I walked over to the Austin Convention Center and got my SXSW badge this morning, at the crack of dawn for geeks (9:30 AM). Walking through the Convention Center, it was easy to see that some things had changed.
1)The food has moved to a much more prominent place. Right at the northwest entrance, there’s a giant new food court with Starbucks and barbecue. I gather we are never supposed to leave the building now.
2)The registration has moved downstairs to Exhibit Hall 3 on the first floor. When I was there, the line was nil, and it took me no time to pick up my badge. Yesterday, however, I saw a tweet from Cathy Brooks saying she had been in the line for 30 minutes and it was slow, so my line jury is still out. If you get up early in a geek crowd, there will never be a line, so my own experience was not a test.
3)Glancing over the schedule, I didn’t see much I JUST HAD to attend. Don’t know if that’s my third year fatigue, or my immersion in social media all year long. This hear I may sneak in and see films.
4)On the plus side, everything I listen to as a podcast is live-streaming from SXSW this year, so I will go see TWIST in person, and ditto TWIG. Leo la Porte is on my very short list of people to meet in person here, and he’s broadcasting out of Michael Sean Wright’s studio, so I will stalk him there. I’m going to be on one of the shows that’s streaming out of the studio anyway — on Saturday, right after Robert Scoble. He’s a cinch to follow, so I don’t expect to be any less than enthralling.
Other than that, it’s “party on” until either my liver or my back give out. If you see someone lying on the floor of the Convention Center in plow pose , it’s more than likely to be yours truly.
