Tips for How to Rawk SXSW — directly from the panelists

The fun, tipsy tone of the “How to Rawk SXSW” panel was set when moderator Min Jung Kim asked how many of us were “SXSW virgins” and how many people where veterans “who are here just to hear what fucked up shit we’ll say.”

Then panelist Jeremy Keith asked if anyone had a bottle opener to crack open his Shiner Bock and fellow panelist Cheezburger Network CEO grabbed his beer and did some sort of trick to open it. Meanwhile, someone shouted from the audience that the bottle was a twist off and Ben whipped a stuffed cat (of Icanhascheezburger fame) at the guy who shouted it. Welcome to SXSW — spring break for geeks.

Then the panelists passed a bottle of Bourbon (I think Denise passed her shots onto Ben though), so be prepared for the uncensored!

Here are some of the tips from panelists Min Jung Kim of minjungkim.com , Jeremy Keith of adactio.com, Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh and Denise Jacobs of DeniseJacobs.com:

* Don’t just stand next to each other in the bar and RT who you’re standing next to or “you’ll just look like a fucktard.” — Kim.

*Don’t be a dick and upload your 900 pics to Flickr from the night before of people you made out with. — Kim

* If you have mobile wi-fi, don’t hot it. Share your walking hotspot “there is not enough bandwisdth in all of the universe to handle what’s going on right now.” — Huh

* Don’t be a lurker. “Everyone here is famous to exactly 15 people, so just say hi.” — Kim

* You are NOT Edmund Hillary. There’s no need to carry all of your shit everywhere. — Kim

* Don’t be cookie cutter, try to have meaningful conversations so that you can actually remember each other and what you talked about after 4 beers. — Kim (True that. I just met BJ Wishinsky from the Anita Borg Institute for Woman and Technology & learned about the Women Techies United Booth 219 at the Tradeshow).

* Sounds stupid, but wash your hands. Don’t be infectious. — Kim (Damnit, just remembered I forgot hand sanitizer in my hotel room).

* Don’t think you’ll get to see everything. Go through the schedule and note the unmissable events and make sure you get there. — Keith

* Austin.Adactio.com is the list of all the parties Keith suggests “hand-picked, curated by me.” — Keith

* Forget about the sponsored parties, it’s not worth waiting in line for free watered down beer. Pay for your beer and have more fun by not waiting in line. — Keith

* Turn of 3G to save battery on your iPhone. Your 2G bandwidth is good enough to Tweet and Turn off Roaming, Wi-Fi access, etc. Leave location services on so you can use GPS to check in. Do plug into the walls. AT&T has lockers so that you can lock your phone in a box and charge. — Huh

* Connect with people. Share ideas, make connections. — Jacobs BUT, as Jeremy Keith interjected, “there are a lot of social media doucebags” … so develop a bit of a radar or a “douchebag filter.”

* If you have any geek crushes or geek fandom, talk to them. — Jacobs

* Go to a panel that isn’t necessarily something you know much or care much about. Also, don’t be afraid to leave a panel if you’re not feeling it. — Jacobs

* Get one full night’s worth of sleep so you don’t get SXSW SARS. — Jacobs

There’s probably more, but I have to turn off my computer now — #alwaysbecharging.

Let’s meet! @GinnySkal