A fun-filled day was had at the Saturday session of SXSW interactive. Such a change from the last time I attended in 2002, during the heart of the slump. It was the most depressing conference I’ve ever attended. It has grown over the years and the rooms are packed each session. Highlights were Kathy Sierra‘s keynote and Peter Merholz‘s “Stop Designing Products” for which he should have been given an hour. It was a shame his session was so short, there was lots of good content and I came away with a couple of ideas that will help with the software I’m currently redesigning. I saw plenty of geeks I knew and made friends with the visiting web/ux team from the New York Times (news junkie alert!) while we waited for the “High Class/Low Class Web Design” panel that Khoi Vinh (NYT design director) was (slightly surly, with good reason) on. After a dinner at Mekong River, Michael, Bug, Emily and I waited around to see Big Rig which was pretty good – thought provoking and some lovely editing and post production work. Tomorrow, more interactive panel goodness. And coffee. Lots of coffee.
Could that paragraph have any more parentheticals?