Here's my experience of SXSW Interactive 2015. Its essentially field notes created originally as a PechaKucha for McJ. I hope it jars a new idea loose out there somewhere.

1. My SXSW Interactive
Adventure 2015
Clay Langdon

2. 2
I’ve always enjoyed traveling to far-away
cities to attend conferences and meet new
and interesting people and talk shop.
SXSW is especially awesome because
the conference comes to you. And brings
a whole new city here to Austin.
Thanks to Mark and Bryan for sending
folks to the festival, subsidizing badges
and tolerating massive disruption to the
agency for 10 solid days at the end of Q1.
I can’t wait to see the other presentations.
First, thanks Austin, SXSW and McJ

3. 3
The only problem with SXSW is that it is
totally overwhelming. I’m amazed by the
volume of content flowing through SXSW
My plan was ingest mainly content related
to brands, UX, creative strategy and
content development.
Planning my schedule, i found it hard to
choose between apples and oranges.
I thought I’d reconcile conflicts on the fly.
Quest for inspiration
http://schedule.sxsw.com/

4. Continuous schedule adjustment
Tip for next year: nail down RSVPs
sooner.
I mis-under-estimated some lines and
couldn't get in to a few sessions i wanted.
Scrambling for alternatives can be
stressful. How far away? How big will the
line be? Where am i on the RSVP list?
Which 2:30 session is going to be best?
In the scramble for alternatives, I
stumbled upon a few really great
surprises.
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5. Fortunate discoveries
I know this is probably against PechaKucha
rules, but i need just a little bit of narrative
structure here.
The following is not a “most important trends”
or “top 10 best content” or “best rated by
audiences” but a field-reporter’s journal and
collection of insights and observations that
have survived in my memory and notebook.
Here are 8 take-away’s from the festival and 5
trade-show observations from my SXSW 2015
Interactive experience.
I hope at least one of them jars a new thought
loose somewhere out there.
5

6. 1. THE FUTURE = QUANTUM DESIGN
I hope one of the other SXSW reporters will dive deeper
into Paola Antonelli’s keynote.
My first reaction to modern art is usually “wha??” I left
Paola Antonelli’s keynote confused and a little disturbed
by the idea of a realm between living and not-living.
Later, I found her insights about quantum design to be
prophetic as i started noticing spaces between spaces
everywhere. She's on to some intergalactic shift that
requires designers and creative developers everywhere
to build bridges from a past to future state.
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http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP996158

7. 7
So much of SXSW this year was about data, API
scrapers, and technology-enabled marketplaces.
Decoded Fashion set up camp to show how pop up
marketplaces and brands establish connections
with target audiences that simply weren’t possible
before.
Continuous market feedback and data science
enable continuous innovation and also risk
management.
It strikes me that this is basically a design stimulus
research engine with broad e-commerce
capabilities.
2. STARTUP RETAIL MARKETPLACES
http://decodedfashion.com/sxsw/

8. 8
Ross Atkin is an industrial designer who came to share
thoughts about IOT and industrial design process.
He had lots of great examples to highlight the importance
of solving meaningful problems and getting close to the
user to make decisions (vs imagining but not confirming a
user need and developing a solution in search of a
problem.)
Here are some seniors who were pissed about speedy
and dangerous traffic light and cross walks. They got
together and made a rap video to express their frustration.
The video highlighted a real user need and also pointed
toward a solution. Atkin was able to use the video to
storyboard the use case, share a vision for the solution
and get funding to create a new technology to measurably
improve a human experience.
3. TARGET AUDIENCE USE CASE
http://www.rossatkin.com/sxsw15/SXSW15_Prez_online.pdf

9. 9
I’d never heard of MeerKat. My first reaction was - another
fundamental transformation of human communication?
First, Meerkat is smart and friendly branding.
Meerkat and apps like it hanse INSTANTLY transformed
the way we conceive of an share content.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the costs of
live broadcasts essentially go to zero.
This may be a good example of a space between a space.
Are these entertainment platforms or communication
devices?
4. CONTINUOUS MEDIA INNOVATION
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/29/meerkat-and-periscope-
arent-sure-what-to-do-with-their-hands/

10. 10
This was Al Jazeera Plus presented a vision for the
future of news journalism.
By utilizing distributed “VJs” with souped-up I-phones,
AJ+ is able to create and distribute content quickly
and from behind the front lines.
Here’s an example from Ferguson Missouri: AJ+
was collecting content from multiple VJs embedded in
the crowd and editing and streaming video and
developing and distributing content - all before the big
networks had finished unloading their vans.
Here’s maybe another example of a space between a
space. Is this a news organization or social network?
5. DISTRIBUTED CONTENT GENERATION
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP44446

11. 11
This was Al Jazeera Plus presented a vision for
the future of news journalism.
By utilizing distributed “VJs” with souped-up I-
phones, AJ+ is able to create and distribute
content quickly and from behind the front lines.
Here’s an example from Ferguson Missouri: AJ+
was collecting content from multiple VJs
embedded in the crowd and editing and streaming
video and developing and distributing content - all
before the big networks had finished unloading
their vans.
Here’s maybe another example of a space
between a space. Is this a news organization or
social network?
6. CARDS AND STACKS
http://ajplus.net/

12. 7. IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
This was from “Breaking the 4th Wall - Audience
Participation in the Digital Age.”
Professional directors, actors, make-up artists, set
designers and others get together to serve up “horror
house” experiences to paying audiences.
The experience is captured and then broadcast to a wider
audience of voyeurs.
We say we create emotional connections between people
and brands. Consider this a challenge to dial up
emotional intensity next time you’re working on an
environmental installation.
Here’s another candidate for a space between a space:
Are these people entertainment customers or
performers?
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http://www.hauntersmovie.com/

13. 8. UX EXISTENTIALISM
I’m always curious to see how other companies
integrate customer insight, strategy, planning and
research into their design and development process.
It strikes me that the same battles fought by planners
in the break out sessions of late 1990s APG
conferences are now being fought by UX practitioners.
What if design isn’t following the strategy? How can
you get the client to pay for research? Who’s
responsible for creating a customer-centric innovation
culture? …
I’m glad to know that planners of all kinds remain
committed to customer-centric design and innovation
process.
13

14. Trade show observations
Enough with the conference. Here are 5
observations from the trade show -
1. CUSTOM CURATION
2. API-SCRAPING BRAND AND MEDIA
TRACKING
3. NEW-GEN MARKETING AUTOMATION
4. CREATIVE SERVICES NETWORKS
5. HEALTHY FURNITURE
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http://sxsw.com/exhibitions/trade-show/exhibitors

15. 15
1. CUSTOM CURATION
I saw lots personal content curation technology for all
kinds of media.
These are bots out there discovering and tagging and
cuing up media based upon personal presences, user
customization and machine learning.
Technologies like this represent pull media vs push
media and are likely to change the engagement model
for our brands.
These could also be examples of spaces between
spaces. Are they Networks? Platforms? Channels?
Magazines? Concierge Services? http://www.brainspace.com
https://www.worldrelay.tv/

16. 2. API-SCRAPING BRAND AND MEDIA TRACKING
I remember thinking about data dashboards back in
the old building, wondering where is the integrated
dashboard? And why cant Adobe just give me
exactly what i want - which is all unified media
inclusive of on-line, off-line, digital and physical?
Free data storage and improved ease of API and
ETN integration have combined to produce a
revolution in brand, platform and campaign tracking
technology.
A few of these companies have begun to solve
problems that have burdened our data analytics
efforts from the start.
In the right hands, tools like this contribute to design
thinking by allowing all the world to be viewed as a
giant ongoing A|B test.
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www.IQMediaCorp.com
www.Luminoso.com

17. I don’t consider myself an expert in the robot side
of marketing and Its been a while since i’ve studied
at Marketo or Eloqua and the like.
But there seems to be a new generation of
automation technology for marketers. They work
by storing and organizing discreet content and
creative assets and then allowing the user to
administer on-going, technology-assisted, multi
channel campaigns.
At least that’s the intoxicating promise …
I think you need humans to conceive of content
and to develop creative campaigns and respond to
social activity. But systems like this can automate
and streamline and simplify work that's better left to
bots.
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www.Holonis.com
www.Acision.com
3. NEW-GEN MARKETING AUTOMATION

18. 4. CREATIVE SERVICES NETWORKS
I saw a variety of new-marketplace-forming
match-making services, collaboration
platforms, talent brokers, and other models that
try and bridge the gap between buyers and
sellers.
These aren’t examples of spaces between
spaces exactly or examples of increasing
applicability of design thinking. But I thought
they were interesting and deserved mention.
Here’s one of your options should you go to
GigSalad to search for fire dancers available
for performance in Austin.
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www.CreativeTakeover.com
www.GigSalad.com

19. 5. HEALTHY FURNITURE
Here’s Martin Keen, founder of Keen
shoe company. He’s now working on
vision for human-body-friendly office
furniture.
This is also a great example of design
thinking. Martin recognized that the
human body is most comfortable resting
at a 130-degrees and not “sitting” at a
90-degree angle.
With that simple insight he began to
imagine, prototype and test office
furniture designed for a number of
meaningful use cases.
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www.FocalUprightFurniture.com

20. Winding Down
I found SXSW 2105 to highly rewarding. I left
inspired and energized. I was able to catch up with
some old friends and enjoy a break from normal
agency life.
But I was relieved when it was over.
On the last night, my kids came down to check out
SXSW Eco’s LED light garden.
This is me looking into my phone camera and
watching the image projected on to a giant wooden
head.
20
http://blog.1000bulbs.com/sxsw-2015-eco-light-
garden/#.VRq4pTvF9uo

21. Inspiration for the future
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So that’s it. I hope you enjoyed my field notes and
can take something away from my SXSW 2015
interactive experience.
Take-home Insights:
• Content – Solve meaningful problems and look
into the spaces between the spaces
• Process – Apply design thinking holistically and
whenever possible <Insight > Idea > Stimulus >
Feedback > Learning > Iteration>
• Overall and in general - Be thankful. Love what
you do. Now is an exciting time to be in the idea
development business here in Austin Texas

22. THANK YOU
Clangdon5