The New Media Planner

Well, I’m writing this from the blogger lounge on the 4th floor of the Austin Convention Center, thinking about my time here so far at SXSW. I’ve got some quick thoughts.

1) Lots of people complain about the value of these conferences, but they still attend them. I’ve heard multiple times about how worthless some panels were, about how self-aggrandizing most people act, and how much self-promotion goes on. But attendance here is up from last year by a lot. I think this mentality is summed up perfectly from this TechCrunch post.

2) This is a cliche about conferences, but the real value is in the lobby. I’ve had engaging conversations that have changed my worldview in the most unlikely of places, and the panels have really only confirmed that a) these presentations are dumbed down for the lowest common denominator and b) I’m smarter than everyone on stage (/s).

3) I think the real value in this conference is not so much the information being passed, but the invigoration of being around a bunch of smart people who think like you do. Candice K. sums it up best with her Tweet: “@ckuzov Today is the first day that I have ever been in a room FULL of people that do exactly what I do everyday. It’s pretty freakin cool.”

4) The sum is usually greater than it’s parts. I’ve found that the individual panels themselves haven’t been eye-opening in any capacity, but I’ve found myself piecing together interesting nuggets from some of the more interesting panels and forming new ideas. This has been a gratifying excercize.

I’ve still got a day and a half to go, so I’ll do a full recap, but i figured I’d at least get these thoughts down while I was in a blogger lounge. I mean honestly, you kind of have to.