This post is part of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Thanks to Gwen Bell I will be looking back at 2009 for the next month and highlighting the best experiences from the past 12 months.

I must have taken this picture...

I must have taken this picture...

While Liz Strauss’ SOBCon was pretty awesome, there’s just no beating a trip to Austin for SXSW.

This was my first excursion to South By, as it’s known amongst regulars. My parter in crime for the trip, Caitlin Rosberg, was also a South By rookie, but we made the most of our time. Our company sent us for the interactive portion of the conference, but didn’t even let us stay for the entire length of the interactive show. LAME. Anyways, the trip was a nice blend of business, learning, networking and partying. I like to think we did a pretty great job spreading the word about our company with a very limited plan and budget.

Anyways, this trip was awesome on so many levels. I met Tim Jahn for the first time, and we had quite the epic night. We were hanging with Mary and Amy, two cool girls from Career Builder. After the SMC pool competition, we decided to do some bar hopping. We go to this kinda trendy place, and decided to just have one drink there as it wasn’t really our style. I forget exactly how it happened, (I think Amy and Mary started talking to these guys, ha) but we ended up chatting with two guys from Ireland. They were in Austin for the interactive and film portions of South By, and were just as interested as we were in having a good time. So the six of us make our way through Austin, moving from bar to bar, enjoying each others company and the overall experience. Somehow, we ended up back at the Irish guys’ hotel room and ordered some cheesecake from room service. Don’t ask.

Check out my pics from SXSW 2009.