SXSW 2015 Overview

I was really inspired by this year's event. I was thrilled at a subsection they call #SouthBites which was a series of panels and interactive session focused entirely on food/culture/ag. I'm really excited about the possibilities of how we merge food/ag + consumer trends + technology! I'm excited to brainstorm with you all on how we/Dairy, can show up next year. I also enjoyed interacting with other Ag Digital partners (thank for the intros, Don).

A few key themes from this year's event:
1. Disruption: That seemed to be the pervasive theme throughout SXSW. Technology is no longer a separate vertical but rather it's horizontal across all industries. And its disrupting everything we can imagine.

2. Humans: They are making a comeback, especially in technology. This year was the first ever Artificial Intelligence Protest "Stop the Robots"; Privacy was a key theme and the word "Humans" showed up in over a dozen titles. Concerns that technology is moving too quick to solve the problems it might be creating?

3. Animals: Grumpy Cat, Reading Squirrls, Morris the Cat, Mophie's St Bernard strolling Power charges...Meerkat (had to sneak that in here)

4. Meerkat: We'll see if it sticks around but lots of Meerkating going on. Twitter blocked its social graph indicating they obviously don't want to play nice.

5. Lyft: Another disruption, was the App/Ride of choice for many of us who stayed out in the boonies.