by Amani Channel
#sxswi

The last few days have been a blur. From panel discussions, parties, keynote speeches, parties, mixers, parties, mingling, networking (did I mention parties), I can say I got a true digital/social media fix at South by Southwest. This picture sums it up.

I’ll start this post with a few thank yous. I have to thank the Open Video Alliance for sponsoring my trip. They took care of the conference registration, the hotel and airfare. Not a bad deal for creating a :60 second video.

I also have to thank Owle for sending me the Bubo to test out just in time for the conference. Everywhere I went, folks wanted to know what the heck I was holding. I was even asked to give a demo to for the Exsanguinator, Nat Higgenbottom.

Amani Channel at SXSW from Mr Nat Higginbottom on Vimeo.

I’ll share more about the Owle and what I think about it later. For now here is a summary of what I thought about Austin, and SxSW.

The weather was great (except for the last day), and so was the venue. There was waaay too much to do. Pacing was a must.

I used my iPhone to tweet and share video during the whole trip. Kyte.tv was my mobile video of community of choice

I also used Qik to live stream part of Mark Cuban’s discussion with Boxee’s Founder Avner Ronan.

I had a conversation with a Ustream rep, and will probably be testing out that platform to do some live video tutorial shows in the near future.

I met a lot of innovative people, and got a good deal of inspiration from my colleague and friend Adria Richards. She’s on top of her game, and if you have any questions about building a blog, or anything IT related tell her I sent you.

I was also impressed by a young social media star named Corvida who has a great blog.

My man James Andrews and his company did a great job hosting several mixers.

For my journalism friends, this is a must attend event. Forget the journalism conferences. You’re probably already behind the 8-ball, and if you’re looking for a job, I suggest you think of ways to make your own bread until we figure out how to make some scratch off of Internet content. Digital ventures are your best bet, but if you don’t get down with digital media, you may have a harder time competing.

All of you news GM’s to news directors, and field reporters are missing out, trust me. You’ll get much more out of something like this because in addition to the innovative journalism panels and pros like myself who are doing the new media thing, you’ll get a full immersion in everything digital from mobile apps to video games, and how technology is being used for social good. The future of journalism is being fueled by technology, and SxSW is where it is at.

Here are most of the videos I produced during SxSW with my iPhone. Who needs a sat truck, $30,000 camera, photographer, when you can do the same thing with what you have in your pocket?

My Kyte Videos:

How to be a mobile video producer
James Andrews Interview – Blacks in Tech @keyinfluencer
Super Producer Ryan Leslie Interview – @ryanleslie
Jim Gaines Interview – Former Time Editor @jamesrgaines
Dom Interview Twitter co-founder shows off Square @Dom
David Cohn Interview – Spot.us founder talks about new journalism models. @digidave
Knocking Live Video Interview – Phone to phone video app. @
Amanda Congdon Interview – Talks vlogging @amazingamanda
Clip – Gary Vaynerchuk Keynote: (*Advisory – strong language) @garyvee
BlogWorld Interview- www.blogworldexpo.com
SavetheChildren SxSW Fundraiser

Other links:

CNN’s SxSW Wrap
Tech Cocktail
Umair Haque
Martin Whitmore’s Wrap
Jeremy Porter’s Wrap
Eric Schwartzman’s Wrap

If you see any good posts out there, I’ll add them to the list.