The Business Adventurer
My head is about to explode in the best way possible. It was my first SXSW and I don’t know what the organizers intended for the tribes that descended on Austin for this but leaving in a head spinning awe is probably a good sign. Read ahead for the lowdown on an awesome SXSW 2011...
Real conversations
If I’d have counted the number of charging points or plug outlets at SXSW it would probably have been in the thousands. In the most wired conference that probably exists, it is ironic that the best thing about it was real face to face conversations. I hope it serves as a reminder that nothing should ever and will ever beat that. Without exception, I learnt something from every single conversation I had and the common thread in my learning’s: passion. Everyone had a passion for something and it was insanely infectious.
Austin Locals
Unsure of what the real term is, I didn’t like ‘ites’ so I went with ‘ers’. About 8 pm on Tuesday we bumped into Rusty and Lizzie - two very cool young Austiners attending SXSW. For the next 3 hours they took us to a few parties around town and talked about the Austin techie boom, the growth of food carts during the recession and how young Austin kids loved Voltron (Defender of the Universe). I met many remarkable people on this trip and Rusty was one them…you heard about him hear first. I already loved Austin but this went a long way to proving why it deservedly hosts one of the largest techfests in the US.
Stand Etiquette
Having been on both sides of the stand at conferences, it still amazes me that companies fail to understand the basic point of being at there: engaging. Every single person counts – today more than ever when we have the power to communicate our experiences across umpteen different mediums to hundreds of people in our networks. So for those who just sat there glued to their laptops as people walked past, learn a lesson from those that said hello, had a chat and told people about their products - those products will be bought!
Website – 1, Revenue - 0
I spent the vast majority of my time at SXSW talking to people at the tradeshow and the acid test was simple: so what do you do? If I was left with a ‘what?’ 10 minutes later that was a pretty bad sign. It doesn’t matter how fancy your stand is, how many freebies you give me - I can’t use your product if you cannot articulate it to me in 5 minutes or less. Many felt like an unelegant concoction of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare packaged as a ‘new product’. I was left to wonder where the substance was and more importantly whether the investors were on crack when they committed their funds…
Best of British
I couldn’t write about SXSW without some reference to (my) witnessing the great British presence of tech and of course music at the conference. As a recently migrated to New York Londoner – I was very proud. UKDTI had sponsored 30 companies to attend and was promoting inward investment to the growing ‘Silicon Roundabout’ of East London near the new Olympic Village. Exciting times. The effort helped by a great British fry up on Tuesday morning and the lineup of some of the UK’s most talented artists and musicians.
The Tea-Pot-Cup
This object stirred up an unexplained excitement in me similar to when I first discovered curly fries. As you can see from the photo, it is a tea-pot which cleverly and conveniently wedges itself into the cup from which you drink the tea. Genius. Simply genius.
India Technology Summit
This was the best panel I attended. With 500,000 new mobile users daily and more people having access to mobile phones than toilets - I wondered why there wasn’t more an Indian technology presences at SXSW. Regardless, the panel were united in trying to solve India’s most pressing and fundamental socio-economic issues through entrepreneurship and were showing real signs of progress. From job creation in India’s poorest areas to encouraging more people to vote – I hope there are more entrepreneurs like you who are motivated to solve the really difficult issues and engage with next generation of investors and social entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs
I had to finish with a note about some of the amazing entrepreneurs I met (and travelled there with from Columbia Business School). Talking to them about their companies is really what made this trip and it reminded me why I love business and I was at the very heart of it at SXSW…so thanks to all of you for making it a great 4 days. A few of your companies are below and I look forward to seeing them grow…
Arts and Technology www.seeper.com
Great for tourists (Iphone app) www.traveltrot.com
Marketer, writer, designer www.rustykocian.com
Going to a festival? Find out whose car you can share www.gocarshare.com
Hugh MacLeod’s inspiring art www.gapingvoid.com
Making energy accessible www.fenixIntl.com
Building the UK digital mission www.chinwag.com
Awesome images www.shutterstock.com
Getting the word out and helping Japan www.ubershare.com
Job creation in India www.babajob.com
See you all in 2012...
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