconnect with some of the amazing people I had met in Las Vegas last year for Scott Stratten’s Tweetup. I also heard Scott sing karaoke at the Tech Karaoke party. Video will be posted later! I learned how to belly dance with my friend Elizabeth PW. That was certainly a fun experience.
So I mainly went for the people. To meet twitter friends in real life or reconnect with friends who I had already met.
I loved the parties....
I don’t think I ever went to a SXSW sanctioned party. Mainly because I didn’t want to wait in lines. Probably the best highlight of a party for me was being served wine by Gary Vee at his wine party. And all I could say was “thank you”. Speaking of “thank you” check out his video about what an important phrase this is.
The next party highlight was the being a VIP at the Microsoft party. Dancing, free drinks, and food can’t beat it. Microsoft sure knows how to throw a good party. I heard Ashton Kutcher made an appearance there, but I only chase after the “new dork” web celebrities like Gary Vee, Scott Stratten, and Chris Brogan. Ashton is just not for my tastes....
I loved Gary Vee’s speech...
This was what I came to see and he did not disappoint. I laughed, I learned, and the presentation even spontaneously ended with a rap about Gary. I’m not kidding. Best take away from speech was his message "You can't scale caring it's not authentic." His point was pay attention to your brand on social media and say thank you. While you can’t reply to everyone on Twitter or to every email as you get bigger, Gary certainly tries his hardiest.
I loved the food....
The food was yummy. My favorite place is Cafe Crepe and I got to have a breakfast Crepe at lunch time. Breakfast is my favorite meal, but I normally missed it because I was sleeping so late.
I loved the weather....
The weather except for one day was perfect. Beautiful, sunny, and warm. Thank you Austin for best weather which made everything so much easier.
So there’s my take on SXSW. Of course there are things I would do better next year. I would make sure to connect with everyone I wanted to connect with i.e. stalk them. Also, I would take more pictures and video, but you know what overall I’m so happy with my experience. You just can’t beat connecting with others! I would love to hear your thoughts on SXSW if you were there and if even if you weren’t what’s your strategy for getting the most out of conferences you attend?