SXSW: The Panel That Never Happened

This SXSW coverage is brought to you by Red Square Agency, the agency sponsoring that banner ad over there.

OK so where are we? Austin, Texas. For SXSX. Got confused there for a minute. Can we just talk about how crazy busy it is here for a minute? Some poor suckers had to wait in line for over an hour to register. The conference is spread across 12 locations all over Austin. And it's raining. Which sucks because, ya know, you have to go outside to get to the hundreds of panels on the program.

Speaking of panels, we headed to the Hotel Intercontinental earlier today to attend a panel entitled How Brands Build Advocates by Anticipating Needs only to find out that not only was that panel full but all the branding and marketing panels were full and no one could get into anything. Glad we walked 7 blocks for that! Apparently, overcrowding has been an issue with branding and marketing panels all day. Gee. Who knew there were so many marketers here at SXSW? Wait, we know. We told you so.

But we're not going to let a little overcrowding stop us. After all, we're here to deliver you important news about the latest trends in advertising. And since we've been to so many panels just like the one we couldn't get in to, we're going to tell you what the panelists said even though we weren't there.

The panel's intent was to answer the question, "Why are brands constantly pissing us off online?" Well that's an easy one to answer. Because most are idiots who think social media is still broadcast. We can just imagine the advice the panelist are giving at this very moment.

- Be transparent!
- Engage your consumer!
- Listen!
- Join the conversation!
- Don't speak like a press release!
- Leverage your brand advocates!
- Proactively seek out your customers needs
- Measure, measure, measure!
- Reward your best customers and brand advocates!
- Social media is like a cocktail party. Don't be a loudmouth!

Did we leave anything out?

Another panel, which we did get into - because it was in a room big enough to hold 1,500 people but only 100 were in attendance (aren't conference organizers supposed to know crowd control? I bet a few marketing panels could have fit in that room just fine) - was entitled Hunt or Be Hunted: Get the Design Job You Want. It covered the basics about how to present yourself online. Our favorite advice came from a panelist who is a usability expert - you know, those people who make it super intuitive to get around a website or app. She told the audience she had no need for a resume at all. Why? Because how exactly do you explain site usability without showing it? Wire frames are boring. Bullet pointed skills don't do the position justice. And writing down "I make it easy for people to go from one place to another on a website" is kind of stupid. Her advice for people who have similar positions was to simply point to the work. Gee, how breathtakingly breakthrough.

This SXSW coverage has been brought to you by Red Square, a small national agency that just happens to be located in the SXSE.