At the end of my summary posts, I'll put a list of other's SXSW posts together that I've found insightful. Here goes Evening One (for me)- Friday and Day Two - Saturday's keynote:
I arrived in Austin just in time to get registered and meet up with a few friends in the @techset lounge.
I'm the one sitting with my back toward you at the front table, starting my first afternoon SXSW-style with beer next to my laptop as I was tracking down where my cohorts were within the Austin Convention Center.
The place is a freaking maze. And y'all know how directionally challenged I am. It was obviously by the late hour and well, because it's SXSW, the first day was going to be dedicated to hitting parties. I threw my party pacing plan out the window.
The TechSet Lounge was sponsored by Windows Mobile and hosted by amazing socmed dual Brian Solis (@briansolis) and Steph Gresta stephagresta.) They were truly amazing and appeared to be there 24/7 making sure each guest was taken care of. Even those of us that didn't blog a lick while we were there - well, I tweeted a lot though so technically I'm covered, right?! - were definitely made to feel right at home.
Friday Welcome Parties. Given this was my first year at SXSW, I had heard all the rumors about the Southby parties...but really nothing can prepare you for the mass amount of people, party vibe and all the 3D twitter avatars that you bump into - it was a bit overwhelming.
Our first stop was at the Social Media Group kick-off party at The Six Bar. Let me tell you, Maggie Fox knows how to throw a fantastic fling.
Here Maggie is with her husband, Ryan. They were welcoming the thousands of folks in one by one! I'm sure they were exhausted but you wouldn't have known it by their enthusiasm. Six is an amazing, multi-level bar in the heart of downtown with a rooftop view that is gorgeous. Even though Six's website needs a refresh, I'm glad our evening started at Six with Maggie. We hit the tail end of the Blue Sky Factory's party hosted by Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) for a bit, it was nice to see Chris without the SXSW swarm in tow. Then we headed to the TechStar RatPat-themed shindig at The Belmont. While there I ran into my twitter buddy Aaron Strout (@aaronstrout), and let me tell you that dude can give a good bear hug. Then finally ended the evening by having a quiet dinner with a few friends.
A huge thank you to Lionel Manchaca(@LionelatDELL) for escorting fellow SXSW noob, Mark Logan (@mlogan)and I around that first evening.
And the Saturday conference highlight for me, was Tony Hseih's (@Zappos) Keynote. Because customer advocacy is in my blood and Tony oozes it, his talk really resonated with me as I'm sure it did most. We are all connected and Tony gets that.
Kudos to the SXSW crew for having a brand keynote. The conversation starts when brands listen...not agencies on behalf of brands, but actual brands.
When brands listen to the buzz, it's their first step toward the less shout, more rev model. If you listen, show you are listening through actionable steps - your customers will reward you with brand favorability which bottom line equals more rev.
Listen and learn from Tony.
Delivering Happiness - Part 1:
Delivering Happiness - Part 2:
And here's Tony's slides:
Zappos - SXSW - 3-14-09
View more presentations from zappos.
More to come on the rest of SXSW soon.
Photos taken by: alexdesigns, and allowscriptaccess.
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