SXSWi 2008 - Personal Highlights

SXSW came and went, and it’s amazing what a brain can absorb (and forget) in just a few days. Good thing I took notes. Thought I’d share my personal highlights from 4 days of heady panels and heavy drinking. If you want to know more, ping me and lets go for a beer. My liver has recovered. I think.

Personal Highlights

Meeting Luke Wroblewski at the Filtching Design panel. LukeW is one of my heroes when it comes to articulating the Web 2.0 user experience, and the irony was not lost on me that I discovered his work while preparing a proposal for one of my clients last year, and I do believe I “borrowed” a number of his presentation slides. Filtch or Fair? Hmm....

Learning that we’re not alone (PLU/Plank) with our challenges of running our web businesses, and that we’re very nearly at the top of our game. We don’t suck! (of course we don’t) ... But to hear how all of these other kick ass companies are struggling as much as we are to better communicate, manage resources, manage projects, delegate, find efficiencies, keep everyone happy, stay on top of trends, continue to innovate... it was nice to reaffirm that we’re actually doing all right. So in the spirit of the GTD for Startups core conversation, “What’s the next action?” :-)

Getting to know my office mates from Plank a whole lot better: Allen Mendelson, Gary Brazier, Nancy Beaton and Steve Bissonette... great minds and big hearts. Couldn’t ask for a better group of travel companions.

Seeing Allen’s Core Conversation: So Your Web Company is Getting BIG attract over 100 people, with a majority of them dropping their business cards to continue the dialog online after the conference. Go Allen!

Happiness Engines! Jane McGonigal gave a keynote speech, examining ARGs (alternate reality gaming), and posited the notion that happiness is the new currency. Not time. Not money. By taking a deeper look at why gamers prefer to spend so much of their time in their alternate realities could help us learn what we should doing to make reality reality (our lives) a better experience. What if in life it was OK to fail, if we had constant and consistent feedback regarding how well we’re doing, if we all had a sense of purpose, if everyone knew the rules, if we were all part of the same story? True dat. And not a bad dancer that Jane.

Huevo Rancheros at Avenue Cafe.

The panel on Angel Investing, and learning that finding the right Angel is as much about finding a business partner and mentor as it is about finding seed capital. This is an observation that falls under the category of “a-ha/duh!” for me. This idea should not have been news to me, but somewhere along the way I’d become cynical. Why spend precious brain cells on raising money when A) my brain is better put to use developing products, and B) a good Angel is motivated to bring more capital to the table. Everyone plays their role, and all boats rise with the tide.