The River

The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.

Current Affairs

SXSW Interactive: Beyond The Hype

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sxsw-squareAs much as people love SXSW, there’s definitely a backlash. Some blame the conference for the ever-growing tide of immigrants to Austin, which is stressing infrastructure and heightening fears about water shortages. Others decry it as just another tech conference, or bemoan the hipster factor. (Can you tell I’m a local now?)

I see more and more people tweeting with dread (myself among them) rather than excitement about the event, so it seems we all need to take it down a notch.

Remember that, at heart, SXSW is still a “festival” — not a conference. Where else would you find panel discussions on things like: “Making More of Ourselves – Sensory & Multimodal UX,” “Unearthing the Atari Graveyard: The Search for ET,” and, um, “Orgasm: The Broadband of Human Connection“? (Heck, there’s even a Ping Pong Tournament.) [Read more…] about SXSW Interactive: Beyond The Hype

Surviving and Thriving at SXSW: Make It Your Show

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Photo Credit: Brittany Ryan via SXSW

I know everyone‘s doing it, but I can’t resist. I’ve only been to SXSW interactive a few times, but that’s long enough to make lots of mistakes and learn from them.

  • Prepare, But Be Flexible. Later on this list, I’ll suggest you disregard your carefully-prepared schedule, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need one. In fact, it’s best if you have a schedule prepared that allows for Plan B and even Plan C.Say, you’ve decided you want to go to one panel, or one party. If something doesn’t work out — and shit happens — be ready to move on to the next opportunity. Maybe you’re stuck on the wrong part of town, maybe you let yourself get caught up in conversation with someone you met, maybe a thunderstorm starts up just as you were heading out — whatever the wrinkle, don’t let it bother you. Just have Plan B ready to go, and pivot.
  • Take Care of Yourself. You’ll want to pack as lightly as you can, because you are likely walking everywhere you go, but be sure to have a few key items: Water, so you don’t get dehydrated. A snack (maybe peanut butter crackers or nuts), in case low blood sugar strikes at a time you’re not ready to go in search of food. And, this year, a small umbrella. Along those same lines, wear comfortable, broken-in shoes. There’s nothing worse than hobbling. The same applies to your drinking strategy (yes, you should have a strategy). I don’t agree with the “don’t drink” philosophy, partly because I’m a bit shy and having at least one margarita helps me make conversation with strangers. But, moderation is key. Don’t embarrass yourself, and don’t ruin the rest of the show for yourself. Perhaps set a limit of 1 or 2 drinks per day, and drink club soda the rest of the time.
  • Go With The The Flow. It’s easy to get uptight. Either you become too married to your schedule — so you spend your time rushing around from one event to the next. Or you become a party-chaser — always convinced that the best party is the one that the guy you’re following on Twitter is attending. Guess what? The best party is the one you’re at, right now. The best food truck is the one you stumble upon when you turn the corner. Allow yourself some serendipity. It’s your SXSW, and it may not be exactly as you planned, but it’s likely to be pretty darned good if you seize the moment.

I’ll be aggregating links and such to good posts I find on the subject, posting them below and continually updating. Feel free to drop more in the comments. Thanks!

P.S. On the beer subject, I’d recommend the Real Ale Brewing Company’s Fireman’s #4 — it’s awesome.

Doing good… socially

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The disaster in Haiti has reverberated through the social networks. Personally, I found Twitter, Facebook and even some e-mail listservs dominated by calls for donations. Information — some of it true and some of it false — spread like wildfire. Text 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross. Text 501501 to donate $5 to Yele. One blogger decided to donate ten cents per comment on a charity-related post, leading others to discuss (and decline) doing the same.

One side of me thinks it’s fantastic. Social media is being harnessed to help people desperately in need. (Also, the general public has figured out how to text message, and the carriers are actually helping.) What could be bad about these developments? Another side of me finds the social media environment a bit distasteful. Can’t we do good things without bragging about them publicly? Can’t we donate to charities without asking others to support the exact same causes? Shouldn’t we all just do what we can, in our own way?

This highlights the less-pleasant side of social media. While we’re all in a great big conversation, all in this together, there’s also the undeniable whiff of competiton in the air. Who is doing more for Haiti? Who cares the most and has the most influence on others? What blogger isn’t doing what he/she should?

Ultimately, the good here outweighs the bad — money is going to good causes to help those desperately in need. Whether social media participants are acting out of genuine empathy, or the desire to raise their own status matters little. The only danger is that the status-seeking results in negative feelings, meaning some who would have donated, won’t, or won’t donate as much as they would have, otherwise. Hopefully that won’t happen very often.

The Making of a Next Gen Video Consumer

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A few weeks ago, I got my husband to agree to cutting off our cable television service. See ya, Time Warner Cable. See ya, Time Warner Cable bill.

Reading about Fred Wilson’s thoughts on the subject (wow, that link is old and yet still valid), and hearing from @lieblink, it has long been obvious to me that the future of television-watching is digital and on-demand. Watching our household’s video viewing habits — a lot of Amazon On-Demand, some Netflix Instant Queue, a great deal of TiVo-ed kids’ programming, and some live TV here and there — I realized that, with just a few slight modifications, we could ditch the cable boxes and save $71/month.

The person for whom this poses the most difficulty (and he’s already asked me to call TWC a couple of times) is my husband. He’s fond of live sports and live sports news — some of which are actually available online, but he’s not accustomed to using these sources yet. For the kids and me, it hasn’t been a difficult adjustment, as there is still plenty of programming available with our new configuration.

Here’s our set up:


  • Analog TV set (vintage 2004 or so).
  • Digital to analog converter box
  • Amplified indoor antenna (“rabbit ears”)
  • Roku box for Netflix and Amazon On-Demand
  • TiVo for recording broadcast TV and a little on-demand (Series 2)

I’d love to have Apple TV or some other way to watch YouTube, Hulu, etc. on our TV, but we are getting along pretty well just now. The most challenging part, thus far, is when we hear about some kind of news event — a plane and helicopter colliding over the Hudson, for example — and want to turn on CNN or NY1 for the on-the-scene coverage. We’re trying to train ourselves to find something acceptable online. Wish us luck.

It’s also measurable now!

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Pete Spande at Continuous Beta says:

Media hasn’t become social. It always was. I talked about the latest Dukes of Hazzard episode with anyone who would listen in 1980. My mother sent me newspaper clippings all the through my college career (for example – don’t use Bean0, it is made with penicillin! [I’m alergic.]) The difference now is that media is social with SCALE.

The other big difference, Pete, is that social media — word of mouth, to use the old term — is now measurable. I used to get a lot of gaff at ClickZ for writing about word-of-mouth marketing, because, uh… what’s digital or interactive about that?

My argument was always that the advent of digital media, and user-generated media, meant that you can now see and measure what people are saying about your brand. You can analyze positive versus negative; you can take that feedback and improve your products. And you can participate in the conversation and affect what people are saying about you. Pretty damned cool.