Lessons Learned at SxSWi: Day 1

I've just wrapped up my first day at SxSWi. I'm a first timer here and am quickly realizing some important things, which, of course, I will share.

1. Leverage the Line. I am quickly realizing that there are lots of lines here at SxSWi. So far I have stood for about an hour in a line to get my badge, then about 10 minutes to get my bag 'o shwag, and another 20 minutes hanging out waiting to be let in to "Six" for an after party (or perhaps it was a pre-party for the after parties...not sure). I've met a web developer father/son team, a social change game developer, a web developer from Zurich, an interactive marketing exec from Expedia.com, and several blogger/entrepreneurs. Standing in line focused in on the device will NOT help you make connections. So leverage that line and get acquainted.
2. First day sessions are ok, Conversations are better. The most fun I've had so far today has been at the Tech Blogger Lounge where I connected with several interesting people. It was too hot in there, and very overwhelming, but I'll be back there for sure. Frankly I went to one session on how to figure out SxSW, and found it useless. Got more out of this blog post from Rohit Bhagarva (who I am trying to meet in person while I'm here).
3. Pace yourself and do some recon: There is a lot of ground to cover. The convention center is HUGE (I'm thinking VT would fit in there easy) and there's tons of stuff going on all over. Once I got my badge and my bag o'goodies I got the lay of the land. Now I sort of know where things are, so when it kicks off tomorrow I'll be ready.
4. Set goals. I've set clear goals which are helping me stay focused. and have already achieved one of them: See and touch and play with a Microsoft Surface (it's so freaken cool I cannot even TELL you how cool it is...I will say...time to start thinking about no keyboards!)
5. Don't bring your laptop. Yep...I said it. There are stations all over that allow you to connect if you need to, and if you have a good mobile option (like a crackberry, for instance) you'll be able to follow things you need to know via Twitter. No need to kill your back and hunt down plugs (saw lots of those today -- individuals sitting on the floor clustering around electricity like it was crack or something).
6. Be flexible. I went to only one session and walked out when it became apparent it wasn't what I expected. It was funny, but not functional for my time, so I bailed. Found other things to do.

So no big insights so far, although I got a load of great info about how a site like Expedia deals with SEM -- but I'll save that for the classroom.

Follow my twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ejyoung67 if you want real time updates of my experiences or just check in here each evening as I'll do a "lessons learned" post once a day.