Early morning rise in Austin, Texas preparing for another great year at SXSW. I am always so fascinated by the sheer volume of eccentric, smart, and daring nature of the people who come each year. Despite it”s size and mainstream-bound attention, the conference still has a soul of it”s own that speaks to the many thousands that come and listen to what it has to say.
Indianapolis alone has an enormous group that publishes its own website for everyone attending in that particular year at http://in.bysxsw.com as well as throwing its own dinner event for the Indy faithful.
As I sit outside and enjoy a warm Texas morning, thinking about what I want out of the next few days, I begin to get excited about what the soul of the conference is, and instantly images of the many people that interact serendipitously come to mind.
Outside of the outrageous number of sessions, fanfare, parties, and food are the individuals who are all here for different reasons. Some are here to find jobs, while some are hoping to join the next great startup. Still others are here to glean information from the best of the best and bring those insights back to their respective companies. For me, mostly its the gentle deep sense of inspiration I get when I am in the company of like-minded, people-centric leaders. These leaders demonstrate world class treatment of their teams, and have such a solid understanding of the ”why” in their endeavors that I can”t help get sucked up into it each year.
Collaborating on big thoughts drives me to want big impactful action in the world.
Here”s looking forward to uncovering what SXSW 2013 has to share, and to do some sharing of my own, with all the wonderful people that interact in this special time and place…
