Your Pre-Conference Guide to SXSW Interactive 2012

For ongoing coverage, visit the SXSW BrandLand blog where 360i’s team of

guides share their experiences in Austin and report on the learnings that are

most pertinent to brand marketers. We’ll provide a filter to the madness and

navigate through the noise - so you don’t have to. Whether you are making

the trek to Texas or following from your home, we hope you’ll join us on

our journey. Visit sxsw.360i.com to learn more.

Meet the Guides

Jamison Antoine

Community Manager

@withthecomb

Stevie Dove

Senior Social Strategist

@steviedove

Layne Harris

Technical Director

@hellroy

Nicole Hering

Social Marketing Strategist

@nicolehering

Katie Perry

Marketing Manager

@katieeperry

Colette Quatrine

Account Supervisor

@CQ_Colette

David Berkowitz

VP of Emerging Media

@dberkowitz

Follow us at sxsw.360i.com.

#BrandLand

Austin Hot List4 trends that should be on every marketer’s SXSW 2012 radar

© 2012 360i sxsw.360i.com / twitter.com/360i / #BrandLand

01 Social Serendipity

Previous years at SXSW

proved to be a test case

for applications like

Foursquare that allow

friends to easily find each other, see

which places are popular, and get

recommendations. New apps like

Sonar, Banjo and Highlight will help

people discover friends of friends –

usually people one hasn’t met.

02 ABCs of APIs

It wasn’t long ago that

only a programmer

or hardcore techie

would know what an

API is. Now the acronym (which

stands for “application programming

interface”) is going mainstream

as just about every social service

gains scale by opening up its

core functionality so that other

applications can be built on it.

03 Curation Nation

SXSW attendees are the

consummate oversharers

and overconsumers. That

means they’re the perfect

audience for anything that will save

time, energy, and attention resources

to use social filters that narrow down

what sessions to attend, what parties

to hit, which restaurants to eat at,

which blogs and media sources

to read for event coverage, which

personalities to follow, which photos

to view, and everything else. Most

information attendees access will

likely by filtered by some other source

first – and that source will usually be

someone they know, who is directly or

indirectly contributing.

04 Mobile Downsizing

Who needs cash or

credit cards, or laptops,

or hotel keys, or pens, or

cameras? While many

techies will roam Austin

with oversized bags, smartphones

are becoming powerful and

pervasive enough that people will

get to minimize what they carry

around with them. Of course, with

everyone relying more on their

mobile devices, battery power won’t

keep up.

Which type of SXSW-er are you?SXSW Interactive attracts a range of personalities that experience the festival in vastly different ways.

Fall into one of these categories? Our grid below will help you navigate the week.

© 2012 360i sxsw.360i.com / twitter.com/360i / #BrandLand

→ Vote4Geeks: Why Techies Should Run for Office

→ FutureShop: Virtual QR Stores, NFC Re-ceipts & More

→ Big Data + Social Graph

“You can only get this app if you root your phone.”

Sonar

Robert Scoble (@scobleizer)

NIchelle Stephens (@niche)

Dennis Crowley (@dens)

John Winsor (@jtwinsor)

Dave McClure (@davemcclure)

Hugh Forrest (@hugh_w_forrest)

FoodSpotting Pinterest Tumblr LinkedIn Twitter

30 miles outside Austin (you booked too late!)

Hilton AustinA friend’s couchDriskill HotelThe WHilton Austin

Karaoke bus

Stubb’s

Wahoo’s Fish Taco Uchi Lambert’s Guero’s Salt Lick Fogo de Chao

Haddington’s Driskill Hotel The JackalopeLobby Lounge at the

Four SeasonsThe Mohawk

TaxiNothing; everyone

comes to youPedi cab Limo Your own two feet

“I know it’s not authen-tic, but I prefer my Frito pie with goat cheese.”

“I don’t need an invite to the Foursquare party. I’ ll just text Dennis when I get there.”

“I wanted to hit the Wieden keynote but I don’t do sessions before noon.”

“Meet me in the south-west corner of the Hilton lobby 20 feet from the sofas. It’s the spot with the best WiFi reception.”

“Don’t tell my boss, but I haven’t had this much fun since college.”

→ Food Trucks Share Social Media Tips

→ Reprogram Your Yard, Then Eat It

→ My Robotic Kitchen Planned This Din-ner Party

→ The View from In-side Rainn Wilson’s Brainstem

→ Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Back-wards in Heels

→ Vetting in the Age of Social Media: Who Do You Trust?

→ Transmedia Story-telling

→ Next Stage: Cin-ematic Storytelling and Journalism

→ Psychology of Nar-cissism and How It Affects Brands

→ Tech Detox: Can You Survive a Day without Technol-ogy?

→ Tapping into Amer-ica’s Secret Sauce: Entrepreneurs

→ Get Lucky: Create Serendipity to Spur Innovation

→ How to Read the World

→ Expanding Our Intelligence without Limit

→ Making the Real World Easier to Use

Your Bite

Your Bar

Your Ride

Your Digs

Your Leader

App of Choice

Can’t Miss Sessions

Sh*t You Say

Geek CreativeSocialiteFoodiePower Networker

Shell-shocked Onlooker

© 2012 360i sxsw.360i.com / twitter.com/360i / #BrandLand

Your Survival KitBeyond the everyday travel essentials, here are a few more

items you’ll want to pack to make it through a week in Austin.

Portable USB chargers:

You’ll want to carry one or two pocket-sized

battery packs with USB sockets that can be used

to plug in your iPhone or Android device on the

go. Alternatively, you can get cases that double as

backup batteries. Bring as much extra power as you

can afford and can fit in your pockets.

Reservations:

Schedules in Austin can be hard to predict, but pick

a spot or two that you’re hearing ab out and make a

reservation or two so you can at least have one meal

that’s not from a food truck or vending machine.

Hint: SeamlessWeb works well for a number of

Austin hot spots (though as usual, some favorites

won’t be on the list).

Additional Resources: Lanyrd guide to SXSW, Plancast, SXSW Go (official mobile app), Sched.org Unofficial Guide, Conference Map via Austin360

Anything that will help you catch some Z’s:

Whether it’s a sleep mask, ear plugs, a sound

machine, or any other sleep aid, bring what you can

to get some quality sleep. If you try to experience

everything at SXSW, you will wind up clocking post-

midnight hours that you might not have seen since

college. That means you will also want to minimize

any early morning phone calls or meetings.

3-in-1 outlet adapters:

These turn one three-prong outlet into three. When

all available outlets are taken (and they will be), this

$5 gadget seems miraculous.