Ask HN: Should I go to SXSWi?

I was just about ready to book myself a place when I did a bit more searching on HN about it. As opinions here are closer to my interests it matters what the HN community think.

I was a bit surprised to find that it's not as well thought of as it used to be with comments like "it's now full of Social Media Experts" and "there isn't much tech for an interactive event" or "remember it was originally a music and film festival with tech bolted on later".

Here's why I wanted to go: I'm a designer who loves the whole tech industry. However, I live in Leamington Spa, UK and feel pretty distant from the main hubs, I don't get to meet many people with similar interests to my own (let alone people with similar problems, solutions and discoveries). I also wanted to hear some great talks/panels for some inspiration and lastly, I've always got my eyes peeled for cool places/projects to work on (whether directly, via an API on my own project or some other fun/useful hack).

Do you think SXSWi would be a good event for me to visit?