Thursday, March 8, 2007

SXSW Checklist 2007

My checklist of stuff to bring/not forget to do:

• Laptop with power brick and power brick extension cable. Don’t be an outlet hog. Bring a power strip, too, if you’re got one, and you’ll be the most popular kid on the block during Interactive. Always Be Charging. Always Be Charging.
• Self-promotional items: got business cards? Buttons? Other swag? Bring it!
• Digital camera with extra memory cards and charged batteries. And the battery charger. And my camera cable or card reader to transfer images.
• PDA/Treo/Blackberry/Cameraphone and attendant charger, set up to moblog endlessly to Flickr. I like to set it up so that Flickr automatically adds a “sxsw” or “sxsw 2007” tag, too.
• Don’t forget to bookmark the official mobile site sxsw.mobi in your phone as well.
• Likewise, I’ve configured Dodgeball to say that I’m in Austin (send “switch austin” to dodgeball to change cities; “off” and “digest” are handy commands, too), and configured Twitter to send stuff my phone as well (I also set it to turn off between 1 AM and 8 AM). I hope you all upped your SMS plans already!
• Phone numbers: folks to meet up with, your hotel front desk, and a few taxi companies already programmed into my phone, like Austin Yellow Checker Cab, (512) 452-9999, and Austin Cab Company (512) 478-2222.
• Printouts of my registration confirmation email, my hotel confirmation email, a downtown Austin map, and public transit options. Just in case.
• You can also print out film venues and music venues [PDF] if necessary, and the Austin showlist (highly recommended). The Austin showlist will also have printable pages this year, with an ETA of Monday or so! Regardless, I plan to bring a highlighter to do some dayshow-planning on the plane.
• Tentative schedule of panels, keynotes, screenings, parties, music showcases, unofficial events, sightseeing, and more from the official SXSW online calendar, or the Podbop calendar if you’re only going to the Music portion of SXSW . And in that tentative schedule, I’ll have my Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, and the knowledge that plans may fly out the window the minute I wake up.
• My iPod, synched with iTunes, as I’ve already downloaded a ton of music from the the SXSW BitTorrent file I’ve also got the Austin Chronicle Downtown iPod guides and the SXSW Clickguides. And don’t forget your iPod charger.
• Comfortable shoes. Very comfortable shoes. Because I will be doing a lot of standing. Maybe two pairs, with insoles, so I can air them out and alternate. Closed-toe because the streets are dirty and the bars are crowded. Leave those slippers and flip-flops at home.
• Earplugs, multiple pairs, in case you lose one or have a friend who is unprepared. Oh, heck, just bring the entire box.
• Pen and paper notebook, to take notes old school style. You never know when you’ll need it.
• Chapstick, lotion, sanitizing hand-gel, tissues, and other comfort items. The Purell is key if you find yourself at an outdoor party with BBQ and porta-potties.
• Food for the plane. Snacks that are portable and healthy. Don’t forget that SXSW is a meat-o-rama, so some fruits and veggies will be in order at some point.
• Claritin. It’s springtime in Austin, and that means allergies.
• Cash in my wallet, ready to spend. Don’t forget to tip the waitstaff! They have to put up with thousands of tourists in their town for 11 days straight.
• A light jacket or sweatshirt, because it gets chilly at night! One year it was actually kinda cold in the evenings.
• An umbrella or rain poncho, in case of sudden thunderstorms. Yes, it does happen.

As soon as you get there, check into your hotel, go stand in line to get your badge, go back to the hotel to drop off the giant tote bags and flip through the conference guides and take a nap or grab a quiet beer before the insanity starts. And if you don’t have a badge, grab a copy of the Austin Chronicle if you’re there for the Music Fest as they’ll have the entire schedule printed up.

And most importantly be ready to: to sleep too little, eat far too well, listen a whole bunch, think so hard your brain hurts, get way too excited, mix and mingle with tons of fascinating people, trade business cards, put names to faces to URLs, take a lot of photographs, drink lots of Shiner or Lone Star or Red Stripe or what have you, smile until your face hurts, make bundles of new friends, expand your blogroll like nobody’s business, fill up your brain with all sorts of new ideas, talk too much, see a lot of exciting and cool and inspiring things, have a ton of fun, and network like you’ve never done before.

Austin, look out, ‘cause here we come…