Volusion recently made a big splash at the world-renowned SXSW Interactive Festival. The team exhibited at the interactive tradeshow, where a big mobile commerce announcement was made. Additionally, Volusion sponsored a “Blackout Sunday” party with TECH Cocktail and Microsoft BizSpark. Keep reading to receive the full recap.
The dust has finally settled upon the great city of Austin as tens of thousands of tech, film and music enthusiasts have returned home after attending the largest South by Southwest (SXSW) festival ever. Taking place from March 12-21, SXSW is the world’s largest collection of innovators and artists joined together to share their works and spotlight rising talent. This year, over 45,000 people came to the event, not to mention the tens of thousands more who attended free concerts, film screenings and technical demonstrations.
.
.
We were honored to have the chance to participate in such an inspiring event, particularly during the Interactive portion. Our contributions began by exhibiting at the huge tradeshow at the Austin Convention Center, where we met tons of ecommerce experts and demonstrated our award-winning shopping cart software. We also caught the attention of news outlets, bloggers and innovators with our breakthrough announcement of Volusion mCommerce.
Mobile seemed to be the unofficial theme of SXSW Interactive this year, as dozens of application developers and start-up mobile integration companies promoted their services. Some made their statements by creating flashmobs in the middle of the convention floor. Additionally, social networking continued to reign as a huge trend at this year’s show. Did you know that Twitter made its debut at SXSW just a few short years ago?
.
One of the best parts of the tradeshow was the opportunity to meet some of our customers. A big shout out to Raheel Gauba with Simon & Cleo, Bill Maceyra with Bombat Washer Co. and Bianca Neal with Viva Chocolato!
Our main event came on the evening of Sunday, March 21 where we had the distinct pleasure of teaming up with Microsoft BizSpark and TECH cocktail to throw a party, deemed “Blackout Sunday.” Here, over 30 startups were able to make their debut and network with others. There were quite a few unique offerings that will likely become big names in the near future. The party as a whole held true to the overall SXSW Interactive theme of “Tomorrow happens here.”
We all had a great time networking with potential clients and sampling the latest and greatest in technological innovation. It was definitely an inspiring sight to see – one attendee called it a “techie networking Mecca,” which is right up our alley.
.
But enough talk. Take a look at some of the visual highlights from Microsoft BizSpark and Volusion present TECH cocktail SXSW: Blackout Sunday.
.
You can catch the entire photo album on Flickr.
.
All in all, the event was a smashing success (minus our popcorn machine almost catching fire, much to the dismay of the fire marshal who eyed us like hawks). We’d like to extend a Texas-sized thanks to all of those who helped make our debut at SXSW Interactive such a hit!
Happy (and festive) selling!
-Matt Winn, Marketing Associate
.
Follow us for exclusive promos, breaking news and expert advice!
2 Responses to “Volusion Takes SXSW 2010 by Storm”