I don’t know about you, but Twitter has changed the way I prep for conferences, especially SXSW. Instead of combing through the Film & Interactive schedule, I’m listening for hot panel sessions, interesting films, and the people who are creating the buzz. Twitter search is a handy tool for finding what to do, where to go and who to follow.

SXSW has integrated Twitter with their attendee list, so I can check for people I follow through Twitter and add them to the SXSW messaging tool. If you’re logged into My SXSW, you’ll see a toolbox with a search for Twitter & Facebook in a yellow box on the right. I don’t know if this will be useful yet, but it might be a more convenient way to sift through the normal noise on Twitter for conference-specific chatter. I can’t help the people on Twitter who aren’t attending the conference — there’s going to be a huge SXSW spike that starts on Friday. Sorry!

Even before these tools, Twitter changed how I found connections. Last week, all Chicago attendees were invited to a SXSW/Twitter/Facebook gathering at a local bar so we’d know each other on sight. I diligently followed the new local contacts & created a group in Tweetdeck, so I could have a Chicago-specific conference channel.

I also added Brightkite, Twitpic, and Twitter numbers/email addresses in my new phone, as well as a Twitter client.

In short, I’ve done all the prepping to find, follow, monitor and publish via Twitter for my week in Texas! I’ll let you know if it enhances my conference experience or merely adds noise. Could go either way.