To say that this blog post is way overdue would be an understatement. By the time I've finished writing this, progress on SXSW 2012 will have already been made and the details of this years conference will have faded. As a first timer to both Austin, TX and the festival, I spent the first day or so just getting acclimated to the city and figuring out what's what. By the end of it all, I was both exhausted and excited by the things I had experienced and heard. Plenty of articles have been written as "a rookie's guide to SXSW" but here are
the top 10 things that left a lasting impression on me, in no particular order of course.
10. Book your trip sooner than later. The longer you wait, the more expensive every single aspect of the conference / trip will be. Procrastinate till the last minute, and you might be forced to rent a bedroom apartment in the ghetto and bike 2 miles each way back and forth into the city.
9. Plan ahead. There is so much to do and so many people competing for entry into each event that unless you get a head start on the day, you better be prepared to move on to the next best thing.
8. Free food isn't always good food. No matter how good a freshly fried donut topped with potato salad and pork BBQ might sound, it doesn't always work out so well under the scorching Texas heat.
7. QR codes are lame. OK, you're going to have to give me more information than a giant bitmapped square on a poster in order to get me to scan your QR Code. I don't care how cool your site is, when you are competing with a million other promotions and well designed graphics, a single QR code just isn't cutting it.
6. Too far off the grid. I've never seen such a wired up bunch in my life. Could have sworn I saw someone talking on a blue tooth while texting someone as he checked his gmail on a laptop and surfed the web on a tablet. As marketing and design people we must often remind ourselves that less than 20% of consumers are these hyper tech savy purchasing machines. Sure you'd love to convince your client that developing a mobile application is in their best interest, but depending on the demo, chances are a well conceived traditional marketing plan with solid follow-up can be just as effective.
5. Flash isn't dead. Toby Miller and Elliot Chong did a entertaining job of arguing both the pros and cons of the debate between HTML5 and Flash. While the primary purpose of Flash seems to be shifting at the end of the day they are both tools, and it's the developer's responsibility to know when each is applicable and appropriate.
4. Cinnamon Bourbon isn't all that bad. Especially at 3:30 in the afternoon with a Lone Star chaser.
3. The Game Layer is here! Seth Priebatsch from LBS Scvnger was the keynote speaker on the first Saturday of the conference. Amazingly energetic and sharp as a tack, Seth presented a pretty convincing argument on how game dynamics can influence behavior and ultimately create better markets.
Check out his speech.
2. Social Media is just that. If the recent events in Egypt are any indication, social media is a great tool to get the word out there, mobilize your base and grow fans. But as the euphoria of a potential democracy fades, we see that social tools like Facebook or Twitter provide very little in terms of taking it to the next step. Yes, you're able to assemble protests using social media, but it won't write a constitution or stop corruption.
1. It's all about human behavior. The underlying theme of many discussions, new platforms, and applications being unveiled at SXSW point at one thing... getting to know what makes humans tick. And that is precisely the goal that drives the creative we present to our clients. The sooner we find out what is relevant to people, the closer we get to understanding one another. The better we communicate that relevance, the closer brands will become to a consumers heart.
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