After a long day downtown and being shut out from a swanky after party, the first full day of South By Southwest was eventful to say the least.

SXSW Trade Show

The trade show is located in the Austin convention center and filled with booths of companies ranging from Napster to AP Stylebook. This place is packed full of new gadgets to try, free swag to grab, and every type of person you can imagine. I hit up a couple of booths and learned about some new reporting for online media, and a whole bunch of other boring things that non-journalists don’t care about.

The trade show runs from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m Monday through Wednesday

SXSW Presents: The New York Times’s Op-Docs

This panel began with a video that none of the journalists in the room were watching because during this time period the rumor mill churned up that Jay-Z will be in town and Daft Punk. Sorry, learning. Penny Lane, Simon Ennis, Jason Spigarn-Koff, Brian Frye and Katerina Cizek joined us to discuss the documentary with the few budding filmmakers in the room.

A Conversation with Matthew McConaughey

We’ve loved McConaughey since “Dazed and Confused” and the line for this session wrapped all the way around the Convention Center. McConaughey—fresh off a screening of his new movie “Mud”—was a hot commodity and most people sat on the edge of their chairs while he chatted with his slow, melodic voice.

JASH: A Comedy Platform with Full Creative Autonomy

This was the funniest thing I’ve seen so far at SXSW, and it was the perfect mid-day breather for a bunch of time spent scrambling around downtown eating free Cliff bars. Daniel Kellison, Eric Warheim, Michael Cera, Reggie Watts, Sarah Silverman, and Tim Heidecker sat on the stage panel style and spent most of their time making jokes about audience members and themselves alike.

Style Goes Viral: The Future of Fashion

Nina Garcia, the creative director for Marie Claire magazine, brought style to the Long Center in a black dress by Victoria Beckham. She sat in the middle chair on the stage between Ann Fulenwider, Editor in Chief of Marie Claire and Randi Zuckerberg of Zuckerberg media. Garcia dominated both conversation and eloquence. Fulenwider held a close second but Zuckerberg looked out of her league with two such high-powered, high-fashion women.