Day 2: SXSW 2017

• Had a weird nights sleep. I was wide awake at 4:30AM ready to get my day started. Eventually dozed back off and awoke at a normal hour, 6:25.
• Got myself ready for the day. Prepared for all the weather combos but the weather just doesn’t make sense.
• Coffee & breakfast tacos at Jo’s Coffee which is the new love of my life. (Side note: they serve frosé — which means I’ll likely be back.)

• On to the convention center for my first sessions. Opening remarks by Hugh Forrest — then a seriously BRILLIANT keynote from Cory Booker. I was inspired to do more and ultimately he made me cry but it was such a good a start to the day.

• Left this session and came across a line for Gary Vaynerchuk — the line was insane it spanned floors so I decided to move on. (More on that later…)
• Popped into the DELL house. They were doing mimosas and VR but I ended up with some fancy seltzer. Left and went next door to a place that gave me some delish lunch.
• Next up was the Fast Company grill. They know how to put on a great event. Samsung was also in the house and the Dos Equis came with limes — and were 😋

• I only spent a few minutes at Fast Company before heading off to ONE Design to listen to an excellent talk on design culture. It was an amazing learning experience in a beautifully curated environment that had the topo chico flowing.

• Ran into this cute guy on the street.

• After leaving Capital One I ventured up to Sixth Street. Went to the Mashable house which was a really cool space. But ruined by dudebros (a common theme of sxsw)

• Attempted to visit NatGeo Further but the line was insane so I went back to the convention center to visit the Comcast Careers social lounge.
• Comcast lounge was seriously on point. Snacks, drinks, long tables with plugs, Nick Offerman & Gary Vaynerchuk just happened to be speaking while I stopped by. Not to mention they came through with soft pretzels like a real Philadelphia company.

• I guess I ran into some sort of Handmaid’s Tale promotion. It honestly creeped me out.

• Ended up walking down Rainey Street to preview some of the big brands activating tomorrow (Facebook, Twitter, CNN, Pinterest) and I stopped buy the Intel AI lounge which was fantastic. The AI they were showcasing was seriously so amazing. It was next level.

• After that my feet were killing me but I promised to stop by the Comcast / NBC party which was a lot of fun. I met some great people there.

• Returned to hotel to eat a peanut butter cup that’s been in the fridge all day and rest my weary legs.

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