I lived in Austin, Texas from 1999-2003 and have attended SxSW Interactive every year since 2004. Each year, I attended SxSW each year with a different role:

• 2004: Tom Chi and I were nominated for the Web Awards for our design webcomic, OK/Cancel (we won but that was just gravy)
• 2005: Also on behalf of OK/Cancel, we attended as press
• 2006: I organized and spoke on a panel about learning to monetize blogs from webcomics and moderated a panel on the future of mapping
• 2007: I moderated a panel on mobile design
• 2008: Coley and I facilitated a Core Conversation about the implications of social media tools in relationships and dubbed it Breakups 2.0
• 2009: I have the privilege of helping out behind the scenes as a Panel Liaison.

This post isn’t about the best food in Austin (Rudy’s BBQ and Amy’s Ice Cream) or the best parties to attend. There are plenty of resources out there about those. Instead, you might consider this a beginner’s guide for how to get the most out of SxSW.

They’re Not Cliques

You’re at the conference, excited to meet all the people you’ve been reading online. You see them, gathered outside Room 18ABC in a circle chatting with each other and greeting their internet famous peers passing by.

Without fail, every person first timer at SxSWi has the same feedback: they have the sense that there’s an “in” crowd or that there are the “cool” kids and then there’s everyone else outside of that circle. I had the same impressions on my first trip.

What people don’t realize until they go a second or third time is that SxSWi is not just a conference — it’s a reunion. It’s the one time a year that I see some of my peers that live in cities or countries I don’t frequent. So there’s a lot of catching up with old friends that happens. Personally, I love meeting new and interesting people.

The lesson is to know that, for the most part, everyone is welcoming but you have to make the effort and break the ice. Recognize that few are being deliberately exclusionary.

Provide Context

On one of my earlier SxSW outings, I lamented about the “double handshake” where people shake your hand a second time when they recognize your work or who you are. The fact is, there are hundreds upon hundreds of people. I hate asking the question, “what do you do?” especially since it often is construed as “where do you work?” Instead, I try to understand who they are and what they care about. A friend of mine goes so far as to ask, “what are you passionate about?”

Conversations are a lot more memorable when you provide context of who you are and what projects you work on. Maybe it’s a blog about potato chips shaped like famous people. Maybe you’re a gal that draws on index cards. Maybe you are giving stickers to tag people. Whatever the case, giving some additional context goes a long way.

The first year I went, we had trading cards of famous HCI and usability practitioners dressed as superheroes. It was a fantastic icebreaker and helped people remember us or recognize that we were associated with a site they read.

Also, context doesn’t end with the introductions. We all collect dozens of business cards at conferences. Try to provide context there, too. I’ve found I remember the cards with photos more and some people leave room on their cards specifically to write in the context of your meeting.

It’s the Geek Spring Break. Be a Geek.

Use whatever the tools du jour are. Two years ago, it was Dodgeball. Last year, it was Twitter. This year, it will likely be a combination of Twitter, Brightkite and the newly launched Dodgeball replacement, foursquare. Get an unlimited SMS plan (even if it’s just for the month) and stay on the pulse.

I like to use the tech to be aware of what’s going on so I can bypass stupid lines, boring panels, or join a much smaller gathering where I’m guaranteed higher quality conversations.

Just remember what you’re using the tools for. They serve you, not the other way around. Being physically present at an awesome party means nothing if you’re mentally in your phone.

Fight the FOMO

This lesson was probably the hardest to learn. You can’t go to every panel and you can’t go to every party. Get over it now.

No, really. You can’t. Get over it.

Be willing to skip some panels if you’re having fascinating conversations in the hallway because you may not run into that person for the rest of the time there. Be willing to skip the big party that everyone’s talking to if there’s a great dinner group forming and you can talk one on one with some attendees without fighting the alcohol blur and the loud music. Be willing to skip everything to go to the Austin City Limits soundstage for a free show of a great band, or to go to Spider House Coffee and Toy Joy — just to enjoy Austin for what it is.

But just so you know what and how much there is to do:

• Tantek’s SxSW packing list
• Free SxSW Parties
• SxSW Baby Unofficial Blog
• Laughing Squid’s SxSW Resources
• SCHED.org scheduling tool
• Glenda’s introductory panel tomorrow on How to RAWK SxSW

I will be arriving Saturday, Mar 14 and staying through Music until Sun Mar 22. Find me on Twitter as @k if you want to meet up. While I have a published SxSW schedule, I fully expect to deviate completely from the plans. You should expect the same.

Kathryn visits Austin for the first time and we join in on the annual South Padre Island adventures. [Photos]

Instead, I will regale you with my adventures in travelling from London to Austin. The short version is that it was a nightmare that required all of my roadwarrior guile to get me back to Austin at the scheduled time. The long version, with times in London (GMT) time. CST is 6 hours behind that for you time zone challenged:

• [07:20am] Arrive in Heathrow for my 8:30 flight. It’s an absolute zoo because of a snow storm the day before that caused a lot of cancelled flights. All the checking lines are packed and I see no sign of a business class or priority check in line. My instincts tell me there must be SOME way to bypass these lines or I’ll never make my flight. Finally, I come upon 2 self service check-in stations with 2 people in line (considering the 40 or so pakced checkin counters, I find it amusing that the self service line is so short).
• [07:45am] I get in with my BA consultant stanby ticket. I’m praying I’ll get a seat but I’m not putting any money on it.
• [08:00am] The gate is announced. The flight’s obviously going to be late.
• [09:10am] I get my boarding pass. Phew. The worst is over, I think. I ask where the Club World boarding line is. Apparently, there is none. “Not today,” the agent says cheekily, “you’ll just have to join the frock.” Ok, who’s dumb ass idea was it to board EVERYONE for a 777 at once?!?! No “now boarding rows xx-yy” and no “now boarding One World Sapphire members” just “now boarding”. Hello?! Needless to say, the line was LONG.
• [09:30am] The agent who’s checking my boarding pass and passport pauses, runs the fancy blacklight over it (I always get the light used on me), then asks me for additional canadian identification. I’m puzzled, and hand her my Texas license, “this is all I have. I live there.” She looks at it, then talks to some other guy. He asks me if I have a visa. I take out my H1B petition and hand it to her and she repeats the process of showing the other guy. By now, I’m getting pretty annoyed that they’re making me hold up the line. A Canadian passport alone should be sufficient documentation, visa or not. I could just be a visitor and the INS would let me in without any more ID. The BA guy asks me if I have anything else. “No,” I reply testily, “if you look, it says the passport replaces a stolen one, where the visa is.” So he asks me to step aside. By now, I’m pissed, “Look, there’s an H1B right here, I’ve travelled to London and HK with this documentation and been allowd into the states. If it’s good enough for the US Immigration, it should be good enough for you.” He tells me he’s been trained by the INS AND Canadian immigration and shows me a pin on his jacket like I’m supposed to care then tells me that a visa needs to be in the passport. Finally, he lets me in based on the fact that I have two previous stamps from INS for Jan 15, 2004. In other words, he finally gets what I’m saying. Apparently, they check all this to avoid getting fined $2000 by INS for letting passengers w/o proper documentation through.
• [09:45am] Fuming, but sitting comfortably in my Club World seat, we take off. Again, I make the mistake of thinking the worst is over.
• [05:00pm] We’re arriving in Washington DC soon. The flight itinerary is to continue to Houston (IAH) where I will take a different flight to Austin. The captain announces that the ontinuing service is CANCELLED because of the late departure from Heathrow. Not to worry, he says, we’re all booked on a Continental flight. Great.
• [06:00pm] I’m talking to immigration. They tell me my passport needs a visa and I have to go through secondary screening (a side room I’m all too familiar with). I told him that the last time I was sent there, they told me I didn’t need to be there. He just told me I would have to be told that again. Sure enough I get there and shortly after, they tell me the guy was new and as a Canadian, the documentation I had was sufficient. LAST time I came through from London I ALSO got a new guy. I’m so fed up with INS at this point.
• [06:45pm] BA gives me a Continental ticket that gets me into Houston at 7:40pm CST (1:40am GMT). I have a Houston->Austin flight booked for 9:00pm from Hobby, the other Houston airport (that’s another story). Originally, this wouldn’t be a problem because I could take an hour shuttle and get to the other airport with time to spare but now I’m stuck o na much later flight, spending the hours in DC instead. I ask the agent if there’s a) an earlier flight or b) a way to fly me directly to Hobby or c) a way to fly me directly to Austin. She flatly rejects any of these options without checking anything and hands me a form letter regretting the inconvenience. WTF?! An airline that charges a premium for its superior customer service (which ’til now, I had agreed with) is handing out the same ticket to all of its stranded passengers without ANY regard to their needs? Last I checked, EVERY other airline handles their customers case by case and tried to find the solution best fitted for the individual. Now instead of a continuing flight on a 777 flat bed seat, they’re putting me in the middle seat in economy of a Continental flight that gets me to houston 3 hours later. Words defy me.
• [09:00pm] I’m planning the best way to get myself to Hobby airport with an hour and 20mins between the flights. I decide to use the new aa.com on-line checkin so I can go straight to security. The problem is, I needed a printer to print the boarding pass.
• [09:25pm] I get my boarding pass on my monitor and disconnect my modem. Then I figure out the fax number in the BA lounge and fax the boarding pass to it.
• [09:27pm] The pass comes out but the bar code images (essential) are missing. I realize they didn’t cache for some reason when I disconnected. I reconnect to save the images locally. As I’m saving them, the calling card I’m using runs out and I only get half the images I need. I’m about ready to kill something now.
• [09:29pm] I take a sreen capture of my boarding pass, paste it into photoshop and fax THAT out. It works.
• [10:15pm] I’m taking off in a very uncomfortable seat for a 2.5 hr flight with no reading material and no plug for my laptop.
• [01:40am] I arrive in IAH and head to the shuttle. They don’t leave for another 20mins and won’t get to Hobby until 03:00am (my flight time). I take a USD$68 taxi ride.
• [02:45am] The boarding pass I printed works and I get on the plane.
• [03:45am GMT/09:45pm CST] I get to Austin.

  Depending how you count it, I touched 5 airports (LHR, IAD, IAH, HOU, AUS) just to get from point A to point B in a span of 16hrs. Ouch.