Wow is it dusty in here!
I went to my first (and likely only) SXSW interactive this week. I had heard such good things — about how it’s fun and informative and lots of meeting friendly people and parties and swag, and I must say that they must’ve seen me coming and turned it into a bore-fest.
No, that’s not entirely fair. But I did get the impression some sharks have been jumped. There wasn’t much in the way of technical stuff, most of the panels seemed to be about getting money for your “social media site” and the walk between panels took nearly the whole half-hour between sessions so there was little time for hallway confabs. There was not-so-bad wifi, and plenty of tables and outlets, so many people just lifted the lids of their laptops and ignored the world passing by (couldn’t they have just done that at home?). And the parties… well, let’s just say they obviously didn’t want to piss off any local restaurants, because while there was plenty of free booze (provided you got there before the limit was reached) none of ‘em had food. At least not at any of the ones I went to. Can you imagine a thousand drunk 20-40somethings? Not a pretty sight.
Ah well. Perhaps I’m just not the right demographic. Since I’ve returned, I’ve heard it described as “Spring Break for Geeks.” That could just about be right. At least the weather wasn’t bad. It’ll be probably six weeks before I’m running around in a t-shirt again.
