My SXSW Experience
The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of adventure, knowledge, networking, life lessons, personal development , and inner growth.
I learned an awful lot about social media and interactive marketing at SXSW, but the true gift of the experience wasn’t related to any panels or keynotes. The lessons that stuck out the most for me were an inner perspective look at myself, who I am, and what I want.
I hate to get all mushy on yeah…actually, scratch that, no I’m not. Marketing is about people’s emotions and feelings they have toward you or your brand. So it makes sense to experience the emotional roller-coaster along side great people as motivated as you are.
The level of smarts experienced at SXSW is mind bottling, and not just from the panel speakers. At every corner at every turn was another innovator leading the pack in their field. You can’t help but become overwhelmed in an environment like that.
By the end of the trip, my brain was complete mush. The best description I’ve heard comes from Sara Davidson, as an emotional hangover. That’s a brilliant way to put it and I concur whole heartily.
So while my hand hurt from note taking…the total experience was intellectual, emotional, and physical. Cheers to Chevy for allowing me to embark on such a life changing journey.
I’ll let you read the hundreds of posts featuring content that was presented down there on other blogs, here are the 6 take-aways I want you to have from my own experience.
Surround Yourself With Inspiration
It was amazing to be surrounded with like minded folks for that many days in a row. Really, for the first time since I can remember I felt that people “get me”. Everyone I chatted with was so energetic about their business, or projects, it was truly contagious. When you’d mention a project or what you want to work for, no one blanked over or questioned your sanity. They got it, because they were doing it too.
Keep yourself surrounded with folks that are trying for similar goals…you can lean to them for inspiration and when life throws wrenches in your plans, you have a support group that has gone through it.
Talk to Everyone
When going to events and conferences, networking is as important if not more than the content. I had my small list of folks I wanted to meet, but I tried to talk with anyone that I could. The best conversations happened when I least expected. A martini break to myself led to an exciting conversation with a new start-up ready to launch in Minneapolis. The conversation started from me asking how his panini sandwich was.
I also had an fascinating conversation with a Memphis cab driver. A “hey man where you from” got him talking about his life. Which was a 30 yr bass guitarist for Al Green. How cool is that!
Talk to everybody. You don’t know the tales they’ve lived.
Treat People Equally
I know Gary V is around and the rest of the social media titans are floating in and out of parties. I can see why you may want to talk to them. But too often I saw folks interested in meeting the “right” people, when the “right” person may have been next to them, or speaking to them. You never know who is a CEO of a great new start-up, or who is killing it in a smaller town than yours. You never know who somebody is friends with, or what ideas they’re moving forward. Or how about that they’re just a nice person.
Treat the janitor like you’d treat your boss, or an internet celebrity. For starters, you look rude and you’re embarrassing yourself…and secondly, who the f*ck are you?
Have Opinions, But Listen To Others
We’re all individuals, we all have our own thoughts. We can and should disagree at some point. I watched several camps war this weekend and I’m not sure why. Developers were mad at marketers. Marketers were mad at PR. Gen-Y’ers battled everyone. Opinions can be different. If we share our experiences and you don’t like them, push back the conversation and challenge it. But do it constructively so we can all grow and move the conversation forward.
Don’t Compromise What You Want
Life is too short to not go for any and everything you want out of life. You may be the only one that believes in what you’re going after or even the only one who believes in you…but move ahead with unwavering and unabashed confidence. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, who else will.
Jump
Nothing comes handed to any of us. The only way we’ll achieve anything worth a damn is to take risks. When the doors of opportunity are open…walk through them. You’ll be surprised by what’s waiting for you on on the other side.
What a trip! My compass is straight, my confidence is high, my heart is warm…could I really ask for more than that.
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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media. He is an avid blogger and active across the net. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter
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