After a brief trip to Austin with Jeremy, here's a quick summary of the state of SXSW based on our experience:
- Online notoriety doesn't translate into compelling presentations. It's sorta like Google's algorithm- Page Rank can only take you so far in a social world. The topics and speakers suffered this year due to the shear number of speakers (over 1500). It's hard finding even a handful of people that can speak *and* introduce original ideas. li>
- Conversations outside of the speaking tracks are more critical. SXSW has always been a social event, but I'd argue it's now the reason to attend. Networking and meet-ups happen primarily outside of the conference. We spent more of our time chatting with partners and clients. li>
- You can brand anything, but few people will take note. Creating awareness of a new service or website at SXSW takes enormous amounts of effort and exposure. There are simple too many things branded- restaurants, shirts, buildings, etc. Exposure to hundreds of branded messages each day was overwhelming. li>
- People stare too much at their phones. Even at the dinner table. Online conversations seem to overwhelm many people. There is no shut off. And that's sad. li>
- Location, social, location. Location based services were a reoccurring theme that touched many conversations. It's a trend that will struggle to gain mainstream adoption until the "why" is better explained. I bet we're still talking about it next year. li>
Bryan Zmijewski
Leading the charge at ZURB since 1998
Our fearless leader has been driving progressive design at ZURB since 1998. That makes him quite the instigator around the offices, consistently challenging both the team and our customers to strive to always do better and better.
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