Another fantastic year. I know it seems silly; a giant mess of geeks running around tweeting and instagramming, but it’s surprisingly fun. Everyone is there to socialize and chat about the latest apps, techniques, and strategies.

This year I was lucky to score a room in the Sheraton, a mere seven blocks from the convention center. It was about the same distance as my Airbnb house last year, but the Sheraton did not require feeding a dozen chickens and a couple cats.

My roommates included pal extraordinaire ljharb, Matisyahu’s latest agent, and a Salesforce salesman. I thought four in a room would be tough, but it turned out fine. We were only in the room between 2am (or 5am for that one particularly unusual night) and 10am anyway.

The parties were great of course including live music (I discovered The Cults!), free drinks, and appetizers galore. For me the best party award goes to Dave Morin and Path. Nonstop sushi, a sake bomb station, and Rahzel performing. It was a great night.

However, this was a conference which means sessions and discussions all day every day (if you take it seriously like myself). I focused on keynote talks and design sessions. Keynotes included Ray Kurzweil (weird but intriguing), Biz Stone (eloquent and insightful), Sean Parker (well-dressed), Al Gore (very entertaining), and Amber Case (shaping the future of location data). Sadly, I missed Kevin Systrom.

The sessions were hit and miss as usual with conferences. To summarize: Google employees were ready with slides and insightful discussions. Facebook employees should be embarrassed. I understand being unprepared, but at least have something interesting to say! Don’t sit up there and say “I’m fucking surprised to be up here!” Weak, dude. Weak.

My favorite spot in downtown Austin continues to be the Driskill Hotel. I suppose I gravitate towards niceties when I’m constantly forced to eat out of crappy food trucks. I managed to get one good meal in their cafe.

That leads me to suggestions for next year.

1. Floss. All that disgusting food and those free drinks will destroy your gums. Maybe that one is too personal.

2. Book your room early so you can stay downtown. I can’t stress this one enough. I repeatedly heard that shuttles going to hotels outside of the downtown area only appeared once per hour instead of the promised 10-15 minute intervals.

3. Join/start a core group of people, and use GroupMe to keep in touch. If you have ten people walking around, you can be aware of which parties are worth hitting up.

4. Get a Mophie external battery for your iPhone. You need it to last from 10am to 2am.

5. Try some good BBQ. This does not include Stubb’s or Iron Works. You need to get a taxi and go somewhere amazing. Funny story: The current “best place in the country” is a block away from the Sheraton on 11th on the other side of I-35. It opens at 11am. I showed up at 11:10am. The line was already 2.5 hours long, and they couldn’t guarantee any meat would be available. I know. Insane.

6. Don’t eat the pizza anywhere. It’s awful. Fisherman’s Wharf awful.

7. Show up to sessions at least twenty minutes early if you want a seat. This includes keynotes in Exhibit Hall 5 that holds thousands of people.

8. Show up early to pick up your badge. The line was two hours long this year.

9. Don’t be that guy. Getting bounced out of a room full of nerds is pretty stupid. Drink but keep it together.

10. TALK TO PEOPLE. That’s the most important part. If you have questions or you want to introduce yourself, just do it. Walk up to the table after the session. Ask for help. Ask for advice. These people are friendly and excited to chat.

That’s it. Can’t wait for 2013.