Creative Social bring a taste of SXSW Interactive to a London stage. Whether or not you made it to Austin this year, we bring you a selection of talks from key players in the industry alongside panel discussions and all the biggest trends and technologies from the festival.
We will also have a special performance from the fantastic Mogees Play The World.
Neuroplasticity – Dan Machen, Director of Innovation and Felix Morgan, Innovator, Hey Human
Dan and Felix will present the highlights from their super successful SXSW talk. With the major shifts of the web, social media and mobile, and the levels of messaging they’ve ushered in, the nature and pace of change heralded by the age of technology is unprecedented.
Since every new experience changes our brains, they set out to explore the question: What is looking at our inbox and phone 100s of times a day doing to our heads and, importantly, what does this ‘hyperstimulation’ mean for attention spans, cognition and brand recall?
They will get specific about the concept of ‘neuroplasticity’ and share their latest research on how technology is fundamentally altering the way we connect. Working with neuroscience experts, they explore the challenge to marketers in the digital age – whether technology represents a new way of communicating, or if it requires us to communicate in new ways.
As technology continues to dominate our lives, they explore our evolving relationship with it – and the ways in which brands can ensure they play a positive role in this process.
@danmachen @felixjmorgan @heyhuman
On Our Radar Panel – Libby Powell, CEO
Libby was one of the honourees of SXSW’s Dewey Wimbourne Community Service Awards for digital do-gooders! The Radar panel will talk through their model for training networks of citizen reporters from some of the world’s most marginalised communities, and empowering them to bring their stories into the public dialogue via basic mobile phones.
@OnOurRadar @Libby__Powell
The Influence of Influence – Paolo Nieddu, Managing Partner and Tom Brandhorst, Editorial Producer, Holler
Paolo and Tom will delve deeper into one of the biggest debates from SXSW – the influence of influence. Bloggers / vloggers / internet superstars / social media celebrities / platform power users…Whatever we choose to call them, they matter.
They matter because for many brands, they are the magic wardrobe-esque shortcut to reach and engage large passionate audiences who value the emotional connection they have with their online idols over and above anything that a brand says or does.
However, this all raises a pertinent question: with all this power, should online influencers with their vast, sometimes TV dwarfing reach be aligned to the more important issues on the cultural agenda for the next generation? Should they be promoting good? And persuading people away from the bad? And just how influential could they become in the future?
@paolonieddu @tombrandy @hollerlondon
Are Millenials Different – Nadya Powell, Managing Director, Lost Boys
Nadya spoke at SXSW on one of the key themes – millennial talent – and selected four lessons marketers need to learn in order to retain and attract this crucial new talent.
For Mini Austin she explores whether technology is creating new minds – are millennials different? She also covers the blurring lines between physical and digital and is it a good thing?
@NadsBads
Shakespeare And The Future Of Interactive Storytelling – Dr James Morris, Ravensbourne University
James will present an overview of his panel discussion exploring the future of theatrical storytelling in a world where content is increasingly being delivered via the Internet. It will share some of Ravensbourne and The Royal Shakespeare Company’s pioneering online projects and focus specifically on an innovative educational series, which began with Tim Crouch’s play I, Cinna and has continued with live streamed productions into schools viewed by over 55,000 UK schoolchildren.
It has since evolved into a programme that will further push the boundaries of online delivery for theatrical content. The presentation argues that screen narratives are entering an era where the data-oriented culture of the Web will become increasingly influential in shaping story form and content.
In particular, the latest Internet standards, including HTML 5 and Semantic Web implementations, allow Internet content delivery much greater integration between audiovisual, textual, and social elements.