Five SXSW talks that rocked my world

So then. Day Five of SXSW Interactive. The last hurrah of what has been a whirling, swirling, life-affirming jamboree of ideas, tech and innovation.

The curtain is soon to come crashing down. Thus, the many thousands of interactive disciples who have descended upon Austin Convention Centre and the adjacent upmarket hotels that serve as venues will head home giddy with all they've experienced.

If they're like me, they'll be keen and eager to evangelise the many things they've seen and heard. There is knowledge to be shared, inspiration to be dispensed.

Over the last few days, myself and my Indicia colleague, Steve Manser, have made a series of videos about our SXSW experiences. If you're late to the party, do have a delve.

But, they're not the whole story. Far from it.

I thought I'd better place fingers on keyboard over the next few days to give you a more detailed account of my SXSW experience. 

First up: which talkers wowed me? Let me write of five.

Jonah Berger Invisible Influence and Winning at SXSW 2016

So suave. So dapper. So charming. JB was first up in the big Austin Convention Centre Ballroom on Day 1. For a noob like me, this was the perfect talk to help hone my SXSW plan of attack. 

And that was the point. You've got to have a plan. Once it's established, you can throw it away. Or maybe file it  if you'd rather not be too frivolous.

And don't always join those long queues. They can be deceptive. An immense snake-line of people doesn't always lead to knowledge nirvana. Especially if the session features a panel. 

Here's my SXSW battled-scarred insight: panels suck. 

Gary Vaynerchuk #AskGaryVee Gary Vanyerchuk Answers It All

I'm a big fan of GV. Some people aren't. That's how it is. I read somewhere he gets pumped before he performs by thinking about how much he'd like to punch his audience in the face. Rarely, does this actually happen.

Gary has a new book out. He was keen to promote it through a high-octane question-and-answer session. It worked a treat. He seems much smarter, less brash, when you're up close. Plus, his social media knowledge and strategic thinking goes Russian-mineshaft deep.

The biggest revelation was his improv comedy quips. He was funny. Really funny. Basically he bossed the room with confidence, charisma and, that
rarest of qualities, authenticity.

He loves what he does. As a result, his audience loves him for it. Watch it right now.

Adam Tyler Digital Identities: Modern Underground Currencies

Inspired by Jonah Berger's advice to explore realms that sat outside my comfort zone, I went to this session with no idea or expectation as to what would happen.

Adam Tyler claims to be in his 30s, looks about twelve, drank an ocean of Mountain Dew and took us on a jaw-droppingly good live demo of how much identity information is out there in the wrong hands.

Two words into the Google search engine and any 10-year-old who half-decently goofs around on Minecraft suddenly has the power to spread malware, crash websites and hoover up stolen identities.

We watched it live. We were overwhelmed by how easy being nefarious is. But mostly it's not about being bad or criminal. It's about doing it for kicks. 

It doesn't get any crazier than when you see a site on the dark web flogging credit card details and banner ad space simultaneously. Nuts!

Alex Chung Why GIFs?

I love animated GIFs. They are the best. So I was particularly keen to dash down to SXSW for this early-morning session with the Giphy founder.

AC, as I shall call him in an overfamiliar way, took filmic loops to a whole new level. This was a fast-flowing hour presented through the medium of GIFs. Of course.

This meant laughter. Which led to connection. Which led to empathy. Which led to engagement. Which led to job done.

Come on, admit it, GIFS crush emoticons every time.

Alex explained Giphy's goal is to make every picture move. How very Daily Prophet. I hope it happens.

Suitably emboldened, I invited him to come to the UK to give a talk. We swapped business cards. His is lenticular and fools the eye into thinking the Giphy logo is moving. Class.

Kevin Kelly 12 Inevitable Tech Forces That Will Shape Our Future

The Wired maven sure knows his stuff. His talk followed the fan-demonium - see what I did there? - that exploded at the end of the previous session featuring JJ Abrams and Andrew Jarecki.

Kelly's onstage stint provided my favourite moment of SXSW. You could sense, as the wise old bird clambered onto the stage, there were 2,000 audience members ready to write the listicle of their collective lives as they prepared to plunder his every prognostication.

When he announced he would only be talking about three of the twelve future forces, an audible groan reverberated through the arena. Two thousand literary dreams were crushed in an instant. 

Still, it didn't stop one brazen soul asking, in the Twitter Q&A, if Kevin could quickly reveal the other nine trends. He didn't. (They'll be in his upcoming book.)

What he did tell us was wonderful, terrifying, profound and inspiring. I'm still thinking about it this afternoon. 

Sounds like I might need to write another blogpost. Or ten.