"Where the Real Fun Is!"

Great tweet from my friend Dan regarding the recent SXSW conference. The blog post describes the high points of this conference. The most striking one for me begins thusly:

"How were the panels? I only attended 3. Most people quickly realize that sessions isn’t where the real fun is (hint: it’s the lobby!)."

At more and more of these events, the "juice" for attendees is not in the formal program of the conference, but in the interactions with other attendees. Most conferences, however, still focus their investments on the heavy, one-to-many set pieces - keynotes and the panels.

If the "real fun" is really in the lobby, I would love to know how (and if) SXSW structured that fun. How did they facilitate it? How did they encourage it? How did they document any of the great ideas and conversations that came out of it? Does no one else think that THAT should be the new model for conferences?