Veerle's blog

It’s weekend here in Austin and today is the first official day of SXSW. I’m finally starting to adjust to the time deference with Belgium. Our trip over here was so exhausting. We started with a 9 hour flight to Chicago followed by a 3 hour flight to Austin. To be honest I was kinda forgotten how hard it is. Times have definitely changed since my last trip to the US. I can’t remember exactly how many security points we have past but a lot, including one where you need to take your shoes off, laptop out of the bag etc. Understandable but still after being stuck on a plain for 9 hours a friendly talk or gesture could do wonders ;) Our trip was like 24 hours in total and we literary crashed at the hotel and went to bed at 9pm. At 3am we all woke up and after that we counted the hours on the clock ;)

But don't get the idea from all the above that it wasn't worth, it is believe me ;) Just for the weather alone I'm down with all that. It's March and the days that we have been here are like a hot August Summer day in Belgium. I have been enjoying some site seeing with some of the Brit pack and tasting the local goodies like BBQ ribs and grilled steaks. After all from what I can tell we are in the capital of the world if it comes to BBQ and grill. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a museum and taste a preview of how it will be like when it opens in about 2 months. I'm talking about the Blanton Museum of Art. Thanks to Jon Hicks (yeah, he has all the cool contacts :o)) we've got a sneak preview tour. The building and the work already there was really top notch. We saw some really fine pen artwork, I can just stare at those forever. The architecture of that building feels like it was build around the artwork, a place to come back to. Who knows maybe next year ;)

Now onto my speech. It all went pretty well, better then I actually thought. Better in a way that, I wasn't that nervous then I thought I would. OK, there were a few moments yes, but all in all things progressed smoothly. Like with every panel things never go exactly as planned. The event is very well organized with clear signs where sessions take place. You need to be in the so called "green room" an hour before you go on stage. Then once we went on stage there were technicians who helped us out to see if you're all set and ready to go, they made sure you have water. Well it was a good experience and fun to do, but I'm glad it's over. Glad it was on Saturday too, I'm a bit more at ease and relaxed now.

Yesterday Jenifer invited us to her room here at the Hampton Inn for some wine and cheese. There was this relax atmosphere and we had a lot of laughter and great conversations. At a certain moment the topic of logos came up and Shaun Inman said :

I stole a leaf from Hicksdesign's logo for Mint

Onto the general experience about SXSW. Well, I tell you, this is even more intense then @media London. It's not only about meeting all those people, where you feel like such a connection, it's just a great city to hang around and the panels, speakers and the topics are really top notch. I learned so much in these 2 days about design, about the new technologies on mobile web, about accessibility etc. And we're just half way, there is another 2 days! I especially love the interaction with the audience and sharing opinions on all these matters. My top favorite session so far was the session about "How to Be a Web Design Superhero". Those 2 Andy's are natural talented speakers ;) In case you want full details of certain sessions, you should definitely check out Cindy Li's website. She has like the fasted fingers on the planet. She types as fast as the speakers and still she finds the time to iChat with 3 or more of her friends and upload her Flickr photos. She's tagging is hot, I would tag her as "miss multitasking" :o)

I had no idea what to expect about Austin, the city. Austin is like the 'other' place in Texas, totally different from all the other Texan cities. The atmosphere is very laid back, pretty much like San Francisco actually. It's a very cool city to hang around especially this time of the year. Not only the weather but also because of all those geek parties that are going on and to hang out with a bunch like-minded people. Time just flies, before you know if it's past midnight. Well it's been great so far and I'm already looking forward what tomorrow will bring.