walkah: sxsw

In a few short hours, I'll be on a plane to Austin, TX for another edition of SXSW Interactive. I'm looking forward to connecting with a bunch of folks that I don't otherwise get to see often. Here's a list of things I'm hoping to catch (in addition to the on-schedule panels):

• Activity Streams meetup - looking forward to diving into more DiSo :-)
• XMPP/Jabber Meetup - I still believe that XMPP is one of the most important protocols moving forward on the 'net. Looking forward to syncing back up with this community.
• OMB Meetup - I'm excited to help bring OpenMicroBlogging to Drupal via the Knight Initiative.

I'll also definitely be at the party that Lullabot is co-sponsoring : 32bit.

If you're in Austin for the next few days - ping me on twitter or identi.ca.

Off to finish packing :-)

I'm certainly not the first to post about this, but it looks like Drupal will have a strong showing at SXSW Interactive 2009. There's even a front page post on drupal.org to bring awareness. A group of us from Lullabot went last year and we had an absolute blast. If you haven't been, sign up now!

The panel picker is live and I suggest you *all* vote for Drupal with Its Pants Off (you know you wanna). What's really exciting, though, is the long list of other Drupal panels on the list.

Looks like there'll be lots of Drupal in Austin next March... even http://sxsw.com/ is Drupal powered!

My hotel is booked. See you there!

A few of us Lullabots flew directly from DrupalCon Boston to Austin for SXSW Interactive. It was actually my first trip down to Austin (sadly), and despite some general road weariness, I had a rockin' good time. Personal highlights included:

Worst. Website. Ever.: Aside from being a who's who of the internet famous, it was an awesome format, completely hilarious and really well presented. I'm inspired to bring it to a future DrupalCon :-)

A Critical Look At OpenID: It was nice to watch other OpenID experts field the same questions I tend to - and give similar answers. Mostly, I hit this panel because I hadn't yet met David or Simon. We had lunch together after... I should really get myself out to more identity events. IIW 2008?

CMS Roundup: Obviously, I went to support fellow 'bot, Jeff Eaton, but was blown away by the packed audience (for a 10am session) and the overwhelming Drupal love!

Otherwise, it was great to hang out with friends like Colin and Andy, seeing TorCamp friends everywhere, and meeting a whackload of new people. Looking forward to next year already!