Video by Kevin Twohy.

Last year was my first time attending SXSW in my own backyard of Austin, TX. My slight obsessions with indie rock and technology notwithstanding, it’s a wonder I haven’t been going to the conference for a while now (going to school in Austin lent itself to fleeing the city for the beach whenever Spring Break rolled around).

Now with two years to my name and a few good nights of sleep, I finally have some time to reflect on year two and to draw some comparison between my two attendances of the conference.

Many previous attendees were noticeably absent, arrived late or departed Austin early, but I did find that this was many people’s first time at the conference (Austin’s own tech culture writer Omar Gallaga points out the increase as about 25% over last year). Once the events were in full swing, however, engaging discussions happened in the panels, in the hallways between panels and especially at the hordes of notorious official and unofficial after-parties.

Aggregating so many brilliant minds in one proverbial room is the biggest draw for attending the Interactive portion of the conference—the free-flowing booze isn’t too bad either, as Owen Thomas sardonically pointed out from a distance in an article on Valleywag (he was one attendee who was noticeably absent).

Many of the conference panels centered around the topics of monetization and formulating solid business models (obvious topics considering current economic conditions), amongst usual topics for a technology conference in Texas (barbecue).

My biggest takeaways with the panels centered around the future of the web and the potential involvement it has in our lives in the coming years.

One panel in particular about NUIs (natural user-interfaces) particularly struck a chord as one of the more foretelling presentations. The preponderance of computers in personal computers and mobile devices could very well move into conventional appliances (that’s right, toasters and dishwashers). The panelists were quick to point out that while the iPhone has been pivitol in introducing a touchscreen device to the masses, NUIs are about more than providing a touch interface (there is still a keyboard, albeit a janky one, present on iPhone).

Panels on mobile and location-based services also postulated on the future of the popularity of those specific technologies. These services (BrightKite, Moximity, etc.) are getting better and better and are as relevant as ever with the growing popularity of mobile device computing. Absent from the panel, however, was a presence from Foursquare, the year’s virtual toy of choice, which launched hours after the first real world check-ins at downtown hotels. Some were lucky enough to be part of the conference-wide game of Assasins a few of us started here in Austin (probably my favorite part of the conference); the game is sure to be a tradition for years to come (unless someone tries to appropriate the hype).

All in all, a great time and way too much experience to try and distill into words. If you’ve never attended the conference, make sure you do in 2010. I promise it’s worth it; a few hundred dollars and a few hours of lost sleep totally make up for the amount of great people you meet, the amount of free food and alcohol you can get and most importantly, the amount of raw creative energy you walk away with (well, once you sleep in a few times). See you in ‘10!

PS: Even if PureVolume.com changes the name of it’s douchey party next year (this year it was “The House,” last year, “The Ranch”), it’s the only place open after 2AM, still serving up free drinks. Irritation aside, I still pwnd that line like nobody’s business. ;)