February 2nd, 2010 | 27 comments | Unfiltered

Today I received my confirmation email from Hugh (head of SXSW Interactive) that I will in fact be speaking at SXSW. Thanks to that email (and a great tip from Jim Storer, who I interviewed last year at SXSW), I present to you my SXSWi (Interactive) tips for rookies. This is going to probably turn into a series as I try to dig around in my brain for things I wish I knew before I got to Austin, so stay tuned.

1. Network your face off. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, SXSWi is like a playground full of all the cool kids. And by cool kids I mean all of the geeks that are now cool because geek is the new black. I met a boat load of awesome people last year – and you can too. With the amount of free liquor/beer that flows around at night in Austin, you have absolutely no excuse not to go up and talk to your social media/tech/blogging/career idol. If it’s a total fail, you can always blame it on being overserved at the Mashable party or claim to forget it all together.

2. Bring a power bar. You want to make friends at SXSW, yes? Bring a power bar. There are never enough outlets and EVERYONE is running out of juice, be it on their phones or their notebooks – so bringing a power bar is bound to make you at least 3 new friends, depending on how many can plug in and how many devices they’re juicing up.

3. Drink lots of water. Seriously. There is a lot to do at SXSW. Panels of all shapes and sizes and topics, and just as many parties to match. Staying hydrated is essential – and not just so your liver doesn’t hate you, but also so you don’t get sick. With thousands of people in the conference center, you’re bound to pick up germs. Staying hydrated will increase your chances of returning home without a cold tagging along for the ride.

4. Get crackin on the “People I HAVE TO MEET while I’m in Austin because God only knows when they’ll all be in one place again” list. Check out the Panelist & Attendees part of the SXSW program book. This is where I found out who was who and if it was important that I meet them. If you know you want to work with INSERT COMPANY HERE, check to see if anyone is at SXSW representing that company. This part can start NOW – as people continue to register, hop on Twitter and ask around. See who’s going to be there. Arrange ahead of time to have coffee/drinks/etc. That’s how I met one of my mentors – I coordinated ahead of time.

5. If you’re a student, do what I did, and ask EVERYONE you can “what is your one tip for someone about to graduate in INSERT YOUR PROGRAM HERE?” I did a quick video interview series with Aaron and Jim while on site and their advice gave me a new perspective and a whole lotta drive after I returned home from Austin. Ask as many questions as you can – genuinely. When you’re in college, you have this awesome advantage of being a sponge (because that’s what you’re supposed to do in college, absorb everything) and you can meet a lot of people if you use that to your advantage.

6. Hang out in the Blogger Lounge (even if you don’t blog). I met some of the coolest people when I was in the blogger lounge. Plus there is a good vibe in there, everyone furiously writing recaps of their days, highlighting the best parties, how crappy the cell reception was (none of us could make calls or text), and summarizing great (or awful) panels. It’s a cool place to meet new people, and catch up with people that you may know from the blogosphere but haven’t met in person yet. And it’s where I won my flip cam. So I might be partial to the lounge.

7. Bring business cards. If you are unemployed, make some anyway that have your Twitter handle/blog/etc on them. This is one thing I didn’t have last year and I was furiously emailing people as soon as I met them so they wouldn’t forget who I was. SXSW is networking overload – be sure to keep track of business cards! SIDEBAR: I wonder how the Bump application will change this aspect of networking at SXSW. A lot of people at the conference will have iPhones – I’m thinking this may cut down on the exchange of business cards. BRILLIANT!

8. If you’re in a panel that doesn’t have a hashtag assigned to it, assign one. This was a big deal last year as some panels thought ahead to create a hashtag, others hadn’t really thought that part through. So if you’re a panelist – think of something catchy and short so you can see what people are saying about your panel. If you’re participating in the panel, not as a speaker, pipe up if there isn’t one assigned. Some of the best conversations in panels I went to last year were happening online while the panel was going. It was fun to watch the online conversation unfold as the conversation happened IRL in the conference rooms. And it’s super helpful in the event that you want to go to two panels that are occurring at the same time – you can still follow the conversation and get a gist for what is going on.

As I think of more tips I’ll write more posts, and if you have SXSW tips for the rookies out there, feel free to add those below!

What is one thing you wish you knew before you went to SXSW for the first time?

AUTHORS NOTE: Thank you for the head’s up on making the distinction between SXSW as a whole and the interactive portion – edits have been made above!

Tags: 28 Day Blogging Challenge