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Somewhere in the conferencing 101 handbook is a blurb about going out and meeting people at the conference sponsored events. That blurb also details how to drink at a conference, or how not to drink. There was an open bar at the place I went to and next thing you know things got a bit hazy.

So hazy in fact that I was supposed to call my girlfriend, and when I woke up in the morning I called her to apologize for not calling, and it turns out I did call her. Oops. Now she’s onto just how much I was drinking. You can take the kid out of Alaska, but you can’t take Alaska out of the kid.

The cool part about this whole SXSW thing is all the conversations that occur away from the event itself. I had no idea how much value would come from just meeting and talking to people. Last night I got to meet some of the people whom I respect and follow on the web. Welcome to Geek’s Paradise.

Anyhow, on to the panels.

Design Workflows of Work: How Top Designers Work Their Magic
This panel had all the necessary components to be really really good, but it seemed there wasn’t much depth to the questions. That being said, I am a big fan of Veerle and I had met Bryan Veloso the night before while in line for the Frog Design party, so it was cool to see them do their thing. I had no idea who Bryan was when I met him, but he was super friendly and invited me to come join him with some people he knew. That’s how my night got started. The panelists did confirm my suspicions that we creatives are a different breed.

Deadlines, Clients, and Cashflow: The Business Side of Web Design
This was a good panel to attend for understanding how to manage clients and manage teams. It was one of the thirty minute presentations that goes by really fast. For the most part it was a big long nodding my head in agreement session. It was nice to see all of this useful information in one place. An overarching theme which I think really resonates with me is the fact you have to have standards for yourself. A standard price, a standard in design, and a standard way you work. In not sticking to standards, clients can control the relationship which is detrimental in the goal of doing good quality work.

Ten (er 7) Ways to Run a Startup Like Ghengis Khan
I’m not sure if it was the timeslot, or if the speaker wasn’t prepared, or what, but this one should have been titled “7 Ways Ghengis Khan Conquered Asia and Europe.” I had a really hard time drawing the parallels between the what the speaker was saying and how it tied to starting a business. Maybe I just don’t have the experience. And I have to admit that spelling errors in a PowerPoint really make me question the professionalism of the speaker (I have really high expectations for these people, they are supposed to represent the elite). He could have been hungover, as was I, which would have made it extremely difficult to get through a presentation, THAT I can forgive. Sooooo I signed up for a Twitter account after step 3.

Uniting the Holy Trinity of Web Design
I think this came out as being my favorite panel of the day. The speakers were diverse in their personalities, but all had some really great things to say. I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan Snook last night (fortunately I spoke to him today as well, and he confirmed my reluctance to accept “You were putting them back” he said. ) and it was good to see him up there delivering his points with clarity. He’s a really approachable guy and I am happy because I got to ask him some questions one on one, which to me is much more appealing than the after panel sessions.

This panel really gave me some good insights on how I may restore the balance of power in the projects I am involved in. The holy trinity consisted of Development (me), Business, and the Users. Any time those get out of whack, a project can suffer. When they do get out of whack, politics come into play, so all of the panelists also gave suggestions on how to ease tensions or eliminate sed politics and tension.

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Tomorrow is my last day. I hope to catch a few more panels and make a few new friends. I just got a twitter alert, now I know where to go. I think I like.