If anyone follows me on Twitter or Facebook then they know that I started off my morning first by hating the fact that drinking the night before was an almost painful experience and second that I went to work out at 5:30 in the morning while there was nobody in the hotel gym. Oh, and that I farted in the gym. “Accidentally”. Afterwards, I went back to my room, made myself presentable and then headed to breakfast. Nom nom nom! I got to eat Belgian waffles with blueberries and strawberries and I also had biscuits and gravy. The interesting part of this was that my waiter and the bus boys were all ogling my 17″ MacBook Pro. Yes, they wanted my computer and sat with me as I read the Washington Post and Al Jazeera. It turned into a party of sorts: some of my new found friends and the wait staff hanging out around my computer. I felt like we were huddled around a radio getting ready for the Milton Burle show to come on.

There’s a reason that I’m telling you this. Trust me.

So, I walked over to the convention center and prepared to listen to my first meeting was “Pain Free Design Signoff “. I ambled to a nice seat in the back with one of my new girlfriends and then fired up my laptop. Evidently, I literally fired up my laptop…because it started smoking. No, it didn’t whip out a Marlboro Light, smoke started coming out of it.

Ugh.

So, here I sit. In the dark. Hoping that my laptop doesn’t explode on my crotch while a British man is talking about

Getting design approval can be like pulling teeth. Clients seem to make irrational decisions based on personal opinion. They ignore our expertise, reducing us to pixel pushers. However, it does not need to be this way. With good communication and a sound methodology, design sign off can be pain free.

SXSW. Now not just a conference, it’s also an extreme sport.