Vote Local. Send Seattle to SxSW Interactive.
More than 2,400 panel submissions. That’s right, this year there were 2.412 panel submissions to SxSW Interactive. To make sure our Seattle community has a strong showing in Texas this year, here’s a voter’s guide of panel ideas submitted by Seattleites or Seattle-based companies. Every vote counts, so let’s give Seattle a “thumbs up” – register and vote! Voting closes Friday, August 27 so let’s show our community some love and vote today.
Social Media Club: Building a Global Community: Kristie Wells, Kevin Urie, Jason Falls, Serena Ehrlich and Connie Reece
Description: In August of 2006 Chris Heuer stood on the stage at Gnomedex and said, “I am launching Social Media Club”. In four years this grassroots organization has grown from the seed of an idea to 230+ local groups around the world, on every continent except Antarctica. This is the story of how an idea and belief in shared values has bound together 100′s of thousands of people around the world. Social Media Club’s mantra – “If you get it, share it” – highlights “sharing” as the key verb we should associate with social media, but when you dig deeper, its much more then what you see on the surface. Social Media is about people coming together, connecting for a common purpose. This panel will explore how the organization grew globally and how the best chapters found success.
Searching for your Crisis Communications Plan: Todd Friesen and Eric Berto
Description: The Crisis Communications Plan. Every company should have one but sadly most don’t. While traditional public relations can play the obligatory “No Comment” role, there are much more complex strategies in Search Engine Optimization and content creation that should be undertaken. These strategies include content creation and marketing through other already established channels of communication that can quickly help save a brand or vastly mitigate the impending damage both offline and online. In a world when consumers flock to the Internet for their research and news, controlling your brands’ message with the top listings on the major search engines and with the online and offline messaging your influentials are reporting is a key to controlling your messaging in times of crisis. Access key influencers online and control the brand name search results on Google and others using advanced SEO techniques and content strategies go a long way toward saving face and saving lost sales and revenue.
Time to Rethink Plugged-in Parenting: Maya Bisineer and Robert Scoble
Description: A reality show that tracks journeys and learning from the life of 5 – 10 media and device addicted parents from different backgrounds and careers as they experiment with specific ways “unplug from devices” while they parent. At the panel, these parents present their learning, their journey and specific outcomes of their unplugging experiments such as no-device dinners, no device vacations and dedicated no device hours every single day. Do these parents experience a better quality of life as a result of unplugging or do they replace their computers and mobile phones with something else that takes their attention? This panel will be a lively discussion, discovery and argument all rolled into one. As parents we should care about and involve ourselves in these valuable discussions and make our perspectives be heard. Panelists will be self nominated social media and device junkies willing to experiment.
It’s Not Scalable and That’s OK: One-Shot Campaigns: Michelle Broderick, Redfin
Crazy parties, bobble head swag, content audited by human beings: None of these things are scalable, but they can make a huge impact on the feelings and affinity people have towards a particular company. This panel will discuss marketing strategies that helped some of the best companies build a true personality around their brands. These types of campaigns might not be scalable, but that’s O.K. because we end up loving them.
Tired of @#%ing Social Media Experts?: Sean McDonald, Ant’s Eye View
You cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a “social media expert” (that is an expression, I am not suggesting kitty homicide). These “experts” are self anointed, often re-publishing sound bytes. But perhaps the best answers come from practitioners, like you. Join this session to get real answers from your peers on the toughest questions in social media. Format will be a game show where audience volunteers are asked a question. The worst answer will lose their seat. There will be a final round to anoint the “social media expert.” The winner (determined by the audience) will win a valuable prize, in addition to the glory. You will learn real answers to real questions, but perhaps most importantly learn that the real experts getting business results are not necessarily the ones who who spend the most time to pimping themselves on Twitter.
Be The Voice Of Science: Engage, Empower, Educate: Wendy Sue Swanson, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Description: Practicing physicians have an ethical duty to move science forward by telling their stories and sharing opinions online. Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a pediatrician, bioethicist, and mother of two, will take the audience through a journey of how physicians can propel evidence, science, & research back to the forefront. She deciphers myth, provides reason, adds humor, and brings humility back to health care. Break the divide between doctor and patient; watch how physicians engage communities using transparency through their storytelling in social media. Through her mommy-pediatrician blog, SeattleMamaDoc, Twitter feed, freelance writing & speaking, she illustrates how a growing community of cogent health care providers & patients, can realign science to empower consumers of health care to make informed decisions. Watch, enjoy, and learn how to capture attention by telling an earnest, unedited, and uncensored story. Join Dr Swanson as she works to change the world and listen to science, while preserving and protecting our health.
Curators Aren’t Creators — Should They Just Shut Up: Allison Worthington, Scott Porad and Maya Bisineer
162 million posts a day are created by bloggers and content farms alike and not all of it has value. It can no longer be assumed that the best will rise unassisted. Panelists will define the spheres of content creation, curation, and aggregation. Each has a purpose, but all contain the potential to further bury the signal in the noise of the web. The rapid death of newspapers in the past decade has driven out the long held notion of “content is value.” Can curation create value for content creators? Panelists will debate whether curation and aggregation are parasitic or symbiotic models; do they steal or drive traffic? Currently journalists are getting 80% of the story ideas through blogs and microblogs. While examining the models of traditional newspapers and juxtaposing it with recent successes such as the Huffington post, panelists will reveal how a “long term, dynamic and multidimensional” vision and strategy are key to making content curation work. An effective curation system has effective technology, a radiant/intelligent community and creates value for it’s multiple stakeholders. Simple aggregation as curation is not the straight answer – it is time for smart curation with a vision. Do it right or don’t do it.
Men are from Mars, MOMS are from Venus: Carol Schiller
Description: There’s no shortage of social media, marketing and consulting companies telling you how to market to moms online. For Cozi.com, a company that provides web tools for families, moms are a critical target audience. And with over a million moms registered with Cozi.com to date, we know more than a little bit about what it takes to reach them. Still, like many tech-start ups, Cozi was founded by men, and tech geeks to boot, meaning we could have just as easily fumbled this ball. How did Cozi.com navigate these tricky waters and deliver an audience that includes millions of moms? In this presentation we will reveal: -Real life examples of promotions that succeeded, the thought process behind them and the elements that contributed to success -How to make your online efforts translate into offline buzz -How to navigate the confusing and vast world of mom bloggers, including how to decide which conferences to attend and how to get the most out of them. -The appropriate role of contests and promotions when marketing to moms -A checklist of items every company marketing to moms should have
