20x2

You're all alone on a stage. The spotlights are burning hard in your eyes. A room packed to the walls with smart kids from around the country is waiting for you to impress them. Your task: to answer a truly metaphysical, oddly philosophical, slightly ridiculous question: "What is real?" Oh, and you have only 120 seconds to come up with an earth-shattering answer. Now go.

This is the essence of 20x2, the fast-paced SXSW Interactive event that challenges the imagination of the Web's most creative minds. Following in the tradition of last year's event in which participants like Ironminds.com founder Andy Wang wrangled with questions over the definition of the word "interactive," Monday night's participants offered hilarious, provocative, and simply odd ideas about what is and is not real.

Dave Gallman of Recentlyobserved.com opened the parade of 20 speakers with a rousing two-minute stream-of-consciousness rant about sensual and visceral realities: "Real is that scrap of language," he proclaimed, "and it's that wind and rain that reminds you that you are both human and animal."

With participants like Tim Lord of Slashdot.com and David-Michel Davies of the Webby Awards coming from all over the World Wide Web to rise to the challenge, some of the answers defied not only expectations but logic. Film producer Kit Carson screened a one-minute, 50-second short about the evolution of colors presented in a sexy 1960s soap-opera style. Others ranted about being snubbed by Conan O'Brien, or they played mean blues guitar, or they lead the audience in a mass yoga breathing exercise.

But did anyone get to the definition of "real?" "Sure," said audience member John Marcil, "real is the power of the Web."