I arrived a few days before Interactive to ensure I got situated prior to the show.  First step was unpacking my 611 & rolling down Congress in search of food.  If there is one key to staying well fed in Austin, it is the heaps of food trucks available all over town.  My first stop was Ms P’s for chicken & waffles before I spent the afternoon working from Medici. My time in Texas was off to a good start! This post takes a stab at sharing my experiences, lessons learned & tips for next year.

On Thursday I took some time to really explore further outside of the city by bike.  This involved massive hills, rope swings & some flat tires.  An awesome day and having the bike proved to much more than a perk but a real necessity for getting around SXSW quickly.

That afternoon, I hunkered down & really tried to sort out my agenda.  Only somewhat successful at planning out days of panels & parties, I opted to head downtown for the Startup Crawl. This was a great event! Well organized shuttles carted SxSWi pre-gamers to various hotspots in the ATX startup scene.  In 2012, it boasted 40 companies and 3,500 party goers! I was amped to start off the weekend making so many new connections! I went back to the hotel filled with optimism for my first SXSW experience.

SXSWi | DAY 1 | Friday

I had registered for the taco meetup in advance & made my way back towards Cesar Chavez for what I knew would be an amazing assortment of tacos.  Live music alleviated some of the bummer from steady rain.  Despite the rain I trekked back west to give attending another panel a go. I encountered a line wrapping an entire city block. Highlights that afternoon included Mashery’s Circus, meeting some of the guys from Over app & stopping by, Austin’s first coworking space,  Conjunctured.

After some recharging, I got ready to head over to the Palmer Events Center for the Frog Design party.  My new exciting routine of meeting lots of new people continued & Frog really threw a great party.  Not only was it packed but it had heaps of outlandish extras like the Snake Bike above & a zen garden tended by a robot.

SXSWi | DAY 2 | Saturday

My first introductions on Saturday were with some marketers in the cosmetics & fashion industry. I found myself attending an interesting panel  with Pepsi, Frito-Lay & Facebook represented.  I made some new contacts from Tennessee & we teamed up in search of lunch & they introduced me to even more people.  We encountered a food truck literally out of food & luckily was pinged by my recently arrived colleagues just sitting down at a spot on Congress.  Again, having my bike made getting around very easy!

I headed south over the river to meeat up with Jami, Shannon & Jason.  I picked up flyers to pass out for our Gypsy Caravan Party that Monday & talked overall Big Nerd Ranch strategy for the show. I spent time that afternoon in the Startup Village & ended up on T3′s amphibious party in Lake Austin.  Having mostly winged it for Saturday, I resolved myself to sticking to more of a schedule Sunday!

SXSWi | DAY 3 | Sunday