SXSW has ended and my mind and body have not come back on the same flight.
It is always an awesome event but always tiring too. I usually try to write expansive reviews of the event but this year I am adopting a more bulleted system.
Mark Zuckerberg & Sarah Lacy Interview
Hot on everyone’s lips is the interview being dubbed as the worst interview of all time and such. When watching it, I thought the crowd was being over zealous. They had very high standards and did not feel that Ms Lacy met them. She felt that the interview was “An Interview with Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Lacy” as opposed to being a tool to elicit questions. She was flirtatious beyond the point of good fun. Notably, many times Mark Zuckerberg hinted that she wasn’t interviewing him in a well manner but it didn’t quite decode in her mind. She failed the interview yet if you watch the after-video she seems to blame everyone else but herself. She started with a bigger introduction for herself than him (granted we know who he is, but she had already thrust herself in the lime-light) and then starts with telling the audience how she feels.
I was in the overflow-room and for it to happen in parallel suggests that it is more than just the crowd.
Also, Its funny she’s never heard of Will Wright, after she said “no one has ever had anyone as big as Mark before”
Egos
The one thing that I dread about SXSW is the egos. There are so many people in the web field with a huge ego. A lot of people got the panels they wanted to because they are known around the web and thought as of reputable sources (whether or not they are is different). Some chose to talk about things they knew about, others did not. It infuriates me no end.
Designers should talk about design, coders should talk about code, freelancers should talk about freelancers as should people who make web apps talk about web apps. And you watch as people with no clue about a subject branch over into another and then watch as people watch them for it.
Another example of egos is at the SXNW party (which ALWAYS rules, good work Blue Flavor) where a friend and I were waiting in a queue for 30 minutes (a mini queue upstairs) when a group of people, who I found out was the Flock crew barged past us and got priority service. This was a common theme so I understood, but the fact there was only 6 people in the line and when we mentioned we’d been waiting, they responded with “It’s fine, we work at Flock!”. Two members of the team got held as there was too many of them. And thus the wait carried on for another 30-60 minutes. I had left about 10 minutes after, angry and unamused.
Gaming
Gaming was a more prominent theme this year and I thought it overcrowded an already overcrowded conference. Game Developers Conference (GDC) was less than a month ago so I saw no reason that this conference should have been diluted even more. You can’t cater for everyone, instead do the best at a few things.
Wrapup
It was great to be there. I met some awesome new people and some good old friends too.
The fact that my hotel room flooded on the last day and got all my stuff wet, didn’t even put a dent in the trip.
The after-conference meetup (also known as the Airport) was awesome fun too.
