Survive SXSW this year by checking in to the Underground on Whrrl
You’ve read all the blog posts, seen the tweets, received the party invites and feel there’s something in the air (and no, it’s not smog). People are beginning to converge in Austin, starting today and it’s not for the world-famous BBQ or to hunt down Oscar-winner and resident Sandra Bullock – it’s to attend the technology conference of the year, SXSW Interactive.
Now I hate to call myself a SXSW Veteran, but if you can survive one year of this conference and make it back the following year in one piece, you’re doing pretty good in my book. The rumors you here are true: don’t expect much sleep, because between the panels, networking, parties, chasing down “tech celebs” and business opportunities, you’re going to be exhausted fitting it all in.
That’s why the team at Whrrl decided we’d make it easy on you. When you land in Austin, just check in on Whrrl. Why? Because we’ve taken the guess work out of what’s cool to do at SXSW and created the Austin Underground Society to do all the work for you.
Quite simply, The Austin Underground Society will provide you with at-your-fingertips access to the hottest parties, events, and other fun things to do at SXSW. Let our hostess, Velma Underground, save you from all the work as she recommends what the cool kids will be doing at the conference. Follower her on Whrrl and on Twitter. You can view and then save her recommendations in your “want to do list” (new in Whrrl 3!) so you don’t forget.
While the Underground has some “official SXSW parties” listed, we’ve learned that folks often go rogue and throw their own events. So, we’ve focused on providing you the insiders guide on what’s cool – not what’s official. If you want to know where Guy Kawasaki is throwing back some ribs at a boot barn outside downtown Austin, or Jeff Pulver is hosting the twitter elite for cocktails, the Underground Society is your place.
But that’s not all – we got deals for ya, too! Whrrl has partnered with over 50 merchants in the downtown Austin area to provide Underground members with exclusive offers. Simply check into the locations listed within the Underground Society and redeem your offer by showing your phone to merchants. The Four Seasons Hotel Austin, Outback Steakhouse, Cool River Cafe, Chuggin’ Monkey, J Black’s, Red Fez and Third Base are just some of the awesome local business participating.
But wait- there’s really more! Whrrl has some other fun surprises in store for you, too. We don’t want to say what they are, because we think it’s more fun for you to stumble across them… like this logo which made some noise on Twitter today (it’s just chalk guys… really!)
Finally, we’d love to meet you in person! Whrrl is proud to be a sponsor of the “State of Now” cocktail party on Friday, March 12th from 6-8 pm at Lanai. Underground members will receive a limited edition Whrrl t-shirt and free drink when you check in. Hurry- not only is there limited availability, but the party has over 1,000 registered guests- we don’t want to miss you!
See ya’ll in Austin- safe travels!
Look for our team in Austin – Jeff Holden, CEO & Co-Founder, John Kim, V.P. of Product Management and Marketing, and Heather Meeker, Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications.
10 Social Media People You Should Meet
SXSW was a Whrrl wind! There is so much to talk about that it’s tough to know where to start.
This was my first time at SXSW so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Our goal was to successfully launch Whrrl v2.0, but there was so much more going on. I attended some panels. I spent a lot of time in the Techset Blogger Lounge meeting influential people. I was one of the few lucky ones to receive a bandana – my invite to Guy Kawasaki’s BBQ. I stayed out WAY too late, drank gallons of coffee and downed more sugar-free Red Bull than should be allowed by law. And, I thoroughly enjoyed our launch party at Red Eyed Fly.
Take a look at some of our stories:
Guy Kawasaki’s secret SXSW BBQ
Backdrop photos by WM Marc at Red Eye Fly Party
Parachute rocked Red Eyed Fly at SXSW!
Mashable Party at Six
Sunday at SXSW Techset Blogger Lounge
For all the panels, parties and networking, the best part of SXSW was meeting some truly amazing people. There was an A-List of the “who’s who” at the conference, and many of whom I had met – like Erin Kotecki Vest, Brian Solis, Stephanie Agresta, and the list goes on- and many I looked forward to meeting for the first time.
Here is my list of the top ten Social Media rockstars that I met at SXSW (in no particular order). I believe everyone should meet these influential folks in 2009:
#10 YimGnome
Search #yimgnome on Twitter
Created by Lindsay Yaw @lindsyaw and Lauren Cook @laurencook
As soon I saw YimGnome, I had to have a picture of him. The founders of Swarm Collective – Lindsey Yaw and Lauren Cook – have a small agency out of Boulder, CO and cooked up YimGnome as a social experiment. The goal? To see how many people would randomly take a picture of him and follow his adventures on Twitter. I believe YimGnome is the type of experimentation that will put these two on the map. If you meet YimGnome, be sure to take a picture and send it to me – we’ll feature it on Whrrl!
#9 Charlie Fern
Owner, Charlie Fern Ink
www.charliefern.com
@misscharlie
Charlie Fern is a former White House speech writer. She came to our launch party at SXSW to support us and ended up partying with the Whrrl gang until the wee hours of the morning. What I love about Charlie is that she’s a master networker. For instance, hanging with Charlie, we didn’t wait in line for the Mashable party and ended up taking pictures with Pete Cashmore the moment we walked in the door. Once you meet her, you’ll know what it’s like to have the White House PR team on your side.
#8 Chris Hughes
@chews
AT&T
Chris was the first person to jailbreak the iPhone – which allowed apps to bypass Apple’s official code distribution mechanism. You may also know him from the demo he gave at TED of new Flash-based software that allows a web browser to recognize patterns in real-life objects and then overlay them with graphics. He currently works at AT&T, and their coverage at SXSW was beyond horrible, so Chris called up AT&T’s CTO. Because of this, AT&T put up three temporary towers the next day. Meet him and you’ll never be without 3G again.
#7 Melissa Pierce
Documentary Filmmaker
www.lifeinperpetualbeta.com
@melissapierce
Melissa produces ‘Life in Perpetual Beta’, a documentary film about the ways in which technology was/is/will change the ways in which we think about ourselves as individuals and as a society. She is every bit as irreverent, funny and sassy as she exudes in her videos, tweets and blog. My favorite tweet to date, “Sleep is the new black.” I never miss a blog post from Melissa, and you won’t want to, either.
#6 Casey McKinnon
Writer, Actress
www.caseymckinnon.com
@caseymckinnon
Casey is the star of ‘A Comic Book Orange’, a graphic novel online review show, and ‘Galacticast’, a sci-fi comedy web series. Check out the episode called, ‘Heat Fozzy’ on Galacticast – a must see. After living in Los Angeles for 7 years, I typically think of actresses as having a big ego and more interested in talking about their dog than getting to know me. Casey was the exact opposite. She came to our launch party, talked about the great projects her friends are working on such as Lan Bui www.lanbui.com, and was interested to learn about Whrrl, too. Meet her and you will have something to brag about when you go to ComiCon.
#5 Katja Presnal
PR/Marketing Consultant
www.skimbacolifestyle.com
@KatjaPresnal
I had been on Twitter for almost a year before I really understood it. That all changed when Katja opened my eyes to the power of Twitter through one of her #followfriday parties. Because of her, I had more followers in one day than I had accumulated in my first year. When I met Katja, I asked how she got into blogging, and she said a number of bloggers helped her when she was creating her website. And now she helps others with her blog, which is focused on giving moms the tools to live life to the fullest. Meet her and you’ll double your Twitter following.
#4 Lucretia M. Pruitt
Blogger
http://geekmommy.net/
@Geek Mommy
Lucretia started her blog – geekmommy- to express the whole “21st Century Mom” experience. I met her at Brian Solis’ book signing – “How to Put the Public Back in Public Relations”. She wanted to know my story, so I showed her Whrrl. Before I could take my next breath, she was already explaining it to Mack Collier and Jenn Fowler, two more influential Twitterati. Meet her and you will know exactly who to call when you need help on how something technically works – she’s a wiz.
#3 Alfred Lin
COO of Zappos
www.zappos.com
@zappos_alfred
Alfred was out and about networking, making introductions, and living the Zappos brand. And, as many of you know, the Zappos brand = amazing customer service. I mentioned to Alfred that I
enjoyed Tony Hseih’s appearance on the Apprentice, and Alfred told me that not all the feedback he received was positive. Hmm, and all I remember is Tony Hsieh’s passionate commitment to service? Whatever the case, Alfred is truly a class act. Meet him and you’ll start to understand the magic behind Zappos- one of the top online brands.
#2 David Berkowitz
Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy for 360i
www.marketersstudio.com
@dberkowitz
I’ve been reading David’s work for many years. For instance, in “How does Facebook know I am Jewish?” http://www.marketersstudio.com/2008/07/how-does-facebo.html David discusses how a Facebook ad targeted him based on his religion. He then investigates how this happened and what targeting techniques were used. When we met, we discussed how “ad targeting” is a serious responsibility for advertising channels, advertisers and agencies. I told David he is the right person to explain why ad targeting is critical to the future of independent content. The industry needs David Berkowitz and if you’ll meet him, you’ll understand why.
#1 Kenny Tomlin
President of Rockfish Interactive
www.rockfishinteractive.com
@kennytomlin
Kenny is the president of Rockfish Interactive, the agency working with Walmart on the “Walmart Elevenmoms” . What is it all about? Essentially, his boutique agency convinced one of the largest and most conservative brands in America – Walmart- to hand over its social media presence to eleven superstar blogger moms. The brand was then told it has no control over what these moms say, do or shop – heck, they may not even talk about the brand. Say what? :-) Kenny has inspired me and opened my eyes to new possibilities in the social media realm. In fact, I am currently working on a separate blog post on why I think this campaign is one of the best social media campaigns I’ve seen to date. Be sure and meet Kenny.
Follow me on twitter: @jkimlosangeles
-
-
-
-
Whrrl on Facebook