Half.
The South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi) would have been much better if it were half as big, had half as many seminars per hour, cost half as much, lasted half as many days and had half as many participants.
I know that I am probably a tiny minority with this view, but I really believe it.
A simple concept for you – more is not necessarily better. If your 4-person family fits nicely in a 4-bedroom house, should you move into an 8-bedroom house, even if it cost no more? Probably not.
There were simply too many good choices for each hour slot. And most everyone I knew was exhausted by the end of the 5-plus days of events, parties and seminars… three days would have been perfect.
The really nice thing about SXSWi was spending time with friends – and making new friends. For that alone, it was worth the price of admission for me.
Will I go back? Maybe. But I’d be much more likely to go to a smaller conference like SOBCon. Interestingly, most of the people I hung out with were veterans of that conference.
SOBCon? May in Chicago. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it this year, as I spent my conference tokens at SXSWi. Do I regret going to SXSWi? No.
And next – for some takeaways from SXSWi.
OK, so tell us what you learned, or what was good about it. I happen to know you got quite a bit out of it, so this is your nudge to share it.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for helping Glenda get on state at SXSW. I just read her blog post and I’m a little upset that the folks at SXSW had ample notice to accommodate her. Frustrating! But thanks for helping her out! We love Glenda!
On another note, couldn’t agree more with half would have been better. This was my first year and all my friends who have been in the past said SXSW is officially RUINED! Too big, too many wanna be apps trying to become the next big thing, too many people pitching, too many people there to party and only party and just plain TOO MUCH! So I’m not sure you are in the tiny minority on this one!