The hottest tech ticket in town this past week had to have been South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, TX. SXSWi was added on to the annual SXSW Music and Media Conference (now on its 24th year) in 1994. Dubbed “Spring Break for Geeks,” SXSWi has focuses primarily on Interactive Media and has grown into a Mecca for technorati. Lasting only a short 5 days (March 16-21), they somehow manage to squeeze in over 700 panels on topics such as Web Design and Programming, App and Game Development, Social Networking, and many others. It is also the highest revenue-generating event in Austin, with an estimated economic impact of over $100 million.
Besides the tech panels, there were also tons of free food (and alcohol) as well as fun events to fill in the downtime. Friday kicked things off right with the Nokia SXSW Party Posse in the afternoon and a Pastries and Pasties show at night, which is exactly what it sounds like: a cupcake cookoff hosted by a burlesque troupe. Saturday night was full of mayhem (including Leo Laporte crowd-surfing) at the Bigg Digg Shindigg. Team Mashable threw their 2nd Annual MashBash SXSWi Sunday on Sunday night and Monday night finished off the events with a lively Skip Intro Party hosted by Foursquare, Brizzly, and Asthon Kutcher’s Katalyst team.
This year’s SXSWi was lively and action-packed as always. Like Mardi Gras, there is a very festive vibe, and it is great to see the tech community coming together not just to network and learn new things, but also to have fun. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going at last once to experience what all the hype is about. Check out the links below and I’ll catch you all next week!
SXSW 2010: The Complete Social Media Guide (via Mashable)
