I am a New York-based digital strategist with a background in experience design. I work with agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and startups to figure out how to best meet their brands’ needs on the web. Learn more...
As an addendum to my SXSW recap yesterday, I’d like to share the slidedecks/video from some of the most interesting presentations. Enjoy!
Clay Shirky‘s presentation would definitely be here too, if I could find a video of it online.
Enjoy!
I returned from SXSW last Wednesday, and I’ve just now reached the point where I can sort through all the panels, BBQ, tex-mex, and alcohol I consumed and come to some semi-salient conclusions. Read on!
So much has been written about the incredible atmosphere of SXSW that it’s almost pointless for me to recap here, but I’ll try anyway. The simplest way to put this into context is just to imagine that all your Twitter friends – people you engage with but never met offline, old friends from real life, people you admire and would love to meet – are congregating within a 6 block radius. This provides immense opportunities for interaction. As one might expect, the audience at SXSW is generally young-ish (late 20s, early 30s), tech-savvy, hipster-esque, with iPhone and Macbook constantly in tow (I can’t wait for next year when I can give my back a break by toting around my iPad instead of my Macbook). This environment feels simultaneously electrified and jaded, but it’s something I wouldn’t miss for the world. It’s the single most important technology event of the year, and the only one I know I will be attending annually.
The panels, however, are a different story. It’s shocking and disappointing to me that so many of the presenters – chosen by a social media voting process earlier in the year – seem completely unprepared. Panels with more than 2 people tended to be completely disorganized, and one session I attended was nothing more than the capabilities deck for the company the presenter works for. It seemed like most folks were afraid to commit to anything other than what everyone already believes in, but at the same time, did their best to avoid touching on a topic that even one person in the audience was already familiar with. This, to me, was sad, and shows a negative effect of the Twitter echo chamber and cliquey-ness that we see in social media.
(Note: based on my experiences this year and last I am committed to submitting a panel for next year; I may not be the brightest digital rock star out there, but I know how to prepare a non-trainwreck presentation. Get in touch if you’d like to collaborate.)
Aside from some of the duds, SXSW offers the opportunity to see some of the best digital thinkers – Clay Shirky, danah boyd, Moot of 4chan – in action. I’ve read much of their work online, but it’s a pleasure to see them bring their stories to life. But even more valuable is the opportunity to interact with peers and leaders who work all over the country in a variety of capacities.
Okay, so my daily SXSW wrap-up idea didn’t end up happening. I guess, given my history of procrastination, that’s not too surprising. So that I don’t get so overwhelmed with the idea of these posts hanging over my head that I stop blogging altogether, I’m doing a quick, one-post wrap-up.
Before going into the details of what I saw, did, etc., some stray observations:
As I should have foreseen, I am already behind on my SXSW roundups. Here’s a quick look at the awesome on Saturday 3/14/09:
I am endeavoring to take notes on the conferences, panels, and parties I find interesting at SXSW, so that I might say that I got more out of the event than a series of hangovers (which I’m already dreading).
I arrived late Thursday night, so a lazy Friday morning putting the final touches on my new web site seemed in order. By the time I got to the convention center at 1pm, the line for badges was about an hour long. Fun!
Much later, badge in hand, I attended my first session: Oooh, That’s Clever! (Unnatural Experiments in Web Design). It was presented by Paul Annett, of Clearleft Ltd., and discussed the “clever little tricks” and easter eggs that can make design fun and bring consumer opinions up from satisfaction to delight. Lots of great examples, and the main idea, although simple, is something that people tend to forget in the realm of daily client projects.
The next session was a topic near and dear to my heart: Try Making Yourself More Interesting. All the panelists were fantastic, but Kristina Halvorson, of Brain Trust, completely blew me away with her insights on interactive brand engagement and the concept of building brand love as an indirect way to foster eventual consumer transactions.
