Today marked the last day of the interactive section of SXSW. As I prepare to leave Austin, I am convinced that this event should be in my calendar every year.
I doubt there is another event as complete for interactive professionals where you can find this combination of great networking, hundreds of educational sessions, outstanding speakers and exhibitors offering the latest products and innovations. All of this in the middle of a fun and casual environment that invites people to have longer conversations leading to the exchange of knowledge — changing the way we think, the things we do and how we do them.
As I start to process it all, here are a few random non-technical things that stuck in my head:
- Everybody keeps talking about social media, and there is no question it’s here to stay. Social media is great but content is king.
- Be an entrepreneur. That doesn’t mean you need to have your own company, you can be an entrepreneur at your job. Muhammad Yunus said “All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves we were all self employed… finding our food, feeding ourselves. That’s where the human history began. As civilization came we suppressed it. We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.”
- When going after a dream or idea, invest in time and/or money and be willing to risk as much as you are hoping to achieve.
- Mobile phones and mobile apps are changing the world and will keep doing so. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly and optimized.
- Ambient location apps will keep popping up more and more.
- Mobile app wallets will take over leather wallets sooner than we think.
- Food trucks rock! Austin has 1,000+ food trucks. I wish DC had more of them too.
- Geeks are the new rock stars—think Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Biz Stone from Twitter, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin from Google.
- I need to stop arguing with Randy about too much white space. White space is good. It helps communicate ideas in a better way when used appropriately.
Who wants to go to SXSW next year? Contact me and let’s get a group together!
More to come from my SXSW partner in crime, Josh Levie, Fixation’s Interactive Project Manager.