I was giving a speech today at Mobile Monday Beijing talking about my experience in SXSW 2011. Although it’s just a 25min talk and I only touch a small portion of my learning (startups like NextBigSound, Hipmunk etc, new technology trends such as Augmented Reality, Location-based coupon etc), the audience got extremely excited about what I’ve shared. It is not because my speech skill is that good, I think we should say thank to SXSW which is such an amazing event that not only get Music, Film and Technology on the same platform but more importantly deliver the message, Technology is not just about Technology, it’s simply about Life!
In my last slide, I am actually asking, Can we have SXSW (or equivalent) in China? I did not know the answer because we are just Technology guys with little ideas on how to get Music, Film industry on board. However, I did not expect that, right after my talk, a few audience who are from different background (such as Music Festival organizer, Academy, government representative etc) came to me saying, if you want to do it, we will help!
What an amazing feedback!! Thank you!! I really appreciate that! Still, we can not promise anything… but I think we are more confident to take some initiatives. It’s worthy of trying, so we will see. So please ping me (gang at technode.com) if you have any idea in mind.
At last, as I promise to the audience, I will do my best to share the rest of my learning here either in English or in Chinese.
[img via 6smarketing.com]
Let’s do it! Maybe Zebra Music Festival in Chengdu will be interested!
Hey Gang, I agree that SXSW specialty is the conglomeration of all different types of geeky, cool topics from film, music, to tech. One thing to note, though, is that SXSW specially started with film & music and only added on tech when things like Twitter and 4sq enabled the geeks at the festival to “add-on” to the experience. If we have one here, I recommend we call it “East and East-West”. Perhaps have it in a more hospitable “getaway” location like Xiamen or Zhuhai. Or you could connect it with an existing festival like Spring Scream in Taiwan and just concentrate on the geek factor.
Thanks Gang. I was also at the event and also presented my experiences as well at SXSW. Photos from the event are posted on my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/12956505@N00/sets/72157626166379611/.
The creativculture.com team would be into helping out in anyway we can with this. Because SXSW mixes the creative fields (Music, Film, and Tech) many people go to connect with their own industry, but are often more interested to see what people in other fields are doing. It is this cross-pollination of ideas that makes the event so valuable (and famous). Let me know how I can help!