I just got back from SXSWi 2012, my third time at the interactive part of the festival. I got there on Friday and got back last night. I went to co-lead a “core conversation” pondering the question “Do People Really Want Participatory Government?” with my colleague Michelle Chronister. I’ll write more about that experience after Michelle and I process it.
SXSW can be really frustrating. I think Matt LeMay is right to describe it as people acting out the Internet. There’s a constant pressure to zip from one place to the next, to meet someone more important, to attend a more important panel, to get into a more important party. It’s just like zoning out online and clicking from blog post to TED talk to article to whatever on the Internet. It’s exhuasting and it rarely leaves you with anything.
SXSW is so overwhelming that it creates a nice foil for quiet moments. That is, my favorite parts of the event were when I was somewhere relatively quiet having a real conversation with someone or when I got to be by myself. My favorite memories of the trip were the times I walked alone from downtown to the AT&T center – a nice long walk through a beautiful city, with time to think through the countless scattered conversations I’d just had.
Presenting was fun too, but like I said, I’ll write about that later. I’ll just say that the response was overwhelmingly positive and that I was surprised at how badly I wanted to be alone afterward.
The quiet parts of SXSW this year were a nice reminder (for me) to stop worrying about what else is out there and focusing on what’s in front of you. I need to remember that all the time. It can be pretty painful when I forget it.
Bonus fact: I had a $5 bill in my wallet when I left San Diego. I gave it to a friend to pay for parking. Other than that, I used no cash from Friday to Monday. Impressive!
Reminder! Michelle Chronister and I will be leading a discussion to find out if “People Really Want Participatory Government” at SXSW on Saturday. Come out if you can! If not, let me know if you’ll be there and we can hang.
Who else is going to SXSW?
Good question. Come tell Michelle Chronister and me what you think at SXSW!
I'm Jed Sundwall. This is my blog, which you can follow on Tumblr or via RSS. You can talk to me on Twitter.
