I have been traveling an insane amount these last couple of months for various reasons. Because there is so much for me to cover, I’m breaking everything down into manageable, separate blog entries. Otherwise, both you and I will go insane trying to read/write everything in a single massive post! This post covers part of my trip in Austin for South by Southwest two months ago — and something big I learned even before the conference started.

South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, TX :: March 11-17
My travels this spring kicked off with South by Southwest. Work sent me this year for the opportunity to build on my knowledge and understanding of the web during SXSW Interactive, as well as the chance to meet so many like-minded geeks. For those of you who aren’t aware, SXSW is actually three events that take place over the course of ten days: Interactive covers web and video game development, Film includes the film festival and film-related panels, and Music incorporates the thousands of showcases and industry sessions. Because I had a platinum pass—thank you Mākaha Studios!—I had access to all three aspects of SXSW. I’ll focus on Interactive for this entry.

It’s no joke that Twitter was such a useful tool when I was there. Through Twitter and SXSW’s social website, my.SXSW, I met several other attendees from Hawai‘i, with whom I bounced off knowledge and feedback on sessions, and explored the tastes of Austin… particularly BBQ and Cuban food! I sampled the latter food option during a “Lost” fans/Hawai‘i meetup that local web evangelist and fellow SXSW attendee Ryan Ozawa set up.

The ExpressionEngine 2.0 panel was a highlight session for me, thank goodness, because I use EE at work and it was one I was looking forward to the most. It was everything an outstanding presentation should be: engaging, informative, and occasionally funny. And the slides did what they were supposed to: they were visual aids, not crutches for each presenter.

Let’s contrast this with some low points during SXSW Interactive. The presentation for HTML5 Accessibility lacked direction and professionalism — the PowerPoint slides were dense with text. The presenter sounded like she knew what she was talking about, but let’s face it, she was boring and for much of her presentation, refused to aim her mouth toward the mic in such a way that the entire huge ballroom could hear her. This was one of two events that I actually walked out on, the other event being the “keynote” (in a dry interview format) with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Not sure why I didn’t walk out on Twitter CEO Evan Williams’s keynote (also a dry interview format), but I might as well should have because I zoned out for most of it.

RIP Justin :: March 11
Of course, these supposed low points pale in comparison to the most significant low I experienced while I was in Austin—this one was personal. The night before the start of SXSW, I got a call that my good friend and colleague, Justin Cash, passed away. We trained together at Apple and talked a lot online about geeky stuff, work, and life. When he passed, he was getting ready to move out to crash at a friend’s apartment as he waited to hear about a potential job transfer to Honolulu. We were also in the middle of preparing our music blog, where you can now read the music review he wrote up shortly before he passed, as well as a bit more info on Justin.

I could not believe that it happened so suddenly and at such an inopportune moment. He was looking forward to making a life change and all of a sudden, it was taken away from him. I felt helpless; there was nothing I could do. I felt guilty for having so much to look forward to for that week and a half—or really, the next month or so—and that somehow I shouldn’t be allowed to have that. The guilt resurfaced when I flew to New York City a month after his death (more on that trip eventually) because I felt like I should have visited Justin while he was still alive. After quite a bit of thinking throughout my travels, I know Justin would not have wanted me to stop what I was doing on his behalf. He’d think I’d be silly for doing so.

Next entry: SXSW Film and Music