A Human Heyday: Finding the Sweet Spot between Tech and Connect at SXSW 2019

It’s no surprise that technology was once again front and center at this year’s SXSW. Inside the convention center and up and down the streets of Austin, just like last year, there were cool installations, new product demos, robots, the works.

But something was different.

This year everywhere I looked, there was also a strong theme about the importance of being human in the midst of this technology. How happy was I?

One place I was positively thrilled to see this interest was in my standing-room-only session where I talked about my book, Bring Your Human to Work. People stayed until the end and asked amazing questions about purpose and values at work and how we deepen connections with an increasingly remote workforce. What an honor to be having these important conversations.

pictured above: I loved signing books at SXSW. And the best part? They were all gone by the end of it!

I also saw this increased interest in the session entitled: Generation Lonely: 10,000 Followers and No Friends. The talk was so popular that there was an encore session added and there were still people waiting in line to get in. I got to hear firsthand from Julianne Holt-Lunstead, the Brigham Young University researcher whose study found that the impact of loneliness on our health equates to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. As I often say, left to our own devices, we’re not connecting. And, it impacts our health and the health of our business. Big time!

I saw it in the session entitled, Why Live Events in the Digital Age? Spoiler alert: They’re still important. (Phew.) Panelists from Ameritrade, Heineken and JetBlue shared insights on why live events still matter and how to make the most of them in the digital age.

I saw it in the lounges where companies have gone to great lengths to curate hip, cool spaces to create community within the massive, often overwhelming landscape of SXSW. Honestly, the lounges are one of my favorite parts of SXSW. You can get away from the crowds, hear some great interviews, grab a snack, and re-charge your phone, because goodness knows my family needs to be able to reach me to help sort out domestic dilemmas from anywhere, at all times.

Who knew I was a remote worker?!

These are my three favorite lounges:

Female Quotient Lounge. Led by the one and only Shelley Zalis, the Equality Lounge offers three jam-packed days of programming at SXSW, highlighting women entrepreneurs, the importance of giving back, women in sports, and bringing men into the equation, to name a few. Over a lunch of spaghetti and meatballs (a la the Spaghetti Project) I curated a panel on the importance of giving back in the human workplace, especially if companies want to attract and retain top talent. This particular panel featured Abby Brennan of PwC, Malea Otranto of WE, Meredith Ferguson of DoSomething Strategic, and my very own daughter, Caroline, speaking on behalf of the philanthropically-minded Gen Zers. I must say, seeing my very own human in her element was the absolute highlight of the entire experience.

pictured above, left to right: myself, Abby Brennan, Caroline Keswin, Malea Otranto, and Meredith Ferguson. photo credit: The Female Quotient

The Experience by Dell Technologies. Of course there were tons of cool products in this lounge, but there was also a focus on showing the human side of Dell. One half day of talks was called Tech Change Agents for Diversity and it was moderated by Brian Reaves, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Dell. Brian moderated sessions with organizations Dell supports, such as Black Girls Code and Align Masters Program at Northeastern University, and drew attention to some of Dell’s own employee resource groups (like MARC—Men Advocating Real Change) to address how to scale these important initiatives. And there, I participated in a fireside chat with one of my favorite humans, Susan McPherson of McPherson Strategies, on the importance of inclusion in a human workplace.

pictured above: some men of MARC with Java, the wonderful seeing-eye dog

Mercedes Media Lounge. Now this was a first. I was asked to be on a panel with a robot named Cobalt. We talked about how technology and AI will impact all of our jobs and how to leverage technology (aka our friend Cobalt) but also make sure that we put technology, even when it’s our friend, in its place.

These conversations are often very emotional, and rightly so! Of course people worry about losing their jobs, and they hope that companies will provide relevant training and the understanding that the human skills still matter.

And boy, do they!

By the end of the conference, I was ready to go home. Technology is fascinating, and robots and texting and FaceTime are all well and good, and super helpful for us remote workers. But after five days it was time to put it all in its place. After all, there’s nothing better than my own bed.

Except, of course, my own human.