SxSW 2006 Disappointment

My buddy Brent, who I met at this year’s SxSW, sent me a link to the next year’s line-up of panels, and I gotta say I’m very disappointed.

SxSW Interactive is supposed to be an event for web designers and developers, but looking at the list of panels, I can’t figure out what the following topics have to do with design and development:

• Convergence and Transformation: How to Understand and Adapt
• How to Do Precisely the Right Thing at All Possible Times
• Designing for Global and Local Social Play
• The Wisdom of Crowds
• We Got Naked, Now What? (what is this about?)
• Convergence Across Media
• The Future of Education in a Digitally Convergent World (all right, somebody is abusing the word “convergence”)
• How Technology is Transforming 21st Century Teens
• etc, etc, etc

I see absolutely nothing on Flash, ASP.NET, Ruby, JavaScript (there’s one panel on DOM), Python, XML, XHTML, etc.

It almost seems that half of SxSW panels have been put together by a bunch of environmentalists, social workers, kindergarten teachers, leftists and rightists, and self-proclaimed economics gurus. What, no panel on abortions or stem cell research? All in all, I think SxSW folks lost their focus and are trying to be everything to everyone. This never works.

I hope they will pick topics more meticulously for SxSW 2007. And please, please, please don’t put Jim Coudal up for a keynote. It was hysterical when he was rolling his eyes on stage at the word “customer”. Get someone more appropriate and more presentable for the task.

Thank you, I’d rather save my money for TechEd or PDC.

I was disappointed in the panels last year and it looks like SXSW 2006 is a repeat of 2005. If you want a cover for going to Austin to get trashed and hung over, then SXSW is for you! But if you are a serious developer that actually wants to learn something then SXSW might not be what you want.

Seriously, SXSW don't just pick what you think are the top bloggers because you think they will bring people and then let them do a panel on whatever the heck they want to talk / "teach" about.

If I'm going to fork over that much cash to go to a conference or ask my company to pay for it and still be able to sleep at night then I’m going to need a lot more meat and potatoes!

While I agree that it looks like there's a lot of non-web-specific and ambigious content in this year's lineup, I think you're sort of mistaken when you say "SxSW Interactive is supposed to be an event for web designers and developers."

SWXWi certainly does cater to web designers (and developers, to a lesser degree), but it also showcases digital interaction in many other mediums, as well. It's really about all types of mew media, not just web. That's why it's called SXSW interactive and not SXSW web.

From the SXSW 2006 website:

"An incubator of new, cutting-edge technologies, the SXSW Interactive Festival is ground zero for the world's most creative web developers, designers, bloggers, wireless innovators and new media entrepreneurs. Stay ahead of the curve by attending this annual gathering of the brightest minds in emerging technology."

So, Jeff, which of the following SxSWi folks should attend "We Got Naked, Now What?" (a) web developers (b) designers (c) bloggers (c) wireless innovators (d) new media entrepreneurs