Event Recap: MIMA Meetup Trends and Takeaways from SXSW 2017

Panelists at the MIMA Meet-Up held at space150, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN returned from SXSW (South by Southwest) 2017, giving us their insights and takeaways from the conference held in Austin, TX.

Marc Jenson, Chief Innovation Officer, Space150

Marc concentrated his sessions in areas of technology innovation and future of technology and human interaction.

• Spectacles – use of Snapchat Spectacles in sports, capitalizing on the socially driven nature of sports and using inventive methods to connect with the audience.
• Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality 360 – even though we aren’t yet in a place where robots are sophisticated enough to kill you (as in the movies), narrow Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all around – including machine learning capability – e.g. Echo by Amazon
• Computer Vision – apps where photos are taken and computers identify what is in the photos. Marc used the example of “is it a Chihuahua or a blueberry muffin?”
• Design using 3D printing – giving computers parameters to construct an object to solve a problem, rather than programming them with a human design – you end up with products that are useful, and use less material over the manmade object. Marc used the example of a piece of hardware used in theater light rigging which when designed by humans was heavy and difficult to manufacture, when designed by a computer was lighter, more efficient to manufacture and used less materials. Marc’s takeaway was that the future of product design is computers and people working together with humans developing the computers that develop the tools.
• Bryan Johnson (Kernal) is studying the potential of enhancing our human capacities (e.g. uploading a book) and getting stuff such as memories and information directly from the brain.  Follow Bryan’s Story: https://medium.com/@bryan_johnson/kernels-quest-to-enhance-human-intelligence-7da5e16fa16c

Jennifer Gove, President, Preston Kelly – attended sessions related to technology’s impact on human connection. 

Top three takeaways:

• Human Connection – everyone is on their phones – how can we use tech and bring back the human interaction?
• Personalization – communication to targets is getting more sophisticated. Looking to the data to develop segments and customize messages through all the channels is pretty common now. The next step is being able to track emotions and how the customer feels. Why is this person making this purchase or wanting the service?
• Diversity – Presentations on diversity – in the workplace especially in advertising were programmed throughout the sessions. Some of the issues – closing the gender pay gap, diversity in the tech field, hiring more diverse staff and attracting more diverse talents into marketing such as people who are from other backgrounds, career changers etc.

Jennifer Kemp, Founding Partner, Cimarron Winter

Jennifer was interested in how systems – medical, government and business developed and used technology to improve civic infrastructure and advance humanitarian response.

Smart Cities – cities and governments which are looking at transportation, energy, water and livability enhanced by using technology.

• Ofo bikes developed in China (bike share with no docking stations) has $450 million raised and valued at over $1Million.
• Using tech like “shot boxes” which monitor the sound of gunshots in an area of the city in which they are installed and using model data from the statistics to improve police response.  The use of adaptive street lights has also become popular in Smart Cities to increase efficiency and solve environmental concerns.
• Getting people out of the habit of “get in car go to work.” – bikes, trains, walking.
• Splt – carpooling app with two prong revenue model. Money from the company that purchases the app for employees. The driver makes money from the riders.
• Autonomous vehicles (driverless cars and trucks) are already being tested in many cities. San Diego is one of the Top 5 cities for use of the technology – the seaport is almost fully autonomous. The city has training programs for dislocated workers to manage and fix robots.

Global Start-ups – Germany, Portugal and others

• Forward-thinking exhibitors with unique uses of tech.
• Portugal coming out of economic decline with start-ups looking to pair with U.S. companies.

Medtech and brain wearables

• Flying hospitals with advanced tech (eye doctors to underserved/remote populations)
• Advanced limbs with Machine Learning – what movement should a knee take next?
• Brain wearables – allow user to move objects with brain/mind rather than the body.

Christian Betancourt, Head of Digital, Brave New Media

Christian attended sessions related to the shifting landscape of marketing and customer service given how people consume information in the era of voice activation and small screens.

• Human attention is one of the scarcest commodities that exist. Mobile allows for less downtime (and people like that). People report feeling 60% more productive and check their phone 30x or more a day.

The bots have risen, embrace it!

• Mobile short-cuts on the rise – aggregators and bots.
• 2.6 billion people have a messaging app installed – brand opportunities for communication.
• Blend bots with customer service -doesn’t have to be all automated.
• Humans need more education how to use bots and machine learning needs to improve for widespread use.

Marketing without a screen

• Marketing has changed focus as consumers went from one screen (Desktop PC), to multi-screen (PC, Phone, TV) to no screen (voice control/command units such as Amazon’s Echo)– hearable market will reach 40B by 2020.
• Audio is a growing interface – by 2020 more than 50% of all searches will be done by voice command.
• Daily life will be dynamically integrated with tech and enable fluid communication.

Overall, SXSW Conference attendees looked to bring innovative ideas home and get out of repetitive comfort zones. They checked out the competition and took back inspiration for future developments. Networking was also important as multi-year attendees built-on relationships from previous years and saw progress on attendee projects overtime.

This event recap was written by volunteer Gina Micek