Listeners to our Mac Geek Gab podcast have heard my distate of multiple-person, panel-based presentations for the SXSW Interactive event (because they tend to be nothing more than boondoggles for the panelists, many of whom seem to think they can show up unprepared and just blather on promoting their company or latest belief du jour), but the panel format usually works perfectly for the Music part of things (and I’m not sure why that is, but it is).
One panel in particular really struck home, “Juggalos to Phish-heads: Managing Fanatical Music Consumers.” I’ll be honest — I attended this one strictly for personal reasons. I’m a fan of both Phish and R.E.M., and this panel featured two folks (Andy Gadiel and Ethan Kaplan) who each ran fan sites for those two bands, respectively. At times in the past I’d been a regular reader of both of their sites and was happy to have the opportunity to see them speak.
What happened, though, was that this panel struck home in a business sense for me far more than perhaps any other panel in the Music session ever has. As the title and direction dictated, a large portion of the panel was spent discussing how one could cater to fans of any given artist, enhancing that experience for them and adding value to the fans’ appreciation for each band.
Ninety-percent of what was discussed applied directly to us here at The Mac Observer. After all, when it’s all said and done, we cater to people who are fans of (or at least interested in) Apple and its products. And Apple fans can get pretty fanatical!
I’m not saying this particular session would have necessarily been appropriate for you, dear reader, but what I am saying is that if you leave SXSW when the Interactive part ends, you’re going to miss out on a huge opportunity to catch other sessions and meet people who will be able to provide you with an insight you won’t necessarily get from those in your own echo-chamber.
Stick around, it’s worth it. And hey, at night you can go catch some great live music, too.