Cindy Royal is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University in San Marcos.  Cindy and I met on Twitter, when I volunteered to be interviewed by one of her student bloggers during SXSW Interactive.  You can view the OrgSync SXSW interview here.  We were excited to see social media being taught in the classroom and were even more excited to help students get hands on experience using social media!

As another SXSW Interactive comes to a close, I am pleased to be asked by OrgSync to provide some of my observations from this year’s event. I have attended the festival for many years, and this was the second year that I invited a team of student bloggers to cover the event. Our coverage, including photos, videos and archives of live stream interviews can be found at www.sxtxstate.com. SXSWi is such a fantastic opportunity for students to engage with concepts we discuss in the new media concentration in which I teach at TX State University in San Marcos. It is the most important conference that I attend each year, introducing me to new ideas that will be affecting media in the future.

This year’s programming was outstanding. From impressive keynote speakers like Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and author of two important books, The Long Tail and Free, and Tony Hsieh, the CEO of the online shoe retailer Zappos to outstanding panel discussions dealing with the future of social media, trends in journalism, Web design concepts and the direction of overall online experience, SXSW once again proved that Austin is the place to be in March. Additional highlights for me included discussions by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and Kathy Sierra. Their enthusiasm for online endeavors is infectious and inspiring.

Overall, I think two broad themes emerged from this year’s festivities.

The first is the focus on the user experience (UX). Where five years ago content was considered king, now it’s about what your users get to do on your site. The interaction must be two-way, and it must be relevant to the communities you support. The second theme has to do with the ubiquity of social networks. In her talk entitled “The Future of Social Networks: Social Networks Will Be Like Air, ” Charlene Li explained that we are moving to a universal identity and single social graph in our usage of these networks, and that we will eventually no longer use fragmented platforms and identities. This goes beyond a mere aggregation of existing platforms and requires a few major players to emerge as focal points of this interaction.

In regard to the activity of my students at the festival, I am very proud of the work they did on the blog. I was energized by their enthusiasm coming out of panels and discussing topics, asking questions and interacting with attendees. They worked extremely hard to not only gain knowledge for themselves, but to share that knowledge in the various ways that they have learned in our program, through blogs, video, photos and social media; lots of simultaneous learning and practice. The weeks prior to SXSW included the design and development of our site, promotion via various social media platforms including Twitter (@sxtxstate) and Facebook and the creation of content in the form of previews and tech news updates relevant to SXSW topics. While this activity was supervised by me, the students were completely in charge of the direction and execution. For this, they have a lasting archive of their experiences and something they can reference in the future.

We even tested live stream capabilities by doing a live interview from the convention center each day. You can find the archive of these interviews under the Live Stream tab on the site. We met Jeff and Eric of OrgSync on Sunday, and they were kind enough to spend some time with us talking about their collaborative online campus offerings. In addition, we interviewed panelists from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, as well as business owners who were in attendance to gain new insight into technology trends.

The SXSWi team, of which several of my former and current students are a part, put on an amazing event each year, and continue to improve with each successive year. I don’t know how they’ll top 2009, but I’m already looking forward to March 2010. If you deal with technology and media in any manner, I highly recommend attending SXSW. And, if you can stick around for the second part of the week, the music’s not too shabby either. See some of the pictures and videos I shot during some of the music showcases at www.onthatnote.com. Hope to see you in Austin next year.

This past March, the SXSWi opening keynote speech, presented by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, highlighted the importance of developing a strong company culture and explained his company’s revolutionary vision of customer service.

As I listened to Tony’s presentation, I found myself inspired by the fact that Zappos’ adherence to company culture and core values helped land them on Forbes list of Top 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2009.

Zappos’ philosophy of success is similar to that of OrgSync’s in many ways. Above all, we believe strongly in adhering to company culture and core values. At OrgSync, our success is driven by three core values: 1) Giving the customer the largest stake in the future of the OrgSync platform, 2) Empowering organizational leaders through technology, and 3) Making positive contributions to our communities.

First, as a hosted solution, we believe that development of a premiere product is best accomplished by giving our clients the largest stake. Every month, we encourage our clients to meet with our in-house development team to discuss new product ideas and trends. Through this method of communication, our development team is able to quickly design and implement new features for the entire client base to use. Moreover, OrgSync recently released an Application Programming Interface (API) that will provide campus IT departments the flexibility to create automated processes based on the needs and requirements determined by the school or organization. OrgSync also has a 24/7 customer support line that clients are encouraged to call whenever they need a question answered.

Second, OrgSync seeks to empower organizational leaders through technology. The OrgSync team has a strong background in higher education, and involvement in campus organizations. In fact, the very idea to create the OrgSync solution was generated from our co-founders’ experiences in running multiple student organizations at The University of Texas at Austin. Members of the OrgSync team are also regular attendees of the International Leadership Association Global Conference, the National Collegiate Leadership Conference, which is hosted on OrgSync, and the Lone Star Ruby Conference. OrgSync’s involvement in these conferences expresses commitment to innovation and leadership that will best serve OrgSync’s client base.

Lastly, OrgSync aspires to make positive contributions to the Austin tech community, and the communities of its clients. In February, OrgSync sponsored the Austin Twestival hosted by media maven Michelle Greer. Also, earlier this year, our company organized a daylong social media campaign on Twitter to raise over $1500 for Clean Water, whose objective is to provide sanitary water to natives of Africa.

OrgSync’s Cayce Stone uses the phrase “Everybody wins!” to summarize the OrgSync philosophy. By adhering strongly to these core values, OrgSync to provides a solution that makes management of your organization more efficient.

That following Monday morning, I received an email from Tony detailing where I could find more information about Zappos culture. He informed me that a copy of the Zappos Culture book I had requested would be arriving at my doorstep soon, and also extended an offer to visit the Zappos headquarters next time I am in Las Vegas. Thanks again Tony for being an excellent role model!

OrgSync’s first year at the SXSW Interactive Festival was a great success! We met many people interested in advancing technology in Higher Ed. Many shared our goal to accelerate student success through out of classroom involvement and innovative service learning. We also met many companies interested in partnering to help spread our services.

Saturday was an exciting day, OrgSync CEO, Eric Fortenberry and Jeff Jackson, Director of Client Services and Leadership Development, were interviewed by Texas State professor Cindy Royal. They told the “OrgSync Story” and went on to discuss how our online hosted tools will help universities communicate better with their students and help students get engaged on campus. The interview can be seen here.

The Festival’s opening remarks were made by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. He emphasized the importance of a strong company culture and always working to make the customer service experience the best it can be. It was very interesting to see how similar the Zappos company culture and core values are to ours at OrgSync. We both understand the importance of customer service, flexibility and innovation to revolutionize our customer experience.

It was very exciting to meet some of the nation’s most innovative and successful entrepreneurs. Team OrgSync had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg and Alex Albrecht co-host of Diggnation. As well as many other great entrepreneurs such as Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable, blogger Robert Scoble, and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.

Later that day, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht hosted Diggnation live from Stubbs BBQ. The OrgSync Team got to watch the show from the VIP balcony alongside other entrepreneurs mentioned in Sarah Lacey’s book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice Your Good; a company favorite!

Even more exciting was meeting John Schuman, Senior Worldwide Evangelist and Megan Stewart, Director Worldwide Higher Education for Adobe Systems. We discussed how we work with student organizations’ webmasters and how we’re interested in figuring out how to partner with Adobe so we can further provide student webmasters with the tools and experience they need to succeed.

One of the discussions held on Sunday consisted of a Higher Ed Panel focused on the challenges of the web in higher education. The panel discusses small budgets, and the generation gap between faculty and students as hindering the advancement of technology in the Higher Ed community. We were very pleased to see such a large audience working to bring advancements in technology to the classroom. Many agreed that students need to get involved more outside of the classroom to complement their academic studies and accelerate their success. We also tried to advance these discussions by sponsoring the 3rd annual SXSW Higher Ed MeetUp/ TweetUp at Buffalo Billiard’s.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed attending and exhibiting at SXSW and are already excited about next year’s Interactive Festival.

OrgSync is excited to sponsor the 3rd Annual Higher Ed MeetUp/TweetUp on Sunday night from 6:00-10:00pm at Buffalo Billiard’s on 6th & Brazo’s. Catch up with your colleagues in the education field and meet new friends at this great networking event.

If you get lost call Jeff at 512-970-6585

Map to Buffalo

Also be sure and attend Brad J Ward and Dylan Wilbank’s panel on the “The Web In Higher Education: What’s Different?” this year at SXSWi.

The 22nd Annual South by Southwest Music & Media Festival has begun! The OrgSync team will be exhibiting at the SXSW Interactive Festival this weekend at the Austin Convention Center. SXSW Interactive celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technologies. We will be at booth #710 on the fourth floor of the convention center in the Trade Show on Saturday & Sunday 12-6, and Monday 12-4. Please stop by our booth if you are planning to be at SXSW!

OrgSync will also be sponsoring the 3rd Annual Higher Ed MeetUp/TweetUp on Sunday night from 6:00-10:00pm at Buffalo Billiard’s on 6th & Brazo’s. Catch up with your colleagues in the education field and meet new friends at this great networking event. Also be sure and attend Brad J Ward and Dylan Wilbank’s panel on the “The Web In Higher Education: What’s Different?” this year at SXSWi.

We hope to see you at our SXSWi booth, The Higher Ed MeetUp/TweetUp and/or the panel discussion!