Just this past week, Bookmans sent me on a trip to the fine city of Austin, Texas for a conference known as South by Southwest. This wonderful event is almost more of a festival of nerddom than any sort of coherent conference. As far as I can tell, this is what gives SXSW its interesting feel, engaging community, and raucous parties.

What SXSW Is

South by Southwest is a convention where computers, the web, film, and music come together to form an interesting harmony. With an international draw, SXSW offers a more diverse crowd of people with similar interests than seems possible to begin with.

It is a place where you can get fired up about current technology. It’s a venue for you to discover new relationships. It is a platform for new technology and ways to view the world.

In short, what SXSW is difficult to explain succinctly.

Who Will You Find There?

The interactive and film sections happen simultaneously, which offers social media dudes, bloggers, programmers, designers, producers, photographers, and film nerds some real face time with one another.

When I say "international," I really mean that. In my time there, I met individuals from Norway, England, France, Germany, and all over the United States. The sheer mix of accents, languages, and slang was fascinating.

The Best Part

It is difficult to decide what the main draw of the interactive section of SXSW is, even after having been there. The panels, solo speakers, core conversations, and keynotes have wide draws and much to offer. The parties and interactions with other individuals grant those willing to participate an experience not quite like any other.

What really nailed the SXSW experience for me was the people. The convention proper was informative and filled with great ideas, but I’m not entirely sure that’s the point of the experience. The point of the festival is the atmosphere, and what makes the atmosphere is the people.

Without the people being so excited about what they are doing, passionate about their involvement in the community, SXSW would be nothing. Like so many speakers stressed in their presentations, community is what matters.

What I Brought Home

While it’s impossible to keep a SXSW schedule at all times, you can take some of the feel home. And that, unsurprisingly, has to do with the community around you.

We should all work towards building a community like SXSW in our own cities, whether it's Tucson, Phoenix, or anywhere else in the U.S. and beyond. It is the community that allows us to reach heights we would otherwise never dream of. We, as a team, are more than simply the sum of the parts.

SXSW provided me with an opportunity to really see what a community getting together looks and feels like. The convention is only a fraction of what it can accomplish.