Bytemarks

The first day of SXSW Interactive was like jumping into the water at Ala Moana Beach and swimming to the reef. Subsequent days were like going to Waimea Bay during a North Shore winter swell. Just to give you an idea of what I am trying to absorb here is a lineup of the session I either attended or wanted to attend:
Friday, March 13th
02:00 PM My Boss Doesn’t Get It: Championing Social Media to the Man at B
03:30 PM The Ecosystem of News at 12AB
05:00 PM Buzz Out Loud Podcast Taping at Mezzanine 5
Saturday, March 14th
10:00 AM Civic Technologies and the Future of the Internet at 9
10:00 AM Tips For Making Ideas Happen at 18BCD
11:30 AM Curating the Crowd-Sourced World at C
11:30 AM Emerging Trends of Mobile Technology at B
02:00 PM Opening Remarks at A
03:30 PM The Future Of Social Networks at A
04:00 PM Mobile Social SXSW BBQ at Brush Square Park
05:00 PM Building Your Brand with Web 2.0 Tools at C
05:00 PM Charlene Li at South by Bookstore – Austin Convention Center
05:00 PM How LA Has Built A Sucessful Tech Community at Hilton E
05:00 PM Politics, Technology, and Pop Culture at 9
06:00 PM Dorkbot at Brush Square Park East Tent
06:00 PM PBS’ Interactive Social Media & Online Video Studio at PBS Studio
Sunday, March 15th
10:00 AM Ditch the Valley, Run for the Hills at C
10:00 AM Edupunk: Open Source Education at B
11:30 AM Social Networking in Health: e-Patients, Data & Privacy at 5B
01:00 PM Jonathan Coulton at Studio SX – Austin Convention Center
02:00 PM Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) unConference at Mezzanine 7
02:00 PM Sunday Keynote Interview at A
03:30 PM From Flickr and Beyond: Lessons in Community Management at A
03:30 PM Social Media: If You Liked it, Then You Should Have Put a Digg on It… at 10
04:00 PM Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business
05:00 PM Video Blogging: Turning Wine into Gold at A
Monday, March 16th
10:00 AM Presenting Straight to the Brain at A
10:00 AM The Invisible Web and Ubiquitous Computing at 9
11:30 AM Puzzle Hunts and the Creative Process at 5C
11:30 AM Social Media For Social Good at Stubb’s BBQ
03:30 PM Building a Web Business After Hours at 18BCD
03:30 PM Using the New Digital Social Media to Accelerate Sustainability at 8
03:30 PM What Does Awesome Sound Like? at Hilton A
04:00 PM The Rackspace Cloud SXSW Lounge Party at Brush Square Park East Tent
06:30 PM SXSW Year Round: Organize Groups, Maintain Your Buzz at Hilton D
07:00 PM 20 x 2 at The Parish

Like any great conference it’s not only the sessions you take in but it is also the tidbits of information you find out along the way. By talking to people along the way you hear about so much new stuff. Here are a few of the sites I heard about through conversations: MyAlltop, Elements, PlayFourSquare, Trusera, myBeegle, WorldHum, LazyFeed, Ribbit, eZdia, Zappos, UpTake, ZoomProspector, BlueSkyFactory, SunniBrown and these are just the ones I heard about. It is going to be weeks before I sort through all of this. But it’s absolutely fun and inspiring to be a part of such a vibrant industry. No complaints coming from me.