I left Austin yesterday morning and I must say that SXSW has been amazing. Sensory overload at its best! I met so many awesome people from all over the world and I gifted 8 phones (plus other fun prizes) to lucky attendees who found me! To top it all off, AT&T made sure I was taken care of by putting me up in a gorgeous mansion.

AT&T SXSW Mansion

AT&T also did an exceptional job creating a promotion that integrated guerrilla marketing with social media. I’m so grateful they gave me the opportunity to run the promotion! They trusted my knowledge in marketing and social media which made so many people happy. Check out the awesome video I made with @JenFriel and photos of some winners!

Not only did I make so many new friends and great connections, I left the conference feeling like a winner myself. There were so many highlights so I’ll share a few.

Top SXSW moments include attending my favorite panel- Top Chef: How Transmedia is changing TV. Everyone already knows about my addiction to food porn and cooking shows so it makes sense that Top Chef is one of my favorite shows. I am so impressed at how Top Chef has taken viewer engagement beyond the TV with online videos (Last Chance Kitchen), taking viewer suggestions through hashtags during the show and even encouraging their chefs to create their own Social Media presence. The panel absolutely rocked my socks off and to make things even sweeter, I met Tom Colicchio!

Marketing Melodie with Top Chef Judge Tom Colicchio

Third Eye Blind at SXSW

I got to experience some SXSW Music at the Third Eye Blind Concert! They were one of my favorite bands in the 90s and still sounded amazing live! I was honored to hear them play 2 new songs that have never been played live before and of course reminisce on their classic songs.

My absolute favorite booth at the SXSW Trade Show was the WordPress Happiness Bar! They  answer any questions you have about your WordPress site and will even fix any issues you have right there on the spot. I’ve been having issues with the URLs on my website being published with index.php and absolutely no way to change it without deleting the previous social sharing counts on my site. Their “Happiness Engineers” hacked away and coded a custom plugin for me! I seriously have been unsuccessfully trying to find someone for years who could do this and they did it in 30 minutes! The Happiness Bar proves true as I was beyond happy, I was jumping up and down ecstatic as I left their booth. They provided so much value to me and for that I’m also grateful.

WordPress Happiness Bar at SXSW

Another highlight for me was winning $500 Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones by HP just by entering their Twitter contest @HPCloud! This is the true magic of karma!

I enjoyed my last day in Austin on Wednesday as a tourist! I wanted to take a day sans SXSW to enjoy the city. I visited the Cathedral of Junk, The University of Texas Campus and the State Capitol.

Cathedral of Junk in Austin

Austin, you’ve been good to me! I had such a great time working for AT&T and want to thank them again for having me as part of their team! I leave you with signs that you attended SXSW: No voice, dead batteries and insane amounts of branded swag adorning your home and office! Yep! That just about sums it up. Oh and of course great memories, new friends, a stronger network and a yearning to do it all again next year!

Soundtracking party at SXSW