Things That Ruled My SXSW Interactive
SXSW Interactive is soon coming to a close, and I think we’re all starting to reflect on how awesome it’s been. For me, it was fun to experience another side of SXSW; I attended the music portion in ‘08 but this was my first time attending Interactive. I’ve had a BLAST, learned a ton, and met a load of great people. I’ll be recapping some of the great panels and presentations a little later on my almost-launched new blog, but wanted to document a few of the less obvious things that helped make the conference so great. So if you’re on your way down for the music portion, know that when things get really hectic, and they most certainly will, you’ll have things like technology, shuttles, and food to help make things a little easier.
- The Google Places app
Sometimes I’m lazy. Sometimes I’m not very picky; I just want food from somewhere close. The Google Places app is probably my fave app for when I’m traveling for that very reason; it points me to restaurants close by, with reviews and a map. Awesome. I think I’ve used it for every meal I’ve had here so far. - Twitter, and TweetDeck
Well, duh. This is an obvious one for SXSW, but I think my reasons for loving it so much are, well, kinda neat. Thanks to Twitter, I met a fellow Duke fan who invited me to watch the Duke-Miami game with he and a friend, who just happened to be a former Duke mascot. Such fun stories! And to get even nerdier for a second, I don’t think I really understood the level of TweetDeck’s awesomeness until I attended a presentation, opened TextEdit for notes and Tweet Deck right behind it, set to display my content strategy and SXSW search filters. Sure, sometimes a bit overwhelming, but really awesome to be able to keep up with so many relevant conversations at one time. - Sched.org
Talk about convenient. Whenever I forgot where I was going next, which was often, all I had to do was go to my bookmarks on my ‘droid and pull up my own personalized SXSW schedule page. I never thought I’d rely on a web application more than good ol’ Google calendar. - The R&R shuttle
My hotel was on the shuttle route, so whenever I needed to get to or from the convention center all I had to do was stand outside and wait, and never for more than 15 minutes. Much better than dealing with parking or trying to flag down cabs. - Food carts
Maybe if ATL had an event like SXSW, the city would realize how much we need food carts. When the waits at the restaurants were insane, it was an awesome, quick, and affordable option.
