SXSWi: Surprisingly Good / Cameron Moll / Designer, Speaker, Author

SXSWi: Surprisingly Good

published 22 March 2010

I’ll confess: Every year, I’m one of those guys that gripes about SXSWi being too big, about the content being poor, and about the assumption that this year is finally the peak year and things will die off next year.

Well, this year, I was pleasantly mistaken.

I’ve attended and spoken at a number of web conferences here in the U.S. and abroad. Not quite enough to conclusively state the following with 100% certainty, but pretty close: There’s simply no other web conference like SXSW on the planet.

Undeniably, there’s an atmosphere of excitement that surrounds SXSW that’s hard to find anywhere else. Anybody and everybody attends. Some even book hotels and don’t even bother purchasing a pass to the conference merely to be among the crowds surrounding the Austin Convention Center. And because of the sheer numbers in attendance (some estimate 17,000 attended), we’re all equals. Superstars mingle with newbies.

As for the content? Sure, some panels were lacking. But others were stellar. In fact, on Monday I avoided most of the typical web dev stuff and found myself in three workshops on DSLR video. It was the highlight of the conference for me.

I won’t know until later this year if schedule and budget will allow me to attend next year, but I’m certain of one thing: Don’t count me among the complainers for SXSWi 2011.