The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences and Festivals can be considered the Super Bowl of developing trends and technology. This annual festival hosted in Austin, Texas, offers a forum for some of the most brilliant minds and cutting edge companies to come together and unveil jaw-dropping ideas and products.
The official SXSW website describes the festival perfectly: “Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.”
We’ve heard through the grapevine that SXSW interactive can be a little overwhelming due to keynote speeches, panel discussions, networking events like the “Amazing Things Will Happen” brunch, book readings, workshops, meetups, mentor sessions, and sponsored parties like Marketing Cloud, all jam packed into four days.
So how can a SXSW rookie keep up and get the most out of this incredible festival? We turned to SXSW veterans and asked them for their number one tip for everyone heading down to Austin this week.
(PS: Want to meet Vocus at SXSW? See our events below!)
1. Scott Stratten- Speaker and author of “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging” and “The Book of Business Awesome: How Engaging Your Customers And Employees Can Make Your Business Thrive”
2. C.C. Chapman- Founder of the Cleon Foundation and author of “Amazing Things Will Happen” and “Content Rules”
3. Dennis Crowley- CEO and cofounder of Foursquare
4. Jeff Esposito- Social Media Community Manager at Vistaprint
5. David Armano- Managing Director at Edelman Digital Chicago
6. Calvin Lee- CEO designer and brand strategist of Mayhem Studios
7. Ramon Ray- Author of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” and Editor and Technology Evangelist at smallbiztechnology.com
8. Wendy Harman- Director of Social Strategy for American Red Cross
9. Tom Conrad- CTO/EVP Product at Pandora
10. Peter Shankman- Founder of Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Dell Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Common themes: be flexible, wear comfortable shoes, and recognize that you won’t be able to do everything.
Will you be at SXSW? The Vocus team will be and we’d love to meet you! We will be using the hashtag #SXSWvocus for updates throughout the Interactive Festival. In addition, we will be hosting a couple of parties:
1. Vocus is thrilled to sponsor C.C. Chapman’s “Amazing Things Will Happen” brunch on Saturday, March 9th from 11am-1pm at Iron Cactus. The lure of the event is so “amazing” that it is currently sold out, but people are welcome to come at the time of the event to see if there’s any availability. To stay in the know on all of the “amazing” happenings of the brunch, please follow the hashtag #SXSWamazing.
2. Vocus is pleased to co-sponsor the official marketer’s party of SXSW with Marketing Cloud, 1 Nite With Mike, featuring Mike Relm at Stage on Sixth. Tickets are still available, so register now!
Safe travels to everyone heading to Austin! If you have any additional tips for SXSW rookies, please share in the comment section below!
Image: joey.parsons (Creative Commons)
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