12. Your first SXSW mistake
If, like me, your focus at SXSW was seeing as many interesting talks as possible, that was a mistake.
Doing that means you spend all your time in a spin of checking the app, choosing things to see, hurrying from one talk to another, sitting in a talk and checking the app, wondering if you need to leave to get in line for something else, leaving, finding the line is too long, wandering around trying to work out what you can see instead, then going back to your hotel room in the evening with your mind a whirl of all the things you've heard, trying to process them, while trying to work out what you're going to see next.
It's frankly uncomfortable.
Instead you should do - on your first day - what it took me three days to work out. Look at the lounges and events section of the app, choose a couple of locations that are offering a chance to hang out, enjoy some food and drinks and meet people. try them, and then choose one that could be your default for the week.
If you were smart, you would have hit early on the Global Innovation Lounge at The Line hotel. Run by the Rockefeller Foundation, they offered snacks, coffee, drinks and a place to hang out all day. Speakers and representatives from different Rockefeller Foundation projects making appearances all day, along with participants all with interesting stories to tell about what they were doing and what they'd seen. The picture is from a different event at The Line, but the principle holds. Take time to make SXSW friends and do it early.
Doing that means you spend all your time in a spin of checking the app, choosing things to see, hurrying from one talk to another, sitting in a talk and checking the app, wondering if you need to leave to get in line for something else, leaving, finding the line is too long, wandering around trying to work out what you can see instead, then going back to your hotel room in the evening with your mind a whirl of all the things you've heard, trying to process them, while trying to work out what you're going to see next.
It's frankly uncomfortable.
Instead you should do - on your first day - what it took me three days to work out. Look at the lounges and events section of the app, choose a couple of locations that are offering a chance to hang out, enjoy some food and drinks and meet people. try them, and then choose one that could be your default for the week.
If you were smart, you would have hit early on the Global Innovation Lounge at The Line hotel. Run by the Rockefeller Foundation, they offered snacks, coffee, drinks and a place to hang out all day. Speakers and representatives from different Rockefeller Foundation projects making appearances all day, along with participants all with interesting stories to tell about what they were doing and what they'd seen. The picture is from a different event at The Line, but the principle holds. Take time to make SXSW friends and do it early.
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