SXSW Interactive and the Exchange of Ideas

I’m pleased to announce that I will be representing Cramer-Krasselt at SXSW Interactive 2015 and obviously, I’m super excited to attend this annual, sharing of the minds convention. Even though this is my second time attending the Interactive festival, I’m still very much eager to learn, network and see what the future of marketing may hold.

As a digital strategy director at the agency, my goal at SXSW is to not only listen and assimilate new methods of digital marketing and innovations within the category, but to exchange ideas with others in the field. Where the previous time I attended SXSW, I took on a more passive role within the festival and soaked in as much information about trends, innovation and methodologies, this year my goal is to be more active. This year, my goal is to not only obtain as much information around trends, innovations and marketing methodologies, but it’s also about sharing and conversing about contemporary approaches to digital marketing with others in the fields.

SXSW INTERACTIVE

What does this secondary goal really mean? Well, it’s less about networking and more about the conversation, debate and brainstorming new ideas. It means it’s more of an active role during the week. Yes, there is the exchange of ideas with people at the festival, but I feel as though it’s more one person speaking to a room of 30. Discourse and dialogue in-between, over coffee on the sidewalk or at a restaurant is where the ideas discussed come to life.

This is not to say that I won’t be attending any sessions, far from it. I have planned out a full calendar of sessions, and yes I’m pretty double-booked. So far, my focus of the sessions will be on new technology and consumer tech approaches to wearables, the quantified self, and the Internet of Things as well as overarching innovations in digital marketing and new ways to think about the consumer.

It is also important to note, I will be assisting in a Cramer-Krasselt led workshop on Friday, March 13th at 11am called, “How to Keep Ideas Alive After SXSW.” I know that the workshop is already sold out, but if you want to discuss the ideas and approaches from that session, I’m happy to meet up afterward to discuss how you can take all these ideas back to your organization and make them come to life.

So, with all that said, if you want to meet up and discuss what we have been learning at the sessions at SXSW, I’m all for it. If you want to meet up to discuss potential agency and client relationships, I’m all for it. Basically, I’m open to the free exchange of ideas and how that is going to move our industry forward.

I will be there for the entire SXSW Interactive portion of the conference. If you want to hit me up, feel free to reach out to me using the social SXSW portal, Twitter (@ebreakdown) or on LinkedIn. Basically, you can find me anywhere.

With that said, I look forward to the new ideas, thoughts, methods and innovations at SXSW. I look forward to meeting new and inspiring people and of course, I look forward to the parties.

See you in Austin!

Recap: Thank You Chicago!

Well, with much ado, I traveled to Chicago on Wednesday and stayed to Thursday. (Thank you to Laurie for putting me up for the night.) My travels to Chicago are fairly frequent, so it’s not an uncommon thing for me to go there. But, meeting people from the Twitterverse is fairly uncommon of me.

I had the pleasure to meet with my friend @fromdy3to60618 also I had the chance to meet @applegirl and @veronicaludwig. Both are very welcoming people full of knowledge and excellent conversation.

It was great to see my long time friend @fromdy3to60618 during his lunch. It has been a while since I’ve seen him and we had a lot to catch up on. I know our conversation was short, but I’m sure I will be down there once again to hang out with him more.

@applegirl is the voice behind @edelmandigital, a large digital services agency in Chicago. Come to find out that she loves to meet people IRL (In Real Life) from the online community, which is pretty excellent of her. That, in my opinion is exactly what social media is all about, social conversation not just in the virtual world, but extending that into the physical one. We had a brilliant conversation regarding social media, where I want to be in a few years, Chicago, life at @edelmandigital, iPhones and iPads. I would like to personally thank her for taking time out of her lunch to visit with a neighbor to the North.

@veronicaludwig is an independent recruiter. Now, this woman is full of life and hilarity. We have been meaning to meet up in person for a long while now. She is just as selfless as @applegirl in extending her hand out to new people, especially those who love Chicago. Over coffee in Millennium Park, we spoke about my ambitions for the Chicago market, what I specifically do, where her career is heading along with some fun conversations about media and networking.

After these sessions, I met up with my friend Laurie to get prepared to head to the @Razorfish recruitment party. In all honesty, I didn’t know what to expect out of this. I knew there would be many people attending, but I had no idea there would be a line of 75+ people out the door waiting to get in. That really illustrates how many people are out of work. From there, we left, got dinner and decided to head back and chat up over some wine.

All in all, it was a fairly exhausting trip, exhausting in a good way. I met some very cool and welcoming people from Chicago. @applegirl and @veronicaludwig catalyzed my belief that Chicago is a very open and nurturing city. I can’t wait for the next time I head down there. Hopefully I get to see them again and meet others. (And possibly, get a job.)