Day 5 and one of the biggest highlights of the day...THE SUN CAME OUT! Yay...no more 40-degree freezing walks to and from the convention center. Really though, many other highlights to note...
 
Session 1: Finance 2.0: Money Management to Save this Generation
Rather than discussing the generational angle of money management, this panel (Nichelle Stephens - Keeping Nickels, Michael Ferrari - SmartyPig, Aaron Patzer - Mint.com, Murali Subbarao - Billeo Inc, Stessa Cohen - Gartner Inc.) primarily focused on pointing out how online personal money management apps like mint.com, smartypig.com, and billeo.com are different from traditional banking institutions. The criticism of banking institutions by some was pretty harsh, but certainly rooted in truth.
 
Session 2: Enough to be Dangerous: Working with "Expert" Clients
(*Disclaimer: If you are a client of mine and are reading this, please don't take offense that I attended this session. This by no means is a reflection on you as a client.) The title of this session should have probably been renamed to "Account Management and Project Management 101: The Things You Should Already Know if You're in the Web Design/Development Business." I'm guessing that this session was more appropriate for those SXSW-ers that freelanced or were just starting out in the space. The information shared in this session, albeit full of good information, should be fundamentally ingrained into any agency's DNA.
 
With some time between sessions and a Hawaii tweetup that was scheduled for the lunch break, I headed over to the trade show and ran into @mollydotcom who is now employed full time with Opera (the browser). Molly is one of those awesome people who are so warm and so full of Aloha that you sometimes forget she's not a kama'aina, but it doesn't really matter.
 
Then it was off to join the rest of the Hawaii SXSW-ers for a tweetup at The Hideout Coffeehouse. Finally got a chance to meet up with @NEENZ, @noe808, @kariume, @jphilipson and a number of other Hawaii tweeps, ex-pat tweeps, and tweeps with a Hawaii connection. A few of us including @hawaii, @bytemarks, and @engrishdotcom went back to the trade show to say "howzit" to @anuheajams and of course, pick up more fun swag (can you have enough?). :-)
 
Session 3: Wireframes for the Wicked
The room was absolutely PACKED and as with every afternoon, the trick is to find a seat next to an outlet to recharge gadgets from laptops to smartphones. It's certainly one way to network with other SXSW-ers..."Hi there. Do you mind if I plug in next to you?" LOL! Cables like spaghetti were prevalent in this session as they were in so many others. As the panelists got into their presentation, it quickly became apparent that this was a wireframing 101 session. There were a few good suggestions here and there for suggested tools and methods, but for the most part, questions I had will need to be addressed later, one-on-one with the panelists via Twitter.
 
Session 4: Bruce Sterling
This keynote with Bruce Sterling, a visionary from Wired.com, gave his spin on the sate-of-the-cybersphere. He might be visionary, he might be witty in a satirical way, but WTH?!!? Throughout his talk, I felt that I was somehow missing the inside joke. I will probably need to re-listen to it. Perhaps it'll make more sense the second time around. Then again, his references may still be just as obscure as it was listening to it for the first time. Oh, in any case...
 
Met up with the Worldwide Partner folks for dinner at The Moonshine restaurant and when in Texas, you gotta have some MEAT. Took the server's recommendation and enjoyed a great meal with great conversation on topics ranging on everything from weather horror stories (I wasn't getting any sympathy for living in Hawaii), to team structuring, to LOST, to pre-roll media buys, to bad wi-fi (and thin walls) at the Omni Hotel, to comparing notes on who should drive client strategy, to who could rwak SXSW parties, to...well, you get the picture.
 
My SXSW experience is winding down and I'm sad. :( Have one more day to be a sponge (and score more swag), but tomorrow should close on a high note with listening to Guy Kawasaki's talk. I've heard the buzz around it over the past few days, so I'll need to get their early for good seats.
 
One more day...