SxSW 2015: the sessions that got away

SxSW is always crammed pack with so much great stuff, I have a hard time deciding what to attend. Sometimes, the crowds decide for me. I was locked out of more than one session at the last festival.

I'm looking forward to sharing some the take-aways from the sessions I did attend, but for perspective on the scope of SxSW, here a list of the session I wanted to see, but didn't get to...

• Simple Ways to Massively Increase Your Content #content123
• Neuroplasticity and Tech: Why Brands Have to Change #neurobrand
• New Media Ethics: Journalism in the Age of GIFs #newethics
• The Art and Science of Shareability #shareable
• Do You Know the ROI of WOM? Do You Want To? #ROIofWOM
• The Emperor’s New Wearables #SXstyle
• How to Rock SXSW in 4 Hours #sxsw #timferriss
  
  
• NASA New Initiatives in Imagery for Public Use
• Content Marketing vs Don Draper: The End Of Ads #MPost
• Visual Storytelling: The Power of Design + Data #TDSXSW
• UX and The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle #Heisenberg
• Behind the Social at PBS' Largest Content Provider #WGBHSocial
• How SciFi Drives Marketing In the Exponential Age #sxsw #innovate
• Brand and Deliver: Creating Custom Branded Content #sxsw #branded
• Beyond BFFs: Using Texting to Promote Empathy #T2C
• Picturing Your Big Ideas
  
  
• The Quantified Us
• How the Google App Finds Answers Before You Search
• Digital Disruption: Do or Die
• Paid Editing of Wikipedia: Getting Past "Gotcha"
• Storytelling For Dummies: Create a Lasting Brand
• The Road to Character
  
  
• Art and Experience: A Future for Creativity
• Are You in a Social Media Experiment?
• Mobile Beyond Marketing: The Era of UnAdvertising
• Personalization for the People
• Harvard Business Review On: How to Hire Superstars
• I Made 180 Websites in 180 Days
• Wearable Drones: High-Flying Fashion
• This Is Your Brain On Visual Data
• Identity In the Future Of Embeddables and Wearables
• Think Outside the Font: How Typefaces Influence
• How CNN and The New York Times Moderate Comments
• Facebook, Twitter and The Future of Free Speech
• Image Creation and Sharing: Practice vs Policy
• The Medium Is the Deliverable
• Princess Reema’s Mission to Empower Saudi Women
  
  
• Are Brands Sabotaging Their Own Content?
• Managing a Shit Storm and Restoring Your Brand
• Beyond Marketing: How Curation Will Work for You

SxSW 2013 Belated Recap

I am already making plans for SxSw 2014, and it occurs to me I haven't posted any session recaps from this year's festival. In an effort to secure support to attend again, my co-worker and I prepared a report for our Dean about the sessions we attended, what we learned and how it applied to the Library. The final report was 66 pages long. That's a lot of blog posts.

To introduce the upcoming recaps, I thought I'd post a few videos to demonstrate why I keep going back to SxSW, even though it's insanely expensive, overcrowded, and a bit full of its self.

1. Live keynote from amazing speakers you didn't even know you wanted to hear. 

In 2013, I heard Elon Musk (among others). Haven't heard of him? Me either. Evidently, he is the guy Tony Stark (Ironman) is based on. I heard the real life Ironman. Wahh?

2. Demos of the Next Big Thing

What will everyone be talking about in social media/technology this year? Whatever it is, they are probably planning to demo it at SxSw.

3. Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

SxSW is information overload. Between sessions, demos, trade show, events, and chats with random strangers I always come back with so inspiration for things to read, do and especially to think about.

4. Of Course, the Sessions

That's coming up next. 

The Time I Met Carl Hiaasen

One of the best parts of my job is having the opportunity to meet so many different and interesting people. On Sept. 20, I got to meet author Carl Hiaasen. He was super sweet, generous with his time and a great speaker. I will definitely recommend him to anyone looking for speakers.

Before the event I had the chance to interview Carl for O-State TV. This is was an interesting shoot for the team, because it was the first time we did a two-camera set up for an interview. For me, it was a first being on camera as the interviewer. After dozens of on camera interviews as the interviewee, this was a surprisingly different experience.

A Bridesmaid Toast

Teaching my writing class has really changed the way I think about different writing projects. After being a professional writer for more than a decade, it's been so refreshing to gain this new perspective.

So I was actually kind of excited to put some of my own advice to work as wrote my toast for my sister's wedding. One thing I stress to my students is (regardless if you are writing for yourself or someone else) know your speaker's strengths and weaknesses and write for them.

Working to my advantage: I'm fairly comfortable talking in front of people, I'm freakin' hilarious, and as Sarah's sister, I know my topic (the couple) pretty darn well. The main weakness I had to contend with (and luckily I was acutely aware of it) was getting through the toast without crying.

I decided to manage my own expectations. I wasn't going to get through it without any crying, but hopefully I could manage a few ladylike sniffles and not a big snotty ugly cry. Big pat on the back to me, I did it! I can't say the same for the rest of the room, because I totally rocked that speech and had everyone crying along with me.

Here it is. Get a tissue.

According to the Knot.com I’m supposed to introduce myself because you all may not know me and then express how honored I am to be here. But I think you all know I’m Bonnie, Sarah’s older sister, and with a gathering so intimate and so remote, I know we all feel very honored to be a part of this special day. It is certainly a long time in the making.

 When I first met Josh, he and Sarah were just teenagers. And I openly admit I was not so sure about this scruffy teenage boy with jewelry in his face hanging around my little sister. I told Sarah, the only reason she was getting away with this was because I had long since desensitized mom and dad to scruffy teenagers with facial jewelry. You’re both still welcome for that by the way.

 Now, I am happy to say Josh has grown on me considerably. He’s changed a lot since I met him years ago, and one thing that has become increasingly evident over the years is how much he loves my sister. As far as I’m concerned that is the most important thing we have in common.

 And now Sarah and I have one more thing in common too. With an 11 year age difference it can seem like you don’t have much in common when you’re young. But as we’ve both grown up it’s exciting to see our lives grow more and more parallel. And if I’m overwhelmed with joy for you today it’s because I know how happy marrying your best friend will make you both. And I am so happy this is a new thing we have in common.

 To your happily ever after. Cheers.

A Newbie at SxSW

My first South by Southwest Interactive conference is quickly coming to a close. Right now, you’re probably really jealous or you’re scratching your head asking, “What’s South by Southwest.”

I easily have a month’s worth of blog posts on all the awesome sessions I’ve attended, but I thought I kick off the SxSW content with my reflections as a SxSW newbie.

• The sessions I thought would be most relevant to work often weren’t. The sessions I thought would just be fun almost all turned out to be incredibly relevant to work. The sessions I thought would be both were. Fun learning is the best learning, and I got lots of it here.
• I expected SxSW to be full of pompous self-promoting posers selling their G+ (social media gadgety that no one cares about). Maybe it was the sessions I picked, but jerky jerks were few and far between. I almost exclusively met really awesome, genuine, friendly people who were just as excited to be here to learn as I was.
• Launches are awesome, and I feel so lucky to have stumbled into one. More on that later.
• SxSW is like a mini nation that takes over downtown Austin. I feel like I should have brought my passport. I expected a bit of local resentment, but Austin seems happy and welcoming. As it should be, SxSW pours $6M+ into the Austin economy.

Lessons Learned

• Evidently, we call it “South By.” Once here, you are officially too cool to finish the names of things.
• Don’t bother chasing the free food and drinks; it’s not worth it. When it happens, it’s a nice surprise. Maybe the seasoned participants are better at working this into the schedule than I was, but I just wanted to take it all in, not wait in a two-block line for a taco.
• Everything you know about other conferences goes double: plan, but go with flow; take time to meet people; and wear comfy shoes. Who are these crazies in stilettos? They are more woman than me evidently, and being Austin, they probably weren’t all women.

So which category did you fall into, jealous or “South by wha…?”

Biggest User 8-Week Challenge Begins

I've blogged about OSU's Healthy Campus Initiative before. Well, they are back with another fun PR stunt. This time the goal seems to be to increase use of the various campus recreation services. The project is called Biggest User and registrants have 8 weeks to sample a number of services (most typically have a cost) for free.

Here's what we get:

• 2 Fitness assessments ($30 value)
• Goal-Planning Session ($20 value)
• 3 Personal Training Sessions ($115 value)
• Nutritional Counseling ($30 value)
• Monthly Seminars
• Outdoor Adventure Challenge Course ($23 value)
• T-shirt
• 10% discount on follow up personal training or massage therapy appointments
• Support from fellow participants
• Encouragement from the staff

The catch? You must participate in both fitness assessments, a minimum of 2 fitness classes per week and at least 12 more activities during the 8-week period or you will be charge $50. I'm fine with that. I'm most interested in the goal-planning, personal training, nutritionist and fitness assessments. If I only do those activities and nothing else, $50 is a deal! (Of course, my competitive streak will force me to do my best to "win")

You might have noticed, I called this a "stunt." You know I love a good (i.e. strategic) PR stunt, and I think this qualifies. Why? Because I'm pretty sure there are a few goals at play here:

• Educate the campus about the variety of services offered (I didn't know we had all this and I've been on campus 17 years)
• Increase use of services (increased use=job security & funding security)
• Gather data on the impact of services (remember those required fitness assessments? they are going to have a nice little study on our beginning fitness levels, the level of participation for 8 weeks, and the results)

The best part: all three of these directly tie in to our goal of being the Healthiest Campus in America. Good on you Campus Recreation.

Laser Cats From Outer Spaaaaaace!

This entry is falling under a new category I am calling "You Can't Make this Stuff Up." One of my friends suggested I start a file. I decide to go one better and blog them. Some will come from my personal life, but I think there will be quite a few blog-appropriate items from work as well.

About a year back, we got a request to design a retirement party invitation. Valerie took the request and passed it on to me. After I stopped laughing, I told her to stop pulling my leg. She insisted she was not. Then I had to laugh all over again. Laughter in the work place is good, right?

The instructions: an e-invite (sure ok), using green if possible (no problem), with cats (hum, ok it's for a librarian), cats with green eyes (do, what?), incorporating these 3 phrases (oh. come. on) and can it look kind of like the cats are saying the phrases (sorry, I don't even know what to do with that).


After a long search for creative commons images of cats with green eyes, I put together what I thought was a nice tasteful invite that met the specs. But, I always like to give more than one option, and I have to admit this request brought out the stinker in me. So I decided to give them just what they asked for: a tacky cat card.

They freaking LOVED it. It was a unanimous vote to use Space Cats as the invite. And then we laughed some more. Space Cats, you will always be a fond memory. You can't make this stuff up.

COOP Ale Works: Beer Made in Oklahoma, by Oklahomans for OKC and Beyond

Back on the topic of public outreach activities that work. I'm a total COOP Ale Works lover now, and the transformation happened over the course of 2 hours.

Our friend Rachel won a tour for 10 of the OKC-based COOP Ale Works Brewery at a United Way fundraiser. Lucky for us, she invited me and John to come along. It was such a blast. Our guide, Blake the brewmaster, walked us through the brewing process, showed us all the ingredients and equipment and answered dozens of questions about recipes, history of beer and of COOP, industry, yeast, regulations, graphic identity and more.

Along the way, we got to sample each of the beers from COOP Ale Works including a very limited one-batch special edition. The brewery doesn't officially have a tasting room. In fact, there is warehouse space directly behind me as I took this picture. We were part of a quality control tasting. Two enthusiastic thumbs up on your quality, COOP Ale Works!

Blake taught us so much about beer and brewing and COOP, it was enough to make your head spin. I was particularly impressed with the company's sense of community and social conscience. That in and of itself was enough to make you want to buy their beers. (Speaking of the beers, I'll tell you more about those tomorrow.)

We got a pretty in-depth tour because it was part of their donation to the United Way, but you can tour the place too. They give drop in tours on select weekends, and for about $100 you can reserve the place for a private event, bring in your own catering and have guests take tours.

If you want to learn more about the company and how you can go on a tour like mine follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or online.

Engaging Events: Red Coyote

Yesterday, I talked about events from one of my favorite non-profits, the OKC Zoo. Today, I want to look at one of my new favorite businesses, Red Coyote.

I actually first learned about Red Coyote because they sponsored an event I was involved with. I likely would have never heard about a small boutique running store in shopping center of specialty shops and cafes. I certainly wouldn't have made the 35 minute drive from my house to a part of OKC I never visit in order to try it out if it hadn't been for the glowing thanks the race director of the Moore War Run gave.

Red Coyote sponsors a number of runs in the Metro area. That makes great sense for them. Who goes to 5Ks? Runners. Who is going to visit small boutique running stores? Runners. Lately, Red Coyote is kicking up a notch by hosting on-site registration (where you can pick up your packet and shirt as soon as you sign up) and early packet pick up. It's a great way to get people into the store.

Recently, they hosted a seminar and clinic on running form. They brought in a speaker, provided free drinks and appetizers and even gave out swag. Attendance was over the top. They had to move to an unfinished store front across from the store. They were expecting 30-45, they had 160.

I think it is because they participate in events that build community around their business, and they were offering something very niche that had a perfect tie-in with their customer base. Definitely and example of a strategic event.

Engaging Events: OKC Zoo

I plan a number of events for work. Many people hate event planning, and it's easy to understand how one could feel that way. Events are work, lots and lots of work. I don't mind the work, and I even get really excited about it when the events are strategic.

"It'll be fun!" is not a strategic reason to host an event. "I would want to go..." is not a strategic reason to have an event. "We always do it," is not a strategic reason to have an event. But when the reason is right, it is great to be on both the planning side and the participant side.

I see so many places get it right. I thought I'd highlight a few on the blog. Today: OKC Zoo.

John and I have been ZooFriends for a few years. We don't visit the Zoo that often, but I support it because my fond memories of Zoo make it special to me. I think we attend more special Zoo events than just regular-old-day-at-the-Zoo visits.

I love the Zoo events because

• They make sense for a Zoo, they aren't random
  Events like the the Bowling for Rhinos, Party for the Planet, Round Up for Conservation Kick-Off and "Ape"ril Dinner all have a tie back to the conservation mission of the Zoo.
  
• They make me feel connected and engaged with the Zoo
  Most of the events take place at the Zoo, which awesome because that's when we end up doing most of our visits. Many events allow you to participate in the Zoo's operations, like decorating for fall during haunt the Zoo, or submitting photos for the annual calendar.
  
• They make me feel appreciated as a donor
  ZooFriends does a great job of letting the donors know about all their cool events. We get a quarterly magazine and monthly emails. I have dates saved for Zoo events months in advance. They also have member discounts on all event tickets, always a nice bonus. And, lots of the events give you exclusive access to things not everyone sees. The best is the "Apr"il dinner. You actually go behind the scenes of the Ape enclosure and see the areas where the zookeepers interact with the animals.
  

Hello, I'm... Wait Let Me Check

If you've ever seen me speak in public, you probably saw a completely scripted well-rehearsed presentation, whether you knew it or not.

I rarely get up in front of a group to speak for any amount of time--60 second or 3 hours--without completely scripting my remarks. Right down to "Hello, I'm Bonnie..." It calms me down. It's how I cope with the jitters of public speaking. I try to not let my audience notice, but usually I'll have the script, in its entirely, very close at hand.

I discovered this trick in Toastmasters. Something about the safety net of the script relaxes me to the point that I don't need it. I seldom read from the script. If things are really rolling, I barely glance at it. But I like knowing I could if I have to.

I'm good at delivering scripts and I'm good at memorizing scripts. Part of it is practice, and part of it is just a knack for sounding natural while I'm actually reading something. So, having the script on hand takes the worst case scenario from "freezing, forgetting everything and having to just go sit down" to "freezing, forgetting everything and having to read it off the script."

This is on my mind today, because I just returned from speaking at the Oklahoma Libraries Association Annual Conference. I was on a panel and gave a short presentation on social media and libraries. Of course, my script sat right by the laptop as I talked. I gave it a quick scan once to make sure I'd hit all my points for a particular slide, and I used it when I was sharing a direct quote. For the rest of the time it just sat there as my little private lifeline.

The best part: at the end of the day, a participant told me, "I'd go to any training session you did. You were such a great presenter." Well, gosh. If that isn't a public speaking morale boost, I don't know what is.

My First Marathon, Ok Half Marathon, Ok So I Just Watched...

...But, I was part of a runner support team, so I was still kind of sort of a participant.

If you read this blog regularly, or if you know me for-reals-like, then you know that I got a wild hair about 7 months ago and started running. My husband, John, is an amazing athlete and has been coaching and encouraging me as I take on running.

I was trying to come up with a special treat to thank John for basically being the best husband in the world. I saw one of his friends was entering the Austin Marathon. John is currently training for a marathon, so I offered up a quick trip to Austin, so he could enter the Half and test his progress. John was totally on board.

If you look closely, you'll see the entire Congress St. Bridge filled with runners. The "pack" was never-ending and, well, packed.

The race was huge, more than 20,000 runners! There was 5K piggy-backing on the event, but I decided to skip it. This weekend was all about John and with a physical challenge like this, you really do need a support team. So, I planned, mapped, drove, carried, photographed, cheered, fed, hydrated and filled tubs with ice.

These are the leaders passing 2 miles. You can tell the 2 in the front are Half-Marathoners because their bib numbers are white. Marathoners were black.

Then the pack came by, and came by, and came by. High fives all around! It really was fun to watch. I was using the Austin Marathon ap to track John's progress, but there were so many runners, I never saw him at the 2 mile mark.

You could tell a lot of runners didn't take themselves too seriously and were there to have fun. Here are the duck hat ladies.

And, this guy who was making a video of the crowd as he ran, and encourage us to cheer and ham up for him.

And, the guys with no pants.

And, OMG, is that Santa! Looks like running has been good to him!

I used the pace runners (this group is running fast enough to finish the full marathon 3:20, the half in 1:40) and the ap, but I missed John again at the 8.5 mile mark. Sigh, so I booked it to the finish line via a short cut and crossed my fingers that I'd see him at least once.

And I did! The ap said I was 15 minutes early, but as soon as I edged up to the finish line shute, I saw John come around the corner! There he is, in the blue, making a strong finish.

I've never seen John so wiped out after a run. He really pushed himself. He will disagree, but he did GREAT. His goal was to finish somewhere between 1:50 (the best he was hoping for) and 2 hours (the slowest he'd be happy with). He finished in 1:55:47.

What he didn't realize when he set these goals is that Austin is a really, really tough marathon and half. It's super hilly. So hilly, in fact, that when we drove it the day before, I nearly stalled out the car a couple times.

This was John's first Half Marathon, so (for now, at least) this time is his lifetime personal record. It's one, I think he should be proud of.

See more Austin Marathon pics on my Flickr photostream.

I Have Come to Network! Now What?

The OSU Media and Strategic Communications School presented a networking expo today. When we heard there were lots of professionals there recruiting interns, we decided we had to turn out too. We didn't want someone else snatching up all the good ones!

I slapped some QR codes & links to our internship posting on the back of my business card (felt like a total genius) and headed out with my team in tow.

Then we just had to network. At its best, networking is something even the most outgoing have to work at. At its worst, it is awkward, embarrassing and even agonizing. So how do you do it?

Take a wing man. Garrett was my wing man today. It makes the lulls between table hopping less awkward, because you're never alone. And, if you are a little on the shy side, having a buddy can bolster confidence and help keep the conversation going.

Work the room. Sure when you first arrive, you have to get the lay of the land, but then it's time to beat feet. You can't assume people will come to you. Scope out a small group or someone standing solo and go introduce yourself.

Have some questions ready. Today, we had an agenda: recruit interns. So I looked for students, then asked about their graduation date and major. If they were fit, I asked if they were looking for internships and then gave them my card and explained the link and QR code.

Get in and get out. The point of a networking expo is to meet lots of people. Obviously, you want to spend enough time with each person to feel like you have really met them, but you don't want to spend half the event with same group. The hard part is often how to end the conversation. Something like "It was nice to meet you," or "Good luck with your job/candidate search," can be nice polite ways to say "Ok, thanks, I'm done talking to you now."

That said...

Be respectful. If someone takes the time to talk to you, take some time to actually listen. Even if they aren't exactly who you are hoping to meet (sophomores and juniors majoring in PR seeking fall internships) they might still be a great connection to the person you are looking for. That's why it's called NETworking. I often see people pinging around like squirrels, dropping conversations in mid-sentence to dash off to another person. This doesn't make you a good networker, it just makes you rude.

Friday's Orange Letter Day: OSUF Launches a Campaign for OSU

The entire OSU family is invited to tune in this Friday as the OSU Foundation hosts the launch of the campaign for Oklahoma State University. I've been looking forward to this event for a while (although not as long as my friends at OSUF). It's going to be so exciting!

The main event will be on the Stillwater campus in the Student Union at 11 am, but each of our branches is hosting a watch party as well. If you can't make it to one of our campuses, you can watch it live at www.witnessOSUhistory.com.

As an event planner myself, I love the opportunity to sneak a peek at other people's parties. This one is sure to be packed with fun ideas. There will be a big unveil of the campaign theme and logo (very top secret until then!), and our campaign fundraising goal (game changing! dare we say "audacious" Burns did). There will be a major gift announcement. I'm so excited about this one, I might just bust. It is so inspiring, so generous, just so wow. And, the OSUF will be announcing the winners of the OSUccess.com contest.

I was super honored to be called in as a last-minute preliminary judge for the OKC and Tulsa text entries. And just as exciting, I'll be pushing out the social media content on behalf of the Foundation on Friday. If you are looking for tweets, twitpics and Facebook updates from me during the event, you'll find them on the Foundation's account. Better yet, as you are watching live, run a twitter search for #okstate, so you can see what everyone has to say about it.