21/03/06
38SXSW 2006
Everyone says SXSW is about the people, and they’re right. Thats my reason for going. Sure, the panels are great, and I got a lot out of them this year (especially “Traditional Design and Technology” and “Your own Design playground”).
The trouble is that this year, there were more people, more parties, and therefore more fragmentation. I had a great time (I knew I would), but more so than last year, I came away with the feeling that there were more people I missed out on meeting (Paul Nixon to name but one). There were those that I did meet, but all too briefly (Dustin Diaz to name but one). The parties were great, but not exactly easy to talk at, and often a particular person you wanted to meet was at one of the other 3 parties going on at the same time.
Did anyone else feel this?
I’m not sure what the answer is. Someone did suggest to me a “Break cheese with Hicks” session early evening, where we could easily talk and eat cheese, and I like that idea a lot…
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Ethan said 903 days ago:
I couldn’t agree more, Jon. I remember thinking that last year (my second SXSW) was big, but manageable: this year definitely didn’t leave enough time for seeing all the excellent people I wanted to.
I blame the panels. Damned things.
Jason Santa Maria said 903 days ago:
Yeah, this year was huge! I didn’t even get as much time with you, dear sir :(
brian warren said 903 days ago:
This being my first, I did find it really overwhelming. SXSW seems to be getting mighty unwieldy.
A cheese night might be fun, but on the other hand, what would you do if eighty people you absolutely wanted to talk to showed up at your party? It would seem like that’s a bit overwhelming too, no?
Egor Kloos said 903 days ago:
Maybe I should show my face at one of these SXSW meets. :)
Stefan Hayden said 903 days ago:
so I’ll be the first timer to respond. I loved SXSW and I’ve heard every one talk about how much smaller it was last year. It really didn’t seem that big to me though and I can’t imagine how small it was last year. Not knowing anyone beyond Ethan and Patrick the parties seemed large but only because trying to meet 200 other people is a bit of a tall order.
Being the introvert I am though I’d like a quite cheese party over a loud open bar any day.
FatBusinessman said 903 days ago:
I’m not sure I’d agree: obviously I don’t have any point of comparison, this being my first Southby, but I feel that it’s such a big festival that you’re setting yourself up for disappointment as soon as you start thinking about what and who you missed. There are a lot of people I didn’t meet, not to mention a lot of people I’ve met previously and with whom I barely exchanged more than a “hi thereâ€, but I’m just happy I got to go to the panels I did and meet the people I did. When you’ve had a fantastic meal, there’s little point in being upset that you haven’t got room for dessert.
As regards “Break cheese with Hicksâ€: hell yes!
Jon Hicks said 903 days ago:
“When you’ve had a fantastic meal, there’s little point in being upset that you haven’t got room for dessert.”
I guess I’m just greedy! ;)
Catherine said 903 days ago:
This was also my first time at SXSW, and I felt a bit overwhelmed – so much of interest going on at the same time, plus so many people to meet in small amounts of time. I would really enjoy some structured social events in quiet settings – the evening parties are great, but they could be a bit loud and sometimes it was difficult to start conversations with new people.
(It was also a pleasure to meet you, Jon!)
Jared Christensen said 903 days ago:
I hear you, man. I sat near you a couple times, but there was always some obstacle keeping me from formally meeting you. Same situation for many other people. And then there were those that I never even saw, probably due to the sheer number of faces in the crowd. Overload.
Trey Piepmeier said 903 days ago:
Here’s another vote for Break cheese with Hicks. The parties were cool this year (if web designers ever felt like rock stars, it was there), but I’m fairly introverted and I would have preferred a quiet chat in a coffee shop to screaming to talk at a bar.
blurb said 903 days ago:
Definitely missed a lot of people I had hoped to meet. The panels were generally better than I had expected and the parties were bigger and more plentiful than I had expected.
Sorry to have missed you (and others) and look forward to next year.
Wilson Miner said 903 days ago:
There were more than a couple days when I woke up hoarse from shouting at people standing 2 feet away from me all night.
I recall a couple of times early on that I caught sight of you Jon and briefly considered plowing through a sea of people to introduce myself. But then we’d have shook hands, exchanged witticisms and you’d be stuck with me standing next to you for the next hour, packed in by a sea of sweaty geeks.
If only I’d known then how well we’d get on in the end!
Nathan Smith said 903 days ago:
Jon: While this was just my first time attending SXSW, I felt the same way – far too much to do and see, and not nearly enough time to meet and talk to everyone. It was good making your acquaintance at breakfast, even if it was very briefly. I did get to share full meals with Dustin & Jared though. I’m already looking forward to next year. :)
Carl Camera said 903 days ago:
I was too timid to approach some folks this year. Save a chair for me at lunch one day next year. I’m not sure how much stimulating conversation I could contribute, but I certainly would appreciate listening in on everyone else’s discussion.
Andrea said 903 days ago:
I was overwhelmed by the amount of people for sure, but then again, I was last year too. It’s hard for some antisocial geeks to do the face-to-face thing! :) But this year I forced myself to meet some of those folks I really wanted to talk to. I think if I met any more I would have exploded!
Break cheese with Hicks would be awesome. What I would also like to see are breakout sessions after the panels, where you could discuss things with a small group in a quiet room and really get in to some of the topics. I don’t know when they would fit that in, though…
Blair Millen said 903 days ago:
Well Jon why don’t you formally announce a “Break Cheese with Hicks” session for @media2006. I do like the sound of a that…
Dustin Diaz said 903 days ago:
I was indeed a bit timid at first, but after one night in the bars you realize, this thing is only 4.5 days long – it’s time to get busy.
Jon, like you said, it’s just not enough time. It needs to be like two weeks long – and although that day will never happen we can at the least live through flickr. Having brought a camera but never took it out of my bag, I have only OPP (other people’s photo’s) to live through.
Anyway, see ya folks next year, I’m afraid I won’t be making it to London in June.
Simon Willison said 903 days ago:
I had this exact problem last year, and completely screwed up by rushing around trying to talk to everyone (and hence spending far too little time with anyone). This year I accepted defeat and basically winged it, seeing where the wind would blow me. I didn’t talk to as many people but I had a much better time doing it.
Yvonne Adams said 903 days ago:
I decided not to worry about who I did and didn’t get to talk to this year (though I’ll admit to looking for a few friends from prior years.
I’m definity up for a Break Cheese with Hicks session. Whole Paycheck (as many of us call Whole Foods) has a decent selection.
I might even be doubly motivated to save $$ and attend @media if there were a cheese event. We’re hindered in the US by regulations that mean we don’t get the “real” versions of many cheeses (pasteurisation requirements). At least we can get raw milk Morbier.
You can leave the gjetost at home though. I doubt I’ll ever develop a taste for that.
Sometimes I do miss my Uni-days job in a wine and cheese shop.
Nathan Borror said 903 days ago:
Wish we could have met dear sir. Possibly next year :)
Patrick Haney said 903 days ago:
I completely agree, and this was my first SXSW. In fact, I got to meet you for about 2 seconds at the WASP panel, which is a shame, because I found out later from Cindy Li that you have an affinity for cheese, which I do as well.
Just make sure that if you do go for a cheese-with-Hicks event, you don’t call it “Cut Cheese with Hicks.”
Dustin Diaz said 903 days ago:
By the way, there was a “Breakfast with Dustin” on the final night. Hope “ya’ll” can make it next year to that. It was basically a simple way to get some solids in your system (pancakes, eggs, orange juice) before leaving home. About 20 folks showed up including Americans, Brits, and Auzies. It was a good combination. Off the top of my head there was Lloyd, Budd, Cameron Adams, and Rutherford. You can search the flickr tag http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/dustinbreakfast/ and see the blurry photos.
Joshua Lane said 903 days ago:
@Dustin – there were some Canadians there too. It was a good breakfast, even if Andy didn’t enjoy his chocolate chip cardboard pancakes ;)
Buzz Andersen said 903 days ago:
Good finally meeting you in person Jon! Break cheese would rock next year!
Drew said 902 days ago:
Chew Cheese with Hicks. We need some alliteration in there.
Or chomp, I suppose.
Travis Schmeisser said 902 days ago:
I wish I could have met more people as well. I grabbed you for a sec, Jon at the (mt) party, but a crazed fan wielding a camera stole you away!
Thanks again for breakfast, Dustin!
Keith said 902 days ago:
I felt the same way. There were lots of folks (yourself, to name just one) who I either didn’t get a chance to talk to or only had a brief second with. I do like “the more the merrier” but it would have been nice to have more time to spend with everyone.
Count me in to break cheese!
Dustin Diaz said 902 days ago:
@Joshua, ah yes, and there were Canadians too. That may very well have been the biggiest multi-national event during the whole week.
Paul Nixon said 902 days ago:
@Jon: You asked for it Jon. We’ll get some quality Hicks-Nixon time in next year! Been looking forward to meeting you for a while now – sorry we missed each other. Count me in for “Break Cheese with Hicks” next year. Or sooner if you happen to be in the Bay Area before then…
@Dustin: Our chance meeting at the airport was too short. We should grab lunch one of these days in the South Bay…
Patrick said 902 days ago:
I’d have Havarti with Hicks. Though Gouda’s betta. Being in a utilikilt and cowboy hat most of the time at SXSWi, I can’t say I had a hard time stepping out of my shell and meeting people. You have to. There’s so many wonderful people at this conference, to not walk up to them and complement them on a site design, a point made in a session, or on a great presentation would be criminal.
Given the large crowd, small more quiet gatherings are valuable. I didn’t make the cheese nights this year, but I did have a good time with others in the Hilton bar talking ideas and enjoying the company of others.
Cheers!
Timothy Gray said 900 days ago:
‘Tis a shame… So many faces and so little time.
Dustin Diaz said 900 days ago:
@Paul, indeed. That time was very short. I do indeed hold meetups in the Valley so just check my site every so often as I’ll ocassionally make an announcement. I generally put it up on Upcoming so you can get a good idea of how many people will show.
Ian Lloyd said 900 days ago:
Can I just say that ‘Break Cheese with Hicks’ sounds like a big get-together where we all fart a lot. I mean, that might actually happen (depending on the type of cheese being eaten), but I’m with Drew on the title change!
Jon Hicks said 900 days ago:
You don’t fancy a “Break wind with lloyd” then?
Tomas said 900 days ago:
I invite y’all to “crack a case of cologne beer with caspers” @media, ok?
Faruk AteÅŸ said 899 days ago:
I felt the magnitude of SXSW with the many different parties going on at the same time, and people being spread in one of the 5-6 panels that were going on at the same time, but it didn’t really overwhelm me.
Sure, there were a zillion people and sure, I didn’t get to hang out and chat with most of my friends half as much as I’d have liked to, or even really meet a whole lot of people that I wanted to meet, but man was it a good time! It was just a big rush to me, not an overwhelming one but a very exciting one. So many inspiring, awesome people… how could that be too much? :
)Ahwell, hopefully next year we’ll have a bit more time for hanging out with people. :)
Cameron Adams said 897 days ago:
Trust me, you didn’t want to meet Dustin Diaz, hes a bad influence :P
Andy Budd said 894 days ago:
I agree about the fragmentation. Last year people would arrange lunch via iChat, meet up in the halllways and then head off on mass. This year people seemed just to drift off with whoever they happpened to be talking too at the time. There was much less cat hearding going on this year, which was a shame.