SXSW is not like any conference I have attended. The conference is spread over nine days in Austin, Texas. I have gone to many due to my research work, but this one was on another level. The diversity of the speakers, attendees, food trucks, sessions and expo companies were amazing. Did I mention the food? I saw for example a CEO of an upcoming space venture company rubbing elbows with a sales rep for health tech business over a beverage. The sessions featured topics from health & medtech to cryptocurrency to tech in industries from aerospace to retail. There were sessions for anyone no matter the industry. The conference was simply incredible.

This event felt like organized chaos on my first day and it did take me the day to develop a system to handle the conference and organize my strategy of how to accomplish as much as possible. Even with a schedule mapped out, plans changed, and I had to be flexible. I attended a mix of panels, product launch sessions, the trade show and networking events in just three short days. The value you get from the conference was enormous. The knowledge I was able to acquire and the networking I was able to accomplish in three days was proof enough that I should attend next year. Most of the sessions I attended focused on the future of R&D, innovation, the retail industry and branding strategy. Below are just a few major trends, insights and interesting information that I learned:

Every industry from transportation to retail highlighted the need for research, development and innovation. These terms are thrown around so much in business today that several speakers suggested they be added to the list of overused industry terms like AI (artificial intelligence) or VR (virtual reality) or “the cloud”. While the specifics of each company’s R&D or innovation might be different, there are still some main building blocks that apply to all industries. It is not just important to build an innovative product, but to build a product or company that will resonate with people. A company can build an innovative product, but if it doesn’t solve a problem as viewed by potential clients, you likely won’t be successful. That leads to an initial point that needs to be followed. To remove or reduce your risk, you need confirmation that there is an actual problem you are trying to solve. Another point to sell your work is that you need to sell your project to the “higher ups” within your company. They need to understand the risk to the company if they don’t go through with your research or the project. By considering these points, it is a good start to building the foundation for your work.

Innovation in the retail industry has been key to help promote the revolution. The future of tech innovations in retail and how they will be utilized in the industry’s future was disputed by many of the panelists, but one thing they did agree upon was the future was exciting for both online and brick and mortar. The future of brick and mortar especially excited panelists and was described as boundary pushing, reinvented and purposeful although there were cautionary tales that the industry is still cut throat and fragmented. The need for investment in technologies to help retailers improve the customer / user experience was discussed by all, but in doing so I did not hear many discuss cost cutting technologies to help retailers maintain their margins. The fact that retailers are reducing their store footprint was the only point made during this revolution to help reduce cost. That simply isn’t enough especially for small to medium size retailers. The technologies of the future in retail are still expensive, and as such I felt they are only within reach for the large companies today. I did pose the question in a follow up Q&A portion of a session on when they believed the technologies would be affordable enough for medium to small size retailers and the answer was between 3-5 years. I both doubt that timeframe and really wanted to know what could help them today. In all the retail focused sessions I attended, cash management technologies were not mentioned once, except for one session on the effects of millennials driving payments in the retail industry. Overall, even though the retail revolution is occurring, and a lot of technologies are being developed, the innovation that is occurring seems to be only focused on the larger retailers, while leaving out the smaller ones.

The most entertaining presentation I attended was Irrational Loyalty. Branding to Win in a “Brand” New World. The speaker, Deb Gabor, spoke on the importance of understanding your company’s brand. She expanded on how to build the brand in a manner in which even if something were to go wrong, the brand would be able to weather the storm. For any company, a brand is the collective emotional response to your product or service and is made up of two parts. The first is brand identity, which a company owns and is responsible for and the second part is brand image which the customer or public owns. The brand image is not something you can control, but how you go about building your brand identity will help guide your brand image. For retailers or any company for that matter, your brand needs to be about your customers. If it is not, then you will never build the irrational loyalty needed to help your company survive anything from an economic downturn to a negative PR incident. 

While the adrenaline rush of SXSW is finally starting to fade, the insights and value that came from the conference were immense. Sadly, my disappointment in missing two-time Academy Award winning actress Jodie Foster’s session, due to a slight technology error on my part remains strong today. Based on these sessions, the key takeaway for retailers is to best prepare for the future one needs to invest in innovation while utilizing their investments to build a strong brand with irrationally loyal customers.