SXSW 2023 Round Up

It was good to be back…back in the US after a 3 year sojourn and back at SXSW. The neon dappled streets of BBQ and Bars was a sight for the soreness of my senses that was requiring some Austin love.

However, that love and fervour was somewhat short lived as the Exocet missile that was the SVB implosion rolled through the streets and mouths of the vibrant start up community. People were palpably anxious about losing capital and debt facilities but after a few spare ribs, Texan camaraderie and Jay Powell backstopping the downdraft, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That was the first time I've been in the eye of that storm and it reiterates the fragile nature of all that we do on the cusp of the innovation rockface. But equally it corroborated the resilience of people and the fact that it's much better being at the coalface of this industry than attending an insurance conference on premium algorithms in Milwauke.

So other than surfing the streets of 6^th and under, what was I doing there…

Earlier this year I got invited to join Conde Nast in London to discuss Web3 and the Metaverse. The reaction was such that the wonderful Nico Sarti ( Head of Creative Strategy at Conde ) decided we needed a bigger stage to wax lyrical.

The bottom line is none of us are experts. We haven't had enough time to understand how any of us show up in this metaspace and tackle the hard topics of Identity, Communication, History, Digital Assets, Ownership, Interactions, Etiquettes and Ethics.

- JC Oliver

So off we went to talk about how brands should be using Web3 and the Metaverse. With over 400 people packing the room and a further 150 outside I got the crowd standing to showcase adoption.

With 400 souls standing to attention I asked anyone to sit who had not created an avatar of themselves. Half the room sat. I asked anyone to sit who had not created an avatar of themselves in a 3D rendered virtual world. Another 50% sat. I asked anyone to sit who spends less than half their week in the metaverse. 75% sat. For the final question I asked anyone to keep standing if they spent the majority of their time in the metaverse. All sat apart from 1 guy at the back! Maybe he hadn’t understood the question but either way I thanked him personally for being with us…Physically.

We talked about world building and my new theory on people owning their Metaversonality (the different personalities that people build in multiple worlds ) how to be authentic while experimenting too.

The bottom line is none of us are experts. We haven't had enough time to understand how any of us show up in this metaspace and tackle the hard topics of Identity, Communication, History, Digital Assets, Ownership, Interactions, Etiquettes and Ethics.

What I do love about being back at conferences is it’s a great gauge of the market. But like anything people get excited and the vibe is more an immediate voting machine than any real long term insight. The general waft was all about ChatGPT and already the fickleness of people opining that the metaverse is already yesterday’s news. In the 2 weeks since we have been back both Disney and Microsoft have sunset their metaverse teams…so perhaps the herd do know what they're talking about!

SXSW is a monolith. It’s a veritable overload of amazing content. Whilst I attended a bunch, the best of those was Amy Webb talking about the future of the future. She discussed that with the impending omnipresence of AI she would give access to all of her insight knowledge and research  for everyone to access. True open source thinking. Here is the link for your benefit and perusal.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o01yte99aumhzle/AAB5Z9TgVEzrUZVLV75LwUhpa?dl=0

However the best thing about SXSW was hanging out with old friends and colleagues and making new contacts. In person and physical is still the zenith of interaction. The metaverse has along way to go before it can replicate the verisimilitude of supping a modelo on 6^th ave.

Until next year hermano’s………