Comments on: SXSW 2006: Blog Bubble Bursts

By: Ms. Jen

Ms. Jen — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:38:36 +0000

Hi James,

Sorry to be a bit late on this, but this is my first day off in a long time…

Funny, for me 2001 Interactive was the most overwhelming and negative SXSW experience I have had in my years of attending. 2001 was large, 3 tiered (marketing, design, and technology), and very few people were friendly. I was desparately glad to see my Music friends when they showed up.

All of that changed in 2003, when I entered the elevator of the Hampton Inn after checking and Jish greeted me and was very friendly. 2005 was the best year for friends and meeting new folk.

I had a fear that this year it would be 2001 all over again and it was not, thank God. While the panels were a bit unmemorable, the social part of this year was good.

Yes, this year was big and I didn’t get to hang out with as many friends as I wanted to, it was a true delight to see so many of my Brit / European and American friends after being in Ireland for grad school all year.

I do agree with you that it was disappointing that many folk could not come or did not come this year due to work, etc. I will say this, maybe it is up to those of us who love the conference as an experience where we have the ability to meet new folks and hang out with old firends who enrich our lives to not let it get taken over by the biz talk and other unsavory bits. I will be at 2007 and have several ideas on building the community.

smiles, jen ;o)

By: Kevin Smokler

Kevin Smokler — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 08:41:21 +0000

Well put.

By: dememarc

dememarc — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 12:57:11 +0000

I lived in Austin for almost 10 years. What you’re seeing is a microcosm of what has been going on in Austin for a very long, long time. The same things you note about SXSW are the same things, that in a larger sense, led me to move away from Austin recently. While you’re lamenting the SXSW scene…. ask yourself… did you ever see any Black people… a Black man at SXSW??? One, or two? Or as many as you see in other places the size of Austin? As you guessed, I am a Black man, a PhD from UT-Austin. As I saw Austin grow from a town into a traffic-snarled, lilly white town, I watched it become a great symbol of the great Divide between Black and White, Rich and Poor, Americans and Hispanics…

The worst part…most Austinites… don’t even notice or recognize the homogeneity of the town ontheir side of I35 as being something of concern.

Just turn on the ADT… protect me!

By: Tina

Tina — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 07:59:08 +0000

I really loved this year in terms of business. I pay for my employees to come and so it was nice to get actual value out of the speakers and the money I have invested. While I love the social aspects of it, it’s nice to meet and talk in panels about things that are pushing us forward.

Personally, it was a little more crowded but I think that was Austin as much as our conference. I think what it will take is just someone organizing the post events a little more and having peeps that missed this year come back.

Just my .02

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:04:03 +0000

This year was rough for me too, and it was a very different conference from even last year. It felt more stratified and too big to really mingle like I did the last two years. I don’t know if it was me changing, or the conference, but I didn’t meet near as many people in different disciplines as I have in the past. That’s kind of disappointing as that was my favorite thing about the conference.

By: Yvonne Adams

Yvonne Adams — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:39:04 +0000

You’re not alone. I think next year I’ll just tell everyone I’m a professional gambler.

By: neil

neil — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 21:54:58 +0000

{claps vigorously} Eloquent, incisive, passionate, and absolutely bang on.

By: alison

alison — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:27:34 +0000

YES.