Sarah Doherty
Always thinking. Always dreaming.
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Paella
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Sushi Dinner at Sushi Zono
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SXSW 2010: Sessions, Parties, Intellectual Stimulus and Good Food
Nearly two weeks have passed since SXSW Interactive, yet I still can remember the overwhelming feeling of excitement and happiness that passed through me during the warm Austin weekend thinking that I actually *belonged* at this conference.
Although I’m a self proclaimed geek where programming lingo and coder’s jokes put me at ease, I don’t spend hours hidden behind bash shells, fighting with svn or checking on the stability of a server. My days are are spent in marketing where I live and breathe social media, creative campaigns, and the power of engaging a wonderful community to promote Firefox.
As a SXSW Interactive “first-timer” I came in not knowing what to expect but leaving with the feeling that this was the first conference where I truly felt like I was *home*. The material of each of the sessions was tailored around my interests and although I’ve heard complaints that SXSW has changed, I still felt that I left with lots of insight, new connections and a revived passion for the field I am in.
Sessions
I was fortunate to attend a lot of great sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Some of my favorites were:
- Web Fonts: The Time Has Come
- We F*cked Up: Happy Cog and Friends, Exploring Failures, Together
- danah boyd‘s keynote; Opening Remarks: Privacy and Publicity
- Offering Your Content in 100 Languages
- What’s Open Video and Why Does It Matter?
- Wow, That’s Cool…Fun With HTML5 Video
Although this is just a snapshot of some of the sessions and panels that I attended the few that still stick out in my mind is the We F*cked Up Panel and danah boyd’s keynote. In the session it was wonderful to hear about projects that fall apart and the tremendous opportunity to use our failures to grow both professionally and personally. I left this session inspired to take risks and to not be afraid to try something new for fear of failure.
danah boyd’s keynote was inspirational for a two reasons. For one, there were two illustrators creating real time drawings of the content being discussed. Being a very visual person this was a great way to take in the information and to process afterward. The second was the actual content – her discussion on privacy and publicity and how it fits into the realm of social media was awakening. As social media continues to become a huge part of our everyday life what risks are we taking by putting our content out publicly? What privacy concerns does this bring up?
Mozilla SXSW Events
In addition to the many sessions that, we had some great events including the Add-ons “All You Can Mini Golf Meetup” and our SXSW Happy Hour party, which were both featured in ZDNet’s “15 SxSW 2010 Parties and Meetups You Can’t Miss“.
The Mozilla Happy Hour party at Cedar Door had a line that started forming out the door over an hour before the event event started. Throughout the night we saw 700+ attendees come through the door to learn about Mozilla and get some great Rock Your Firefox swag. One of the perks of the night had to be when Joi Ito announced the three Jetpack for Learning winners that then received the “ride of their life” in the pimped out Firefoxin’ Local Motors Rally Fighter Car.
Miscellaneous
In addition to some great sessions and Mozilla Events I was able to attend to some great parties including Happy Cog’aoke and the Mashable Party, enjoy good Austin cuisine and soak up the Austin sun on my brisk walks between the hotel and conference center. I’m excited for 2011 and what SXSW will hold for me!
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Tiramisu-ed
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Starting the Vacation Off Right!
