After not being at SXSW the last couple of years, I went back to Austin in 2011 to find the event had exploded in size and breadth in the interim. Here is my Top 10 list of what I took away from it.

1. An
Ant’s
Eye
View
of
SXSW
2011
A
Top
10
List
Christopher
Carfi
(@ccarfi)
Senior
Strategist,
Ant’s
Eye
View
ccarfi@antseyeview.com

2. #1:
SXSW
is
starting
to
mirror
the
Internet
itself.
Image:
Christopher
Carfi

3. It’s
big.
Photo:
Jim
Merithew/Wired

4. It’s
messy.
Photo:
Christopher
Carfi

5. It’s
overwhelming.
Photo:
Christopher
Carfi

6. The
entire
industry
is
here.

7. It’s
a
PLATFORM.
Image:
Graphpaper.com

8. #2:
Gameification
is
everywhere.

9. SCVNGR
keynote
=
Worldwide
Trending
Topic
on
Twitter.
Image:
Computer-­‐troopers.com

10. Foursquare
=
Google
for
the
real
world.
Image:
Aboutfoursquare.com

11. We
are
wired
to
love
games.
Photo:
Totalonlinepresence.com

12. #3:
QR
Codes
are
everywhere.
Photo:
Christopher
Carfi

13. #4:
Trailer
food
rocks.
Photo:
The
Smart
Kitchen
Blog

14. #5:
Serendipity
happens.

15. #6:
Small
is
the
new
big.
Photo:
Christopher
Carfi

16. #7:
Logistics
matter.

17. #8:
There’s
no
way
to
do
everything.

18. #9:
Inspiration
can
come
from
unexpected
places.

19. #10:
Pitches
still
suck.

20. An
Ant’s
Eye
View
of
SXSW
2011
A
Top
10
List
Christopher
Carfi
(@ccarfi)
Senior
Strategist,
Ant’s
Eye
View
ccarfi@antseyeview.com