Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log

Here's My Interview on BlogTalk Radio on PR/Social Media During SXSW

I've been attending the SXSW Conference in Austin and really enjoying the panel discussions, visiting with friends, meeting new people, and meeting people in person that I follow in one form or the other.

Yesterday, I did a joint interview on BlogTalk Radio with Patrick O'Keef, writer, developer and community administrator and the founder of iFroggy Network 

and the author of Managing Online Forums.

You may listen to the interview here:

I spoke about how I combine PR and Social Media, trends in Social Media, and a team of very smart people that I am working with.

SXSW Day #1: We may be in an economic recession, but we're on our way to a creative and economic renaissance

As a rule, when I go to conferences and trade shows, I try to plan ahead. 

I make appointments and reach out to specific individuals in hopes of meeting for the first time, re-connecting from previous relationships or engagements, see old friends, and meet people just because I follow them on Facebook, Twitter or through a person's blog. 

This time, in taking part in SXSW, I just decided to go with the flow and then let things unfold.  

I attended two panels, one on how to sell social media programs to management and the other on the ecosystems of media.  I also went to hear Scam School's Brian Bushwood talking about Social Engineering and how to scam your way into anything or from anyone.

From there, it was on to two parties where I reconnected with friends and....

• met an Indie Artist whose music I am going to check out on iTunes
• met a very successful software entrepreneur who recognized my name, and told me what a fan he was of one my YouTube video that I recently did on a Fender Amp I had purchased. 
• hung out with my buddies from San Antonio's Web 2.0 community which I will be covering tomorrow for my San Antonio Startups Blog
• met people that I follow, and whose persona came to life in meeting them in person
• and had people come up to me who recognized my face or read my badge as they follow me on various social networks.  

These chance meetings and outreach of established or instant relationships reflect the energy and yes, the love I felt on Day #1 of SXSW.  

I don't use term term "love" in the sense of the vernacular, but rather one of just sharing, caring and realizing that we're all there to bounce off each other's energy, brilliance and smiles and create something anew.

To those of us taking part in SXSW, my hope is that we can all take a moment each night of the event right before we go to sleep and a beam prayer, a happy thought, or just hum a tune or something that puts this energy into the air and back into an economic and sociological engine driven by nothing more than organic and creative energy abound.

Sure, there's still a bit of dust to settle from the fallout of this economic malaise, but just you watch:  with all this positive energy abound, I sense an economic and creative revitalization of our country, and our world at large, in the making.  

Yup, it's brewing and bubbling here in Austin, Texas - during SXSW.