SXSW - my top hits!

Wow - what a week - I finally lost my SXSW virginity! I have renewed energy and enthusiasm for tech, brands and story telling. My trusty mentor Nichola Buckley ensured I came prepared - sneakers, backpack and a conference game plan (even if that was thrown to the wayside). Here are my (7+2) highlights!

Ask Suzy! Was definitely a hit. Gone are the days of hiring an audience, providing them with tea and biscuits and then using a spy cam through the night to watch and analyze results. These guys provide focus groups at your finger tips. If you're looking to test your tweets with an audience before posting them live - Ask Suzy, if you want to test a question - Ask Suzy. Which picture works best? You guessed it - Just Ask Suzy! The feedback is instant - and yes - you can define your demographic. Also - their CEO is a part time rapper! What's not to like?

Brian Solis deserved a bigger billing than he got. He had some pretty down to earth offerings about the state of the human relationship and social media. 'Stop photographing your food! Just eat it!' He spoke about the social media distraction - the uppers and the downers. He discussed the issues of social media and self esteem - 'Let's take the ME out of Social Media!'. He tapped into our corrupted thoughts that 'Facts are now debatable and that truth is open to interpretation'. It was very relatable. He wasn't promoting his new book - he hasn't written it yet - he's been too distracted by social media! But that subconsciously let us know he has an old book out there...somewhere....we know what you did there! But we don't care! We love you Brian!

You Tube retelling fairy tales in 6, 15 and 30 second ad formats. These are super creative - my favorites are tRAPunzel by Ogilvy, Pigsty or Palace by BBDO, and Snow White by Publicis - got me thinking about how I can tempt customers in by using breadcrumbs across social media channels and webpages

Elon Musk - All told - this was a bit of mission and swallowed about 5 hours of my precious SXSW time...there was a queue for ticket distribution (even though I had a pass...) there was a queue round the block outside the venue, there was security queue, there was a queue to find my seat....and then he was 30 minutess late!! But I saw ELON MUSK - probably one of the most inspirational people of our generation - key thought from him - 'AI has the potential to be more dangerous than nuclear weapons'. Yikes!

Sadiq Kahn (Mayor of London) was a legend - he spoke to a crowded house - watch it here - lots of applause, humor and controversy (he read out a selection of hate tweets he'd received that morning) - but lots of common sense too! If you don't have time for the whole speech - at least check out the Q+A.

Washington Post - these guys are innovators - if you missed them - sorry! - it was invitation only. But when you team up a media company with a mega online retail company (amazon) - you get something really special. If you need to know more about the WP offering then get in touch with Kayleigh Mountain - it could be....that the agency will soon be a thing of the past.....

Wirewax - super interactive video technology - Like!

Klaxoon - these guys offer an interactive post-it slam/white board experience for your online telecons - I really like this - it's got legs!

And SXSW wouldn't be complete without a movie! 'Never goin' back' by the talented young screenwriter and director Augustine Frizzell - was both funny and gritty. She is one to watch.

#SXSW

(yes - you got me - it was really all about the button badges... :-) )