Nadia P's notes and musings on her experiences at SXSW Interactive 2009

1. An Insider’s Guide

2. What You’ll Find in this Insider’s Guide
- Five takeaway tips for attending SXSW Interactive
- Notes on the most interesting panels and core conversations
Design for the Wisdom of Crowds
Twitter for Marketers
Guy Kawasaki Interviews Chris Anderson
Why NonProfit is the Right Choice for Your Startup
- A big Thank You to my sponsors!

3. Five Things to Remember for SXSWi
1. Plan, plan and plan some more
Before attending, take the time to do research on the panels and core
conversations.
Choose some panels by subject, others by speaker, depending on what you
want out of a certain panel
Always have a back up plan. Sometimes the panels suck. This is when you
should walk out (don’t even hesitate, you’re there to learn, not to be polite) and
move onto the next panel/conversation

4. Five Things to Remember for SXSWi
2. Don’t be shy
SXSWi is about meeting new people
and making new friends. You’ll find you
learn just as much from these folks as you
do in the panels (if not more!)

5. Five Things to Remember for SXSWi
3. Explore
You’re in Austin!
See Austin!
Eat BBQ at The Salt Lick!
Drink a Trudy’s Mexican Martini!
You get the idea

6. Five Things to Remember for SXSWi
4. Expect the unexpected
This will go completely
against #1. If interesting
opportunities come up, then
be flexible, and take advantage
of your time in Austin to make
it a unique and memorable
experience

7. Five Things to Remember for SXSWi
5. Keep your phone charger close
Phones are essential to meet up,
tweet up, check email, text, organize,
chat and more. There are outlets all
over the Austin Convention Center.
Stay hyper-connected by staying
plugged and charged

8. Notes (aka motionless SXSWi Montage)
Dedicated to the coolest panels and core conversations

9. Panel: Design for the Wisdom of Crowds
Speaker - Derek Powazek
Elements of Wise Crowds:
1. Diversity – diversity of
thought
2. Independence – each
person in the crowd needs
to be able to contribute in
their own way, for their own
reasons. Avoids groupthink.
3. Decentralization – you
don’t need to go to your
boss for anything, you can
just do
4. Aggregation

10. Design for the Wisdom of Crowds
How to get WoC:
1. Small Simple Tasks
2. Large, Diverse Groups
Design your systems so that they encourage
participation
3. Design for Selfishness
Large groups of people will not participate in
online unless if they’re getting something out
of it
4. Result aggregation
FAVRD.COM – they don’t ask the crowd what
they like, they just show the data. And that
makes them more successful
5. The Heisenberg Problem in Relation to
WoC
Ok, so your WoC produces a list and once you
surface that to the world, then you’re
essentially making a new game and now
people only want to play the game, no longer
just good data

11. Design for the Wisdom of Crowds
How to get WoC:
6. Popularity does NOT have to rule
7. Implicit VS Explicit Feedback
Explicit = voting and rating
Implicit = page views, searches, velocity,
interestingness
Interestingness = algorithms that can allow
you to monitor
8. Design Matters!
- Color & Shape – changing these can change
how people interact with your site
- Study proved that the colors will influence
how people’s congnitive performance will vary
with colors (links to study on DP’s site)
9. Putting it all Together
You should see where you input little bits and
pieces of WoC into your site in addition to the
regular community posts, etc

12. Core Conversation: Twitter for Marketers
On Direct Messaging
Ricardo Guerrero – used to tweet for Dell
RG: Aren’t using it because Dell accounts only
Morgan Johnston – @jetblue team member
follow other Dell accounts
MJ: JetBlue has issued over 3000 direct messages
Why multiple accounts vs just one?
in Twitter versus 536 updates for @jetblue account.
RG: Lots of accounts for Dell made the most sense LOVES DMing because that’s where MJ can give ppl
since there are so many aspects to the brand (ie his personal twitter. “I can have a real convo with
small biz, consumer, etc)
someone through DMing”
MJ: JetBlue thought about multiple accounts and - More careful about what he says with replies
thinks it depends on the industry whether or not and updates because he views that as being the
you should have multiple accounts company more deeply
- JetBlue will follow everyone that follows
them
- Doesn’t think that followers cares about
all the personal interactions, they want to know
JetBlue
On employees
with Twitter
accounts
MJ: Give tools and
resources to your
employees so that if they
are saying something for
you (the company) that
they’re saying the right
info

13. Keynote: Guy Kawasaki Interviews
Chris Anderson
*Note: This keynote was really awesome.
While GK and CA were chatting, two artists were
interpreting the interview with visual notes.
GK: How would you monetize Twitter?
CA: Exits include raising more money, exiting, or
growing assets. Advertising isn’t the best answer, it’s
just not the right time. Have two products - free and
premium. Charge companies to join Twitter and get
more than the free service for the charge.
GK: I couldn’t leave Twitter if I wanted to... People
wouldn’t follow him away from Twitter
CA: This is when adding a premium with a price
attached to it can test just how sticky your service
or product is. It tests loyalty.
GK: Which is harder, to achieve popularity or to
monetize that popularity?
CA: Every person needs to figure out their
individual mix.
Could a publisher represent you in another
form than books?
- Labels are bad managers
- You may want to align interests of author
and publisher

14. Guy Kawasaki Interviews Chris Anderson
CA:
EXAMPLES OF FREE:
Wall Drugs Store – Example of free. They gave
away ice water and that would make people stop by
and pick up water and then these people would buy
everything else
Zappos – Tony “gives away” shipping
Problem with free = Guilt
“The penny gap” – there is a HUGE difference
between one penny and zero
If people value stuff they pay for, then does that
mean that they don’t value stuff they don’t pay for?
Will this new generation ever pay for
- This is the difference btwn the digital and
online?
non-digital world
CA: You’re get basic free, but pay for something
- There’s no such thing as “waste” in digital, it’s
encouraged better
- We instinctively recognize the btwn
economics of bits and economics
CA: There’s NO excuse for sucking. And if they suck
then we’ll stop talking about them. Does anyone
think less of Facebook because it’s free? No. We
think in terms of utility

15. Core Convo: Why NonProfit is the Right Choice
for your Startup
Tony Shawcross & Deb Lastowka Hybrid nonprofit strategy:
Deproduction - Mixing social entrepreneurship with nonprofit.
- Making a deal with a corporation to have a
relationship with a nonprofit.
*Note: This core convo was intense! It did
NOT stay on subject and turned into a heated
Random Tidbits of Nonprofit Truth:
battle on the topic of non-profits versus social
entrepreneurship. It was all over the place and I did Stacey Monk (Epic Change)- structure of a
my best to type as fast as possible. Here’s the juicy corporation requires them to maximize profits,
stuff: which creates externalities that make communities
absorb costs. Nonprofits can consider greater good
Nonprofits & social entrepreneurship: Stacey Monk - Trust, ability to access volunteers,
in-kind donations, grant eligibility are competitive
Audience: Nonprofit does not allow you to sell
advantages that make nonprofits make sense
your company, social entrepreneurship does.
Kit Cooper (Quality of Life Project)- Nonprofits
TS: You can earn the money that you want to
could be good leverage in terms of advertising and
make with nonprofits. Why would you be a social
marketing and getting your startup out there
entrepreneur if you want a nonprofit?
Audience: People have a hard choice – nonprofit
vs social entrepreneurship.
TS: Nonprofit means you don’t have to pay taxes.
This is a major benefit over social entrepreneurship
Audience: Companies are supposed to increase
shareholders wealth which may not be money, it
may be something more abstract. Become a full-
fledged nonprofit

16. And Last But Not Least...
As you can see I learned a lot, saw a lot, and had a lot of fun. I wanted to dedicate
a quick slide to everyone that helped me get to SXSW.
THANK YOU!