This document summarizes notable tweets and panels from the 2012 SXSW conference. It discusses how major brands like Chevrolet, Nike, Converse, and Whole Foods promoted themselves at the event. Key panels focused on expanding human intelligence and avoiding disingenuous personas. The document also recommends related books and notes notable brands exhibiting at the SXSW tradeshow like Pond5, Squarespace, Punchd, and Klout.

1. Business & Brands at SXSW 2012
David Tisdale The North State Design Studio

2. Notable Tweets During the Conference
“The Holy Grail: being able to market to a persona of one.”
tweeted by @brentmbynum
“Companies need to think about distribution,
not just content creation.”
tweeted by @CoryObrien
“If you get a product for free, you are not the customer. You
are the product; the rancher isn't in business for the cattle.”
- Eric Ries
Reference: http://www.slideshare.net/davidcrandall/sxsw-interactive-2012

3. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
Chevrolet “Sound Garage” Venue

4. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
Nike + Austin Skyline

5. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
Converse + My Margarita

6. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
Time Warner Cable “Living Room” at IFC House

7. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
FedEx Power Couriers*
* Street team of brand ambassadors
wearing USB device recharging packs.

8. Big Brand Visibility at SXSW
Whole Foods Promoting their new online magazine, “Dark Rye”

9. Selected Panels
Ray Kurzweil Keynote: Expanding Our Intelligence Without Limit
Notes: http://www.kurzweilai.net/ray-kurzweils-sxsw-keynote-expanding-our-intelligence-without-limit
Avoiding Bullshit Personas: A Case Study
Audio: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP12363
Agile Apps: Effective Mobile & Native Development
Audio: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP10625

10. Recommended Books
The Inmates are Running the Asylum
This book argues that, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the
high-tech industry and they have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in
charge, leading to products and processes that waste huge amounts of money,
squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage.
Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Inmates-Are-Running-Asylum/dp/0672316498
Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior
The author's mental models have helped both start-ups and large corporations
discover and support customer behaviors they didn't think to explore at first.
Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Models-Aligning-Strategy-Behavior/dp/1933820063

11. Notable Brands at SXSW Tradeshow
Pond5 - http://www.pond5.com/
A pretty fantastic stock media marketplace
Squarespace - http://www.squarespace.com/
An innovative and intuitive online product for creating websites
Punchd - http://getpunchd.com/
“A loyalty program to rule them all” - Acquired by Google last year.
Klout - http://klout.com/
Measures your influence on Social Networks

12. Thank you
http://twitter.com/dtiz