MA Social Media

Currently I am in Austin, TX for South by Southwest (SXSW) which, is considered to be one of the biggest Interactive, Film and Music festival/conference in the World. Thanks to Dave Harte, Jon Hickman and John Kirk for giving me this opportunity, as well as Birmingham City University. As my first time at SXSW, it has been fun, exciting, informative, and exhausting. What makes SXSW one of the most exciting conferences is not the panels, speakers, and trade shows (although they are very informative and useful) but its the people aspect of the conference which, is what is the most valuable. Believe it or not its the moments before the panels as well as after the panels, along with the parties and sitting around waiting for your iPhone to charge at the lounge is what makes it an unique experience.  I have met many people here and built a stronger relationship with the ones that I had already met in Birmingham.

In the past week I have attended more than 30 panels which has resulted in information overload. However, there were some key panels that have inspired me to start new projects as I go back home to Pennsylvania and then back to Birmingham. One thing that I have learned and observed is that the panel speakers aren’t necessarily the experts, its the people in the audience, who are asking the questions and challenging the assumptions of the panel that know more than the panel speakers. For everyone that is interested in seeing the tweets from all of the panels at SXSW have a look at SessionTweets. Also have a look at PepsiCo’s Zeitgeist project, which will show you trends, locations of tweets, photos and almost everything you need to know.

The Interactive part of SXSW was extremely overwhelming, especially because it was my first time. However, I think if I decide to come back again next year (which the chances are very high) I have learned some things that will make it so much better. Now that the Interactive one is over, the Music one started yesterday. The Music part kicked off and the culture of the conference has completely changed. Not so much of the free drinks, cocktails, foods, and parties, but more of the people. You can tell that the nerds and geeks are gone!

I am still in the information overload state, which is completely fine, but I will reflect more on the whole SXSW experience, once I get some time to sit down and think about it.