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After a late night at a Deerhoof concert, we all awoke fairly sleepy. I am surprised I have made it this far without a nap. Today was the first day of the SXSW panels. As with any conference, there are times slots and multiple panels available. Thankfully they release podcasts of each panel so that I still may get the information I missed out on.

There were five panels I attended. Each of them offered a different insight into the topic they were covering. More than anything they made me inspired, warm, and fuzzy. I think SXSW draws all of the rockstars in the industry and they do as good of job being in the audience as they do on their panels. It’s refreshing to know that they are still out there seeking knowledge from their peers.

Panel 1 - A Decade of Style
I particularly enjoyed this panel because it was really relevant to what I do. The people on it were all seasoned CSS vets and were able to give a perspective that many of us lack; history.

One of the panelists, Chris Wilson, works for Microsoft and he talked about some of the things he fights for with Microsoft. I have a habit of cutting down MS quite often just because it seems as if there is a complete disregard for standards. It was interesting to hear his perspective and the concerns he has, working on the team that builds the world’s most popular browser. Ultimately he worries about backwards compatibility. I still hold my grudge, but he seemed like he was fighting for the right things internally.

Another panelist, whom I had heard of, but only that was Molly Holzschlag. I saw her on this panel and also on the last panel of the day. I think I identify with her most out of anyone at the day. Likes a lot on her plate, is rebellious, and is very individualistic. She also has an energy about her that seems to help bring up the quality of the panel. I really enjoyed what she had to say.

Panel 2 - After the Brief: A Field Guide to Design Inspiration
This was the panel that I think will be the most beneficial to me in the long run. Initially I decided to go to this one because I really wanted to see Cameron Moll, unfortunately he came down with the flu and wasn’t able to attend. However, the other two panelists, Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychart did a fantastic job of alleviating my initial disappointment. These two guys have been friends for a long time and their dynamic was really entertaining. They covered not only how to find inspiration, but how to maintain it and foster it. In doing so, they really helped me understand on how to become a thinking designer versus just a doing designer, a downfall I know I have, but haven’t understood how to change it.

Panel 3 - Kathy Sierra: Opening Remarks
Kathy is from Creating Passionate Users and did an excellent job of explaining how to humanize what we do. She gave a good presentation and unfortunately I watched it on a video screen, so it didn’t have the same effect. Either way, she highlighted on many things, including the common differences between the audience that FAQs are written for and the audience that actually needs real help.

Panel 4 - TV: The Next Generation
This panel was really interesting because it was the first I went to that pulled in some of my “other” background I don’t get to use too much, business. How do the new distribution channels, advertising models, and content providers mix up? Ultimately it’s a complex topic and it sounds like the linear model of watching TVShows at a set time is on the way out, but it’s a matter of when. I agree with this up to the point that some people don’t want to think about what they’re watching, they just want to come home and turn on the TV, no choice required. Some people do not care what they’re watching, as long as they’re watching something. You can’t channel surf through choice.

The other point they were making was that some content providers were to small to garner any kind of advertising dollars. While this is true for traditional advertising relationships, the internet provide a solution similar to what google adsense did for websites, would do for the web. Anyone want to talk? Overall it was a great panel and really got me thinking about the industry.

Panel 5 - From to Riches: Life After Code
This panel had Molly Holzschlag as well. It was mildy entertaining, relevant, but by this time in the day I was pretty drained and not sure if my attention span could handle it. There was a lot of discussion on if I am a designer, should I learn to code, and vice versus. Since I am a fan of doing it all, some of the suggestions were lost on me. Another thing I pulled was that you can’t be a hotshot coder and a manager…ughhh.

Until then.