March 12, 2008
Random notes of stuff that I should remember for SXSW next year with some random stuff for conferences in general.
Travel with the roller bag thing and the backpack with the camera bag inside the backpack;
Pack less. Tantek twittered about bringing only two pair of jeans, for example;
Must purchase a baseball cap at SXSW 2009;
Instead of a wrist strap for the camera get a padded and very comfortable neck strap (which can be slung);
Pick up one of the larger notebooks like splorp carries around and put the great stickers collected on it and not the laptop;
Don’t bother staying at the Holiday Inn for SXSW. Get a hotel a block from the Convention Center;
Don’t try to keep up with Europeans when they’re drinking. Pacing yourself is not rude;
Moo cards, buttons, stickers, etc. should be ordered such that they’re in hand two weeks before SXSW starts;
I didn’t use my laptop much;
I did use my camera a lot;
Pack an anorak or something. It pours in Austin when it rains;
Do arrive a day early and fly out first thing in the morning after it ends;
Canadians are awesome to drink with and appreciate self-deprecating remarks about quaint visits to a former first world economies where the Canadian dollar goes so far now;
Pick one day at the conference where the talks are looking lean; gather up the folks that you wish you saw more frequently; find a good, quiet bar and get slowly drunk with them (this was the best bit of SXSW for me);
Club music make Hulk mad. Find the equivalent of the Ginger Man early next year and make it your nightly haunt;
Iron Works and Las Manitas;
Tevas!
Take Kristen!!
Shorts (at least one pair)
Don’t miss Fray Cafe
Please email your suggestions!