A short recap from two talks I gave this month in Austin during SXSW 2010.

Last year I wrote a detailed thank you to the people that made SXSW 2009 great; but this year, it’s just not possible. SXSW 2010 was a vastly different, busier, better experience for me than last year. Panels? Didn’t go. Parties? Great, but overwhelming at times. Conversations, chats, and meals with friends? The best part about SXSW Interactive, in my opinion, hands down.

Other than a couple talks I gave and participated in, of course.

@Photoshelter Austin Photo Seminar

Photoshelter’s Austin Photo Seminar
The view above is from the front of the room just before I gave the introductory remarks at @Photoshelter‘s Austin Photo Seminar “Thriving in Uncertain Photographic Times” in Austin on March 13th, about “Creating Context for your Content”. Photoshelter packed the house, selling out their event with a mix of presentations, panels and photography workshops talking about career paths, the challenges and opportunities created by new technology and culture, SEO, and some hands-on work on lighting for shoots. I know I enjoyed my talk, and based on the feedback I know it helped create some ideas and thoughts in the professional photographers packing the room.

SXSW Core Conversation

SXSW Core Conversation
The view above is from the front of the room during a SXSW Core Conversation I co-lead with @Photoshelter CEO Allen Murabayashi entitled “Everyone can be a Professional Photographer” on March 14th in Austin. The room was packed: apparently, far more people were interested in the discussion than SXSW had guessed because the room was full well before the scheduled start time. People stayed and contributed and many people were turned away, unable to get in the room because of space constraints.

Core Conversations at SXSW, for the uninitiated, are not presentations but a discussion, and the goal of the conversation leaders is not to give a talk, but to guide and moderate the discussion from everyone in the room. Instead of talking about the technical and gear-oriented questions about the requirements and processes for creating great images, the conversation focused on the business and ethical aspects towards being a “professional” photographer. Allen provided great commentary and tactical advice on many topics and answered many questions, and many photographers and “digital content creatives” contributed to create a lively, informative discussion. Based on the great engagement in the room and the feedback I received afterward, I hope people left with a better understanding of the issues and the energy to create great work.

What’s next?
For one, I’ll be on a panel at CEPIC in Dublin, Ireland in June about “The Future” of the stock photography industry, but trust that there will be much more between now and then. Stay tuned.

Liked this post? Subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, check out more about my consulting services for photographers at NARRATIVELY, and follow me at @tdavidson and @narratively on Twitter.

After our SXSW core conversation “Everyone can be a *Professional* Photographer”, Allen Murabayashi (CEO of Photoshelter) and I did short video about using Twitter for small business with Aaron Moller for Scan Source.

Allen Murabayashi and Taylor Davidson talk about Twitter use for Small Business on YouTube.

Liked this post? Subscribe to this blog by RSS or email and follow me at @tdavidson on Twitter.

Below are the slides for a talk I’ll be giving at @Photoshelter‘s Austin Photo Seminar “Thriving in Uncertain Photographic Times” in Austin on March 13th, and I’d love to get your thoughts and feedback so that I can improve before the talk this coming Saturday.

Updated March 23: thanks for the input via the comments and email, appreciate everyone’s thoughts and help. The presentation below is now the updated version. And the talk rocked, if I don’t say so myself.

Fred Wilson often publishes the slides of his talks to the web before the events to solicit feedback and input from the many great minds on the web; I did it for a presentation as part of a panel at PDN Photo Plus Expo last October and loved the process, and I wanted to do it again for a talk I’m giving at Photoshelter‘s Austin Photo Seminar “Thriving in Uncertain Photographic Times” in Austin on March 13th.

Feedback, questions? Leave them in the comments below or email me.

Liked this post? Subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, check out more about my consulting services for photographers at NARRATIVELY, and follow me at @tdavidson on Twitter.

SXSW 2010 is a week away, but my mind’s already there. Here’s why.

SXSW last year was a fishbowl, an immersive experience that has continued to influence my life today: I met a ton of great people, created some great relationships (some of which led me to move to New Orleans), led a Core Conversation about trends in venture capital and entrepreneurship, and thoroughly enjoyed both Interactive and Music (a little too much, since I crawled home with the SXSW scurvy).

As great as last year was, this year will be better. I’ve talked to a lot of people coming to SXSW this year and the overwhelming opinion I’ve gotten is that it’s going to be busier, busier, busier. I haven’t dug into the full schedule of events to really figure out what I’ll be doing, but there are a couple things I know I’ll be doing:

• Pre-SXSW: The Chevy SXSW Road Trip Charlotte/Raleigh Team NC will be hitting New Orleans on Tuesday March 9th. The Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge is a competition between eight teams from across the United States…

  Starting the week of March 8 (the week before SXSW), eight teams of social media folks from across the United States will embark on a combination road trip/scavenger hunt competition from their hometowns to Austin behind the wheel of some of Chevy’s newest products. Along the way they’ll need to complete 50 “challenges” in order to determine the winner. The winning team will be the one that not only has completed the most challenges, but has done the most interacting with their community on Twitter and their own sites. But what’s really going to be fun is that you get to help us decide all of the tasks the teams are going to have to complete along the way!

  Team NC is Jason Keath, Nicole D’Alonzo, Wayne Sutton and Ryan Boyles. I don’t know what challenges they’ll be completing in New Orleans, but I do know that NOLAlicious and Capdeville will be hosting a tweetup to welcome Team NC to New Orleans, Tuesday March 9th from 5 to 7 PM. RSVP on the Facebook event page. And, of course, follow Team NC’s blog.

• Pre-SXSW: The Tuttle 2 Texas crew is coming through New Orleans March 9th to the 11th on their way from London to Austin for SXSW. I first heard about Tuttle from Alan Patrick at SXSW 2009, and meeting with the Tuttle crew every Friday morning quickly became a weekly ritual for me whenever I was in London in the later half of 2009.

  As Lloyd Davis explains, the Tuttle 2 Texas trip is about:

  The real purpose of the trip is to make connections and build relationships through conversation. That’s what Tuttle is really good at. That’s why we’re travelling slowly across America in such a crazy, old-fashioned, inefficient way. I want to meet old friends with whom I’ve only ever tweeted. I also want to meet new people and get to know them and think about who we are and what we have in common and how we’re all trying to make sense of this world that has been turned upside-down in our lifetimes.

  They’re taking trains from Boston to NYC to Washington DC to Atlanta to New Orleans to experience a bit of slow travel, filming a documentary about conversations, examining the similarities/differences between American and British culture, and then they’re riding with me to Austin, tweeting, videoing and blogging the entire way. Follow their trip on their blog, Tuttle 2 Texas. And if you’re in NOLA, we’re going to set up a space for conversations at Launch Pad and a tweetup for them on the 10th. Stay tuned.

• Saturday, March 13th, 11 AM: Photoshelter’s Austin Photo Seminar: Thriving in Uncertain Photographic Times. I’ll be giving the introductory remarks about “Creating Context for your Content”, extending a thought about Instead of focusing on the image, focus on everything around the image. In short:
  

  The biggest creative and business opportunities for photographers is not the image, but everything around the image. In other words, the opportunity is in context, not content. Taylor Davidson will set the stage for the day by discussing how photographers can build and leverage rich “context experiences” to create artistic and business opportunities in the photography industry.

  My goal is to set the stage for the rest of the day:

  You have a rock solid portfolio, a fancy website, and you’re tweeting nonstop. Now what?

  Join the photo marketing experts from PhotoShelter and local pro shooters as we get together for an afternoon to discuss, debate and share insight into the changing landscape of our industry. You’ll leave armed with the new tools, innovative marketing strategies and inspiring techniques you need to grow your photography business now. Don’t just survive, thrive.

  This event is from 11 AM to 4 PM at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, and since it’s not a SXSW event, requires separate registration and a $20 fee. Register HERE.

• SXSW: Sunday, March 14th, 5 PM: SXSW Core Conversation. I’ll be co-leading a Core Conversation entitled Everyone can be a *professional* photographer with Allen Murabayashi, the CEO and co-founder of Photoshelter. In short:
  

  Everyone is a photographer: a camera in every cellphone, a point-and-shoot in every pocket, a digital SLR camera in every bag or home. New platforms to create, distribute and sell to a wider range of clientele give everyone the opportunity to be a *professional* photographer and sell their photography.

  We’ll cover the economics behind the tools to create, promote, distribute and sell photography-related content in today’s marketplace while also bringing out the conversation from the rest of the attendees. Sunday, March 14th at 5 PM in room 8A at the Austin Convention Center. Direct link to the event on the SXSW schedule is HERE.

• SXSW Interactive: Good times throughout. I’ll have the chance to continue to talk about my love for New Orleans and the opportunities in the emerging startup movement in New Orleans, all while bouncing around meeting people.

  I’m looking forward to the Se@SW – Southeast at SXSW mixer, New Orleans’ panel Uprising Tide – Inciting Online Communities into Offline Movements, checking out panels about social search, Haiti CrisisCamp, and many other events that I haven’t yet heard of but are sure to rock my SXSW.

  Serendipity, please do me right again, last year was great.

• SXSW Music. Oh, and I’m staying in Austin for SXSW for Music. Got a band I need to see? Drop me a line. Looking forward…

Want to know where I’ll be throughout the rest of 2010, or to contact me about speaking, consulting or meeting? Check out my 2010 schedule.