Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed at SXSWi by Sara Lacy and….Holy cow, this was the worst Keynote I have ever seen. What was so sad is the content that Zuck was talking about was great, but greatly over shadowed by Sarah Lacy who was just totally out of line flirting and just bombing the interview.

More great information here:
Cnet
Silicon Alley Insider
Technorati

Magic and Mental Models: Using Illusion to Simplify Designs – Jared Spool Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering

Ok, here is something I just do not understand. Why…why…why…can the presenters no give me the presentation slides or notes before, or even after their presentation? Come on guys!

A really, really good session! Only a few tidbits to blog about, I look forward to learning more about Jared via his blog here.

Complexity fades into the background, simplicity comes into the foreground – Marissa Mayer, Google
Task completion predicts wether users thought a site was fast or not.
Farecast.com

Not great notes, but a great session.

Ok, this will be a very short post…but SXSW is not green at all. Wow, of all the conferences that I have been to, I would really expect SXSW to be much more environmentally friendly. Everywhere you turn there is a lot of wasted paper, boxes, junk…tons of crap handed out to every attendee. Tons= the freaking bag was at least 5lbs. Maybe SXSW should partner with 41pounds.

Anyway, SXSW consider this a challange to get on the ball!

SXSW – The Science of Designing Interactions -Andreas Weigend, People & Data – Ming Yeow Ng, Discoverio

I really needed more Starbucks before this session. These guys are rock solid, and sharp…but I am really struggeling to translate and comprehend this morning. So, here are my few tidbits.

Be bold: Create, experiment, and Measure.
Focus on Metris for users! Stop thiking old school page views, session, etc!
Discovery is the new cocaine. (that is a great line)… we need to help users discover, and to be discovered.

New sites: http://www.etsy.com/, http://getsatisfaction.com/, http://discovery.crowdvine.com/

SXSW – Core Conversation: How to Build Facebook in Bangalore: Outsourcing 2.0 – Sandeep Sood CEO, Monsoon Company

This was a “core conversation”, so it was not a big room…big stage.. I really like the idea of the round table converstation…because really…we are so much more about converstation than conferences. However, the idea of a round table deal is good, but this really was difficult. It was a huge room, with 4-5 core conversations going on, and about 100 people at our table and you could hardly hear a word. Here are my tidbits.

The world is not Flat! And you can not do it in 4 hours a week. Sood took a little stab at the folks who talk about this stuff and say its “easy”. It is not!
Tip 1- It’s hardwork. Do your research and do not go in blind.
Tip 2 – Look for the No. Most say yes…so look for the companies that say no.
Tip 3 – Everyone speaks, but not the same language! Interpretation is hard..be patient.
Tip 4 – Save now, pay later. Don’t forget the total cost.
Tip 5 – Moving beyond cost.
-scailability.
-the relay race (24 hour work cycle)
Tip 6 – Small is the new big. Digg.com, used elance.com he said.
We will be contacting Monsoon to discuss further and also we connected with the Flat Sourcing guys. I look forward to talking with them!

SXSW – 10 Things We’ve Learned at 37signals – Jason Fried

I am a big fan of Jason and his company 37signals. I have heard him speak at SXSW many times, and I am alway blown away with his content! He rocks. Here are some tidbits that I came away with. (I missed the first 5 or so minutes)

Optimize for Now!
I love this!!! I walked in as he was finishing his though.

Question your work regularly
Why are we doing this?
What problem are we solving?
Is this actually useful?
Are we adding value?
Will this change behavior?
Is there an easier way?
Whats the opportunity cost?
Is it really worth it?

Read your product
Sin on the internet right now….”shitty” writing.
Stop paying too much attention to pixels, and not on words.
Words are the cheapest and easiest things to fix.
Rewrite first, redesign second.

Err on the side of simple
Start with the easy way!
Get 3 things done in one week, instead of one thing done in three weeks.
Moral, motivation one of the most important things!
The longer it takes to develop somethings the less likely you are to launch it.
Resist the urge to try to so more the next time around.

Invest in what doesn’t change
Google- speed and accuracy
Amazon- fast shipping

Follow the chefs
Lagasse, Batali, Flay, Bayliss, Oliver!
Share, share, share!
What’s your cookbook? Tell everyone you know.

Road maps send you in the wrong direction
They lock you into the past!
It’s ok to think about the future, just don’t write it down.
Author to be reading Ricardo Semier

Be clear in crisis
Be open, honest, public and responsive.
The web doesn’t shut up just because you have.

Make tiny decisions
Break problems down to the atomic level.
Celebrate little launches.
Morale feeds progress.
When you make tiny decisions you can’t make big mistakes.

Make it matter!
Everything you do should matter.
If it does not matter, don’t do it!

Hire Curious People!!!

SXSW – Opening Remarks with Henry Jenkins and Steven Johnson

Not much to say. These guys are very smart, but I really did not stay tuned in very well. They lost me with a lot of talk and “information” without a lot of application. I do think that I need to look into these guys more…I am sure there is a lot to learn here.

A quote I enjoyed “Moral panic – When you stop asking questions and you assume you know the answer.” – Henry Jenkins

However, during this time we came up with a rock solid web idea that I think we will pull the trigger on tonight. Looking forward to seeing the ninja’s sketches.