FreezeCrowd visits SxSW Interactive
Fun filled South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) is filled with Marketing and Networking
First I want to thank SxSW for putting on such a great event. Without such a great event, I wouldn’t be able to write such great things about this event.
The week was filled with fun, entertainment, and overwhelming crowds of people at SxSWi. It was a great event to attend, and what the national conference brought to me was an event filled with networking, marketing, and festivity all in the great city of Austin, Texas. Perhaps SxSWi is the perfect event for FreezeCrowd, as we are about collectively connecting people in group photos or even crowds. There were plenty of crowds to freeze, and at times it seemed overcrowded, to the point it was hard to move, or as if you were in a traffic jam. In fact, I heard there were as many as 20,000 people at the even, which covered both interactive and music.
It was my first time ever at the SxSWi event, and although I’ve previously been to Austin, it’s definitely not the same city when it’s filled with SxSWers. Although FreezeCrowd was not one of the companies that invested in an exhibit hall booth, or even had a big presence at the event, I was proud to tell a lot of people in the tech industry about the future of social networking with FreezeCrowd. I had the pleasure to meet some great people that I have only virtually visited their blogs or profiles on the Internet, and some people I looked forward to meeting who I did not see in such a great crowd of people even though I was in the same general vicinity. I knew they were there, as we both checked in. I even sat with Gary Vaynerchuk as I watched one of the presenters from Pepsi talk, and was fortunate to have him sign his latest book “The Thank You Economy” which is a great book. On a side note, I’m lucky to be mentioned in the back of the book because I designed one of the covers for the book.
Here are some of the things I enjoyed at SxSWi:
1. Caught a Chevy, there was a “Catch a Chevy” outside that took us from the convention center to the Hyatt
2. I took a marketing survey, it seemed as though it was obvious that this was for Samsung, and it was great to get a Starbucks card in exchange.
3. Hung out in the Samsung blogger lounge, caught up with a few friends
4. Watched Guy Kawasaki speak, as well as some other great speakers and entrepreneurs such as Reid Hoffman and Gary Vaynerchuk talk about “The Thank You Economy”
5. Enjoyed hanging out in the Sobe Lounge, and drank some great Sobe
6. Attended the Mashable Party and Google Party. It was great, I listened to some 80s music
7. Played Foursquare, the real game with the President of the company Foursquare in the Pepsi Max Lot
8. Entered to win an Audi car, among other contests. Don’t think I won, yet it was worth a try
9. Had dinner at P.F. Changs and some other great restaurants
10. Watched crowds of people
Here are some of my thoughts on SxSWi:
1. If you’ve never been, you must go at least once
2. There’s too much going on, too many speakers and panelists
3. It’s more about the networking than the panels. I gave out at least 200 business cards, and used some new services such as Hashable.
4. It’s great for people watching, if you like to watch people, this is the show to attend
5. Schedule your hotel and badge long before the event. If anything, this was my biggest mistake, I made last minute reservations. If I could have done it all over again, I would’ve picked a hotel near the convention center so that I wouldn’t have to take a shuttle.
6. Don’t try to go to every (it’s impossible) talk, just the ones you think are in your industry or related to what you’re doing. You’re there to learn a little, yet it’s much more of a networking experience. If you’re going to every talk, you might be avoiding the blogger lounges and some of the other great hang outs.
7. There are too many posters and flyers. It’s overwhelming, all the posters I saw at this event, and all the flyers. I collected more flyers than events I could possibly attend, as well as more business cards than people I could possibly connect with.
8. Take a camera or use the one on your cell phone, there’s so many cool things you’ll see. I wish I had taken more pictures of some things.
9. Charge your mobile, you’ll run out of battery quickly with all the apps and checkins.
10. Get a roommate. I’m glad I found a great roommate who wanted to attend things, explore, and was respectful. It also saved on the cost of the hotel room.
There’s much more to talk about this event, and sure I left some great things out. I’m looking forward to next year when FreezeCrowd will have millions of users. It’s the only way to think. It would be great for us to be on one of the panels as well, and even a bigger presence at the event.
