10 Things I Learned at South by Southwest 2002
1. The web is alive and well, thank you. No one is getting rich but that’s like saying all the gold is gone from Sutter’s Mill so therefore the shovel is now obsolete. Hogwash.
The web is a tool–powerful, complicated, and highly capable of enabling wonder and mystery. I spent the week around hundreds of people whose creativity hasn’t been limited by lack of funding or a short attention span media but simply by how big they can dream and how quickly they can type.
2. Passion is contagious. Excitment feeds off itself. Every third conversation I had this week sparked another idea. Every other got me all electric about someone else’s project. I landed back home completely high on web juice, ready to write, conceptualize and pitch in all around the place.
3. You often have more impact than you think. I began going to SXSW in 1999 when Central Booking was a cut-rate hobby site I dabbled in while trying to finish graduate school. During that first conference, I took in a panel on online journaling which, years later, resulted in CB becoming a community of readers. On that panel, I had a very pleasent chat with a woman named Sarah who introduced me to Blogger and the medium of weblogging. Three years and as many redesigns later, I run into Sarah at the festival’s opening event and she recognized me instantly. It took me a little bit longer and a lot of stammering but soon we were talking like old friends. Or maybe brand new ones.
4. I should buy a digital camera. Everybody’s doing it.
5. People relish the opportunity to act silly, especially in the loose embrace of new friends. Sounds a little clinical but it’s the best way I can explain why I spent a substantial part of this conference playing kickball, singing karaoke, and trying to sober up a drunken monkey.
6. You can go back to where you once lived and it may not have changed all that much. You almost certainly have.
7. A perfect airline flight resembles a short trip on a bus: You board, read a newspaper and have arrived when you look up. Exiting should be as painless as entry and effortless like hopping to the curb. It helps if no one’s sitting within six rows of you.
8. What is real is your story. Tell it.
9. Webheads read. Lots. They dig books. Some of them had even heard of Central Booking. Now more have.
10. Community is a rare and precious gift today. When used with grace, the web is a tremendous community builder, uniting rather than locking us apart. I experienced that more than I thought I could this last week where hundreds of strangers were instantly kind, thoughtful and intrigued by one another. If you’ve found a place like that, real or virtual, stick around. It’s very a special thing.
Thanks everyone.
P.S. I did a similar essay for SXSW 2001. What a difference a year makes.