Yesterday was the official launch of SXSW 2017. This is my 8th South by in about 10 years and I still enjoy all the excitement and energy that it brings.
For as many years as I’ve attend, I can feel a difference this year. The conference is mirroring what we are currently facing in our government and social issues we are tackling.
That is not to say, there isn’t a lot of fun happening! Here is how I spent my first day at SXSW.
Adobe Waffles and Wireframing
There is no better way to kick off the conference than by loading up some delicious breakfast. I headed over to the Marriott Courtyard at around 9:30am and was my punctuality paid off as I was rewarded with only having about 30 people in front of me.
The Adobe Xd team was getting ready for the event and had a table full of awesome Xd socks. Of course, my first thought was, “How do I get a pair?” but as they let us in and scanned our badge, each and every person received a pair of socks.
Once into the event, they had an awesome waffle and breakfast bar for us to get a plate and load up on the most important meal of the day.
The Adobe Xd team gave a quick demo on using Xd for wireframing and design and I must admit I was pretty impressed with what it could do. The irony of it all was as I sat eating my waffles, holding on to my Xd socks, on my feet I was wearing Sketch socks.
Shhhhhh… don’t tell Adobe I was wearing Sketch socks to their Xd event.
Product Mavericks: Top Tips from Women Who Build
After getting my breakfast fill-in, I headed down to what I have to say was one of the best, if not the best, panel discussions I have seen in all my years of SXSW.
The topic is very relevant for where I am at in my career but also very relevant to the big discussion that is happening around diversity/women in tech.
The all-women led panel was made up of straight-up badass women.
For me, Merci Grace was a standout, she is currently the Director, Product/Growth at Slack. Merci was just so honest and straight-forward about some of the challenges women face in tech. It was also great to hear about that a company I admire so much, Slack, is also so diverse and inclusive.
Merci discussed how her biggest ally was Stuart Butterfield and how the diversity of the growth team is one of the factors in it being successful .
Convergence Keynote: Cory Richards
For about an hour, I listened to one of the most heartbreaking and inspirational stories I have ever heard. Seriously, someone needs to make a movie about this man, and I am not talking just a Lifetime movie, but a full-blown movie.
I had not heard of Cory Richards before attending this keynote but his story about overcoming addiction, which for him started at the age of 13, was heartbreaking. I kept thinking about how I would cope as a parent if my daughter, who is currently 6, would become addicted to drugs at such an early age.
He was invited to speak at SXSW because last year he Snapped his entire climb up Mt. Everest but he only talked about this for about the last 10 minutes of his keynote. The entire 50 minutes prior to that were all the ups and downs of his life that had lead him up to that point.
If SXSW, uploads a video of the keynote, I will add it here but for now, check out his National Geographic Biography page.
Activism, Allyship and Where We Go from Here
Aminatou Sow, David Karp, Cecile Richards
This was the last panel discussion I attended for the day and it couldn’t have been more timely.
Over the past couple of days, the Republicans have been pushing through new healthcare legislation that will cause many people to lose their healthcare coverage.
The relationship between Tumblr and Parenthood is a great example of what can happen with Tech stands with social issues. David Karp has even taken it a step further and has joined the board of Planned Parenthood helping them with tech innovation and how to lower the barrier for young people needing to make appointments.
Overall the day was an amazing first day and definitely the best first day I have attended over the past 10 years. I am looking forward to the remaining days and recapping here on Medium or feel free to follow me on Twitter @hijennstarr.