So what's the deal with SXSW 2006 — what panels are you looking forward to and why? Without knowing who's presenting what it's a bit too hard call at the momment, but Monday looks like the best full day line-up.
And if anyone knows what Web Wrestling is, please, do tell.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Web Wrestling.
It's when everyone gets together on a network and controls ASIMO robots remotely in wrestling matches. You watch your ASIMO on a video feed. There are fatality moves in which you remove the head or processor with your bare hands, or throw the competitors unit into a vat of water. Nobody could think of any other use for ASIMO.
Holistic Web Design, Cluetrain Plus Seven and Beyond Folksonomies... and of course, my panel: How To Convince Your Company To Embrace Standards.
Sunday and Monday both sound pretty good, though Monday looks packed to the gills with interesting panels.
This will be my first time, I'm still trying to figure out how I will be able to see it all (there is a lot going on).
You really can't see all of it. You have to "team up" and get people to take notes in the other interesting panels. I'll be setting up a wiki this year just like last year, so you should be able to see all the notes from the panels (we got most of them).
Good to hear that Kevin, I'll be keeping my eye out for your wiki :)
Hey Kevin, you gonna be there for the kickball game again? That's my favorite part of the whole conference ;)
working for a high school social network I can't wait to go to "Meet Judy Jetson: How Technology is Transforming 21st Century Teens"
I'm still trying to figure out how I will be able to see it all (there is a lot going on)
You won't be able to but there are so many, many bloggers (or people who lead a normal life but have a blog) attending these days that you're bound to find some good notes on every session. And as I recall a lot of panelist have started uploading their presentaitons to their blogs as well.
I was all ready to go to SXSW this year and then my wife had to get knocked up. So while you are all partying in the sun like rock stars, I'll be a birthing coach, "hee, hee whoooo!"
Our daughter better appreciate all the sacrifice!
Web Wrestling - I can only hope that it's something like WWF of the 1980's. All of the keynote speakers get to dress up in glam outfits and use names like "Hulk HTML Hogan" or "Jesses THE BODY TAG Ventura" or maybe even "Andre The Ajax Giant". However the real twist will be when on stage they get in each others faces and scream "Web 2.0, I'll show you Web 2.0" and then issue a cheap-shot knee to the face.
Is anyone here from San Francisco? My company seems to think that anything about the web can be had in SF and why would they need to send me to Austin for a conference? I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear more.
Leave your close-minded company :D
It sounds more like they don't want to foot the bill, rather than them really thinking the web exists only in SF.
Sorry, having been a few times I think SXSW is pretty much a waste of time professionally. The close-minded company probably realizes that what the SXSW really is (like most conferences) is a chance to hang out with peers, get buzzed, and talk web geek talk with people you only know through blog rolls. It's not that they're not cool, or potentially valuable (conferences are great to meet new job connections), but it's understandable why a lot of companies don't see the ROI.
This will be my first SXSW, and seeing as how I work for myself these days, it wasn't too difficult to convince my employer to send me down south.
The only other conference I've been to was a Blogger and Basecamp workshop that took place in, of all places, SF. What I found telling was that even SF needed to look elsewhere, beyond California, beyond the West Coast, all the way to the frigid tundras of Chicago (and for that matter, Copenhagen), to find an outfit worthy of presenting.
I'd say that if a city like SF needs to import brainpower to throw down these events, it's definitely worth the effort for a SF to send its brains out into the world as well. The hubris of a company that believes the world begins and ends in its combover is something I find absolutely uncanny.
SXSW is more about "personal" professional development. I can see how a company would be wary. If they won't send you -- send yourself. If you have the right attitude and are open and ready to meet new people, listen to new ideas, etc. you might very well get quite a bit out of it.
I'd show them the list of panels and talks. Show them how it would be difficult to get that same kind of content anywhere else. I'd do some research about conferences that are happening in your area and show them that it's just not the same quality/level of experience there in SF. That specifically defeats their argument without being all argumentative. While lots of design and web stuff is happening in SF, conferences about it aren't.
This will be my 3rd SXSW. I am willing to admit that it is more about the "networking" than it is about the conference, but I view it as a chance to recharge each year, learn some new stuff, meet some new people, and come back ready to kick some butt.
Well, seeing that even Flash Forward has pulled up stakes and relocated to Seattle, it's hard to believe annyone would make that claim. Sounds like they just don't want to foot the bill.
I attended this year and thought is was "...eh". Monday was the best, though.
I attended this year...
Oh great and powerful Bob King Neverland, what Earth like in the future? Were the 2006 SXSW bookbags any good, or just more the same? Does Soylent Green have a bad-hair kinda aftertaste?