SXSW was excellent this year – so many amazing people crammed into a single week! Some of you might remember this video that CNN made, that I ended up featuring heavily in:
(Note: the CNN crew was more than a little creepy in their treatment of Violet Blue & her presentation material… Panning over her body while she’s unaware, then setting it to porn music? Jesus, guys, it’s called “journalistic integrity.” Look it up.)
Violet Blue gave a fantastic workshop on Sexual Survival for Geeks this year that was very entertaining, as well as informative. I think she definitely helped open peoples’ eyes to the possibilities available to them at SXSW. Also at the convention this year was Renewabelle, who I finally got to meet and spend some quality time with in person! (Check out her new site – it’s that gorgeous only partially thanks to my artwork. The rest is ’cause she’s right there in the header!) We’ve worked together on several projects, but we always interacted online. Well, let me tell you: she throws one hell of a party! She organized the Copyblogger shindig, and it was a real blast! Free drinks + Girl Talk’s new album + dancing with Megan = Excellence.
One of the benefits of being the only guy walking around SXSW with grenades & a chainsaw in a kilt & Mad Max-style armor…
…is that you’re easy to spot! Lucky for me, Adam Baker of Man vs. Debt happened by while I was sitting in the expo center and recognized me, so I got to have a nice talk with him! His mission is brilliant – “Sell your crap. Pay off your debt.” I definitely support his efforts, and if you’re struggling with debt definitely give his site a look. He’s got some great ideas, including “Tyler Durden’s Guide to Personal Finance” – genius! Accompanying Adam was Benny Lewis, who wrote “The Language Hacking Guide.” Need to be fluent in 3 months? Benny’s your man! These guys were a lot of fun to chat with. They’ve both done a lot of traveling, and had some great adventure stories. Can’t wait to see them again!
I also got a chance to spend some time with Amy Harrison, who is not only a brilliant copywriter, but also a very talented bluegrass artist! I’m willing to bet she has the coolest cowgirl boots in all of the UK.
Thanks to everyone who made this year’s SXSW spectacular – I met far too many fantastic people to possibly list them all, but thank you to all the great folks who came down to Austin to attend this year’s Interactive! Hope to see you again next year!