Blog

Day 3 began with the same cold, rainy weather as the day before as well as one of the best panels I've seen at the this year's conference: Being a UX Team of One with speaker Leah Buley. Leah gave practical, take-home advice about how to manage a design project better. She talked about ideas from wire framing to team collaboration. I picked up valuable tips that I'll be taking back to the studio.

At 11:30 I walked across the street to the Hilton where I sat in on a round-table discussion called How to Create Company Culture. The discussion was moderated by BazaarVoice CMO Sam Decker and Jason Black, CEO of Boundless Networks. The discussion was lively, with lots of input from the crowd. However, I didn't pick up anything new except for a renewed motivation to put company culture first at TradeMark.

Lunch time saw a small group of us head over to Mongolian BBQ. Included in the group were two people I didn't know 5 minutes before we left for our destination.One of the great things about SXSW is the countless opportunities to connect with new people.

After lunch I popped in on an open panel hosted by the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA). Included in the room were other agencies, big and small, with all the same issues that we are facing. The discussion was outstanding and I picked up tips on how to write a contract better and draft a better scope of work as well as what insurance is appropriate for a company of our size. The panel lasted 3 hours and it was worth every minute I was in there.

Now that my brain was chock-full of information, it was time to defrag at the Registrant's Lounge where a few of us from the TMM team met up (along with some other new friends). We hung there for about an hour or so, then it was over to the Hilton for the Web Awards. The Web Awards showcased Web sites from multiple categories and was MC'd with hilarious commentary by Baratunde Thurston.

Day 3 turned out to be the best panel day so far and, even though my brain is still defragmenting, I'm looking forward to a rewarding day 4.