Tuesday, March 18, 2008

SXSW baby…literally

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but several of your peers are...well, let’s just say that none of us is as young as we were and some of us are starting families. Which means some of us—a lot, actually—are having to choose between attending SXSW Interactive or staying home with our kids. Or trying to juggle both opportunity and obligation.

After spending much of this year’s conference tending to his wee one, Jeffrey Zeldman puts forth the idea of SXSW Parents Cooperatives:

SXSW Interactive is the annual gathering of the tribes. Many of the tribes now have younguns. Attending a two-day educational conference without your kids is not a huge deal, but SXSW lasts a week. The choices are not good: See the whole show but miss your kids for a week? Bring your kids and miss practically the whole show? Attend for only a couple of days, missing your kids and most of the show?

On the third day I found myself in a costly hotel room across from the conference center, skipping a keynote to play with Barbie dolls, it occurred to me that groups of parents could band together to create a more optimal experience.