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SxSWi – Always A Good Time

By Monica Yoo on May 13, 2011 in Fun Stuff, Tech Experiences

Geek Fest

I was pretty psyched when I found out I was going to SxSW this year and so I told a few of my friends about it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Guess what? I’m going to SxSW!
Friend: Awesome! What bands are you going to see?
Me: Er…no bands. I’m going to the Interactive Festival.
Friend: Interactive? Oh, that’s cool.
Me: Yeah! I hear the founder of SCVNGR is going to speaking! COOL, RIGHT?
Friend: *crickets*

It’s instances like these that remind me that I’m a geek…and I’m ok with that. I went to SxSW Interactive in 2008 and 2009, took a break last year, so I was ready to jump back in the scene.

One of my favorite things about going to SxSW Interactive is the conversations you have there. You can throw out technical terms freely and people won’t think you’re crazy. You can talk about new internet memes and a) they totally know what you’re talking about, b) think you’re awesome and c) they won’t think you’re from a different planet. And you know what else? You can get super excited about a cool app that you just discovered for your phone you can’t live without and people will share your enthusiasm! Nothing makes me happier than going somewhere where you’re in the minority if you don’t have at least 3 electronics strapped to your body. Oh, joy!

Matthew Inman

There were several panels that I sat in on, some better than others, but my two favorite were by Seth Priebatsch, founder of SCVNGR, and Matthew Inman, the man behind The Oatmeal. They each talk about two very different things – Priebatsch’s covered social gaming and human motivation and Inman’s mostly about viral marketing, but they were fascinating nonetheless. If you’re curious at all to know what they talked about, listen to Seth Priebatsch’s and Matthew Inman’s podcasts.

Also, two cool photos from SxSW.

Random guy, me, Matt Cutts and Tara

I went to the most amazing tradeshow booth ever – Chevrolet’s 3-D Photo Station. It was set up to promote I believe their new Cobalt and it was fantastic. Definitely my favorite stop.

As always, I learned a whole lot, met great people and had my fair share of good old fashioned nerd fun.

See ya next year South By!

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My Overdue SxSW 2009 Blog Post

By Monica Yoo on April 6, 2009 in Photos and Videos, Tech Experiences

It has been weeks since I was in Austin for SxSW and I am now, finally getting the chance to share my experience. Shame on me. I should have had something up within a day I got back, but I had to catch up on all the things I had to put on the back-burner. I give out major kudos to those who were blogging about their experience each night. I guess I was out having too much fun and fully enjoying my time at SxSW (stalking bumping into Gary Vaynerchuk). =P I still can’t believe I got to meet him! I kid you not, it was like meeting the Jonas Brothers. Never would I have ever thought that I had the streak of teeny bopper in me to do the whole wave your arms and scream frantically thing…but I did. I certainly surprised myself. I’ve concluded that meeting Gary is the highlight of my 2009. =P

Before I go too off topic, here’s a little video I made to sum up what SxSW was like for me this year. Can we say awesome?

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Nate Silver at SXSW

By Monica Yoo on March 15, 2009 in Photos and Videos, Tech Experiences

Listening to Nate Silver.

Posted by monicayoo on Natuba

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Snake Bike

By Monica Yoo on March 15, 2009 in Photos and Videos, Tech Experiences

Really cool bike that looks and maneuvers like a snake from the Frog Design Party last night.

Posted by monicayoo on Natuba

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SXSW 2008

By Monica Yoo on April 1, 2008 in Tech Experiences

It was my first time at South by Southwest – Interactive this year and did it live up to all the hype? Yeah, I’d say so. =D

Since I had never been before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Plan A – I tried scheduling my days according to what panels I wanted to attend (to get the most out of my experience), but it didn’t take too long until I dropped that. There were just too many panels I wanted to see, many of which were scheduled at the same time. I ditched this idea and moved onto Plan B – to just wing it. How did that go? Surprisingly well.

I had a great time over the entire 5 days in Austin, all because of the three P’s – panels, people and parties.

Panels: Pretty good, although some were better than others. I went into most of them thinking that I would come out entirely enlightened and wowed, but it didn’t happen every time. I guess I set the bar pretty high from the buzz about all the internet famous people that were going to be presenting. I should have known better! Of the panels I attended, keynotes like Mark Zuckerberg and Frank Warren were the ones that stuck with me. The first one because it was comical and the second because it was thought-provoking.

People: Prior to SXSW, I couldn’t understand why people would travel all over the country to attend a conference. Now I do. Not only was it a great learning opportunity and entertaining, you get to meet a lot of cool people. Every person that I met had something interesting to share. Whether it was a project that they were currently working on or something as simple as what they’re occupation was – each person had their unique story.

Parties: Wow. One of the last things I expected was to be overwhelmed with all the parties at the end of each day. My favorite moment was when a few of us got a little text messaging happy and took over the text board at the Digg Party – fun times. There was a little bit of buzz about whether SXSW was a ROI or a Nerd Spring Break. I think both. -ha- It was time-off from the daily routine, but still educationally valuable.