And so began day two of SXSW. I didn't fall asleep until 4am Sunday, and am not typing this until mid to late Sunday at that. Saturday was insane, crazy, and nonstop. Neither Patrick or I were moving in the morning since we had a late night at the South by Northwest party.
Saturday (We can pretend it is)
Convergence panel: This was honestly really dry. A lot of time was spent on what convergence is, but not too much time on how people are approaching it and what convergence and divergence mean for us as programmers and designers. After that, it was off to lunch.
Online in Offline spaces: This was amazingly good. Panelists included Dodgeball, Socialite, and Meetup. The panel focused on how these technologies worked, along with the difficulties that they have had to overcome. There was a lot of information, and so I'm hopefully looking for the podcast.
Creating Passionate Users: The best panel of the day (but only because I missed [How to Become a Web Design Superhero" panel from the morning). Passion is a very hard thing to cultivate, and it's important to have. The success of programs such as Firefox can be attributed to the evangelical passion of the users who use it. In short, it isn't about the tool, but about making the user "kick ass" at what they do. It's a feeling of reward and accomplishment.
Between panels, I began to start really meeting people. I'm getting really comfortable with walking over and saying hello to someone and introducing myself. I finally did meet Zach Inglis too, who has since introduced me to so many people, my head is spinning. After some dinner, Zach and I went early to the Iron Cactus. I met Dave Shea and felt so bad I didn't recognize him until afterwards. I always pictured him taller. The party was amazing, and I didn't know Raincity, Bryght, Blue Flavor, and Newsvine could throw such an amazing party. As the night went on, the crowd thinned, and I got back about 1 am just in time to do homework until 4 am.
In response to "SXSW Day 2":
Ohhhh man, I am so jealous! Thats it, I’m saving up for the next web convention that’s remotely close to where I am. Sounds awesome, have fun!
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