SXSW seems a long time ago, in reality it all started a week ago and then five jampacked days occurred. I’m currently writing this at 11AM Friday, after departing Austin at 9.30AM Yesterday, and arriving back in Birmingham at 5.55AM this morning.

As I have mentioned before, the schedule is busy, stupidly so, punishing so. As you can see from below, there always would be, and there were, scheduling clashes.

I managed to pre-filter some of these down to a ‘top five’ or even ‘top seven’, and in some cases I ignored my pre-selected items to go for something that caught my eye. In the majority of the sessions I took notes, but I’m not going to bore you all with the details of what went on. Instead, I’m noting down what sessions I attended (mainly for my own benefit), and will be linking to my notes where appropriate. [This is to come, once I've tidied them up -bookmark and checkback if interested]

As with any event with hundreds, or thousands, of other people in the room there will be a plethora of coverage on the net. I’ll try and link to the presenters notes, the twitter backchannel, and any other blog post coverage etc – so if my notes are a tad shoddy you (and I) can see what other people got out of the sessions.

Friday
Smackdown: Consumers Privacy vs. Advertiser Revenue (OK)
What Are Analytics? A Guide To Practical Data (Mediocre)
Cooking For Geeks: Science, Hacks & Good Food (Fun)

Saturday
We F*cked Up: Happy Cog and Friends, Exploring Failures, Together (Great)
Playing with Place: Location-Based Games and Services (Walkout)
Opening Remarks: Privacy and Publicity (Amazing)
BBC Digital Planet Live at SXSW (OK)
Booze Blogging: Liquid Conversation (Great)

Sunday
Why You Aren’t Done Yet (Amazing)
Ditch the Old to Build Your Dream Life (Walkout)
Fans, Friends & Followers: Creating Your Own Cult (of the Non-Apocalyptic Variety) (Great)
Search Patterns: Tangible Futures For Discovery (OK)

Monday
The Art & Science of Seductive Interactions (Amazing)
Social Search: A Little Help From My Friends
REPO MEN: Extending a Movie’s Narrative Online (Interesting)
The Next Generation of Social Media – Keynote with Evan Williams and Umair Haque (OK, part watched)
Beyond the Desktop: Embracing New Interaction Paradigms (Interesting)

Tuesday
Great British Breakfast (Decent)
Pervasive Games and Playful Experiences: Rendering the Real World (Interesting)
Swarming Plato’s Cave: Rethinking Digital Fantasies (OK)
The Future of Music Delivery – Keynote Interview with Daniel El and Eliot Van Buskirk (Interesting)
Interactive Infographics (Fascinating)
Closing Remarks by Bruce Sterling

As you can see it’s been pretty jampacked, there were a few times to relax and miss a session for a well rested recuperation lunch. There are only so many times that you can eat meals that solely contain of a snackbar, or free hotdog. In such times, silliness sometimes occurred such as Surprised Lego Kitty (there was a whole corner piled with Lego in the convention centre) and Audioboobs appeared. Or getting ready for the UK Olympic Shuffleboard drafting. Plus, sunshine breaks on the terrace are always a welcome change.

The list at the top is just the daytime sessions, the evenings were varied. From networking meals, Dorkbot, Nuclear Tacos, seeing Motorhead play, getting driven around the place looking for parties, or watching We Are Scientists at the closing party. Too much to go into here, buy me a drink and I’m sure I can regale some story!

You can take a look at some of pictures on my Flickr stream.