SXSW – The Good

March 24, 2010

As I mentioned in my Twitter stream today…or perhaps yesterday…I’ll be doing a few posts detailing the Good, the Bad and the Tasty of South by Southwest.

I’ve been back for about a week now and I’m finally caught up on sleep and have successfully ironed out the event-induced cobwebs in my head. That previous statement isn’t entirely true. I had forgotten about a NomX3 taping we’re doing soon at Turner Fisheries and had to be reminded about it by cohost Mike Langford.

But other than that, I’m back on point. So let’s get this party recap started…

South by Southwest is a three part festival. It’s Interactive (the part I usually attend) video and music. For the purposes of these upcoming posts, I’ll be detailing Interactive events and occurrences. Next year I hope to attend all three parts and then immediately go into rehab when I get home.

SXSWi – The Good…

People – I ran into so many great folks, both from home and from around the world. Here’s the short list…

Aaron Strout of Powered
Brett Petersel of Mashable and other smart enterprises
Owen JJ Stone of Inquiring Mindz Media
Summer Boone of 3ScreenTV and @SummerJoy on Twitter
Walter Elly of MicroArts Creative
Connie Burke of General Motors (yes, Chevy gave us a ride to one of our NomX3 tapings!)
Heather McCabe of Playboy (she’s a Web designer…settle down!)
Heather Jeff Strout of the Austin, TX Strouts – Beer, BBQ and Entertainment Magnates
Liz Philips of HP (a potential NomX3 sponsor and a charming person)
Shannon M. Vargo of Wiley Publishers
Brian Brushwood – the amazing and captivating magician and philanthropist
Julie Huls of the Austin Technology Council
Gary Lombardo of Brightcove
Danielle McGarrh of Kenichi Restaurants
and Jake Dilley and the Color Pharmacy, the kind band that gave us a ride in their camper.

The random photos…

And of course, the random memories…still all good…

A Winnebago ride at 4:30AM. Best pizza on the planet at Jack’s. Burrito trucks. Pedicabs. Late night networking at the Driskill. All night networking at various venues. Running around playing with Gowalla and trying to find Adobe prizes. Connecting with friends I haven’t seen in a year. Meeting Molly Wood and Tom Merritt from Buzz Out Loud. Watching Leo Laporte geek out at the Mashable party. Playing shuffleboard. Testing applications. Tweeting, eating and more.

That’s just a sampler of the good that happened at SXSWi this year. For a rantalicious post about the fails at the show, stay tuned. That post will be coming soon.

What did you like MOST about South by Southwest 2010?

Keep reading!