The last time I went to SXSW was in 2006 and I spoke on a panel with Jake called “Designing for Community with ‘Zero-Advertising’ Brands” which was moderated by Maggie Mason from Adaptive Path. Oddly, a bunch of what I said ended up on this website, which I still think is a little strange.
Anyway, the mistake that was made last time was only spending a couple days there. I feel like I missed out on the “full experience” of being completely immersed in an event that is an important part of the industry I’m in. Not making the same mistake twice, I’m going to be at South By Southwest Interactive this year from March 12-18. I’m also heading down with a pretty awesome cast of characters including Micah Baldwin, Matt Galligan, Heather Capri, Jeremy Tanner, and Andrew Hyde amongst many other from Boulder – as well as some of my skinnyCorp compadres Harper Reed, Dylan Richard and Dustin Hostetler. I’m also pretty stoked to meet up with my friends from online and off, and make some new ones along the way!
OK, self-promotion time. If you’re interested in seeing me speak, I have two events scheduled:
The first is a SX Studio interview at 3:00pm on Saturday, March 14th. I’m being interviewed by TUAW’s Christina Warren.
The second is a panel at 10am on Sunday, March 15 entitled “Is Spec Work Evil?” which includes myself, David Carson (David Carson Design), Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester), Mike Samson (crowdSPRING) and moderated by Jeff Howe (Wired Magazine).
I plan on attending a large amount of panels and talks, so if you see me around, please say hello! I’ll be the guy with “Jeffrey Kalmikoff” on my badge. If you want to get in touch with me directly, just text “jeffrey” to 50500 to get my contact information and shoot me an email. I’ll have my phone with me at all times, so I’ll do my best to get back with you as quickly as possible. Alternatively, you can DM on Twitter. If you really feel like being a stalker, I’ll be checking in periodically on Brightkite.
Also, you may be able to catch me at any number of BBQ restaurants between panels. As far as I’m concerned, SXSW is what to do while your food is digesting. If you really want to nab some of my time, the lure of a BBQ meal is always a good tactic.
As my friend Justin says… If there is ANYTHING you should take away from the conference, it should be a love handle filled with brisket. Even if you’ve never been to Texas, you’re probably aware that we love 3 things: guns, hating non-Texans and BBQ. I’d consider your trip a failure if you didn’t go home and find dried BBQ sauce in your jacket pocket a week later.
See you in Austin!
4 Comments
SXSW is one of my favorite things in the world — it’s great that you’re going to stick around and experience it more fully.
In addition to BBQ, make sure you hit Nuclear Taco Night in the park across from the convention center. You’re going to wait in line (well maybe YOU won’t have to wait in line) and you’re going to eat a couple of the hottest tacos you have ever eaten.
And don’t get me wrong. I grew up in Tucson, AZ I love spicy mexican food. But Nuclear Tacos are on an entirely different scale.
Imagine eating something so spicy that your stomach actually feels warm. Like pulsing, radiating warm… like still warm the next morning warm. And this is of course after the burning in your eyes, throat, and face subsides.
Now imagine sharing a hotel room with another human when your stomach is cooking your other organs…
Jason, that sounds terrifyingly delicious – though I’m not sure it’d be the best move unless I feel like experiencing SXSW from my hotel bathroom :)
see ya soon!
Really enjoyed your keynote at the Web 2.0 expo, and have included it in the Girls in Tech review as one of the top keynotes at Web 2.0 this year. Thanks Jeff!
http://girlsintech.net/all/the-best-of-web-20-expo-sf/
One Trackback
[...] conference, and how different it would be for me. I was thinking about the posts I had read from friends who were going and had gone [...]