This was my first year at SXSW and I’m happy to report that it lived up to all the hype. Great sessions, interesting keynote, and an overload of socializing with internet friends made it well worth the struggle to get to Austin. If I had to report on my highlights there’d be quite a few…

1. The Canadian Freshbooks (and MSFT) Pancake Breakfast. What better way to start the conference than sharing pancakes and Tim Horton’s coffee with your fellow Canadian nerd-brethren. Big thanks to the Freshbooks crew and all the awesome folks who showed up and munched away early in the morning.

2. Sarah Lacy and Zuckerberg Keynote. Walking into the keynote I had no idea it would go this south and cause as big a stir as it did. Yeah it was a boring interview, yeah there was a lot of grumbling in the crowd, yes Sarah Lacy came off pretty unfavorably, yes Zuckerberg needed a “re-do” on the Q&A the next day, and yes I would have been super disappointed if I had missed it.

3. Post Secret Keynote. Holy crap this was amazing. I’ve know about Post Secret for a while now. I was inspired the first time I saw the project and heard the story, but it totally blew me away being part of that keynote. Having grown up with a number of challenges along the path I can totally appreciate the therapeutic value of the Post Secret site and it’s ability to reach out and be so human. I walked away with major respect for and admiration for Frank Warren.

4. The Etsy/Threadless/Moo Party and the roaming gang of nerds. I was a little disappoint I showed up late for the bash, but was super stoked when I ran into a TON of Canadian nerds. The night degraded into a pack of dorky geeks on a mission for tacos and ended at the PureVolume Ranch, but man was it a funny night.

5. 16bit Party. Yeah the line was long and the sound totally sucked but yet another mega socializing shindig with everyone coming out of the wood work. Where else could you hob nob and chat it up with the rock stars of the industry while lined up for an hour trying to get into a glorified scrap yard? Joyent, Pownce, Laughing Squid and the other sponsors know how to throw a good party.

6. Design Eye for South By. This year’s challenge focused on making over the SXSW registration site. Anyone who has used the SXSW registration tools know they are useful but far from perfect. With a mission to demonstrate ways to pull the old tool into the modern and highly social world really impressed me. It was definitely a quick proof of concept that revealed a lot of potential. Unlike previous years (Alert Box, Craigslist, etc.) maybe some of this years suggestions will make their way into the SXSW 2009 site…

7. 10 Things I Learned from at 37Signals with Jason Fried. Jason totally has an ego and a huge amount of confidence, but this is why I enjoy listening to him speak. A lot of what he had to say about focusing on simplicity and tackling big problems in little pieces totally rang true to me. I’m in Basecamp and other 37Signals tools on a regular basis and couldn’t accomplish what we do without it. The guy has been super successful and has actually been able to charge people for his web based services. You’ve got to give the man (and the team @ 37Signals) respect.

And a couple things that didn’t quite work out. (but luckily didn’t ruin the trip)..

1. Taking 19 hours to travel from Toronto to Austin is not cool. I now FULLY understand and appreciate the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Luckily Air Canada is starting to fly direct to Austin so next year I know how I’m getting there.

2. When your traveling buddy and partner in crime gets food poisoning on the second day in Austin that is not a great way to start SXSW. Luckily the illness only lasted a day or so, but nothing sucks more than being sick in a hotel room when everyone else is having fun and you just want to roll over and die.

Overall a great trip and was worth every minute. I’m already planning for next years trip to nerd camp and will hopefully figure out a way to bring a few more dirt bags along for the trip…