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Dispatches from SxSW, Part 4: Hello, Austin!

hello austin

Today’s the big day! On my itinerary:

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Dispatches from SxSW, Part 3: Shopify’s Saturday Afternoon Warm-Up Party at SxSW!

shopify party

Shopify is going to be at South by Southwest, and we’re throwing a little warm-up party on Saturday afternoon for our customers and friends! Join us at Stephen F’s Bar and Terrace at the Intercontinental Hotel (a.k.a. the Stephen F. Austin Hotel – 701 Congress Avenue, at 7th Street) this Saturday, March 10th between 3 and 6 p.m. for drinks and finger food on us!

The Shopifolks who’ll be in Austin are:

  • Cody Fauser (@codyfauser), Chief Technical Officer
  • Daniel Weinand (@danielweinand), Chief Design Officer
  • Edward Ocampo-Gooding (@edwardog), Developer Advocate
  • Harley Finkelstein (@hfizzle), Chief Platform Officer
  • Mark Hayes (@allsop8184), Marketing and PR Guy
  • Tobias Lutke (@tobi), Chief Executive Officer
  • …and Yours Truly, Joey deVilla (@accordionguy), Platform Evangelist

We purposely picked that time and place so it wasn’t too far from the Convention Centre and wouldn’t happen at the same time as all the big parties. Think of it as a way of warming up for the crazy Saturday night bashes. We’d love to see you there!

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

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Dispatches from SxSW, Part 2: A Whole Mess o’ Guides

Robert Scoble and Joey deVilla whoop it up at SxSW

If you’re not wasted, the night is! That’s Robert Scoble and me, partying it up in 2008.

There are a whole lot of guides, how-to and whats-going-on articles on the South by Southwest conference. As a public service, I’ve collected a few that I found helpful and have posted them here. Enjoy!

Survival Guides

Edelman Digital's "10 things to do at SxSW" infographic

Check out slide 13 of this slide presentation. You’ll see someone familiar!

Sessions and Happenings

Anthony Bourdain, leaning back at a table at Brasserie Les Halles with a coffee

Anthony Bourdain will be speaking on Tuesday. Expect the hall to be packed to the gills.

Food

Austin food carts

Austin is famous for its food carts – make sure you stop by a couple and try their stuff!
Creative Commons photo by Noah Jeppson. Click to see the original.

And Finally…

Remember to make some memories while you’re there!

One more thing: Kevin Cheng’s guide is so short, it fits in a tweet:

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Dispatches from SxSW, Part 1: Intro and Doing Austin Like a Local

Intro: My 3rd Trip to SxSW

Joey deVilla plays accordion at the "How to Rawk SxSW" panel as Rannie Turingan looks on

Hello, Austin! I made a splash at my first SxSW (2008) by playing accordion at the “How to Rawk SxSW” session.

Accordion Guy's Dispatches from SxSW InteractiveOnce again, I’m going to Austin, Texas to attend the South by Southwest conference, the annual get-together of techies and creatives in the music, film and interactive industries. I’ve gone twice before:

  • In 2008, as a newly-minted employee (project manager) of b5media. In fact, it may have been my best first day on the job ever, flying to Austin and meeting up with my new coworkers at the ranch that b5 had rented.
  • In 2011, as a ready-to-leave employee of Microsoft and a ready-to-start future employee of Shopify. I went to help out with the launch of Internet Explorer 9 and talk about Windows Phone. I also met up with the folks from Shopify, signed an employment contract with them and filed my resignation from the country music-themed bar at the Austin airport. I consider it to be my best “Sign me up / I quit” day ever.

This year, I return as Shopify’s Platform Evangelist and also as a speaker! I’ll be part of the BarCamp Tour Panel in the session 5 Brands Travel the US Inspiring Entrepreneurship. Along with my friends from Batchbook, Grashopper, MailChimp and Wufoo, I’ll be talking about our very active participation in and sponsorship of BarCamp events across the United States. My session will be on Sunday, March 11th at the hangover-friendly time slot of 3:30 – 4:30p.m. in the Omni Downtown Hotel’s Lone Star room.

I’ll be filing dispatches about SxSW from all over the place: on my way there, while in Austin, and even when I high-tail it out of there and head to Tampa to spend some time with the New Special Friend. Keep an eye on these blog entries – I’m sure they’ll be pretty interesting!

Doing SxSW Like a Local

Do It Like a Local is a new video of SxSW survival tips and recommendations created by locals – the founders of the creative agency Flow and Bobby Johns, the general manager of Hotel San Jose — who’ve done the conference and know the ins and outs of Austin. The suggestions within are worth the seven minutes and seven seconds to watch this video!