There’s a lot of buzz around the 2015 SXSW Interactive scene. With a wide variety of sessions and panels, here are some of the top 5 trends that stood out this year.
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2015 SXSW Interactive Women were a major force:
During the session, Boardroom or Baby, Judith Bitterli discussed the importance of women in tech. According to Bitterli, women make “roughly 77 cents on the dollar of what a man makes in tech.” Wanting to close the gender gap, Bitterli asked women, ”what is the single most important thing we can do to help women succeed in tech?” Some responses from the session include:
- Gain people’s respect
- Stand up for what we need, realizing the value you bring
- Create awareness of the issue
- Strip names off of resumes
- Degenderize toys
- Remove negative stigma on the term “emotional”
Other sessions covering this topic include speakers Darrell Silver, Alexa Scordato and Carolina Huaranca on a lively debate about tactics and practices they believe will fix gender diversity in tech.
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Data, Data and More Data
Converting data into an engaging story isn’t easy. During the session, Visual Storytelling: The Power of Design + Data, Michele Silverstri emphasized the importance of data driven storytelling and its ability to drive ROI. With the line going around the block knowing data’s significance is valuable.
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Entrepreneurs and Startups
This year, SXSW doubled the amount of space dedicated to startups. Using SXSW as a platform is a great way for these entrepreneurs to make a name for themselves.
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Business Collaboration
Exploring the future of a collaborative economy was a major hit at 2015 SXSW Interactive. According to Wayne Kurtzman, “more companies are relying, and noticing, that a lot of consumers prefer to purchase from other consumers.” With this insight, a shift towards working together only makes sense.
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The Meerkat App
If you haven’t already heard about the Meerkat App, truth is, you will soon. It certainly conquered SXSW. This live-streaming app connects your phone’s camera to your Twitter feed. Once the app is installed a link will go out to your Twitter followers with a live video from wherever your camera is pointing.
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