It was a great conference for a first timer and I actually had a little anxiety about going to the event. There was so much information being presented it seemed impossible to check it all out. Overall the South By Southwest (#SXSW) conference held a lot of value. It was mentally stimulating to be involved in so many break out sessions with individuals from a diversity of online media backgrounds.

Best place to be: the blogger lounge is a great place to network with new people. The layout is simple 4 sided tables with wifi and a plethora of outlets. Each table seats about 8. Its social interaction is very similar to a high school cafeteria. Its a great setup because you can come and go as you please all day. It was a terrific environment to associate with like minded individuals and observe new ideas get thrown around.

Second best place to be: The lego pit and the hallways are where you meet new people who are creating content onsite. It's like walking through actually an actual twitter stream. Bloggers, video bloggers, podcasters and interactive individuals all combine to achieve new levels of contact and invention. I met @renate and her friend Brian there. They are the launching a new product called "poken". Very snazzy version of a mobile business card (insert image) They haven't launched in the US yet but find out more at:

Impromptu Tweetups There were a couple scheduled tweetups that were fun and then there were impromptu tweet ups. My favorite was at the Pepsi playground. @pepsicosxsw hosted a great group of influencers who even held an open Q&A session for attendees.

The true value of the event was in the connections I that were made there. Some of the influencers I had the pleasure to meet personally were @lizstrauss @JasonFalls, @tedmurphy @lokeuei, @jeremywright, @shashib @swoodruff, @robflemming @jorydj, @gilliank, @zenaweist @blogworld, @aaronstrout, @heatherrast, @saulcolt, @coachdeb, @scottmonty.

It was nice to meet everyone and I can't wait to meet to next year Austin is a great city and really opens its doors for SXSW. Even when leaving the airport it was a pleasure to enjoy some tunes by Paticia Vonne.

Whats your plan for SXSW 2010? What do you want to accomplish? Who do you want to meet?

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