I’ve been trying to make it to South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) for several years, but the planets just never aligned.. That is, until this year.

SXSW, for those unfamiliar with the event, is held each Spring in Austin, TX and includes Interactive, Film & Music sessions spread across 1 1/2 weeks. I attended the Interactive sessions, which ran for five days, Friday-Tuesday, March 12th-16th and is referred to by some as “Spring Break for Nerds.”

I’ve been following the event for several years, so I somewhat knew what to expect going into it. According to several sources, interactive registration was up 40% over 2009, to somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 total. I’m not sure what the final count was, but there will need to be some changes next year to accommodate the growth.

There have been several great summary posts, which I’ll include below. Overall, at least for me, it was a very successful use of time and resources.

Attending events isn’t cheap, but there’s something to be said about attending events in person and meeting people in real life. It just isn’t the same to watch the videos, monitor Twitter and blog content. You have to be there in person to really experience the event.

Steve Hall had a few great points that summarize my perspective (see his article below on Adrants):

• “But where else can you physically hang with so many people in the marketing/interactive/advertising/social/geek space all at once.”
• “SXSW is about the people. Sure, panels and content are important but it’s the people you want to connect with. It’s people you will do business with. It’s people who will become part of your professional (and personal) life.”

Highlights for me:

• Attending Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote (the guy has passion!)
• Experiencing the hype around geo-location checkin services – everyone was checking in using Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. The panels such as Time+ Social + Location: What’s Next in Mobile Experiences were packed.
• Overemphasis around all that’s cool about iPhones, even though I don’t think they’ll rise above 15% market share
• The lameness of several of the keynotes and sessions (crowdsourcing doesn’t always work)
• Validation of the large opportunities in mobile, social and location-based services
• Pleasantly surprised that the AT&T network held up under the network strain and the WiFi at the event was great, which helped make up for the horrible internet service at my hotel
• Meet and greet in real life at Allhat II, a meetup organized by David Armano & Richard Binhammer
• Hearing both sides discussing the Yelp effect
• Having a Twitter hashtag, such as #contentrelevanttome for each panel or event was very helpful for tracking discussions via Twitter
• The brainpower on stage for “Making Content Relevant to Me, Here and Now” and several other sessions was mind-blowing
• Good discussions around the future of context, information overload and the difference between information and being informed
• Learned about some cool new location apps like at Seek ‘n Spell and scvngr, a geo-gaming platform at “Playing with Place: Location-Based Games and Services”
• While I don’t always agree with Jason Fried from 37signals, I’m glad I was able to catch part of his session and learn a bit about his new book, REWORK.
• Many people have seen the Socialnomics videos from Erik Qualman, but it was good to hear him speak and I’m looking forward to an updated round of stats on social media

photo via David Alston from #Allhat2 Tweetup

Other great SXSWi 2010 posts: 13 Observations From South by Southwest (SXSW) via Jay Baer The Joy of SXSW via BBH Labs SXSW – FAILS and WINS via Mark Logan Did SXSW Really Suck This Year? via Adrants Why SXSW Sucks via Jolie O’Dell SXSW 2010 – It’s time to leave the echo chamber via Uwe Hook The Social Technologies Powering SXSW 2010 via David Berkowitz What SXSW Taught Me About Social Systems, and Business via David Armano Digitally, Location Is Where It’s At via New York Times My ten favorite videos from SXSW via David Spark Presentations and documents tagged “sxsw2010” on Slideshare

Technorati Tags: SXSW, Interactive, technology, advertising

I’m not in the wine industry. Or the food & beverage industry, for that matter.

But, I do travel a reasonable amount and love to visit different wineries and breweries around the country.

On my last visit to wineries around Monterey County California, I must say that I was somewhat disappointed. Not because the wine was bad, but because of the wine tasting fees and the attitudes of several of the brands.

So first, let me say that most of our wine stops were great, and I recommend taking the tour at Chateau Julien (our favorite!) and stopping by to visit with the fine folks at Scheid, Talbott, Bernardus and Ventana Vineyards, to name a few. There were several wineries in Monterey County that I would have liked to visit but we just didn’t have enough time (Bernardus was the farthest South we got).

So, here is the my complaint: wine tasting fees.

I’m not complaining because I’m cheap, but I’m complaining because some wineries are trying to make money from wine tasting fees.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that businesses have to cover their costs. And I’m fine with covering costs, especially, if nothing else, having a wine tasting fee policy keeps people from stopping by and drinking without any intention of buying.

But, if there are tasting fees, they should either be reasonable enough that it’s a break even for the winery ($3-$5?) or applied towards purchase with a reasonable threshold (like $25).

Some of the wineries, which I won’t mention, had $10-$15 tasting fees that were not applied towards purchase. In my opinion, higher prices may be fine for reserve wines but not for wines that are in the $25-$50 price range.

If tasting fees are applied towards purchase, I’m pretty likely to purchase something to recoup my costs, but only if the threshold is low (i.e. 1 bottle, not a case). Some of the wineries had a high threshold for applying the tasting fees towards purchase.

For the wineries that charge for tastings, are they not confident enough in their product that they don’t think anyone will buy it once they taste it? If someone is tasting 5 or more wines, the chance is pretty good that at least one of the wines is going to hit home and the customer will purchase.

If the tasting fees aren’t applied and I’m on the fence on whether to purchase or not, I’ll usually thank my hosts and walk away. Why? Because unless something was great, there isn’t any incentive to buy, and I feel the winery already made some money off of me, which doesn’t sit well with me. Plus, there are so many great wines out there, and with limited space and funds, not everything makes the cut for the Jacobsen Estate cellar.

If there aren’t tasting fees and I was on the fence? I almost always make a purchase out of respect for the brands and their time. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I make a purchase at almost every wine tasting I go to. And if I don’t like anything they’re pouring, I try and find something else to buy.

But, what bothered me the most was how some wineries, when asked about tasting fees, simply responded “nobody provides free tastings anymore” and shrugged off my inquiry.

Maybe there was just too big of a disconnect between the wine makers and the storefronts? Or maybe, in this down economy, the sales people were more worried about making a quick buck and collecting a check vs. investing in a long term customer?

My favorite wine area to visit is Sonoma County (map).

Last time I was there, almost all of the fees, if there were any, were applied towards purchase, and the people were incredibly nice.

And guess what, I purchased quite a bit more wine.

Technorati Tags: wine, tasting, fee

I enjoy Jenne’s blog and I was reading her post about her bull running experience and I was reminded how seldom we step out of our safe zone. Jenne, you get the guts award for this one!

I was also inspired by a quote that Andrew posted:
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
–Albert Einstein

Although I’ve been to Europe, I haven’t made it to Spain to brave the bull running. The closest I’ve gotten is canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland, which was fun.

I’m as guilty as the next person in trying to solve problems just as much as the next person with existing solutions that just plainly don’t fit without some sort of innovation.

Stepping out of our comfort box doesn’t have to be something dramatic and can start with baby steps. Maybe trying a new food that you’ve been too scared to sample. Or trying a new approach to a project when you keep beating your head against the wall.

For me, blogging alone has made the list of stepping outside my comfort zone. As would contributing to the Age of Conversation book, which I’m happy to say holds the #2 (Hardcover), #4 (Paperback) and #8 (e-Book) spots on Lulu, which we used to publish the book. All profits are going to charity and it has been a great experience where I have met a bunch of great people.

As I continue to become more involved in the Web 2.0 universe, I look forward to what’s next.

As some people look over my work history scattered with startups during the hot dot com days, they wonder why I took the risks.

My answer: with risks comes reward.

So yes, several of the companies I worked for tanked, but I came out of those situations learning more than I would have from any job. And yes, getting downsized hits the ego, even if the company drops from 600 people to 125 and your division is closed.

Risky? Yes. Rewarding? Without a doubt.

What have you done to step outside the lines?

Technorati Tags: startup, Jenne, Einstein, running with the bulls, pamplona