Add an eventSessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 on Sunday 13th March in Marriott Courtyard Austin Downtown/Convention Center
-
Bend Over? Surprise! Agencies Are Screwing You
by Meghan Warby and Lucia Mancuso
The agency model of billable hours, budget overruns and hierarchical team structures was built in the early 20th century. Although things have changed significantly thanks to technology, labor equity and innovation in other industries, this outdated model continues its vampire-like sucking of vendors dry.
Examining the traditional model, we’ll identify reasons why agency-contracted work is potentially perilous for your business. Instead of being results-oriented, agencies charge hourly rates regardless of (un)successful outcomes. Agency staff, constrained by the pressure to bill hourly are stifled creatively and prevented from serving clients as best they can. Should these time sheet zombies continue representing brands to the public?
Thankfully, many workable solutions exist: bring creative personnel in house, pay for quantifiable results, empower yourself to learn new necessary skills, insist on agency and vendor accountability, and more.
As the sun sets on the agency world, and the ball is in the court of business owners. Are you ready to adapt to the 21st century and make a jump to a new way of doing business?
LEVEL: Advanced
-
More than Buzzword Bingo: Making Innovation a Reality
Ever felt like your organization is in a rut? It’s the same thing year in year out with a new buzzword to lead the “new” effort. Learn how to use business models, new organization strategy and proven methods to make continuous innovation a reality. It is one thing to have an annual innovation contest but quite another to create an atmosphere where there is an attitude of creativity and out of the box thinking while simultaneously meeting the goals of a bottom-line focused company. This presentation will discuss how to leverage people from other functional areas to create a group that doesn’t rock the preverbal boat, but instead creates an autonomous fish. The strategies discussed here apply to all businesses from start-ups to well established corporations. The examples come from both types of organizations, but the truly radical changes can best be seen in introducing these concepts to an established company.
LEVEL: Intermediate
-
Technomadism - Becoming a Technology Enabled Nomad
by Cherie Ve Ard and Chris Dunphy
Why wait until retirement to explore the world? Technology is making it ever easier to work remotely, so why limit yourself to roving between local coffee shops when you can embrace a life of full time travel and a location independent career? Many are now exploring a technomadic lifestyle, and many more are looking for inspiration and advice to help them take the leap, cut the cord, and leave the conventional definitions of fixed-place home and work behind. Core conversation hosts Chris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard of Technomadia.com have been living and working technomadically without a permanent home base for nearly five years now, and they will share their stories, practical advice, and insights about this lifestyle. Topics covered may include selecting the right arsenal of technology to work successfully on the road, creating a mobile friendly career, selecting your ideal travel modality (wheels, sails, backpacks, or...), and logistical issues such as domicile, voting, vehicle registration, and more. Come learn how to make the leap to a life embracing wanderlust, or if you are already nomadic come and share your story and connect with other nomads. This session will be followed later in the day by an informal Nomadic Meetup.
LEVEL: Beginner
-
Fail Big, Fail Often: How Fear Limits Creativity.
Failure is not an option--it’s a requirement. Like the mythical phoenix, creativity constantly springs from its own ashes to be reborn new and different.
The world is filled with excellent implementations of the same things, created by wonderful technicians who have the talent to recreate any style. This talent shouldn’t be discounted: it’s a necessary part of interactive design. We can’t diminish the importance of convention or usability when being creative, but the fear of opposing them can kill the creative spirit and hide our most promising work. It’s this fear of breaking conventions, of not being understood, of failing that dooms us to repeat what others have done.
This panel will focus on the idea of becoming fearless, and therefore, truly creative. We will discuss the concept of failure as a necessary part of creation. We will introduce the idea that even the most artistic expressions benefit from prototyping, restarting and reworking. We will discuss the concept that absolutely nothing is sacred, especially your own work. And finally--and most importantly--we will discuss how to get satisfaction and enjoyment from the process of failing forward.
LEVEL: Beginner
-
How to Make Money Traveling Around the World
by Jason Boehle and Tynan .
On Jan 3rd 2010 I left the country and spent time exploring Africa and Europe returning exactly 7 months later on Aug 3rd 2010.
During that time I was able to visit 25 countries and make on average 3k a month working about 1 - 2 hrs a day remotely.
I am 26 years old, live in the Austin area, and have spent the last 6 years in the internet marketing industry, mostly dabbling in affiliate marketing.
The purpose of the trip was to backpack around Europe and Africa on the lowest budget possible, mostly staying in hostels and traveling around via bus, train, and hitch hiking. I was supposed be gone only 3 months but ended up staying 7.
My presentation will have 2 sections. One catered to business the other catered to traveling.
Section 1: How to Make Money While Traveling (Tips to automate your business)
Section 2: How to Save Money On Traveling (Tips on finding the best travel deals)If accepted to speak at SXSW my presentation will be catered to 20, 30, and 40 somethings who enjoy traveling on a budget and making a bit of money to extend their stays.
I will give this exact speech at the local SEO meetup (http://www.meetup.com/seo-austin/) on Oct 27th. I expect a turn out of about 100+ attendees. I believe this will be a good tuneup if accepted to present at SXSW. You can find my blog at www.goldenbooktraveler.com
LEVEL: Beginner
-
The Evolving Workplace: Environments, Methods, Trends and Management
by Azeez Lekan Bashua and Liz Elam
What micro and macro trends are starting to emerge pointing to a fundamentally different way people are working. We will talk about where people are choosing to work (Coworking, Socially conscience work environments, home, traditional office), tools enabling this (Apps, Google docs, social networking etc.) how this is changing management styles ( Bestbuy R.O.W.E. (Results Oriented Work Environments, Google 20% Time, Atlassian “Fedex Days” ) and what the long term implications (glut of office space, disconnected workforce) of all this could be.
LEVEL: Intermediate
-
Clients Are Not the Target Audience. Users Are
If you design for the client, they will be happy on launch, till they realize the audience isn't engaged. Then they will go looking for their next mistress agency. Know your client, and the value that they offer to users. Sometimes the client has a keen sense of this, but more often than not, a discovery / exploratory process is helpful to give focused clarity to this key issue. If in the beginning of the creative process we do not find the uniqueness of the brand, users never will either. Maybe? sort of? dig deeper. what drove the founders to start this business? what do they stand for? how are their products unique? who is their target audience? who are they ACTUALLY reaching? Let's move on to the all important user. Who will be going to this site? Why? To accomplish what? Success is based off of this measure, and this measure alone. Was the site USEFUL. Likes, retweets, mentions, awards, fwa's, blah, blah, blah mean nothing if the site is not useful. We are a service industry, not a beauty pageant. we're hear to help the client communicate their message, not fluff our creative egos. Know your audience. Their interests. Their background. Their desires. Let’s look at two large .com redesign case studys that I have had the honor to work as the design lead on: BurgerKing.com with Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and livestrong.org with Springbox. Let's be useful.
LEVEL: Intermediate
-
How Social Media Fu@k'd up my Marriage
I won't lie and say that until twitter & facebook came onto the scene our lives were perfect - but after 11 years - all through high school, college & most of our 20's - we were still together.
Then Social Media entered the picture and the world turned upside down.
Hear and learn the unseen impact these new relationships can have and the new extremes that controlling boyfriends/girlfriends/etc are using to keep tabs.
Learn how NOT to have your relationship ruined by the online world we are all so heavily a part of and how I turned the bad into a successful blog & twitter persona - leveraging the same online community to help walk me through the divorce process and learning how to date for the first time since I was 14!!!
LEVEL: Beginner
-
Seven Reasons Your Employees Hate You
At some point in your career, you wake up one morning, drink your coffee, put on deodorant, kiss your kids good-bye, drive to the office, and suddenly realize -- you don't have one ounce of experience at your job.
You did yesterday. What happened?
You were promoted. You became a manager. And you suck at it.
Yesterday, you were an absolute rock star at your job as an engineer. Or designer. Or salesperson. So fantastic they put you in charge.
And now, you've got six eager faces standing around your desk, looking to you for guidance.
So, you do what you've always done. You wing it. Act like a leader. Demand results. Drive the ship. Everything you've seen your former bosses do for years on end.
And a year down the road, during your Monday morning staff meeting, you announce a new initiative and see someone at the table sneer in disgust. You look around at all faces and realize: These people hate my guts. They can't stand me.
What did you do wrong?
Well the truth is, I only know why my employees hate me. But I've got some good guesses why they hate you. Seven of 'em.
In this presentation I will share with you how I have screwed up time and again on my path to creating a creative agency that has been named #1,399 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the US and rated the #1 interactive agency in the country by BtoB Magazine.
And with a little luck, you can learn from my mistakes so you don't have to make them yourself.
LEVEL: Beginner
-
Breaking Glass Ceiling - Fearless Women Entrepreneur
by Amita Paul and Marylene Delbourg-Delphis
You don't want to simply break glass ceilings and start in a negative fashion that has yielded mixed results in the business world as there are only 13 women CEO's in the USA's 500 most publicly traded companies.
Despite gains, women business owners still have many barriers to overcome before obtaining truly equal opportunity in the marketplace. So, What are these barriers?
These questions and many more like this, mark every step of the path these fearless women in business take, every day. This panel will share the stories of joy and pain and habits of these wonder women.
So shoot for the sky and be innovative. This panel addresses inspired women who want to inspire other women.
LEVEL: Intermediate
-
Defining The Diaspora: Global Collaboration and Social Change
by Benjamin Herson
Defining The Diaspora: How New Models of Collaboration are Changing the World
In the past, record labels and film studios were the principal gatekeepers in controlling media production and distribution. Not anymore. The internet and increased access to inexpensive and high quality recording technology have changed the rules of the game. This sea change marked the turn of the century for artists and content producers who are now granted access to once cost-prohibitive tools needed for producing and disseminating media.
But how exactly has this played over the past decade and what role is left for labels and media distribution companies? Moreover, how are global collaborations amongst international artists helping to create new models of communication and cultural understanding?
This lively discussion and media presentation will be led by critically acclaimed Social Entrepreneur, Media Producer and Public Speaker, Ben Herson (Nomadic Wax) and will explore how these technologies have allowed for new models of collaboration, cultural understanding and social change on a global scale.
LEVEL: Intermediate
Schedule incomplete?
Filter by Day
Filter by Session type
Filter by coverage
Filter by Topic
Filter by Venue
- Marriott 11