ShipStation at SXSW

South By Southwest dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. The event, an essential destination for global professionals, features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together.

This week, for the first time I had the privilege of attending SXSW with ShipStation and wanted to document my experience.

SXSW draws people in from all around the world and this year was no exception. For 10 days Downtown Austin is taken over by film, music, interactive media and a lot more visitors to the Capital.

 

Parties at SXSW

First up on Saturday night we were invited by TMobile for #1NightStandWithMarcus featuring Marcus Lemonis. It was great to meet Marcus and get a picture with him.

After you had your picture you would then tweet Marcus a business idea. If he liked the idea you would be invited over to the VIP area for the opportunity to pitch to Marcus as seen below.

Next on the schedule that night was an invitation from Pandora to attend a performance from Gucci Mane. Apart from the rain and my lack of knowledge with his songs it was a great night and very well attended.

 

Trade Show at #SXSW

From Sunday to Wednesday, ShipStation had a booth inside the Austin Convention Center. The purpose of the booth was to interact with attendees and provide demos for anyone interested in the ShipStation platform. Everyone had the chance to spin ‘The Wheel of ShipStation’ for a change to win some cool swag courtesy of our friends from Freaker USA and Field Notes as well as taking a ‘ShipStation Selfie’.

SXSW is also a great opportunity to connect with some of our ShipStation users. Social Imprints & Sock Club had some great booths and were definitely getting a lot of attention throughout the week.

So apart from our booth and some local users what else can you expect to find during the SXSW Trade Show?

Well, pretty much everything you can imagine! The VR/AR Experience is a new, hands-on area of the Trade Show and lets attendees test out a selection of the latest and greatest in virtual and augmented reality technologies.

Something I found extremely cool was the opportunity to experience the next level of innovation and creativity from across the globe at the International Pavilion. Delegates from six continents converge to discuss promising trends of the future.

In my opinion the Japan section stole the show with some crazy yet unique innovations. From paintings that followed you around the room to branded balloons, you couldn’t help but continue to re-visit the area.

What else?

Outside of the Austin Convention Center there is so much else going on it’s hard to document. If you are not careful you can sometimes find yourself walking endlessly up and down not knowing where you should go.

I decided to enter the new JW Marriott as I noticed lots of people coming in and out. Thankfully that was a good decision, I stumbled across the Podcast Stage which was presented by tunein to find a fascinating interview between Kelly Mooney and City of Austin Major Steve Adler. The podcast was about ‘Belonging’ and why that matters for brands and businesses that reside in Austin TX.

Finally, the highlight of the week was getting to sit in and listen to a conversation with legendary former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Jeff Kluger. Buzz Aldrin talked about a virtual reality production that has been created to outline his vision for how we should send humans to Mars. He also spoke briefly about Apollo 11 and what he’s been since he retired from NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

SXSW definitely exceeded expectations and I look forward to returning in the future.

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