Yesterday I returned from Austin, Texas where I spent five days attending and exploring the activities surrounding the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival. The conference drew over 10,000 web, technology, and creative types for a variety of formal sessions as well as parties and other social gatherings. It was interesting being a photographer at a conference not specifically focused on photography; I made some interesting observations on conference behavior and the ways to make the most of such an experience.

At a large conference with multiple sessions, tracks, and panels, odds are that you’ll be really interested in some of them, and only casually intrigued by others. Don’t go to sessions that don’t excite you; use that time to connect with people.

Hang out in the hallways. If there’s a social lounge, grab a seat. Chat with a neighbor. The most important things I got out of SXSW were the personal connections made while not in one of the conference sessions. I was able to enjoy a dinner with Leah Jones, who I’ve “known” via Twitter for three years but never met in person. I was able to chat briefly with Darren Rowse from Digital Photography School. I spent a while chatting with Trey Ratcliff as we walked in downtown Austin. I found the one empty chair in the crowded blogger’s lounge yesterday at lunchtime and discovered that I was sitting next to none other than Gary Vaynerchuk (if you haven’t read Crush It!, order it now). Monday afternoon, I had coffee with Jack Hollingsworth to share thoughts on social media for photographers and talk about some plans that we may or may not hatch in the future

Apologies for that last paragraph sounding like a bit of namedropping or fanboy-ism, but I wanted to note that these are the types of connections that can be made, and many of those incidental connections wouldn’t have happened if I spent all day inside of convention center conference rooms.

How do you find value in conferences? Are the panels and classes most important, or is it the personal connections?

Photo by jdn, used under Creative Commons licensing

The Value in Conferences is Not the Conference is a post from Social Photo Talk. Subscribe to the free Social Photo Talk e-newsletter

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Episode 8 of the Social Photo Podcast is ready for your listening enjoyment. Hosts Aaron Hockley and Lyza Danger Gardner talk about the 12 Days of Tips-Mas, prognostications about 2010, a fun photo website, and more. This episode is about twelve minutes long.

Links to Things We Talk About

• The second half of the Twelve Days of Tips-Mas: Include your URL on Forum Signatures, Don’t Try to Read Every Tweet, Do Try to Read Every @reply and Direct Message, Be Consistent with Blog Post Timing, Give Something Away, and Check in With Forgotten Connections.
• Predictions for Photography and Social Media in 2010.
• Virtual Real Estate BarCamp
• Running from Camera
• Joby GM2 Gorillamobile Flexible Tripod (for an iPhone)
• Google’s Nexus One (mostly a teaser for discussion next week)

Distribution and Feed

We’re now on iTunes – if you use iTunes, you can subscribe using this link: Subscribe on iTunes

You can also find the podcast as an attachment to the main Social Photo Talk RSS Feed. You should see a player at the bottom of this post if you want to listen directly, or you can grab the Episode 8 mp3 file directly.

Feedback

We’d love to have your feedback – technical, content, or otherwise. Leave a comment here or send mail to podcast@socialphototalk.com – thanks!

Photo by doug88888, used under Creative Commons licensing

Social Photo Podcast #8: More Tips, Prognostications, Websites, and a Gadget is a post from Social Photo Talk. Subscribe to the free Social Photo Talk e-newsletter

From December 25th through January 5th, I’m running a series called the Twelve Days of Tips-Mas, offering quick and easy tips for social media use by photographers.

On the eleventh day of Tips-Mas, this blogger said to thee: give something away. As a photographer, give something away every now and then to those who are connected with you via your blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Perhaps it’s a contest and someone will win a free photoshoot. Maybe you want to extend a discount coupon to all of your Facebook fans. People love free things, and you’ll end up getting some word of mouth publicity by giving away something that’s valuable to your fans.

Photo by tiffanywashko, used under Creative Commons licensing

On the Eleventh Day of Tips-Mas… is a post from Social Photo Talk. Subscribe to the free Social Photo Talk e-newsletter