Where to go? What to do? So much stuff, so little time. With 9 locations, countless sessions and topics and an impressive army of more than 2,600 speakers SXSW grew uncomfortably big. Just trying to log a doable schedule is good for a headache. How to you get to back-to-back sessions that are 20 minutes away from each other? How do you get to two panels that go on at the same time?
Bi-location was never my strongest asset, and teleportation is still illegal in this part of the U.S. SXSW grew fast, and to uncomfortable proportions. Big is good, too big is frustrating. Difficult to spot what is hot, difficult to get to the sessions that matter. Bloggers and press are whispering that they hope that SXSW is not losing its touch, that it has not gotten too big and commercial. Is it still able to keep a finger on the pulse, and spot that exciting newcomer ahead of the curve?
Bigger would be bad, if you ask me… but then again, I’m having a blast. I have a session on robots to attend.