Leslie,
I'm wishing we could have something like that in my neck of the woods...
SxSW is on soon, and two of the organizers of Web Essentials are speaking. I'd recommend getting down and organize quickly if you are going to, because hotels fill up!)
Maxine Sherrin is speaking with Molly Holzschlag and Eric Meyer on Women on the Web, while I (John Allsopp) am organizing a panel with Dave Shea, Doug Bowman, Jon Hicks and Eris Free on Web design and development in 2010.
As to Neerav's comment about price, WE and SxSW are two quite radically different events.
SxSW content is largely discussion panels, where several speakers cover a particular subject. Speakers are largely not paid, and people tend to go as much for the networking and socializing as for the content.
Web Essentials is all about the content. We focus on bringing out the best speakers in the World, and making sure that the content is focussed, and we want every second to be as valuable, and enjoyable, as possible.
I guess its a bit like the big day out being cheaper than seeing U2 (music analogy, sorry for non Aussies). both have their place
I'm really looking forward to SxSW, but see it as being a very different thing from Web Essentials and other such conferences.
Hope this helps,
john
John Allsopp
:: westciv :: http://www.westciv.com/ software, courses, resources for a standards based web :: style master blog :: http://westciv.typepad.com/dog_or_higher/
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