I got to see some friends I only see once a year, made new friends, and didn't want to leave.
Once again SXSW was a great time. I always try to be the first person to register each year, and I'll do the same thing next year.
When scheduling for SXSW, the first thing I did was schedule which parties I wanted to go to. The first night I went to about five, and said hi to some people that I didn't see over the rest of the conference.
Hi Jeff Pulver and Melissa Pierce. ;-)
My second night was great because I set up to live stream the SuperMeetup! and interview filmmakers.
They loved to see how easy it was to live stream with a laptop and Ustream. I got to use a LitePanels Lite Kit. It was my first time using it and I loved being able to dim the light and not have to worry about a bulb blowing or heat issues since it's made with LED lights. As a bonus, I was able to take the Lite Kit home.
After that was the Wiley author party and it was great to see the Wiley team, other authors and party guests.
Chevy took me out to a dinner at The Salt Lick. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this event, The ride out, the dinner and conversations, and the ride back. Check the archive of the live Qik video of the Salt Lick including the fire pit. I enjoy talking with other people in social media, and having a car full of great people made the ride most enjoyable. Lots of ideas came out of the conversations. Really great ideas.
Loved seeing everyone at the blip.tv and anyclip party. I planned on going to the Foursquare to tell them to add IGNORE VENUE to the iPhone app, but could not get in. I went to the TechKaraoke party at Six and had a great time. Live band Karaoke is great when it combines a great band and great singers. I want to bring TechKaraoke to Boston. ;-)
Pro vs. Portable HD Video Cameras
I noticed a lot of pro camera rigs at SXSW and lots of people were interviewing each other.
Zadi interviewed me for Pepsi and the Bui Brothers shot the video using Canon 7D's.
I also went to the Bui Brothers session on how they are using these DSLRs in video production. Great results.
On the other side of the spectrum, many were using pocket HD video cameras.
I saw a lot of people using Kodak Zi8's with brackets and Rode VideoMics. You can see these devices in my Get Seen store.
Here's a set up that Jeff Cohen used to interview me:
Here are two examples to show how it can work when done right:
Kodak helped me out by sending some books and a portable HD camera for me to give away at SXSW. I called it Where at SXSW is Steve Garfield and tweeted out that the 1st person to find me would win a book or a camera.
This was a lot of fun and CC Chapman called it one of the Make Your Own Meme success' of SXSW.
Here's a Where at SXSW is Steve Garfield video with an introduction from David Meerman Scott advising me to get the book out there, and then shots of lots of people with Get Seen at SXSW.
Getting a Film pass allows me to go to sessions to learn things in an area different from where I normally focus.
You also get to great panels like this one from the movie, MacGruber!
Here's a video of the MacGruber Cast Recreates Surprised Kitten Viral Video at SXSW 2010.
For the third year in a row I went to the Jeffrey Tambor Acting Workshop. Brilliant. Everyone was crying, in a good way.
Finally, thanks to SXSW for having great WiFi available and to AT&T for the good cell service.