It's SXSW Time! Interactive: March 12–16, 2010 | Film: March 12–20, 2010 | Music: March 17–21, 2010 | Austin weather
Interactive
Information about the SXSW Interactive Conference
Friday, March 12, 2010
SXSW Tips: Don’t Forget To Smile, Be Patient, and Have a Backup Plan
Three more things I try always to bring to Austin.
Humor, patience, and a smile. Please don’t forget these at home.
Be friendly! Relax! Oh, and one more thing? It’s not a race. We’re here to learn and have fun!
Expect long lines. SXSW has grown up and become an enormous conference that takes over downtown Austin for nearly two weeks. That’s a lot of people who all want to get into the same bars, clubs, restaurants, and more. Expected attendance for Film is about 7,000 people, with 11,000 expected attendees for Music, and about 12,000 attendees for Interactive!
Show up early to parties and panels. If you’re nervous about an event, it doesn’t hurt to show up earlier rather than later. RSVPs for parties often don’t guarantee entry, so the early birds will be inside, while you’re waiting in line outside. Same for the popular panels and talks. Get to the room 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a seat, or, for some popular speakers, that you get in at all. This can be especially true for keynote speeches.
And know that even if you didn’t get into that one panel, party, screening, show, or club, there’s plenty of fun elsewhere during SXSW. Have a backup plan.
Or just ask around for whatever else might be going on, text message a friend, ping Twitter, or talk to the people who also didn’t get in. Plenty of new friendships have been forged in line for an event or in the hallways of the Convention Center.
SXSW Podcast: Ed Hunsinger’s How Not To Be Douchebag at SXSW
Time to start the 2010 podcast coverage of South by Southwest, rather than talk to the Festival organisers, there’s a more pressing matter to be dealt with first. How can you go to SXSW, interact with everyone, and not be a douchebag?
Luckily, I caught up with Ed Hunsinger in San Francisco before we both flew to Austin to talk about his panel, funnily enough called How Not To Be A Douchebag at SXSW (which runs today, Friday, at 5pm)
Check In to Win Prizes, Support Charities, and Find Friends
As you might have heard, both Gowalla and Foursquare have updated their mobile phone applications just in time for SXSW Interactive.
Foursquare has also added 16 new badges specific to the Interactive conference and festival and are giving away free Foursquare tattoos. In addition, they’ve also added four new badges specific to the Music conference and festival as well as a contest to win free tickets to SPIN’s showcase at Stubb’s. But more importantly, you can check in for charity with Foursquare. Starting at 9am CT tomorrow, Friday, March 12, every time you check-in on Foursquare in Austin or use the hashtag #sxswHaiti on Twitter, Microsoft and PayPal will donate 25 cents toward Save the Children up, to $15,000! Find out more on the Foursquare SXSW page.
Not to be out-done, Gowalla has also added Gowalla items that lucky folks can find scattered about town when they check in using Gowalla, some redeemable for prizes like Lomography analog cameras, Palm Pixi and Pre smartphones, Adobe CS4, and Eye-Fi cards! Gowalla is also supporting the Livestrong Foundation during SXSW. If you find a yellow Livestrong bracelet and add it to your collection, Gowalla will donate $1. Find out more on the Gowalla SXSW page.
And even if you’re not into checking in on services like Foursquare and Gowalla, you can use the handy sitby.us service to locate your friends in crowded panel rooms during the Interactive conference. It’s a mobile-friendly web site that allows you to check in to a room, mark your approximate location, and add a note that your friends can see. It uses Twitter to figure out who your contacts are and allows for easy posting of location to Twitter.
SXSW Tips: PSA on iPhone Sounds: Please turn them off!
Imagine a conference room full of people trying to listen to a panel with a quiet speaker. A touching story about life at Fray Cafe. A quiet acoustic performance in the back room of the Red Eyed Fly. And the person next to you is thumbing out an email and you can hear them typing every single character.
Please turn off any extraneous notification sounds and keyboard clicks, or you’ll drive everyone around you insane from hearing those little iPhone typing sounds or an SMS notification wind chime.
Pick Up Your Badge on Thursday, Pick Up Now on 1st Floor
Straight from South By Headquarters, badge pickup begins Thursday, March 11 at 3pm and runs until 10:00pm for those of you arriving in the evening. Badge pickup re-opens Friday, March 12, at 9am.
And, if you’ve been to SXSW before, note that badge pickup has now moved to the first floor of the Austin Convention Center. It is no longer up the escalators on the second floor. For easiest access, enter the ACC on Trinity St between 2nd St and 3rd St. rather than on 4th Street.
If it’s your first time at SXSW, here’s a handy video from the festival/conference organizers. And you may also find it useful to listen to the podcast of last year’s How to Rawk SXSW panel.
There are a number of great parties happening during SXSW and one of the aspects where party-organizers try to out-do one another is through not just an open bar, live music, and contests and prizes, but by offering food. And with each year, the party snacks get more and more interesting (although not always for free). Combine that with Austin’s thriving food truck scene, and you have some great combinations going on. From Pastries and Pasties to a Street Food Fest right outside the Convention Center doors, SXSW is for food lovers!
A guide for the car-less, created by the authors of sxswbaby.com. You’re hungry, you don’t have a car, and you have a short time to find some food in between commitments in downtown Austin. (Unlike some other interactive and web conferences, meals are not provided by conference organizers.)
So where to eat? I’ve pulled together a list of spots for your perusal. The focus here is listing mostly restaurants that:
are close to 6th Street, Red River, and the Convention Center
don’t require a car (cabs are unreliable and in extremely short supply during SXSW; if you even have a rental car, finding parking downtown can be a hassle; and even if you have a bike, your friends may not)
inexpensive and casual, or are of good value
fast-ish (to a relative degree)
not national chains like IHOP or PF Chang’s
Sidebar: I highly recommend eating at off hours. Eating during SXSW can make you crazy. By the time you figure out where your friends are, what they want to do, how sober they are, and gather up the troops to get lunch or dinner, you end up walking into a restaurant with a huge party and get quoted a wait time of 1-2 hours. Go as soon as the last panel ends, especially during SXSW Interactive. It doesn’t matter if you can’t gather everybody up. Just go!
Additionally, I’ve made a Google Map of all of these spots. I’ve also created a short URL for my map on bit.ly. Just enter in http://bit.ly/sxsweats. To access on your iPhone, simply add my map to your My Maps listing in Google, and then sign in from your iPhone on mymapsmobile.com. Or use the iPhone application My Maps to view. I’ve also added operating hours, when I could find them, but some eateries may extend operating hours during SXSW. When in doubt, call ahead. (Yelp/Citysearch/etc. lie. They can’t keep up with restauranteur’s complicated lives, so operating hours are often out of date).
Before I arrive in Austin, I find it helpful to bookmark all of the relevent SXSW Mobile sites and install any SXSW mobile applications. Do this at home, before you find yourself somewhere where they charge for the wifi (airport, hotel) or there’s a potentially flaky connection (hotel, convention center, AT&T)! My recommendations:
The official schedule on my.sxsw.com, which now also has a mobile version. You’ll be able to add and remove events from your computer, and access them on the go using the mobile version. You should be automatically redirected when you visit on your mobile phone. There is also a free my.SXSW iPhone application that includes syncing of events as well as offline access of most features, except for Maps and Search. Having trouble? You may need to delete and reinstall the application.
Additionally, the unofficial scheduling site sched.org has launched a free SXSW 2010 version at sxsw2010.sched.org. It will format itself automatically when you visit on a mobile device. Additionally, they are offering an iPhone application very soon which includes syncing of events as well as full offline access.
Don’t forget your favorite location-based social networking application. Foursquare or Gowalla (these links are for iPhone apps) seem to be the weapons of choice this time around. And there are definitely special SXSW-only treats for users of both. Users of Gowalla can win VIP passes to the Gowalla Tiki Room during SXSWi, while users of Foursquare during SXSWm can win entry into SPIN’s invite-only party at Stubb’s BBQ.
And if you’re attending SXSW Music, you may also want to install the Levi’s Fader Fort application for iPhone/Android, built to support their unofficial SXSW parties. They also have an SMS updates service going on: text FORT to FADER (32337) to receive their updates.
And I’m sure you already have your favorite Twitter client installed, or m.twitter.com or mobile.twitter.com bookmarked.
Having trouble updating due to poor signal? Use your cell phone to send text messages to Twitter, instead. For US-based customers, send a text message to 40404.
sitby.us is a handy tool for Interactive attendees. Build or import a schedule, see what your Twitter friends are interested in attending, and during the actual conference, check in to panels and broadcast to your friends exactly where in the room you’re sitting. Rather than scanning the room looking for a familiar face, sitby.us hopes to connect you with other attendees in the same room. Save me a seat!
If you happen to drive somewhere during SXSW and need a designated driver to accompany you home, try out TipsyTaxiATX. They’ll send someone to drive you home, apparently!
The GetHuman iPhone application isn’t specifically about SXSW but it’s helpful to find airline customer service numbers if you happen to be traveling by air to Austin.
Don’t get overwhelmed by Twitter at SXSW! Twitter is basically the easiest way to keep in touch with your fellow SXSWers, but people at SXSW are a chatty bunch. I don’t know about you, but I’m hesitant about allowing Twitter to send my friends’ updates to my phone, given how many people I follow.
But if you do have SMS updates on, I recommend setting Twitter off during sleeping hours, say between 1 AM and 8 AM.
If you don’t have SMS updates on, you might also want to turn on direct message forwarding to SMS. Tell people to DM you if they want to arrange a meetup and you’ll receive their message as a text message. Simply reply back “D username” with your reply, to direct message them back.
I hope you all increased your SMS plans with your cellular provider already! Now would be a good time to call to either add a text messaging plan or increase your allotment.
You may also want to warn your Twitter friends that you’re going to SXSW, and that it’s OK to unsubscribe from you or snooze you for a little while.
Hint: if you’re on AT&T, dial *DATA# to see your remaining text messages for this billing cycle. You’ll get a text message back with your billing cycle date, data usage so far in this cycle, and text messages used so far.
I also recommend using some of the more advanced features of Twitter to stay on top of things.
You can change your notification preferences for specific people by clicking on the Device Settings icon next to their username. This way you can choose to only receive some people’s tweets via SMS.
Search for information in real time on search.twitter.com. Try plugging in event names, venue names, or panel names, if you’re curious what people are thinking at any given time.
I’ve also collated some interesting people on Twitter on my SXSW list.
And of course don’t forget to give out your username when you meet someone new, and get theirs in return!
SXSW Tips: Documenting Your Experience With Photos
Pics, or it didn’t happen, right? I always bring my digital camera to SXSW with extra memory cards and charged batteries and the battery charger. And a camera cable or card reader to transfer images to my computer. It might help to clear off some hard drive space (and do a backup) before you arrive.
By the way, if you plan on putting your extra camera batteries into checked luggage and it’s lithium, put it in a separate plastic baggie.
Oh, and do turn off the fake shutter sound on your camera. Nothing says “I’m a newbie taking a picture of the panel! Look at me!” like hearing those little beeps. Same for your smart phone: turn off any annoying “fake shutter” sounds if you can.
Before you leave, set your smartphone up to send photographs to your preferred mobile uploading service: Twitpic, Yfrog, Flickr, etc. and your favorite uploading application. I like to set it up so that Flickr automatically adds a “sxsw” or “sxsw 2010” tag, too.
You may also want to post your photos to Twitter using the #sxsw or #sxswi hashtag.
Given that plans can change at any given moment, I always find it useful to bookmark and/or print out some of the unofficial SXSW party lists. I’ll fold up the printout and slip it into my bag, in addition to having a schedule of my own picks. This can be useful if the daytime party you want to attend is already full.
My favorites are:
Austin360.com’s SXSW on the Side list (all parties and events for SXSW Interactive, Film, and Music)
Showlistaustin (only unofficial events for SXSW Music, with a comprehensive listing of free daytime events)
Although we’re living in a digital age, many SXSW attendees find it much easier to hand out business cards at crowded and often loud events. Do you have a creative business card that will stand out from the pack? Or maybe some great swag: 1” pings, toys, stickers, or something else? People love free stuff, and that’s how they’ll remember you after SXSW is over.
Don’t forget to leave room in your suitcase for all the extra swag you may be bringing home with you from other attendees.
Also, when you go to get your badge at the Convention Center, you’ll also big up the “big bag” of conference materials (this is heavy, and filled with swag). I always go straight back to the hotel, and empty it out, looking for the good stuff. Sometimes it will include really useful geek stuff, like coupons for free wireless or tech gear. Don’t ignore the swag you get in the Big Bag!
So you’ve got your smartphone, your computer, your digital camera, what to do?
First off, when you’re at the convention center, don’t be an outlet hog. If your Apple computer’s power brick covers up free outlets, please bring an extension cord. It’s that weird snake like thing that snaps into your power brick. It’ll also make your life easier at the hotel, right?
Bring a power strip, if you’re got one, and you’ll be the most popular kid on the block during Interactive.
I find it also helps just to bring my cell phone charger with me at all times. It’s small, it’s light, and sometimes a nice bar or restaurant will have an open outlet. Just saying. (I’ve also made a lot of friends at the airport this way.)
Always Be Charging. Always Be Charging. The Convention Center never seems to have enough handy outlets (and your hotel room might not either). Note that wireless connectivity in the Convention Center can be spotty due to the huge number of people connected at once. Some folks like to bring an ethernet cord, just in case, so they can plug into the wall at the ACC.
Each night, before you go to bed, do remember to charge your all of your essential gadgets, like your phone. There’s nothing worse than having a dead or dying phone at SXSW. So charge your phone at night, every night, before your collapse into bed. And if you have a smartphone, take note of various power-saving settings.
Got an extra battery for your digital camera, smartphone, or laptop?
Don’t forget your batteries at home! And put it in a plastic bag if you’re going to put it in your checked luggage. The Department of Transportation (DOT) will no longer allows loose lithium batteries in checked baggage.
The really heavy users of smartphones often bring a spare battery. Now’s the time to hop over to Best Buy if you need one!
Some of the official sponsors are also offering recharging services and/or extra outlets at lounges in the Austin Convention Center. Check out the Chevy Volt Recharge Lounge, open daily at the 1st Floor, northwest corner near 4th/Trinity.
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