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More InformationWe caught up with Marissa Lewis-Peart, winner of the Bristol Media Ben Martin Apprentice Award, two months after her trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas to find out more about her experiences of the festival. Read on to hear Marissa’s story and how she ended up at the world’s largest annual celebration of the interactive industries.
“During Easter 2018 I attended a two-week placement at Epoch Design, after presenting a leave behind in the form of a personalised water bottle label to the CEO at a 3rd year university talk. Later that year, one of the managers told me about the Ben Martin Apprentice Award opportunity and encouraged me to apply for it. I was asked to submit a short video and/or 500 word paragraph about my design strengths. After speaking with studio staff from Epoch, one of them asked me what my ‘why’ was which prompted me to spend the next couple of weeks filming and editing a 40 second video about why I wake up every morning excited to design. One face-to-face interview and a few weeks later, I was announced as the 2019 Ben Martin Apprentice Winner! As part of the opportunity I was able to attend the world’s largest Tech, Media, Music and Film conference festival: SXSW 2019 in Austin, Texas.
My first day at SXSW was International Women’s Day and so it was only right to begin the day with a women’s led panel talk about how adaptive design is transforming brands. The physical ability and racially diverse panel of four women spoke about how brands are becoming more inclusive to cater to all audiences and the possible downsides such as diversity being a ‘trend’ rather than a genuine brand value. I attended 4 more conferences throughout my first day ranging from a Black Women in Tech conference through to a talk by author Laura Otting about Becoming Limitless – How to Live Your Best Life.
That evening I attended the IPA welcome drinks at a local hotel with Chris Thurling, Chair of Bristol Media and my mentor, and a couple of others where I had the chance to network with many people who are established in their industries. By the end of the day, I was shattered!
I attended many more talks over the course of the next few days however one that stood out to me was ‘An Ad Guy and a Psychologist Walk Into an Ad Agency’ where an ad guy and a psychologist deconstructed a few of the most iconic TV advertisements and explained why they were so successful through behaviour economics. I found it really interesting to see how psychology can have a real impact on how an audience engages with creative media and how I can introduce some of the tactics in my own work. Later that day, Chris introduced me to Ann Hiatt who worked in executive positions for both Amazon and Google for 15 years at her talk; Grit, Reinvention & Pivoting for Success, which was inspiring as she spoke about how she grew to end up in her executive positions. On the final evening at SXSW, Ann hosted an open invite dinner where attendees who work in the tech, media, music or film industries could network and build connections, which was interesting as everyone had such diverse experiences.
There were a few pop up buildings scattered around the local area from brands such as Amazon, Sony, Samsung, LG, Snapchat and Twitter, where I could get interactive with their latest tech prototypes like robots and sensory gaming as well as network or listen to smaller talks. As a graphic design student I’m aware of how artificial intelligence and augmented reality are changing how brands communicate with consumers however, before this trip I was feeling confused as to how I can harness this new technology and take my work to the next level. Having the chance to play around with new tech helped to open my eyes to the possibilities and I ended up including augmented reality in a D&AD submission back at university.
Aside from the overall SXSW experience and opportunities to network being huge highlights within themselves, a smaller highlight of SXSW19 was seeing one of my favourite rappers, A$AP Rocky, talking about ‘Using Design Differently to Make a Difference’ with the Chief Design Officer of Mercedes Benz. As A$AP Rocky is an artist and general creative that I’ve loved for both his music and style for years, it was exciting to see him on stage and for once not rapping but talking about something that I’m also passionate about; design.
Thank you to the companies and organisations that came together to give me this opportunity, I’ve learnt so much and now have a clearer vision of the direction I would like to take my career in. As I’m currently completing my final months at university, having this experience and the support has really helped me to feel more confident in getting ready to start my career.”
Tickets for SXSW2020 go on sale 1st August 2019. If you’d like to find out more about joining Chris Thurling and the Bristol & Bath delegation at next year’s event, please email: [email protected]
If you missed our latest Bristol Media event, fear not! Izzy, our Junior Content Apprentice, has compressed all the best bits into this quick blog, read on to hear about the SXSW 2019 experience…
Bristol Media Chair, Chris Thurling, attended South by Southwest Conference & Festival (SXSW) for his 5th year in a row last week. Held in Austin, Texas, SXSW celebrates the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. It is hugely successful and was attended by over 280,000 people in 2018!
On Tuesday, Bristol Media hosted a ‘lunchtime digest’ where Chris shared his highlights from the event along with Ann Hiatt (former chief of staff for Google and Amazon and SXSW speaker) and Nicholas Blake (Head of Data and Digital Operations at Armadillo). Here’s what we took away:
After Chris’s first SXSW visit back in 2015, he left the event in a happy tech bubble, excited and optimistic for the future of technology. Fast forward to 2019, and it seems a dominant theme throughout the conference was the ethical concerns now surrounding this industry, and it has people anxious. An eye-opening talk for Chris was Douglas Rushkoff’s, ‘Team Human’. In his talk, Douglas spoke about how the internet was ‘idealistic’ in the beginning, but it now serves the stock market more than us. We have gone from being the user to the used and are close to automating ourselves out of existence.
Ann on the other hand is encouraged by the opportunities AI and machine learning offer and the overarching message she took away from her time at SXSW was to remember the human aspect of technology. In other words, we still need good, thoughtful people to harness all that potential for the better.
As well as a run-down of her own SXSW talk ‘Grit, Reinvention, and Pivoting for Success’, Ann shared with us some of the tips she took from a talk by Susan Fowler, former employee of Uber. You might recognise Susan as the woman who influenced how Uber and other Silicon Valley companies now treat sexual harassment in the workplace. Susan wanted to remind us all of a few things:
Ann then prompted us to ponder on the idea that ‘nothing extraordinary comes from your comfort zone’ and that we need to ask ourselves the right questions when it comes to machine learning and AI.
Nicholas Blake thought it was really interesting to hear what the experts were saying about artificial intelligence and machine learning, now that it is no longer science fiction and is becoming seamlessly integrated in our lives. A talk by Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist at Google, inspired a different outlook on AI; that it is just a tool, it is as safe as the people who design and monetise it. Nick explains it in an analogy: if you work on something with another person, is that collaboration? If you use a ruler to draw a straight line, is that collaboration? AI is more similar to the ruler than the person, because without us to input the data, it can’t function.
What did you think about our lunchtime digest, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of technology? If you missed it, follow us on Twitter and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter to hear about future events!
Bristol Media’s Chair, Chris Thurling, has just arrived back from Austin, Texas where he’s been attending SXSW 2019 – the world’s largest annual celebration of the interactive industries. On Tuesday 19 March, Chris will be joined by Ann Hiatt (former Amazon and Google Chief of Staff, SXSW speaker and one of our Keynote speakers last year) for a ‘hot off the press’ lunchtime digest to share their highlights and latest trends emerging from this year’s festival.
Following the 40-minute talk, there’ll be an opportunity to ask questions in a 20-minute Q&A.
The talk starts at 12.30pm on Tuesday 19th March at Zone, The Brew House, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0EQ. There’s a small fee of £10+VAT for Bristol Media members (£15+VAT for non-members), light refreshments will be provided.
We have very few places remaining for the talk so book now!
Bristol Media Chair, Chris Thurling, is heading off to Austin, Texas this week to attend the world’s largest annual celebration of the interactive industries – SXSW 2019. Whilst at the festival, Chris plans to meet up with Ann Hiatt, former Amazon and Google Chief of Staff and one of the contacts he made at SXSW last year.
Chris has a packed schedule of keynotes, workshops and networking opportunities over the course of the 5-day digital festival and will be joined by Marissa Lewis-Peart, winner of 2018’s Ben Martin Apprentice Award (BMAA). Dubbed as the “premier destination for discovery,” Chris and Marissa will hear the latest news and trends from the world’s leading tech and creative companies at SXSW.
As a seasoned SXSW’er, Chris will be on a mission to make new connections for Bristol Media, as well as absorb all that the event has to offer. Chris and Marissa will be live-tweeting during the event, so follow us on Twitter @Bristol_Media #BristolSXSW to receive the latest updates.
Ann has kindly agreed to come back to Bristol after the festival to join Chris in a ‘hot off the press’ lunchtime digest on 19th March. They’ll share their thoughts and experiences from SXSW plus a roundup of highlights and insights into the latest trends from the festival. Following the talk, there’ll be an opportunity to ask questions in a 20-minute Q&A.
The talk starts at 12.30pm on Tuesday 19th March at Zone, The Brew House, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0EQ. There’s a small fee of £10+VAT for Bristol Media members (£15+VAT for non-members), light refreshments will be provided.
Places are very limited so book asap via Eventbrite!
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