Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > March > 13
Friday, March 13, 2009
Panel: How to Rawk SXSW: The Basics
Date/Time: 3:30 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Glenda Bautista (Agendacide.com), Baratunde Thurston (Comedian/Guru, The Onion), John Styn (Digital Explorer, LifeStudent.com), Zadi Diaz (Executive Producer, EPIC FU), Ernie Hsiung (Blogger, LittleYellowDifferent.com)
The gist: Close your laptop. That was the message for all us “newbs” in the audience — those of us insecure and clutching our schedules too tight.
The point is people and friendships, not panels and hangovers, said the festival vets during the standing-room-only SXSW-starter: “The spirit of SXSW…is all about deepening the conversation with people,” said Bautista. “Get beyond your computer. Get out and meet people.” —preferably in “3-D Twitter,” said Thurston. (Or “reality,” he clarified).
Some other things: Go to talks you’re not interested in. Avoid those you know too much (and probably have too much to say) about. Breathe. Be present with new friends — remember their names, faces. Hand out your cards (not slimy). Skip the party; invite people to dinner, especially if you’re not a big drinker. Stock up on energy bars and nonperishables (pass on the $7 pizza — my advice). And bring gum (Thurston).
But above all, take a chance. Say hi. Even to the big shots. A week later, you don’t want to be writing apologetic e-mails that begin: “Hi, I saw you at SXSW but was too afraid to say hi…”
“Make it your goal NOT to send (ones) like that,” says Styn. He gets them every year.
Quotes: “Your girlfriend will catch you: “What happens at SXSW, stays on Flickr.”— Glenda Bautista.
Takeaways: Breathe. Smile. Turn to a neighbor. Talk about what they like (*see Dale Carnegie). And by all means, don’t run away from a conversation because some schedule reminder is blinking on your PDA. Skip it. Conversations are what SXSW is about.
(And P.S: we’re all getting sick next week, so no complaining on Twitter—Diaz).
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Panel: Everything You Know About Web Design Is Wrong
Date/Time: 2 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Dan Willis, consultant
The gist: Even after more than a decade of use and innovation, Web design is still in its infancy and largely informed based on print design instead of using the Internet’s full capabilities to create rich experiences for every user. Willis calls this malady “print in disguise,” pointing to flashy but ill-intended sites for Harry Potter films and Washington Post local sections as examples.
Willis compared current Web design practices to the beginning days of motion pictures, when fixed position cameras filmed scenes on a stage, resulting in flat, shallow productions instead of utilizing techniques such as cross cutting, closeups and birds-eye-view camera angles to add greater impact. It’s hard to know what the analogous practices will be for Web design, but Willis said he thinks offering insight into people’s lives, making content more self-aware and interconnected and enabling more control of data and content by users are some of the mile markers on the road ahead.
And the days are done when design is a last step in business cycle that serves primarily a marketing/arty function. Instead, Willis said designers must be included in the conceptual phase of a Web site to ensure that at its core it gives users the richest experience possible.
Quotes: “In the 21st century content is not about chunks of type, pictures and video because the experience a user has is the content. The user designs their experience as much as the designers do, so put the elements in place and let them do their thing themselves.” — Dan Willis.
Takeaways: Ease of use and flashy visuals are taking a back seat to Web sites that offer pieces of real life interaction, such as a hotel site with online cameras in common areas and an online concierge chatting with prospective customers before they even make a reservation. Added together, those ingredients create a rich jambalaya that users remember.
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Scenes from Screenburn
It’s cold, rainy. The economy’s in the tank. Who’s up for video games?
The third annual Screenburn Arcade kicked off this afternoon inside Exhibit Hall 2 at the Austin Convention Center. The showcase is part of Screenburn, the video-game branch of SXSW Interactive, and a nice prep for next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The video-game smorgasbord is free and open to the public, with more than 30,000 square feet set aside for visitors to browse, play and compete in the latest and greatest in video gaming. Last year, the Arcade drew more than 7,500 people.
“3-D Guitar Hero” was an early hit, as well as the collection of vintage games from the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ’90s courtesy of Mountain Dew.
We’ll spotlight more inside the Arcade throughout the weekend. The exhibit will be open tomorrow and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
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Panel: Social Engineering: Scam Your Way Into Anything or From Anybody
Date/Time: 5 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Brian Brushwood, host of Envision3/Scam School
The gist: A carnival performer through and through (even if he calls himself a magician, he started out eating fire), the spike-haired Austin native Brushwood held forth for an hour on the real world applications of studying and mastering people’s instinctive behavior patterns, which include the desire to be liked, value of reciprocation and recognition of authority. Those traits are put to comedic use on Brushwood’s Internet show “Scam School,” to score free drinks and win bets in bars but he also taught the crowd how to slide out of a traffic ticket by getting the cop to laugh, and how to get backstage at concerts.
During the talk Brushwood mixed centuries of behavioral psychology with self-deprecating anecdotes and a pair of audience participation exercises to show how people can be guided and suggested into thinking and doing seemingly random things. At its heart, Brushwood’s expertise is the same as that used by mentalists and faux-psychics like John Edward (who he has no kind words for) or the pickup artist community and its leading men such as Neil Strauss. Of Strauss and his peers Brushwood expressed enthusiastic appreciation and said he has approached Strauss about joining him on stage on the lecture circuit.
Quotes: “Like most anything, these tools can be used for good or ill. I don’t see anything inherently wrong with knowing how the human mind works and behaves, and how you can manipulate that if you choose to.” — Brian Brushwood
Takeaways: People are much less independent of mind than they’d like to believe and knowing what makes the human brain work on an instinctive level can provide an edge in everyday life and protect people from being preyed upon, whether for free drinks or something much more sinister.
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Panel: The Ecosystem of News
Date/Time: 3:30 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Steven Johnson (outside.in)
The gist: Johnson argues that to predict the future of journalism we have to look to the past. Specifically, he says the evolution of technology news and political news online might point to what will happen with other forms of news, such as investigative and international reporting.
Johnson recalled being a college student and obsessively checking the campus bookstore for Mac magazines. There was a lag time of months in finding out the information he wanted. Today, he gets information instantly from blogs and the company itself, but there are also many sources for in-depth analysis. The same was true of how he consumed political news: In the 1992 campaign, he read newspapers and news magazines and watched “Crossfire.” Today, he has all those options (well, except “Crossfire”) plus Web resources that can be very specialized, such as Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com.
Those two areas could point to what we’ll see emerging in other areas of journalism, Johnson says.
Quotes: “It’s ugly and it’s going to get uglier.” (Regarding the state of the newspaper industry)
Takeaways: Johnson suggests that traditional media might find a new role in helping the public navigate all the new sources of information.
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Panel: Try Making Yourself More Interesting
Date/Time: 5 p.m. Friday
Panelists: DL Byron (Publisher, Bike Hugger), Amit Gupta (Founder, Photojojo), Brian Oberkirch (Small Good Thing), Kristina Halvorson (Pres, Brain Traffic)
The gist: Web companies and social media promote a culture of superficiality, where people are numbers and not human beings and the goal of a project becomes how can you make money rather than how can you impact others in your community. DL Bryon is building a community with bikes as a center of creativity. Amit Gupta got tired of working by himself in his Manhattan apartment, so he created a Jelly coworking group, which is now happening in dozens of cities around the world.
Some of the panelists are frustrated by what’s happening with social media because people are too focused on the number of followers and friends and not the relationships and good you are doing. Rather than hyping new interfaces (Facebook) and touting numbers (Twitter followers), focus on real life change, events and people.
Brian Oberkirch has these tips: 1) Give side projects some front and center time. 2) Share. Leave money on the table. Generate more value than you capture. Make things good for the people who use your service.
Kristina Halvorson says that traditional advertising, not marketing, is fading. It’s now a two-way street, and advertising isn’t engaging that way. Marketing, however, will be around as long as there are good products worth knowing about.
Quotes: “Ask yourself, ‘Would you care if this things went away?’ If the answer if no, something is wrong. … Do things that matter. (Gimmicky marketing tactics like the Skittles homepage) are beneath us. They don’t draw on the things that make us useful. Lift your game. Do epic (stuff).” — Brian Oberkirch
Takeaways: Talk to people like they are humans beings, and people are not numbers. Be brave about doing what you love and what you are passionate about. Don’t be distracted by the numbers; it gets in the way of experimentation and keeps you focused on the short term, not the long term.
It’s not about what happens today, it’s what happens over the long run.
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Core Conversation: Reduce MySpace Between Waist & Thighs So Wiki Live Longer
Date/Time: 5 p.m. Friday.
Panelists: David Eckoff (President, Revolutionary Ventures), Biray Alsac (Health/Fitness Educator, FITTmaxx Institute).
The gist: Eckoff, a techie who used to lead a very unhealthy lifestyle (join the club! The fat club!) and Alsac, a fitness educator who is interested in technology, led a well attended core conversation discussing how technology can aid fitness. If you see people on Twitter saying they’re exercising or cooking healthy, for instance, it might be a good reminder to do it yourself. Transparent, subtle reminders can be valuable tools to promote an active state of thinking. There are also many apps available that help you track your workouts or diet and can cross-post to social networking sites. (Fitizens.com and exercisefriends.com, for instance.) One site, Extracon.com, will even text you reminders to exercise. There are plenty of tools and it’s worth experimenting to find the ones that work best for you.
Quotes: On wasting time instead of being active: “Watching YouTube videos is like eating potato chips. You can’t watch just one.” — Eckoff. “Stop calling it exercise. People hate to exercise. Call it physical activity.” — Alsac.
Takeaways: The new Core Conversation format, with a round table at the center of the room instead of multiple tables, works MUCH better than last year’s approach. And a very clever title for the session doesn’t hurt, either. It doesn’t take as much time to live healthily than it sounds. Take the stairs. Just because you don’t see immediate results doesn’t mean it’s not working. Whether it’s an iPhone app, a text messaging reminder or an online calorie tracker, there are plenty of new ways to tackle an old problem: don’t be afraid to try them out.
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Gary Vaynerchuk loves you
Gary Vaynerchuk, the energetic social-media loving wine video blogger I road tripped to Houston with last June, is in Austin this week for a SXSW panel on video blogging. We caught up this afternoon about the new projects up his sleeves, including pending parenthood, and why he doesn’t mind getting stopped every 30 seconds to greet a fan.
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Hugging Loren Feldman of 1938media.com
For several days before the festival, I’d been telling Internet provocateur Loren Feldman of the aggro satire video site (with puppets) 1938media that when I saw him at South by Southwest, I was going to give him a hug.
At first he resisted, shooting off a string of profanity and protest on Twitter. But I knew that I could wear him down over time with my incredible persistence. (Just ask my wife.)
That hug was finally delivered in the TechSet Lounge, about 4:05 p.m. You can see it below.
I give good hugs.
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Panel: Bike sharing
Panel title: Plan B: Can An Ad Guy Bring Bike Sharing to America?
Date and time: Friday, March 13 at 5 p.m.
Panelists: Alex Bogusky of Crispin, Porter and Bogusky
The gist: Ad agency Crispin, Porter and Bogusky has teamed up with health care company Humana and Trek bicycles to create B-cycle, a venture that promotes bike sharing. Crispin is a well-known ad agency with $1.5 annual billings. Clients include Volkswagen, Hulu, Microsoft, Best Buy, American Express and Domino’s Pizza. Did the viral campaign “Subservient Chicken” for Burger King and more recently the talking mannequin ads for clothing retailer Old Navy.
Quotes: “I’ve never been a giant fan of advertising.” “I love the people in advertising.” “I get more joy out of reading AdBusters than Adweek.” “Anything good I’ve been apart of has been the result of sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong.” “Mannequins have not smiled since the Depression.” “We are living in interesting times, moving from slightly depressing to suicide-inducing.” “Will bike sharing save the world? No. But it just has to help.” “It’s so easy to ride a bike, you don’t need special clothes.” “I remember when they said magazines were going away because everyone was going to watch VHS.”
Takeaways: Standing-room only at this extremely non-tech panel. Bogusky spoke a little about Crispin: “A holding company for smart people,” with quirky rules like no timesheets. (Cheers when Bogusky said this.)
Bogusky talked about startling statistics related to driving and pollution, including that Al Gore told him that it rained for the first time this year in the Arctic. “Some of this stuff really bums me out,” Bogusky said. It’s easy to get frustrated, why do anything if it can’t be enough, Bogusky said. But you don’t have to solve global warming, you just have to help move it forward a little bit through innovation, he said.
Boulder used to have a bike-sharing program, he said, but the bikes kept getting stolen (similar to Austin’s Yellow Bike Project.) So Crispin started helping design a bike sharing program in Boulder. They developed a logo with a B in a circle, similar to other traffic or city signs. It’s not easy to make a bike that works for people from five foot two to six foot four, Bogusky said, but Trek made a bicycle that did this. Also developed a system for swiping a credit card for obtaining a bike from a bike station. It tells you which bike to choose and it is unlocked so you can remove it. They started testing this in Washington, D.C. and almost got the city of Minneapolis to use it. Then they redesigned the system and added benches for people to sit at the bike stations. They are also exploring using solar panels or adding covers and lighting. Bogusky said they now have 1,000 bikes going into the city of Denver. There’s a lot of momentum behind this movement and Bogusky is even having meetings on setting one up in Austin. “The larger cities are more aggressive on this,” he said.
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Is it just me or is it more crowded this year?
I’m here at SXSW Interactive and it took 45 minutes just to get my registration badge, with the line wrapping around the building.
I heard other attendees complain that the popular “How to Rawk SXSW” panel was full and had a 15-person deep line outside just to get in.
Nevertheless, I will soldier on! My first panel this afternoon is “Plan B: Can an Ad Guy Bring Bike Sharing to America?” with Alex Bogusky from the Miami-based Crispin, Porter and Bogusky agency. (Mark Taylor, the head creative director for local agency GSD&M Idea City came from Crispin.)
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Panel: My Boss Doesn’t Get It …
My Boss Doesn’t Get It: Championing Social Media to the Man
Date/Time: 2 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Christian Caldwell (American Heart Association), Miles Sims (Small World Labs) Peter Kim (Dachis Corp.), Michael Wilson (Small World Labs), Rebecca Caroe (Creative Agency Secrets)
The gist: The panel discussed how to start a social media project when you have to get it past “the man” — any gatekeeper at your company who might be resistant.
Quotes: “Anybody who brings up the word ‘control’ is going to be a problem for you from the start.” — Christian Caldwell.
Takeaways: Wilson summarized the discussion well as the panel wound up:
— Manage expectations. Your social media project doesn’t have to be Facebook to be a success.
— Decide on the measurements or metrics that matter. Track them from the beginning. And, as Kim, pointed out, the more you can show that these measures result in financial gain, the better things will go.
— Get people behind your effort. If you have adversaries, whether they’re the legal team or just the resident curmudgeons, involve them and make them allies. They’re probably just scared of what they don’t understand about social media.
We also liked Sims’ key points when you’re considering a social-media campaign:
— What can it do for customers? How does it help them?
— What can your organization handle? What resources can you put toward social media?
— Who within the organization can you get on board easily?
Pictured: Peter Kim (top) and Miles Sims
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Panel: User-Generated Content: State of the Union
Date/Time: 2 p.m. Friday
Panelists: Dean Mccall (Founder, IdeaGin), Stephen Newman (CEO, Mouth Watering Media), Todd Morrey (Mosso: The Rackspace Cloud), Wes Wilson (President, IncSpring), Chris Tolles (Moderator. CEO, Topix).
The gist: User-generated content can be a great thing — it can build community, spread news and help carry the load of content creation. But getting people to start generating content is a big challenge and dealing with those participants can be a pain and bring up lots of legal issues because, in the words of Tolles, “they suck.” Those users will figure out loopholes and that mob rule makes it a challenge to monetize user-generated content. When done right (Linked In, Threadless, IMDB), it can generate great two-way communication. Early in the panel, an applause war broke out between the adjacent Ballrooms B and C. I think Ballroom B (“My Boss Doesn’t Get It”) won.
Quotes: Instead of just taking user-generated content and making his company money, “We’re hoping that we can all get rich together” — Wilson “I heard Diddy talking on Ellen about Twitter and I thought the end times were nigh” — Tolles
Takeaways: Find ways to make good content (highly rated comments, for instance) rise to the top. Digg is a good example of a popular site that has found effective ways to create hierarchies of user content. Building a good moderator or karma system is not easy.
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SXSWi Schwag Bag: The Unschwaggening
A lot of paper, an orange sock from Adobe and some sort of giant camera bag.
Also, some Internet superstar trading cards.
These are just a few of the things you’ll find in the South by Southwest Interactive schwag bag.
Want close-ups? Check out the larger versions over on Flickr.com.
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And it begins…
… right… NOW!
I’m heading over to the Austin Convention Center in a few minutes to pick up my Interactive badge and start this crazy thing we call South by Southwest Interactive.
There are a million things left to do, and I wanted to go through all my SXSWi e-mails one last time to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but at some point you have to just let go and jump into the water. (Lots of water today; the weather outside is awful.)
Here are a few loose ends I wanted to mention before we dive into panel reviews and festival coverage:
- Austin’s Radar.net just released an update to its iPhone app that allows integration with Flickr. Very handy for posting photos on the go and perfect timing for the fest.
- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be on “Oprah” today. I’ll have to miss it, but hope to watch it late tonight. I wonder if people will be talking about the fest. In the newsroom, we’ve been talking a lot about the new home page design (not all of us have it yet).
- My full schedule for the fest (still tweaking it) is at http://sxsw2009.sched.org/omarg.
- Not related to the fest, but today is the last day of work for our editorial cartoonist Ben Sargent and TV writer Diane Holloway. To say that this makes the first day of SXSWi bittersweet would be a vast understatement.
- The song (NSFW at all) “South by Girls” is taking the fest by storm (maybe).
- Austin’s Powered Inc. will be putting up podcasts from the fest starting Monday. They’ve got Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, Angela Benton, Chris Pirillo and Cathy Brooks lined up.
- Our A-List will be all over the fest taking pictures. Smile for the camera!
Lots more to say, surely, but I think i should just head on over. See you attendees there!
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