It’s hard to look back at the past week and a half and see anything but a blur–a blur of inspiration and laughter and complete awe, but a blur nonetheless.

I attended SXSW Interactive for the first time in 2012. Back then I didn’t know the difference between Java and Javascript, much less could I concatenate strings or write MySQL queries. Needless to say, most of what I saw and heard last year went right over my head.

While I was much better prepared this year, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by that much knowledge flying at you from all directions at once. It was absolutely exhausting, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Some Highlights

I was maybe 20 feet from Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, for the better part of an hour. I wish I had been able to go to the meet-up and shake hands with a man who changed virtually every aspect of our lives, but even just hearing him speak was awe-inspiring.

I got to interview two of my favorite stand-up comedians, W. Kamau Bell and Janine Brito. And by “interview” I mean I stalked them, stared at them awkwardly while they ate barbecue and then asked them questions about how digital media affected their work as comedians. It was marvelous.

I also got to interview Aron Pilhofer, interactive news editor at the New York Times, after his panel with Cindy Royal. I knew him from volumes of readings on the future of interactive journalism. Turns out he’s a mortal human just like the rest of us, and he’s a pretty nice guy to boot.

President and CEO of PBS Paula Kerger played a YouTube video during her featured session of the characters from Downton Abbey doing the Harlem Shake. How many major media executives have such a great sense of humor about their work?

Last, but certainly not least, I was front and center (literally) for the amazing Rachel Maddow’s talk. I would’ve liked to hear her talk more about the future of the media, but I can’t say I was disappointed with her political discussion. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the medium, especially those of us who are constantly looking to the future, that sometimes we forget how important it is to understand the message itself. She also brilliantly summed up what I considered to be the central take-away from SXSW Interactive 2013.

Be Awesome

During her talk, Maddow answered audience questions tweeted with the hashtag #AskMaddow. One tweet, submitted by SXTXState’s Sara Peralta, asked her advice for aspiring journalists. Maddow went through a list of specific tips from producing content to taking advantage of the democratization of digital media to get your name out there. Then she summed it all up in three simple words: “Just be awesome.”

More than any other tidbit of advice from the gurus in the featured sessions and panels, the most inspiring speakers I saw echoed this message.

Be great at what you do, and you can’t go wrong.