It hardly seems real, but yet another whirlwind of SXSW has flown through my life, leaving me enlightened, exhausted, well-connected and honestly, a bit depressed. It’s always difficult to go back to your regularly scheduled life after being introduced to so many new ideas, people, products and concepts in a such an inviting environment, surrounded by people just like you.

This was my second year in a row to have the opportunity to attend and cover SXSW Interactive as part of the SXTXState team. Attending SXSW last year gave me the opportunity to soak in all that the festival has to offer. I’ll admit, it was a bit overwhelming, but that exposure gave me the confidence I needed to tackle this year’s festivities head on.

The key sessions that I attended typically reflected my interests, but I also took on some panels that I knew nothing about. However, the main themes that I observed during the festival focused on diversity in tech and innovation (or lack thereof), and social media’s effect on relationships and company success.

The sessions that I attended that were centralized around diversity in the tech realm had several key, recurring emphases.

• Ignoring a proper implementation of diversity (race, gender, sexuality or otherwise) will almost undoubtedly inhibit a company’s potential progression.
• The main obstacle hindering the facilitation of more women joining the hacker industry is the lack of females that are currently in the profession. Girls want to be hackers, but their environments don’t encourage them.
• When we think of “hacker,” we generally don’t think about black and brown young adults. This mind frame is slowly, but surely, changing.

The knowledge that I gained from social media related panels gave me great insight about how to properly use social outlets on a grand scale, and how I can personally use them to improve my brand and my future.

• The use of social media tools (e.g. Twitter) can lead to a wide range of perspectives that companies originally didn’t have access to.
• In order to truly understand the implications and benefits of social media engagement as a company, you have to be involved on both a personal scale and on an organizational scale.
• Put your energy into creating something great, not begging the Internet for more likes on social media sites. If you produce great content, the likes will come.

As exhausted as I am as I sit here typing this, I wish I could re-live the chaotic beauty of the festival all over again. I can only hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do it again next year. And the year after that, and the year after that…