The Social Media Experiment

While there are certainly some compelling presentations that have happened somewhere inside the Austin Convention Center, a lot of conference goers have expressed the lackluster level of information being conveyed at the presentations. Now the panel discussion titles have been fairly enticing and have acted as variable baited hooks to reel in interested parties, but once into the presentations, things seem to go awry. In some cases, wholesale walkouts of 25% of he audience have happened 15 minutes in.

Now I am sure people are thinking I am an ass because i can not adequately speak to all of the presentations of which some people have certainly worked their butts off to prepare for. I am also not a presenter myself, so being critical is easy if you are not being judged yourself. That being said, a presentation will obviously be more interesting to a individuals that have no idea of what to expect, an those who have familiarity with the content. Now that does leave thousands of happy organizational workers who will return home and declare “mission accomplished” and that they had learned a lot. Maybe they are now the new organization expert on the topic they listened to through a 60 minute presentation.

Something to enjoy?

Guy Kawasaki’s presentation was at least entertaining. He is truly a presenter who knows the who and why of communicating. The result? New fans will embrace his action items and then buy his book. Old fans will continue to follow him through his feeds and also buy his book.

As I sit through yet another presentation, I am hearing references to innovation, revision and actionable audiences. What I really want to hear is breakout thinking on how we can interact with our audiences through emerging platforms. Yes mobile, but where is this year’s foursquare and who will create excitement among a hungry audience looking for mediums to conquer.

Maybe SXSW will crown a platform/app, but my choice is more traditional in the form of the folks at “Tap This” who position the hottest women in body-hugging outfits with the fore-named service pointing down to their asses.

We can always “check in” at the “Tap This” girl but digitally speaking, my vote goes to the traditional application this year.