South by South West is not a conference, nor a festival. It is a vast, exhausting attention vortex that wields global influence and remains unlike any other event I have experienced. Unlike most other authors of posts like this, I have not been before. In fact, if you’re reading this, there’s a high chance you’re like me. Every year, I would watch as peers from all corners of the globe would descend on Austin, shriek-tweeting their delight of endless partying and seeing big-name panelists duking it out over buzzwords we see in our RSS clients on any normal day of the week, but live. And at the same time you sit there at your desk, wondering how on earth they managed to squeeze it…