The Breakout App of SXSW and What It Means for Events

From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

Originally posted on bizbash.com

When Ed Gala, global head of events and sponsorships for Philips, arrived at South by Southwest on March 12, he had not heard of Meerkat. That's not surprising since the free live-streaming app only launched on February 27. But what a difference a day--and an event full of avid techies--can make. Gala became a believer in the potential of Meerkat Friday morning while showing the C.E.O. of a digital strategy company around the Philips exhibit in the Austin Convention Center.

"She said, 'I'm going to Meerkat this, do you mind?' So we engaged in a live-streamed exhibit tour using Meerkat. There were about five people watching, and I was so impressed with the fact that we could take our message out and show in real time all the exciting things happening in the exhibit. Shortly after she left I thought we have to experiment with this because it's a really important tool for us to leverage moving forward," Gala says. Continue reading

Dogs Save Phones, Attendees Save Dogs at SXSW

From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

Originally posted on http://meetingsnet.com/

As much as I love the puppy-cuddling stations Meeting Professionals International has been including in its World Education Congresses in recent years, I think the huge music and film festival SXSW coming to Austin, Texas, this week may have them beat in the sweetest/coolest canine corporate social responsibility offering. Attendees who find their mobile device batteries running low can tweet to have a charger brought to them by a St. Bernard! As a Fast Company writeup says, "Dead-battery rescue dogs! It's like the Alps, but way nerdier."

Mobile battery-case maker mophie is partnering with the Saint Bernard Rescue Foundation to send the dogs (and their handlers) to those who tweet a screenshot of their device's perilously low battery to #mophieRescue from noon to 7 p.m. March 13-15 Continue reading