Two of my favourite moments of SXSW this year both involved music.

The first was a night that started out and ended fairly innocently, but involved a great non-6th Street event. I was very excited to see some of my Australian friends again (Lachlan, Lisa, Lisa, Cam, and Anson—who would later be mistaken for James Craig—and his girlfriend Irena), and somehow they convinced me that we should go see The Mother Truckers at The Continental Club. Sure, some alt.country whatever band. Yeah, yeah. Just go hang out with my friends really.
Continue reading SXSW: The impact of music

Spring Break for Geeks is on again in beautiful Austin, Texas. Take some 3000+ web developer and designer types, put them all together in a conference center and watch in amazement.

I had a blast last year, and suspect this year will be just as much fun. Here’s a few things that I’ve picked up about SXSW and conferences in general that may be of use to you:

Continue reading Getting the Most from SXSW 2006

There’s a whole host of things I’ve wanted to talk about for a while, and I’ve not been able to put them each into a full post. Rather than try to write a full entry on each, here is the executive summary version of what’s been going on recently and what’s coming up:

Business and Blogging

In the final quarter of 2005, I discovered that I was getting a few clients (or at least prospective ones) via my blog. That was new to me for two reasons:
Continue reading January Round Up

A long time ago, in a location far far away, there was a presentation at SXSW that included myself, Ian Lloyd and James Craig moderated by Glenda Sims. Audio was recorded and we had all promised that it would be transcribed and posted.

Which brings us to now – 6 months later, and we are able to finally announce that the transcription of “Accessibility… can’t we all just get along” is now live.

Many many many thanks to Glenda and James for their work transcribing the audio, and to James for putting the well-structured, accessible, and well-designed transcript together. There are some details in his work that show great use of space, style and semantics. Making things accessible isn’t always easy, but hopefully those of you that weren’t there will enjoy the audio and the transcription, and those of you that were there can relive the memories like it was the “good ol’ days.”

Without hesitation, I will say that SXSW 2005 was a great experience from both personal and professional perspectives. I’ve been struggling for the last two weeks though – trying to determine exactly what is different now.

Near the end of last week I figured it out: I hear voices.
Continue reading I Hear Voices

Just a quick update for those of you that may have been wondering. I’m not back from SXSW yet. Most of you were shocked to learn that I had actually driven from Ottawa to Florida and then flew over to Austin for SXSW. You will not be shocked to learn that we’re driving back, nor will you likely be shocked when I say driving that far twice in two weeks sucks.

I can’t say enough about the people I met this week. I’ll have a few thoughts to post after I arrive at home – but for now, just know that I am somewhere between SeaWorld, Disney, and home.

A number of updates – first, yes, I am aware that I managed to go a whole month without posting anything here. One of my last posts mentioned that the first quarter of 2005 was going to be incredibly busy. It has certainly turned out that way, and I can’t complain.

Continue reading Headed South (by southwest)

As the year comes to an end, I’m pretty pleased with how the year went personally and business-wise. One area I’m not happy with (actually quite disappointed, really) is the professional development side of things: I haven’t been to a conference since 2001. When you run your own business, it is sometimes difficult to attend some of the face to face events that are vital to your own professional growth — quite often it takes a back seat to pretty much everything else.

Having said that, there were a number of conferences that I “attended” this year from the comfort of my own home office. Here’s a rundown of the events that I was able to experience remotely.

Continue reading Web Conferences 2004

33 yo, MWMW3K, travelling solo to Austin, Texas in March, 2005 to present at SXSWi. Looking for like-minded individuals with commitment to web standards and accessibility for sharing stories, ideas, and drinks and/or un-like minded individuals open to conversion. Especially looking for the right person open to sharing accomodation for purely financial reasons.

Interested? Let me know, or tell me here and we’ll get in touch.