From March 13 - 17, 2009 a mission of 12 delegates (6 from AACTI and 6 from Digital Alberta) headed to SXSWi Conference in Austin, Texas. Here are some of their stories...
Andrea Bell, Balance Media
The SXSW conference was definitely worthwhile and beneficial. The panels were really appropriate to our company's areas of expertise, and yet there was still an opportunity to learn about trends outside of our space. There were so many creative people to meet and projects to explore--I was inspired, and found myself more than once saying, "Hey! We could do that!" or even better, "Hey! We're already doing that!" As much as I stay on top of digital media trends here at home, there was still so much to take in at a conference filled with thought leaders. When innovative people come together, the result is bound to be more innovation!
And what a great way to meet a high-calibre group of people from both industry and education. Talking with AACTI opened my eyes to the possibilities of industry working with research and education to develop innovative online projects--and the AACTI link has given me a face (actually, several) to make those possibilities a reality.
It's funny to think that it took a trip to Texas to connect and brainstorm with people from my own province. I see growing friendships and collaborations in the future as a direct result of this market access program.
Cameron Prockiw, Cornerstone Technologies
I had a fantastic time at the SXSW conference and found it to be extremely valuable on many levels. First of all, many of the speakers and panel discussions were very informative and inspiring, especially the Chris Anderson keynote. Chris is a very insightful writer who is most famous for coining the phrase “the long tail” and has now written another book (Free) which examines pricing models based upon the premise of giving away most of a product or service for free and how that can be beneficial to a business in the long run. These concepts are especially applicable to on-line products and services and the discussion of the evolution of “free” is one which has become a major movement, so the discussion was very thought provoking. Look out for a “free” version of Free as being true to the title, we were told that it would be made available for free in some form.
The other aspect of the conference which was very valuable was the Accelerator where early stage companies presented their innovations to a panel of experts who picked apart their ideas, business models, and presentation styles. Like a live version of Dragon’s Den, the Accelerator combined both the opportunity to see the newest and coolest online applications, and also provided insight into why those products were either likely or unlikely to be commercially viable.
But the best part of SXSW was the opportunity to meet so many others with similar interests. The Digital Alberta group were all very like minded and I’m sure many of us will work together in the future now that we know of each others specialties and capabilities. And I also met a lot of other people from all over the world, many of which could be customers for our products and services, or suppliers of products or services which we could use. The networking opportunities were endless. But what I found most surprising was the opportunities for collaboration with AACTI, which I wasn’t previously aware of.
All in all, the SXSW conference was a very inspiring and informative experience, but the friendships and contacts made will likely be the most enduring benefits. A big thank-you to everyone at Digital Alberta and AACTI for organizing our group.
Sheelagh Matthews, THE IDEA GARDEN
Even the conferences are big in Texas!
Almost 11,200 delegates descended upon the Austin Convention Center (a facility that takes up about six city blocks) for SXSW Interactive 2009. Even a telecom giant was taken by surprise at the enormity of it all: the massive amount of Twittering at SXSWi crashed the AT&T system, forcing the company to upgrade its Austin network to restore service.
From all that I learned and experienced at SXSWi, it turns out that what's old is new and that simple is better than complex.
For example, the old-fashioned value of authenticity was often mentioned as an important foundational block, especially for social media, an interactive aspect high on the SXSWi 2009 agenda. I must admit to finding this mildly amusing, having witnessed countless delegates Twittering or texting to a "friend" far away instead of "interacting" with somebody standing right next to them. Thankfully, the corporate parties at night (think: Stampede!) had everyone tucking their iPhones and Blackberrys away to make room for face time with interesting people all actively engaged and excited about the world of digital interactive.
Then there was the distinction between technology requiring high-cognitive skills and low-cognitive skills, with emphasis on how human beings are wired to receive information visually. Apple's development of high-tech tools that only require low-cognitive skills (read: simple to figure out) is an example of this.
Between the panels, keynotes, the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator (akin to Dragon's Den), the Screenburn games arcade, and all the great networking opportunities, I made numerous strategic contacts, gathered tons of competitive intelligence (it seems there is quite a bit of uncertainty as to what we ultimately want the Web to do for us, which, to me, translates into WOO, short for a "World of Opportunity"), and even made a few friends. I learned about things from mash-ups and dongles (not as naughty as they sound) to WOC (Wisdom of Crowds), and the many benefits of Twitter. I came home with a bunch of T-shirts to prove I was there, as well as a stack of business cards from SXSWi delegates from all around the world.
All in all, SXSWi 2009 was an exhilarating and exhausting experience, one that I would highly recommend to anyone swimming in, or planning to swim in, the digital media pond. After five days of being immersed in all things interactive I returned home with far more knowledge and key industry contacts than expected, all the better for competitive positioning in the exciting interactive marketplace.
To get a taste of the SXSWi 2009 experience for yourself, or to relive a few memories or catch a missed presentation, check out: :
Austin360.com - a fantastic blog covering the culture, festivities and a heap of panel presentations from the 2009 conference.
Videos of several SXSWi
panels and keynotes:
Many thanks to Digital
Alberta and its delegation's sponsors for making my trip to SXSWi 2009 possible.
It was truly an important event, one that I'm sure will have long-lasting,
far-reaching, and industry-growing benefits.
