After a lot of deliberation, I’ve finally come to realize that I’m not going to SXSWi 2011. You see this title and probably think this post is some diatribe about how it’s gotten too big, or how Social Media “gurus” have taken over, or how last year’s keynote was boring, but it’s not for any of these reasons.

Why am I not going? Well, I have a muscular disease that I’ve kept really quiet for the last 5 months, but it has damaged my muscles to the point where I’m usually walking with a cane right now. Without going into all the details, I have hope that this damage is reversible (although not curable), and with the right treatment I’ll hopefully be back to close to “normal” activities by late Spring or early Summer.

Looking back on last year’s SXSW (which was a great time meeting a lot of people and learning a lot), I realized I walked. A LOT. And no matter how much I want to, I wouldn’t be able to do it this year.

I know I could still go to SXSW and not walk as much, but I’m worried that I would be end up being disappointed with my experience, and likely in a lot of pain even after limiting my activities.

So I’m not going to SXSW this year… I will miss catching up with the DCTH crew, Scott Bishop and his crazy pirate friends, friends from St. Louis, Roberto and others. I will also miss trying to find a worse session that this one and then blogging about it.

No worries on my end though because I know this is the right decision. I am sure I am going to Big Omaha and probably An Event Apart – Atlanta (I figure there will be a lot less walking for these events). Hopefully I run into friends at these, see some great speakers and learn a lot at the sessions.

6 Comments so far

1. Melissa says:

   February 3, 2011 at 6:08 pm

   Sending you lots of warm thoughts Brian.

   Reply
   • Brian Schwartz says:

     February 8, 2011 at 5:04 pm

     Thanks Melissa. I appreciate the warm thoughts!

     Reply
2. Scott Bishop says:

   February 4, 2011 at 9:50 pm

   Wow Brian…I wish your reasons were for different circumstances.

   I’ll be here waiting for you at Big Omaha and although we might not have Pirates, we’ll find another way to spontaneously match that story.
   Even if this thing has your muscles a little slower, your brain is still faster than all of ours. Let us know if there is ANY thing you need or how we can help.

   Reply
   • Brian Schwartz says:

     February 8, 2011 at 5:05 pm

     Thanks Scott. I’m pumped for Big Omaha and ready to see the town. I’m getting better so hopefully the cane and pain are temporary things

     Reply
3. Ed Mayuga says:

   February 9, 2011 at 9:20 pm

   Wow, Ann Marie and I just read your blog and we didn’t realize this fact. Hope you will be back to playing softball soon. I read a lot of great tweets, blog posts, and commentary about SXSW 2010 to the point that I almost felt like I was there. I’m thinking that this years coverage will be even better so we can live vicariously through them!

   Reply
4. Still not going to SXSW | Creative Reason says:

   March 5, 2012 at 10:19 pm

   [...] update this post I made last year, I am still not going back to SXSW… Again, not because it’s too big, [...]

   Reply

6 Responses to “I’m Not Going to SXSW”