SXSW 2006: It's over (Part 1 of 2)
Wondering what happened to days 3 and 4? Yeah, so am I. On Day 3, I didn't take too many notes. I just sat back and enjoyed the panels.
CSS Problem Solving started off the day but I was heavily disappointed. The first panellist was dull and the next two presented essentially the same material. Dave Shea provided the only topical information by actually taking three questions and providing possible solutions to those problems.
Next up was Standard Deviation, which I had no idea what to expect going in. Turns out, it covered when to throw web standards out the window. A somewhat amusing panel but not a whole lot of surprises. What it boiled down to was develop for the user experience. If you have to break standards on occasion to ensure that happens then that's what it has to be.
Once again, I skipped the keynote for an extended lunch, this time to a cajun restaurant. After lunch I checked out Selling Big Ideas to Big Clients. This was somewhat interesting, if only because a guy from CP+B was there who Fuel Industries worked with on a GAP promotion while I was employed there. The consistent thing said from all panelists was to show your passion and that the biggest ideas were usually the simplest. As a result, they were easy to sell.
Finally, it was Design Eye for the List Guy. A highly entertaining presentation and probably one of my favourites of the entire trip. Each panellist spoke well of their part of the project. This was a redesign of craigslist and it was a crisp looking design.
Originally, there was a group of about 15 of us who were intending to grab a bite to eat at an italian restaurant but with the expected delays in serving a group that size, a few of the Blue Flavour guys (well, every one of them except for Keith) and I swung over to 6th Street to grab a slice of pizza. I tried to find the sports bar from earlier in the week and didn't have much luck on that. Instead, we made our way back to the Hilton in time to begin the trek to bowling. The bowling night was a blast (despite never ending up bowling myself) and was yet another chance to continue to bond with those I had met previously and meet a couple (dozen) more people.
Part 2 to follow...
Conversation
Jonathan: I had a great time getting to talk to you, and enjoyed out game of pool, even though I'm quite rusty. I agree, some of the panels were a little disappointing, but I was mainly there to get to share meals "with my blogroll," as Inman put it. My only regret of the whole week was not having enough time to really sit down and talk in-depth with any one person. I suppose that will have to wait until SWSWi 2007. Until then, back to IM. :)