SXSWi Report

By David McKelvey

Morgan and I have just returned from some great sessions this year at South-by-Southwest Interactive (SXSWi). As I mentioned in my previous post, SXSWi is the premier conference for all things digital, web, new media.

Each year the conference has grown substantially and this was no different. Last year there were somewhere around 15k attendees and I’d peg this year at more than 20k, perhaps even more than 25k. The interactive portion is rumored to be bigger than the music portion now, which begins as interactive ends. For Austin, it’s like a great exodus exchange of fancy glasses and messenger bags for leather jackets and guitars.

You’d think that the sessions, the networking and opportunities would suffer, but the conference management team has done a great job in keeping things fresh and the quality-level high. Yet again we were forced to choose from more than five great sessions all scheduled at the same time, for many of our slots.

Over the next few posts, both Morgan and I will highlight some of the best sessions we attended and talk about the trends we’ll be working with and watching for the coming year.