Austin is the Killer App: SXSW 2008 Over and Out

What can we say about SXSW? Now the we've returned home from our first trip to the Music/Film/Interactive conference, we simply can't say enough about it.

Back at my desk after a full night's rest and the long day of travel to get home, it's time to reflect on the week that was while it's still fresh in our minds, and record much of our experiences here for posterity. The action at SXSW is such that is hard just to keep up- with sessions happening in dozens of rooms in the Austin Convention Center, the trade show, the dedicated gaming "Screenburn Arcade" trade show, and a veritable who's who of the internet roaming the halls.

And then there are the parties. Starting at 4 PM everyday, the parties begin. Lines form at the popular ones, but for the most part the crowds get fragmented enough that you rarely have to wait too long before one of the sponsor companies is thrusting a beer into your hand. And probably a sticker too, otherwise they leave it up to the banners, laser projectors or LCD screens to remind you exactly whose money is paying for all of this fun. It may sound as though Austin is little more than a riotous booze can for the week, but in actual fact a lot of business gets done between sips; such is the crowd of movers and shakers that descend on the city to see and be seen. One of the best parties of the week was thrown by our good friends at Raincity Studios, which we attended with Matt Podboy (pictured doing his best "Blue Steel" at right) of Voce Communications. Big thanks to Scales, Krug and the rest of the guys for their hospitality, and sharing all of their secrets about how best to experience SXSW.

During daylight hours, there was plenty of fun to be had as well. Many of the sessions and panels were just as entertaining as they were educational. If you haven't already heard about or seen the (Facebook CEO) Mark Zuckerberg keynote it is, if nothing else, a terrific example of mob mentality in action, armed with tools like Meebo and Twitter. Later that night, "Zuck" held court at the Facebook sponsored party among his friends and admirers (no muscle-bound entourage), and seemed surprisingly human.

We dashed out right at the end of the keynote in question- we had to rush to make a 3 o'clock appointment so our CEO could take on Freddie Wong, the World Champion of Guitar Hero 3. It was one of the highlights for us, as it meant that we were hanging out and playing video games with a guy who will very likely go on to become a "Strutt-lebrity," to coin a term. (Seriously, write that one down) But why ramble about the action when I can just show it to you:

The geek in me was excited to dine with the creators of Kyte, and have Daniel the CEO set me up with my own account with his phone while we chowed down on Tex-Mex cuisine at the Iron Cactus. Barnaby Dorfman was there too- we hung out with him a lot, and he felt it necessary to give me a nickname: "CG," or "Community Guy." I didn't like it much at first, but it's growing on me.

A big part of this year's trip was about information gathering- staking out how best to bring Strutta back to SXSW next year. We have some ideas about how to do that now, and while we were there we also spread the word far and wide about Strutta, which we did through cards, stickers and getting Danny interviewed by as many web shows as possible, like Web2point0.tv and DailyIdea.tv. Those should start popping up soon, and we'll update when they are live. For now it's "so long SXSW."

We can't wait to come back next year.

(Top image art by Hugh Mcleod of Gapingvoid.com, photo by LaughingSquid.com. Photo of Matt Podboy by Randy Stewart. Check ou the rest of our photos at our Strutta Flickr account).