Editor’s note: This is the fifth article in a series documenting Carl Shultz’s first time attending SXSW. Click here to see the whole series.
As quickly as it began, SXSW Interactive 2014 ended.
Getting out of bed the fifth and final day of SXSW interactive was difficult. It may not sound like it, but attending sessions and walking from session to session took much more out of me than expected. In addition, during the last day, there weren’t many sessions I was that interested in attending.
I left the festival feeling inspired- like I could carry what I had learned over the past few days and take anything that comes my way.
Overall, I was in awe of how the interactive portion of the festival brought together some great minds from across the globe from all different backgrounds. I met journalists from London, web designers from Germany, gorilla marketers from Toronto, and many more. Few conferences that I have attended have the energy or inspirational quality as SXSW. I’m honored to have had the chance to attend this year.
In my six short months living here, I’ve seen that Austin is an very special city, embracing art from both music and film, self-expression, and tech nerdy-ness. SXSW reflects that culture and attitude to a T.
Five days is the perfect length of time. I found my excitement for something this big can last only about 3 days. Of course, I was driven by the exhilarating feeling of simply being a part of such a big gathering of great minds.
While I did feel ready to take on the world…that journey could wait until the next day. All I was ready to tackle was my bed for a very long nap; dreaming of the worlds of big data, technology, and a world where people from all walks of life can connect on similar interests.
