South By Southwest: A Case Study In Community Building – with Hugh Forrest
How do you build a community that people are willing to get on a plane and fly out to be a part of?
Every March, over 14,000 smartphone-carrying, web-site building hipsters (like me) flood Austin Texas for SXSW Interactive.
They come to to talk business, to hear about the future of tech from people who help shape it, and to drink. Hugh Forrest is the event director for sxsw interactive. I invited him here to find how the event grew to be so big and influential.
Hugh Forrest is the Event Director of the Interactive Festival at SXSW (South by Southwest).
SXSW Interactive features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, the incredible new SXSW Trade Show and a lineup of special programs showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer.
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And do you remember when I interviewed Sara Sutton Fell about how thousands of people pay for her job site? Look at the biggest point that she made. She said that she has a phone number on every page of her site, because, and here’s the stat, 95 percent of the people who call end up buying. Most people, though, don’t call her, but seeing a real phone number increases their confidence in her, and they buy. So try this. Go to Grasshopper.com and get a phone number...
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