It’s become the ‘Woodstock’ on the social media conference circuit, seemingly everyone I know went – you have to ‘be there or be square,’ so I was sorry to miss it. I chose to participate in a conference in Iceland instead. It would have been fun to get back to Austin. I spent four years working with a team based in Austin so I used to get down there several times a year.
As for SXSW, which I’ve never attended, I haven’t rolled up my sleeves and explored all the Tweets and blog posts, but over all, most of the comments coming my way seem to be about parties and meetups. Some of the most informative interactions at any conference happen around the conference or during the break, and Austin is a fun town, but all the same it makes me wonder about the non-music, non-film part of the conference. Hope to have time to read up and see what went on at the conference proper, once I get to Reykjavik. Going a bit early in order to have time to enjoy the city before www.rimc.is.
My favorite conferences are off the beaten path and small, because you get more of chance to interact with participants. My least favorite events are the super large ‘we cover the waterfront’ events, where strangely enough, even though there are way more people to speak to the situation to start talking to other conference attendees you don’t know doesn’t present itself.
