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Finding Furry Creatures at SXSW 2015

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I traveled to SXSW 2015 with my client Domain.ME. Their expectations? Party like a rock star, celebrate #MeDay and lounge (when I say lounge, SXSW style, this means visiting lots of brand lounges. The PayPal lounge was my personal favorite). Sound like a cushy gig? Actually, it was exhausting. It’s taken me a full week to recover and I even set some serious ground rules for myself to prevent me from over-doing SXSW. For example, I announced early on that I gave up alcohol for lent (well in truth, I gave up alcohol for lent until 6pm in the evening) and I would turn down all those offers for free food, drinks and apps.

SXSW can be overwhelming, so it’s important to set a focus around a topic or a track you’d like to follow. My travel partner Leticia Barr decided to follow the Social Good track and spent a lot of time at the SXgood venue set up for that. My roomie, Heather Whaling really focused on entrepreneurship to help bolster her already super successful firm, Geben Communications. I decided to focus on furry creatures. As such, I set time to meet or interview any of the furry creatures I met at SXSW. Here are my highlights:

Here I am at the Mashable house having a little chat with Morris the Cat from 9Lives. Key takeaway? Beyond meow, cats don’t have a lot to say. (And yes, he was a real cat!)

Morris The Cat + Danica

Got to meet Cookie Monster and share some memories from my very first job way back in the days working on Sesame Street. Cookie did not remember me, but he did encourage me to nom nom.

Cookie Monster + Danica Kombol

Spent some quality time with the HootSuite owl (both in the Hootsuite lounge and on the streets of Austin). Shared my true love for the platform and we did some serious hooting and hollering together.

Hootsuite Owl + Danica Kombol

Squirrels can be, well a little squirrely, but this one stopped me outside the convention center to share his love of books. While I’m not a fan of squirrels (in my mind, they are urban rats), this one was a book worm like me, so we cuddled up with a book together.

Squirl Squirrel + Danica Kombol

Lastly, I took a tour of the convention stalls. Ugh, convention halls with the endless rows of booths and those booth people acting like carny hustlers, beckoning you to visit to get a free sticker, candy, or download another useless app! I was about to bolt this bad booth experience when I bumped into the adorbs Betsy Fore looking like a 1950’s star in a cute doggy adorned pinafore. She has just launched this truly cool product called WonderWoof. Small, stylish, and looking like a bow, it attaches to your pup’s collar. WonderWoof allows you to track all your mutt’s activities through an app, so you can make sure your canine is getting enough sleep, exercise and kibble to get him through the day. While WonderWoo is not a furry creature, the product she offers is ideal for my furry creature, so I devoted my one videotaped SXSW interview to woof!

Sarah-Evans-COX-SXSWi

Watch Live: SXSWi Innovator Interview Series

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Tune in live for the SXSWi Innovator Interview Series for the skinny on all the action at SXSW 2013 with Sound{TRACK}! Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans) is interviewing some of tech’s biggest names at the Samsung Blogger Lounge (powered by Watchitoo) on March 12, from approximately 1:00p EST. Sponsored by the good folks at Cox Communication’s social portal, Cox Blue.

Guests include:

Watch the live stream here:

SXSW: A Simplified Guide to Finding Your Way to the Best Stuff

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Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 4.02.07 PM

 

By: Lexi Severini

Everywhere’s founding members Tamara Knechtel and Danica Kombol are 2 of the roughly 300,000 prospective attendees at this year’s SXSW convention in Austin and we’re all collectively envious of them.

If you happen to be a part of that oh-so lucky pool of people who have already, or will be descending upon Bat City in the next few weeks, consider this list your guide to new and sought-after SXSW social apps! I also threw in a couple of apps that will help you navigate the scene itself!

Apps to check out while you’re there:

  • Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 3.58.22 PMHighlight: This start-up got a lot of attention last year, and it’s back for round two! Call it an app for the “socially adventurous” among us! This app lets you meet people based on similar interests who are in close proximity to you. According to their website’s description, “…as you go about your day, Highlight runs quietly in the background, surfacing information about the people around you.” This one might be creepily intuitive but these days, who doesn’t want to know about everyone and everything around them? And the goal of SXSW is to connect, so check it out and let us know what you think!
  • Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 3.22.23 PMGauss: a.k.a. “The People Magnet,” Gauss utilizes information that already exists in your Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare profiles to assess the types of people it thinks you might be interested in meeting. By maintaining a list of things you would like to do, the app will notify you of people it thinks you should connect with. The good news is no one can see your info, and you get to choose if and when to connect with other users.
  • Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 3.22.59 PMPearescope: Danica is what we call a “connector.” She somehow miraculously keeps a rolodex in her head of how and where she knows people from. This comes in handy for business moves etc., but if you don’t have that natural talent, this app is for you. Curious about or interested in a friend of a friend? Pearescope allows you to meet people by introducing you to other mutual friends. You’ll even be able to see who’s met whom and through which friend that you both have in common. An ideal way to capitalize on those 6 degrees of separation. Think LinkedIn, but in a socially intuitive app.

 

Apps to use while you’re there:

  • Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 4.00.57 PMMashable SXSW Trendspotter- This website (with analytics by Topsy) will provide you with an up-to-the-hour look at the topics that are trending at SXSW based on categories like Music, Interactive, Brands, etc.
  • Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 3.59.26 PMSXSW Go – This is a succinct mobile app created to help the busiest of SXSW-goers to stay organized and keep in the know. This app allows you to schedule your day, browse event media, find venues, and search for events/exhibitors. What’s especially great? It’s available on iPhone, iPad and Android.

 

SXSW can be overwhelming, but if you have the right arsenal you will survive. What other apps help you get around?