Tag Archives: SxSWi
SXSWi – it’s the birth of a proto-city: a hive of integrated people experimenting with the tools in the market that, without mass local adoption, would not have any poignancy. It’s where the early adopters can temporarily form a society of mutually founded infrastructure.
Obviously I like to consider myself a fairly early adopter. I am generally picking up the newest thing in beta and giving it a try. The proto-city certainly is a unique experience where these services just work and I’m not at the mercy of my family and friends to adopt the numerous new things I throw at them every week.
This week’s post is all about these services and how they work, a kind of preview to how they would work if a mainstream audience were to pick them up. There are some old and some new, but all based around the ever growing social–mobile & desktop–sector.
The prevailing theme this year was group messaging and location based services. Typically when you look back at SXSW there is one clear launch that will take hold and change the landscape of digital: Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. I would say that this year there was no clear winner. This may be perhaps due to development becoming easier and faster than it was a couple years ago, which would correlate to SXSW being fettered with startup after startup, creating so much noise that no single one stood out.
There’s four services that I looked at primarily while down in Austin: Convore, Beluga, Hashable, & Yobongo.
Amongst the technology, digital natives, sponsors, parties, ideas, startups and even the SxSWi brand itself, there is something bigger and over-arching that embodies and represents the SxSWi event.
It is part culture, part people, part industry, part cyber, part promotion and part buzz… And while I give SxSWi full credit, it does seems bigger than them. I guess like all great brands, SxSWi builds on what is around them and while it may not be clear from time to time who is leading who, it still is the brand’s job to act as the guide and own it.
I think of SxSWi as a brand that is helping to guide us into the digital future, but more importantly I think of them as a brand that makes digital feel real. As you physically, mentally, and digitally take in the event, you can’t help but feel the ‘realness’ of digital all around you and appreciate that the borders are becoming more and more unclear.
A related note regarding these photos: The environment in and around SxSWi is plastered with promotion. In itself it is visually appealing and overwhelming at the same time, but if you sit and look at it closely for a moment, you can see that it is living and digital: QR codes, hashtags, urls, codes, etc.
Another confession, Mum. I’m writing this posthumously. All the opinions and positions in this document have gone through at least two hazy evenings, 3 hamburgers and a bucket or two of Shiner Bock (mixed with razor blades and hipster cred). In fact, the number of hamburgers, seared on the side and glowing salmon in the middle, that I’ve eaten has astounded me. It’s a contest, I suppose: My brain cells vs my weight. One’s a race to the bottom while the other increases in order to decrease…
Bill Simmons, a writer for ESPN, has postulated (smart talk for: said) that we should wait 5 years before selecting a best movie/actor/director/etc. Why? Perspective, of course. The matured opinion is usually the reasonable one. We want to make sure what we say holds up to posterity.
I’m not bringing this up to support the late nature of my next few posts. Those were conditional, not intentional. No, I bring it up in order to address the relationship between real-time, always-on communication platforms like twitter and foursquare and events like SXSW. Do they add anything to it? Are they more than just background noise? Do they pump out any content that I, Kerry Janes, finds interesting or enjoyable?
The short answer is, No. The long answer is Noe.
I’m being obnoxious, of course. But, take a look at #sxswi. The thread runs from anticipation to arrival, through talk and party, and ends with everyone bitching about the airport. There’s really not much substance. Sure, you could farm the feed and find some interesting quotes and a few links but, for the most part, it’s a steady diet of nothing.
Adam Bracegirdle | Critical Mass Calgary
This year marked my second at the SXSW interactive festival and it’s escalation was palpable. As one firmly rooted in the cerebral, esoteric environs of the creative department, I was expected by many to attend those “creative” sessions in which my peers debate, among other things, the value of the word press theme, or typography on the web. Although important work, I found conversations on the future of my medium to be a far more tantalizing proposition this time around. With that in mind I siphoned a rather crowded schedule down to a multitude of unfamiliar topics ranging from scaled multi-touch platforms to the economics of high quality content creation online. Much to my delight I found something compelling in nearly every one short of a distant few (some were vain attempts at self marketing rather then an argument of any substance. I haven’t the appetite for that.). After a short while, in fact from the very first of my lectures, I began to notice a pervading thought in nearly every talk I attended.
Convergence seemed to be on the minds of every eminent social guru and internet famous CEO at the conference. Wary as I am of the dreaded interactive meme, I could not help but feel that convergence wasn’t just another passing interweb buzzword. It seemed to permeate every lecture regardless of bent. Hardware discussions would invariably turn to talk of real-time repositories that could be accessed from anywhere; hardware as we know it becoming usurped by its more powerful, cloud-based counterpart. And although I suppose one could say that it’s an obvious (and dated) example of where convergence is headed, the example becomes substantive when watching a mob of displeased technophiles assault Mark Cuban, chairman of HDNet, demanding access to a`la carte content at a whim, from anywhere.
Talk of convergence extended well out of the traditional confines of platform and hardware though. Point in case, “social” was a virtual non-event this year as it has become almost totally ubiquitous; no longer considered a back channel for passive content. The emergence of the front channel was happening before us at SXSW as Twitter blew up during the keynotes with a frenzy of discussion, valuable or not, and location based services like Gowalla begin to provide tangible value in finding anything from Migas for breakfast 
to the best dive bar in Texas. I found myself at one point wondering if I was the only one in my lecture becoming confused by the direction of the conversation, only to find that several others were tweeting from within the room and getting informed responses from the moderator, in real-time. The convergence of channels is happening rapidly in these circles as the term “multi-channel” exits the lexicon and is replaced simply by “interaction”.
I’ll get this out of the way right now: I had a great time at SXSW. I found it interesting, inspiring and as it was aptly put by CNN.com – “Spring Break for Geeks.” Austin has more bars and live music venues packed into a 4 block area than anywhere else I have ever been.
This could easily be mistaken as a crowded concert at any Spring Break locale. Daytona Beach, Cancun, Key West? Nope. The Austin 'Geek' crowd at SxSW 2010.
More to the point though, what did I learn?
For every good panel you attend, there will be an average panel you will attend. Thankfully, attending a great panel (and there is at least one of those per day) more than makes up for that. Interaction with an audience and showing a
genuine interest in being in front of a group commands their attention. This was something that I thought made these panels “great.” Gary Vaynerchuk and Dan Roam were two speakers I saw who did this.
Gary Vaynerchuk
My biggest personal takeaway happened on Monday while I was there. I went to Gary Vaynerchuk’s session, and was thoroughly entertained. He had one point that really stuck out to me: Being at SXSW means you are way out in front of everyone else as far as knowing what is new and what is going on in the industry and on the internet.
That was interesting, but it didn’t really resonate until later that evening…
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Last week, a number of CMers flew from all of our offices into Austin for one of the year’s most hyped industry events. For 6 full days, we were completely absorbed in the world of SxSW–the speakers, the vast campus, the BBQ, the karaoke… and lots of noise! We’ve come back (well, those that didn’t stay for the rocking music portion!) to our respective offices and departments with lots of inspiration and lessons, to be shared more in-depth in a few days. For now, let’s look at some of the quick hits in the Pro and Con lists for SxSWi 2010 from my perspective, with cameos from a few others who managed to make it back!
Let’s start with the areas that were lacking and work our way up to the highlights, shall we?
I’ve seen a lot of posts about how the “content was weak.” Chris Pirillo even went so far to say that the “speakers weren’t entertaining,” and gave some great feedback for next year. I know I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I directly attribute that sentiment with the fact that most SxSW sessions are pitched 8 months in advance. How can those topics stay relevant with the pace of cultural change? They can’t.
That rant aside, I did find reasons to be inspired by my industry peers…
1. The crowd speaks for itself. I can’t find a SxSW source, but hck2 says that registration was up 40% this year. Geek love is forcing new application and ideas into the mainstream. Location based apps like social networking, video, & QR codes were not only used, but used a lot!
2. Not only were real-time social apps used, but they were used for utility. A while back, we were using augmented reality and iphone apps just because they were a bright & shiny objects. Now, we’re using them together to provide utility and to add value to “traditional” consumer experiences. While the SxSW app wasn’t perfect, I used it constantly to navigate my way through the maze of conference rooms and panel topics. And, while I’ve been on foursquare for a while, I’ve never felt prouder to get a badge titled “Porky” or “Panel Nerd.”
3. Conferences don’t exist to deliver a “silver bullet” or the next “disruptive” idea. They should, however, inspire smart people to cultivate ideas on their own. Here are a few that kick-started my creative thinking: #mindcontrol, if you want to be inspired by how “influence” works… and the “Snark It” app by Powered, if you want a good laugh.
Lastly, I had a wonderful time sharing ideas, banter and beers with all my @criticalmass SxSW travel companions: Jessi Odenbach (@jessio), Greg Arnanitakis (@The_Promethean), Dave Vieser (@dvieser), Adam Bracegirdle (@richinminerals), Mike Lanyon (@lanyonm), David Fasullo (@livebrush) and Kerry Janes.
Here are some of the lessons they were each inspired by…
David:
Inspiration Point 1: “Committing to an idea is the hardest part. Starting an idea doesn’t make you a startup.”
Inspiration Point 2: “It’s not just about telling your story. You need to be competitive in how you add value.”
Jessi:
Inspiration Point 1:“Looking to the future, employees will have a growing need to be well advised in multiple disciplines. Designers need to know social media. Social media needs to know technology. And so on. Our worlds are colliding and we need to expand ourselves even more.”
Inspiration Point 2: “No brand will build a lasting relationship with consumers without a valuable digital engagement.”
Greg:
Inspiration Point from the Gary Vaynerchuk: “His emphasis on doing what you love for a living is inspiring, but above all else he pushes loving your family and spending time with them being more important than a job. Work-life balance matters. A whole lot.”
Adam:
Inspiration Point from Brendan Dawes: “On some level, to be a good designer you just need to be an interesting person.”
What were you most inspired by at SxSW? What lesson did you learn that will change the way you work/create/adapt/ideate/think?
