Monday, March 30, 2009

First Glimpse

Flickr Fun - Here are the photos that make sense (and some that don't) of my SXSW Interactive experience!

Link to SXSW Photos = http://bit.ly/sxswfotos



Created with flickr slideshow.

Sneaking Into SES Parties!

Ok, so I didn't actually sneak in, but I WAS really excited when David Szetela invited me to the Clix Marketing/AimClear Schmoozefest last week! David was the only sponsor for SXSWi that I hadn't met in person yet so it was spectacular to have met him. The event was at Dave and Busters and I got to meet even more cool people. Thanks for the invite, David!

Proof:

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Marketing Profs Daily Fix Article


One of my sponsors, Linda Ziskind of Think Polygon, recently wrote an article about Twitter, social media and it's implications for brands and marketers. The article was featured on Marketing Profs Daily Fix and features yours truly! Hooray!


No, Seriously. More Posts Will Come.

I'm sure you guys are wondering what's happened to me. Well, I'm still here. Just been super busy. I'm in the process of reorganizing the thoughts, photos, videos and notes from SXSW Interactive and when I'm done, it will be glorious and you'll be the first to know.

Promise.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

SXSW Interactive Wrap Up

SXSW Interactive was an absolutely surreal experience this year. I'm working on organizing all my notes, photos and videos now, but thought you should know what I thought of the whole thing.

SXSW areas of improvement:
- I agree with Amber from The Amber Show. It would help if SXSW allowed you to search their panels by speaker. The panels were a hit/miss situation and I would rather make sure to see someone I know will inspire and inform than try and guess if this will happen through the subject line of the panel
- Interactive folks can see some films too! I really wanted to see the movie Objectified and NO ONE could tell me where and when it was playing.
- Wow, what an ugly, ugly badge. I know I wasn't the only one complaining about this, but for a conference that involves so much creativity, you would think they would have tried harder with the badges. I liked the bag I got more than my badge.


Pros Definitely Outweigh the Cons:
- I absolutely LOVED connecting with so many many new people! Twitter friends became in-person friends, strangers became buddies and everyone was just so freakin' cool!
- Info overload, in a good way. You thought the internet was info porn? Welcome to SXSW Interactive.
- Meeting three of my five sponsors! I was able to meet Linda Ziskind of Think Polygon, Betsy Aoki of Live.com, and Steve Loflin of National Society of Collegiate Scholars. (I know this could go under meeting cool people, but these folks deserve a special shout out)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Interviewed by the Lovely Jolie O'Dell



If you want to see more videos by Jolie, check out her SXSWi videos

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Think Polygon

As promised, Think Polygon - one of my fabulous sponsors - has launched its site!

Check out more about who they are at www.thinkpolygon.com

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Online Generosity

So Thursday's getting closer and it's starting to hit me. I'm going to SXSW Interactive. Before leaving, I wanted to give a HUGE thanks to my company sponsors:
Clix Marketing - expertly creates and manages pay-per-click campaigns on services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft AdCenter and others

Think Polygon - a smart group of designers, technologists, strategists, and social media evangelists. Think Polygon's experience and expertise help businesses build their brands, connect with their customers, and communicate using the most effective social media, web, or print channels

Think Polygon's site will launch on Friday 3/13 and I'll post the link on that day

Hudson Valley Tours - the premier tour company of the Lower Hudson Valley. Whether in the tri-state area on a visit, or in need of a quick little getaway from your New York City abode, Hudson Valley Tours will provide you with a fun-filled day to experience some of the place and faces that make the Hudson Valley one of the most memorable places around

National Society of Collegiate Scholars - NSCS is the largest honor society recognizing the academic success of first and second year college students in the United States. NSCS members are ambitious, resourceful and community focused

Microsoft Live Search - Microsoft Live Search delivers results with a simple, unique design and advanced tools for helping people quickly find, view, organize and preview search results

Without these company sponsors, I would have had to tweet and email about this attempt for a lot longer than five days.

Now these companies were all large contributors, but I also want to say thanks to all the individual sponsors that happened via TipJoy. It's been an amazing experience to see how the online community supports those who are interested, ambitious and broke.

Thanks everyone!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Worktime Generosity

Since this sponsorship to SXSWi was largely funded by people online from all over the US, I wanted to take a little time to give some time to those who helped me offline.

Once word started trickling about what I was trying to do, my coworkers started contributing. I wanted to say thank you and make sure they got some time to shine on the SXSW Or Bust blog.

Thanks, guys!



In Austin Soon!

Photo Credit: Hi I'm Santi

Well, I leave for Austin on Thursday morning and I'm absurdly excited about being in the city, seeing old friends, making new ones, and attending SXSWi!

I've been taking the time to really delve into what panels I'd like to attend, meeting my company sponsors via email and phone, and just planning out this week in general. Now it's go time.

Top four things I'm excited about (in no particular order):
1. Seeing Terri Koen, an old MAIP friend who has been kind enough to let me stay with her instead of a hotel (hey, I'm resourceful!)
2. Visiting Austin for the first time - I've heard so many times that Austin is a large Gainesville, FL. Being the Florida Gator that I am, this appeals to me
3. Meeting people from my online community. This includes two of my sponsors that are outside of NYC and hanging out with one that is in NYC
4. Parties and music! Do I need to say more?

My SXSWi newbie guides:
1. SXSW - Steph's Don't Miss List! (and some tips)
from Internet Geek Girl
2. SXSW Is Easy
3. The SXSW Survival Guide by Jeremy Wright

What I'll arm myself with for the plane ride:
1. The Watchmen and Outliers
2. iPod Nano
3. Canon Powershot with my new Joby Gorillapod (quite possibly my favorite purchase in a long time!)
4. Travel blanket
5. Comfy shoes

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Wanna Chat? Contact Me at SXSWi Or Bust

I am still recovering from the shock and excitement of being sponsored for SXSWi this year. So many great people in the online community!

For those of you who are
company sponsors, individual sponsors or just interested in contacting me about this experience, please email me at:

sxswiorbust {@} gmail.com

Looking forward to hear from you :)

It's Official. I'm going to SXSWi!