SXSW (or "I Get Paid to Dance With Sharks")

It's amazing how a couple days of not blogging can turn into almost two weeks overnight, but, fear not, the beast that has consumed my life for the past 10 days-- Austin's famed and ever-growing interactive/film/music trade show and festival, South by Southwest-- is now over. Last year, I had some of my best girlfriends from Seattle in town, and we hit up a bunch of the unofficial music shows (because the "official" shows require a badge that is upwards of $800. No thank you.) This year, I attended the interactive portion of the show (the first half of the week) for work and, thus, was the proud owner of one of those pricey little "official" badges. (Although, admittedly, the interactive show is less expensive and a lot more niche than the film or music festivals-- and the interactive badge only gets you into interactive events.)

The interactive show is combination of educational panels and discussions by day, and hyped-up, over-the-top, corporate-sponsored parties by night. All the big tech companies (think Google and Microsoft) and some of the smaller, but more fun, companies (think Etsy or Gowalla) have a presence. For context, Twitter was launched a few years ago at SXSW. And each year it seems to get bigger and more extravagant. The five day interactive show was interesting, educational, and fun-- but totally exhausting. I was really impressed with most of the daytime sessions I attended, which (unlike too many conferences) taught me new material and gave me some new perspectives on my work and the interactive world.

But the parties... oh boy. There are numerous parties every night, all hosted by big corporate sponsors (Pepsi, Chevy OnStar, Fast Company, Lincoln, and the list goes on...) It seems that the primary objective for most conference attendees is to RSVP to as many parties as possible (like 5 or 6 per night), and then try to hit them all up in order to maximize consumption of free food and booze. The party planners have caught on to the fact that everyone RSVPs to every single event, so the fact that you have RSVPed doesn't guarantee entry. In fact, you can expect to wait in line for an hour or more to get into some of these events. And people do. Willingly.

I had success attending a few parties early on, but ran out of steam fast. Waiting around in big crowds of people for the possibility of a free drink and a cold, congealed slice of a quesadilla is not really my scene. I've got some nice wine at home, and would much rather be curled up on my couch in front of a movie, thankyouverymuch. But, when your company pays for you to attend, and then numerous team members from other offices, as well as clients, show up-- well, you press on. So I did. And, inevitably, some good stories are generated.

Take for instance... last Sunday night when my boss's boss showed up in town and and wanted nothing more than to be escorted to all of the city's "coolest clubs." (And let's be honest. Don't we all look forward to spending our Sunday evenings binge drinking with senior management? I'm a lucky, lucky girl.) After several rounds of drinks at the W, more drinks at some random bar on 6th street (hosting a lesser know media company's lackluster party on their rooftop deck), and a long, wine-soaked dinner at a steakhouse, he decided we really needed to go the club he'd heard about that had live sharks swimming beneath the dance floor. Excellent idea. Of course we did. So we set off for this chic establishment, and, lucky us! Turns out they were hosting a "fashion show" comprised of girls in skimpy bikinis, as well as... wait for it... girls in bikini bottoms with nothing on top except body paint. Classy. Having had the foresight to alternate glasses of water with my Cabernet all night, I was not nearly tipsy enough to make this an entertaining turn of events. Of course, he insisted we all stick around until the "fashion show" started, sometime just before midnight. A vat of Clorox could not erase some of those images from my head. Let's just say, a lot of those girls should not have been in bikinis. Oh, and after all that? Yeah, there were no sharks under the dance floor.

But it wasn't all pain, suffering, and awkward moments with senior management. In addition to actually learning something, I did get to enjoy a few really nice meals out and met some of my colleagues from other offices. And, when the interactive show ended on Tuesday, I somehow managed to rally and go out to see some live music (the only night my interactive badge would get me into a music event). And then I slept. A lot. I did go see some unofficial SXSW music shows on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend consisted of lots of R&R and catching up on all of the housework, exercise, and general life maintenance I had neglected for the past week.

It was a cool experience, but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. And I'm OK with that.