Creating Community:

Readers of this blog know that I was filled with excitement anticipating my first time at SXSW in Austin, Texas, last week. I even took this newness and used it to do a campaign for one of my clients around a video series we called SXSW For Newbies. My time there was full of lots of things, but for the sake of this entry I want to focus on the community that is the South By Southwest Conference.

I go to conferences all the time. Many times I’m speaking. Sometimes I’m just there for the sessions and to see old friends. But whatever the reason, one constant is that most conferences attract a certain vertical of interest. If I’m at PodCamp Boston, then most likely the people there are into podcasting and new media. When I spoke earlier this year at the Educational Travelers Conference, everyone had something to do with the travel or educational markets. It is the nature of conferences that you narrow the focus to attract a certain group of people.

What was amazing about SXSW is that people from around the world with various areas of interest and different passions attend. When you roll it up there are three parts to the conference: music, film and interactive. Those are extremely broad topics that different people are interested in. I often found myself in the middle of a hallway conversation between a CEO, a musician, a social media fan and perhaps a marketing executive. What I’m trying to highlight is that, unlike other conferences, the community of SXSW was made up of much more variety then most.

The veterans seem to know this and embrace it. Once you’ve been, it’s almost as if you are part of a tribe. You are let in on secrets that not everyone knows about. Events that are off the grid suddenly open their doors to you. The events happening that are not listed on the official schedule have their own followers and communities formed around them. As I entered The Fray Cafe for the first time, I saw people I had not seen the rest of the time there. As I took a seat and played in my first game of Werewolf, I found myself welcomed with open arms to a group of fresh faces. Being a newbie is not something that causes you to be an outcast but rather makes you even more welcome because most want to make you feel welcomed.

SXSW is certainly what you make it. But don’t ever be afraid of going because you don’t know anyone. The people that make up the community of South By Southwest are a loving bunch who welcome newcomers like myself with open arms, and I miss them dearly already. Next week I’m going to talk more about some of the events and happenings that made it so special for me.

If you’ve ever thought about attending, I can’t encourage you enough. I heard several people call it “spring break for geeks,” which really did not capture the energy properly for me. It was about so much more than the parties and fun times. It was about new friendships. Potential business leads. Being stimulated by speakers that you’d never see at another conference together. It isn’t as strange as Fight Club, where the first rule is you don’t talk about Fight Club. In this case I think you do talk about SXSW–and you talk about it to everyone you possibly can so everyone can get in on the energy and passion that will power you through the next year until it comes around again. Is it March 2009 yet?

Are any of you readers on the way to SXSW in Austin, Texas, next week?

I’m headed out and also speaking on a panel called How to Rawk After SWSW: Staying Inspired in which we are going to be discussing how to take all that you learn and are inspired by while at SXSW and bring that back to work and home and keep it moving foward. Based on the calls I’ve had with the other panelists, I’m very excited about it.

This is my first time going to the conference. What has been fun to realize is that I’m entering into a close-knit family of people who go year after year. The minute I mentioned that I was going, I began to get advice from friends and strangers on where to stay, the best little-known places to eat and the must-not-miss parties. I had no idea that while the conference itself is huge and full of great opportunities to connect with interesting people, outside the conference there is just as much (if not more) going on.

If you look at the upcoming list of events, you can see that there is plenty happening. But there are many other, smaller gatherings happening off the grid where old friends and like-minded individuals will come together over a meal, drinks or a park bench on the street.

As part of some work I’m doing with one of my clients, I’m going to be documenting my trip under the banner of SXSW For Newbies. My goal is to collect the pearls of wisdom from this growing community so that next year it won’t be as scary for newcomers as it is for me this year. Scary isn’t really the right word. I think a better one would be overwhelming.

If you are attending or just want to find out more, I reccomend checking out the SXSW Insiders Guide, which currently has more than 700 members and was independently set up using Ning. If you go there, you’ll see how a community can come together to help out one another.

All this feels like a powerful community, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts when I get back about whether the reality lived up to my expectations.