Rob Goodlatte  

I’m even later to the SXSW wrap-up game than Faruk, but I wanted to post my thoughts on my first South by Southwest. I decided to attend the conference at nearly the last possible moment - two weeks before it started. Yet despite my scramble to get registered, book a flight, and score a room, I still managed to have an amazing time.

Many bloggers reporting back from SXSW Interactive thought the panels were sub-par this year, and although I have no baseline to compare against, I must admit I was not impressed with most of the panels I attended. Rather, the best moments of the conference took place outside of the presentations - meeting people in the hallways and at the parties (or, the ones I weren’t bounced from).