SXSW Interactive Party – San Francisco

The SXSW Interactive Festival that takes place this coming March in Austin, TX is one of the most hyped conferences in the web industry. The conference panels, and nightly parties are supposedly beyond compare.

SXSW Interactive:
“Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the SXSW Interactive Festival enables you to connect, discover and inspire your link to the cutting edge.”

I’ve been a bit hesitant to drop the cash down for the entry fee ($300 – 350 at this point), and associated travel costs, since no conference I’ve attended has ever been all that exciting. I thought a good way to see if SXSW Interactive might be different, was to drop by their Western Connections party at Madrone Lounge in San Francisco. Afterall, it’s really the people that make a conference worthwhile.

I got there a little after 7pm, and the place filled up rather quickly. I decided to grab a drink and see if I could mingle with some of the folks to see what they thought of the conference. Surprisingly, many haven’t attended SXSW Interactive either, and were there to scope things out as well.

The crowd included an interesting mix of creative web geeks with various backgrounds. I met a few product managers, sales accountants, bloggers, developers and of course designers. The veterans I bumped into reinforced that if there’s one conference to attend in 2007, it should be Interactive. After meeting all the knowledgeable and ultra-friendly party-goers, I’d definitely have to agree.

Kudos to SXSW for this brilliant pre-conference party idea!

Photos of the SXSW Interactive San Francisco Party

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