Showing posts with label Austin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austin. Show all posts

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Visiting the Longhorn Half-Ironman Again This Coming October

There's only one thing that could get me back to do the Longhorn Half-Ironman again. If my brother called up and said, "Why don't we do it together?" He did.

There was a long pause of several weeks between the call and the registration. I think we were each feeling the other one out on level of seriousness. Yesterday, he registered. I manned up and registered as well.

I knew it would happen and that's why I started training a couple of weeks ago. I seem a lot more sore than I did the last time I trained for this race. I can really tell I took last winter easy.

Yesterday, I ran five miles in the heat to start to get acclimated. All I can say is thank God for Barton Springs. The 68-degree water is heaven for a dip and cooldown after summer runs.

Workouts for the day: (AM) 5K run, 1000 yard easy swim. (PM) weight machine circuits + 1 hour bike.

Monday, March 16, 2009

SXSW: Beyond Aggregation- Finding the Web's Best Content

Hard to grade this one. It did suffer from being a panel, where the panelists are cautious and guarding their answers. I'll have to review the audio clip to see if there's really anything there.

Updates:
10:45 audience questions.
10:43 Serching within records by pasting into Google.com/cse
10:41 check out Post Rank and Regulator. Also Twitter real-time search in Google. Maybe an install?
10:32 people ditching this panel. room still full. these panelists are smart but not giving it up. Spoiled yesterday with Gary Vaynerchuk spilling his sole onstage.
10:29 There's a listing feature in FriendFeed that allows this panelist to group discussions and filter.
10:18 It's a good thing I'm recording the audio of this session as one of the panelist is spewing tech speak so fast I can't tell what he's saying.
10:16 A little slow this morning getting my tools going. Yoga session a few minutes ago released an energy channel that has my head tingling.

Room Hilton A
Monday, March 16th 10:00 am - 11:00 am

RSS aggregation has reduced the massive ocean of Web content into something more manageable, but we are still left overloaded with information and manual searching. This panel will explore new avenues for finding the Web's best content, and how this more intelligent Web will affect major media companies, online publishers and consumers. We have confirmed Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb as a moderator. Marshall Kirkpatrick VP Content Dev, ReadWriteWeb
Louis Gray Author/Publisher, louisgray.com
Gabe Rivera Founder/CEO, Techmeme
Melanie Baker Community Mgr, AideRSS Inc
Micah Baldwin VP Business Dev, Lijit Networks Inc

Sunday, March 15, 2009

SXSW: From Flickr and Beyond: Lessons in Community Management

Ok presentation. Maybe a grade of B.

Updates
Good advice to focus on the comment and the specific reasons why it was removed. "You're free to repost you comment without the line, 'I'm going to hunt you down and kick your ass.'"
4:16 As with last presentation, one must engage within the community. This means you have to comment on other sites, post information, share, blah, blah, blah that we know should happen but we rarely do. It seems to be successful there is a need to focus on a smaller and smaller niche so that it's a recognized community. Bonzai tree photography in black and white of trees 4 - 8 inches with pointed leaves and roots exposed. Niche enough? Thinking..........
4:04 Flickr. Value in knowing when to be quiet when you recognize when "you know someone is digging a hole to Crazytown."
4:03 remove content with transparency in the process.
4:00 This proving to be a difficult area for companies to deal with. Stressful for employees dealing with the haters/trolls.
3:30 HOW DO THINGS CHANGE GOING FROM A SMALL COMPANY TO A LARGER COMPANY? Metafilter: smaller means everyone are in agreement on content but when growth happens it's difficult to appease everyone and policies are created. Etsy: People get less forgiving as growth happens.

PRESENTERS
  • Heather Champ - Dir of Community, Flickr
  • Mario Anima - Dir of Online Community, Current TV
  • Matthew Stinchcomb - VP Community, Etsy Inc
  • Jessamyn West - Dir of Operations, MetaFilter
  • Micah Schaffer - No title, YouTube
DESCRIPTION

Companies across industries are developing and fostering online communities, recognizing the benefits of connecting with customers on the Web. Unfortunately, not all communities thrive to become a successful vehicle for businesses. Leaders of top online communities from Flickr to Facebook will discuss top best practices for managing online communities.

SXSW: Making Whuffie: Raising Social Capital in Online Communities

This was a solid B presentation. I didn't get wow but I got some good reminders of what I need to do presented well by a good presenter. Tara clearly knows what she's talking about.

Updates

12:00 "#2 Participate. Get involved in the community you serve. Who is your audience? What problem are you solving? and who has that problem. Join them. Authenticity matters. Why should they give a darn? Create amazing customer experiences which makes connections. 11 things to create experiences. 1. Dazzle is in the details. Ex. Moleskin. Loves it. Just a notebook yet has a great following because of the details and the story. 2. Go above and beyond. Zappos. Vosges chocolate truffles. Tells a story while serving a truffle and she ends up eating five of them while listening to the story. 3. Appeal to the emotion. 4. Inject fun into the experience. Ex. virgin Airlines. Ex. Flickr i.e. talk like a pirate day. 5. Make something mundane fashionable. This is what I call the Seinfeld effect. 6. Let people personalize. Ex. Moo Cards - pesonalized cards. Ex. Threadless. Everytime someone says, "Wouldn't it be cool if.....They then act on that making it a reality. Turns into I park like an idiot.com. Ex. Basecamp project management tool. "I don't have to know what a Gantt chart is to do project management. "Doesn't get in the way. 9. Make happiness your business model -Autonomy -relatedness -confidence -? 10. Be social catalyst. Ex. Intuit nobody interacts unless they have to...meetings. #4 Whuffie Way. Embrace the Chaos. 7 ways to embrace the chaos. 1. stop moving until you can see clearly. 2. transfer the knowledge. 3. Acknowledge anxiety. 4. Define your own measure of success. 5. Get outside of your personal circle. 6. Realize everything is out of your control. 7. Have patience. The more whuffie you give away the more you get in return. #5 in the whuffie way. Find your higher purpose. Five 5 gifts to get you there. 1. Doing well by doing good. Ex. Stonyfield Farms. 2. Think customer-centric. 3. Allow sending to other Web sites links. 4. Spread love Ex. Halcyon's Hugnation. 5. ?
11:45 "Turn bullhorn inwards. 8 Commandments. Design for broader community. Observe what people want to do. Respond to all feedback no matter how rediculous. Don't take negative feedback personally. #4 give credit to those that influence. New component highlight it and ask for feedback. #6 make small continuous changes rather than everything at once. #7 go out and find feedback. # Don't feed the haters or trolls.
11:31 She's doing the rapid-fire presentation of slides like Lawrence Lessig based on changes in keywords and the keywords are on the slide. Showing a FriendWheel graphic. Her followers/friends represented in a wheel graphic. "Can't buy Whuffie. Build connections and credibility." She'll be posting the presentation online @ slideshare.net/missrogue.

Ballroom A
11:30 am

PRESENTERS
  • Tara Hunt - Intuit
DESCRIPTION

This talk gets to the heart of how people interact and exchange information in online communities: through social capital, or as Cory Doctorow calls it, Whuffie. The key to growing customers in online communities is through growing your social capital. You will learn the 5 lessons of raising Whuffie through online communities in this presentation.

SXSW: Designing the Future of The New York Times

Grade F for FAIL. This was a standing room only crowd in a Hilton ballroom. They promoted the panel as to where they are going in the next couple of years. Instead they did a classic bait and switch and talked about themselves and history and design. Dang. I think I was most disgusted with the comment that a newspaper's disposability was an asset. Hello, does "Green Movement" cause any bells to go off in your head?

He also said that information doesn't change in the newspaper's content. Once printed that's it, it's done and somehow he eluded to digital content changing all the time.

Listening to these two I get the feeling I'm watching a cartoon in my head where two cavemen are discussing how they made fire with flint shards and dried moss. These guys are toast and they know it. They don't know what the answer is or the NYTimes would be making millions instead of losing money.

As has been suggested with the U.S. automakers, I think these cavemen corporations need to be dismantled and reassembled.

It's sad because I once loved the NYTimes. Ever since the content became questionable (Vitamin Pills: A False Hope?) a few weeks ago did I look away for alternatives.

Updates
5:25 I'm out. I can't take it any longer.
5:20 History and now design. Not a word about where they will go in the next two years as they hemorrhage as much cash as a Big Three automaker. I think they need to be saved as well. Jeez.
5:10 Still history now it's the other guys turn. He's showing really old personal Web sites. Can't. Last. Much. Longer.
5:00 Interesting. They're starting with a personal history. Starting with the past to lead to the future? Oh God, he's going all the way back to his college days of print. Must. hold. on.

PRESENTERS
  • Tom Bodkin - The New York Times
  • Khoi Vinh - The New York Times
DESCRIPTION

What will the nation's newspaper of record look like in the coming years? Learn about the continuing efforts of old media to reinvent its look, its feel and its mission.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

SXSW: The Future Of Social Networks

I'll have to listen to the rest of Charlene's presentation online. she does a very good job as a presenter but today I think I'd read or heard most of the stuff she was talking about. I left early to avoid the crowds in the restroom. There's no grade on this one.


Updates
3:44 Every laptop I've glanced I've only seen Twitter. No signs of Facebook.
3:30 That Cuban sandwich was so good at lunch but it was so big. Should've eaten half.

PRESENTERS
  • Charlene Li - Altimeter Group
DESCRIPTION

Social networks will be like air, in that they will permeate everything that we do online AND offline. We'll look at the underlying technologies that will make this possible, how it will evolve, and the business models that will support it.

SXSW: Opening Remarks Keynote

Updates
2:52: @zappos
2:50: Book recommendations; Happiness Hypothesis, Peak, The 4-hour work week
2:45: "chase the vision, not the money."
2:40: Tony's the CEO of Zappos and he's presenting in a black t-shirt and black hoody.
2:27: juice @ about 5%. need to update when I have a power outlet. powering down.
2:12: A year return policy. Dang!
2:10: Zappos about being the best at customer service
note: just looked at my sxsw twitter stream 21,897 msgs since 12:30p!
2:05: Tony queried the audience as too how many are customers. HUGE.

PRESENTERS
  • Tony Hsieh - Zappos.com
DESCRIPTION

At Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh has fostered a culture where extraordinary customer service is the norm. Hear him talk about how good deeds can help you leverage the power of your audience to massively extend your brand.

SXSW: Change v2

LL is always solid. Inspirational. I grade this one-man show an A. Keep up the great work Lawrence.

Updates
12:14: audience questions. congressman conyers, huffington post piece. check out.
12:06: Al Gore --- In order to solve the environmental crisis we have to solve the gov't crisis.
12:04: change-congress.org LL's new issue.
11:52: politicians as addicts and the amount of influence of lobbyists have
11:50: maplight.org
11:45: Junk science how Gov't gets wrong b/c guided by something other than reason...dependencies which ties back to the money buys influence which breads corruption discussion.
11:43: L.L. showing how USA backed down on 10% daily sugar intake recommendation and was persuaded to change it to 25% by the sugar industry.

Lawrence Lessig is one of my favorite presenters. He has a new issue. Let's here what he has to say.

PRESENTERS
  • Lawrence Lessig - Stanford Law School
DESCRIPTION

Obama has awoken a once in a century passion for reform. What will it take to make it work? What would "work" mean?

SXSW: IM Video Journalism

Excellent presentation A+. Great presenter. David shared tips and was humorous. This is what SXSW is about. Great job David!

Updates
10:59: audience questions.
10:57: "It's not about the gear." But David mentioned various cameras.
10:56: http://viewmag.blogspot.com
10:55: http://twitter.com/viewmagazine
10:46: "we're at a point now for video journalism similar to the change to the art world when Monet, Van Gogh and Manet blew apart perspective and the traditional thinking of how art was made and thought of."
10:29: "Small cuts and shoot with the edits in mind."
10:27: "The net has yet to be colonized yet a to how news is gathered."
10:20: David just showed how he produces 3 shots with same interview plus an establishing shot. I shot it on the Flip.
10:00a: Feel great after the 45-minute yoga session. By getting here that early I got a great free parking spot. :)

Room 12A
Time: 10:00 am


PRESENTERS David Dunkley Gyimah - Univeristy Westminster

DESCRIPTION: With video online all the rage, UK-based international award winning video journalist David Dunkley Gyimah deconstructs video journalism and posits his cinematic brand known as IMVJ. Described by Apple Pro as a one man hurricane http://www.apple.com/uk/pro/profiles/gyimah/ Ex BBC David talks technique, workflow, and swift turnaround factual feature making.



Friday, March 13, 2009

SXSW: Try Making Yourself More Interesting

Grade D+. If it hadn't been for Amit on the panel this would've been a total failure, Amit A-, rest of panel C-, Kristina F.

Updates:
5:46p: Packing up as are many others.
5:31p. Now on to Brain Traffic with Kristina Halvorson. She mentioned the word "awesome" way too many times. Hey! try intreaging instead. Now she's sounds like a Web 1.0 presentation circa 1996.
5:27p: Amit Gupta gets it with his Jelly project and photojojo. Good sharing. Does cool social experiments. Good tricks to monetize.
5:24p: showing Get Satisfaction site. Doesn't relate.
5:17p: showing the bike hugger site.
5:10p: Second panel to talk about threadless
5:06 p. Big ballroom, plenty of room unlike the last session.

5:00 pm
Ballroom A

Google Map


PRESENTERS
  • DL Byron - Bike Hugger
  • Amit Gupta - Photojojo
  • Brian Oberkirch - Small Good Thing
  • David Rees - mnftiu.cc
  • Kristina Halvorson - Brain Traffic
DESCRIPTION

There are no cheat codes for community. No Charles Atlas shortcuts to make your pet project the one to rule them all. Want people to think you're awesome? Be awesome. This panel promises a bullshit-free look at how you might tune out the jibber jabber, tune in to those who matter, put your head down and make your online service a little bit more epic each day. We'll dissect Bike Hugger, Photojojo, Metafilter, and other examples of Web charm for what *you* can do. Today, and tomorrow. And the day after. Which is how you will become what you want to be.

SXSW: The Ecosystem of News

Grade B+. Good sharing of information. I see that more with a single person presenting sometimes. Panels need several things to make it good. they have to be in sync and have a good moderator. This presentation was solo and the presenter was good.

Updates:
4:31p: over. said he'll post talk.
4:00p: audience questions.
3:59p: "all the news that's fit to link."
3:55p: showing twitter-stream map where #sxsw is picked up and what they're talked about is then mapped.
3:51p: Traditional media still mattered in election coverage of 2008. "Old Growth Media"
3:45p: After the newspapers fail will the blogosphere get out of bed and start a Iraq field office?
3:40p: setting the stage for how much faster news is published. Started with MacWorld and then webzines.
3:30p: packed room. standing room only.

Room 12B @ 3:30 pm

PRESENTERS
  • Steven Johnson - outside.in
DESCRIPTION

It is now conventional wisdom that the newspaper as we have come to know it for last century is over, or will be in a matter of years. The question is whether we're going to spend our time grieving over the loss, or whether we're going to use this moment as an opportunity to invent something even better. We're inevitably moving from the "paper of record" model to a something more distributed, a news ecosystem, but that doesn't mean we can't consciously define the shape of that system. So let's figure out what values we want to preserve from the older newspaper paradigm, and what values we want to improve upon -- and then let's go build it!

Get Ready, Get Set.....Go SXSW

Overall, I grade this panel as a C+. Really great stuff wasn't shared. They didn't go the extra mile to share the secrets.

Updates
2:50 pm. There was a great comment on metrics and costs. I'll have to review the audio later and repost.
2:40 pm. Outsourcing is now called "International Third-party Augmentation"
2:30 pm. Taking questions.
2:25 pm. Morrey arranges DIGG windows as to not see the comments because they make him mad.
2:19 pm. How to monetize. The Skittles experiment. Mob mentality. Users suck when they try to take over a site.
2:13 pm. Panel already out of hand. Having crowd noise battle with the next ballroom.

I'm in. For those of you still wanting to obtain a badge, the combo is 36-12-10 but don't all of you try to use it at one time. You'll jam the box.

Sitting in Ballroom C waiting for the User Generated Content: State of the Union to start。

PRESENTERS
  • Dean Mccall - IdeaGin
  • Stephen Newman - Mouth Watering Media
  • Todd Morrey - Mosso: The Rackspace Cloud
  • Wes Wilson - IncSpring
  • Chris Tolles - Topix

DESCRIPTION

It's been a few years since YouTube and Flickr have dropped on the scene. Now almost everyone you know is creating content and posting it online. With the idea of User Generated Content now proven and the infrastructure in place where are we today? The same old questions keep popping up. "Where do you make money?" "How do you stand out?" and "Where do you find the time?" The panel will take a look at these questions and others as we explore the ever changing landscape of User Generated Content. This panel is sponsored by Ideagin.com