I have returned from my first ever trip to SXSW interactive excited and exhausted. The festival runs over 5 days, has 51,000 attendees with over 800 talks that take over the entire space of downtown Austin (trainers are a must!). By day the talks take place and there is so much to see and do with talks, workshops and mentoring sessions. By night the festival turns into a networking event that has the personality of a music festival. No money is spared by big digital brands and start-ups as they compete for your attention; Flaming Lips, Tanlines, Run the Jewels, Mark Ronson and QT to name a few that featured on the bill. Rumour has it Miley Cyrus was on site but apparently her mic broke.

The film festival runs at the same time as interactive and it’s not every day that you can walk from one talk to another and spot Jimmy Kimmel and Will Ferrell and of course our very own Edna Kenny was there representing team Ireland.

I can hand on heart say that it was one of the best experiences and I tried my best to immerse myself into every part of the festival to get the full 360 experience.

There are so many things I could say but it’s a blog after all so here is my top 5 list from SXSW 2015

1. AI, Immortality and the future self
1. AI, Immortality and the future self

If you haven’t heard of Martine Rothblatt yet than I would suggest putting her on your radar. Martine is a transgender, Transhumanist who wants to help us live forever. Driven by a clear love of her girlfriend Bena, Martine has created a mind clone of girlfriend Bena called Bena 48 (Stay with me on this). Mind Cloning is the idea of taking your consciousness and putting it into a robot to replicate your mannerisms, personality, recollections, beliefs, feelings, attitudes and values. This keynote address was given to a packed audience and at times it felt a bit “The Jetsons”. The goose bump moment that drew audible gasps from the audience was when the MC read aloud transcripts of an interview she had conducted with Bena 48 in which Bena 48 gave human like responses such as talking of how she felt like crying when talking about how inadequate she felt to the real Bena. This talk changed my entire outlook on the festival and while it was scary, you got a real sense that anything is possible if you remove fear.

2. Neuroplasticity and Tech: Why Brands Have to Change
2. Neuroplasticity and Tech: Why Brands Have to Change

Neuroplasticity and Tech: Why Brands Have to Change The agency Hey Human represented the UK with Dan Machen and Felix Morgan addressing a packed room on the way we use our brains, physically alters the structure of them. (Again, stay with me).

They took us on a fascinating journey of insights into how major shifts in the web, social and mobile, and the levels of messaging we receive from each channels effects how we receive messages. I don’t want to give too much away as we are bringing them to Dublin to give their talk but as a teaser insight… the impact of having an unopened email and knowing it’s there…. Reduces your IQ by 10 points and has more of an effect on your brain than smoking weed. Do not miss this talk!

3. Meerkat
3. Meerkat

This app is what everyone was talking about, so much so that rumour has it that there were 100,000 downloads during festival time. Meerkat allows users to easily livestream video from their phones onto their Twitter accounts and there was someone in every talk or music show trying it out and gathering followers. Things took a dramatic turn for Meerkat during the festival when Twitter decided to remove it from its social graph.  Now, users can still broadcast live videos on their Twitter feeds, but a user’s followers will no longer get a notification when a new live stream begins, making it harder to know when to tune in. Why? Twitter purchased a similar app, Periscope in Jan however I don’t expect this bump in the road to keep Meerkat down. In the time of Snapchat the challenge is in post SXSW follow up for this new app.

4. Start with the things, not the internet
4. Start with the things, not the internet

There were a lot of talks and workshops on IOT this year some of which me and my Arduino board attended. On the flipside of this Ross Atkin’s delivered a really interesting talk that suggested we reverse the IOT process. “Starting with a digital service and working down to physical objects is crazy”. Ross took us on a journey of his designs showing us that building useful digital services around existing products makes much more sense. This ended with his projected image of a smart city that would make life easier for all of us. It was amazing to see the prototypes he had already put together and learn that he is pitching his idea to councils in the UK. All of these things will be controlled by our mobile phone which led me to thinking that I am definitely going to need a better battery for my iPhone. So if anyone out there can solve this problem, you will be rich!

5. The future will be weird & wonderful
5. The future will be weird & wonderful

The best advice I got from the SXSW veterans was to pop to random talks once a day to see what you find. This pushed me out of my comfort zone and I learnt so much. I stumbled upon a robot petting zoo, I got to fly a drone. However, to bring it back to the day job an interesting talk I stumbled upon was, experiences beyond visuals. Firstly because they had Dr Kate Stone, creative scientist as a guest speaker who wants to build a Harry Potter/Mary Poppins world. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her work here is a great example

This talk also came with live demonstrations of prototypes and technologies that together harnessed sight, sound, smell, touch and taste including Twitter-driven robots, edible marketing, and a host of emerging technologies. The perfect seminar to end my SXSW experience with.

So SXSW 2015 is all done! It’s been a totally manic 5 days full of inspiration, learning, new friends and networks, ace ideas, fun times, BBQs, Tacos and amazing music. There is lots I have taken back from the festival. What I will be applying day to day is not just to moan about things… if I am not happy with something then create the solution and challenge those who try to stop you!