March 16, 2015: the Buzzy App at SXSW, Why an Agent Hosts Concerts in His Living Room, Is TED Missing Design Talks?

1. THE APP EVERYONE AT SXSW IS TALKING ABOUT: Austin's big festival and conference, South by Southwest, only began on Friday in Texas, but already people are buzzing about Meerkat, the live-streaming app that launched in late February. And although much of the chatter has focused on Twitter's decision to cut access to its social graph, there are plenty more paying attention to the trend of sessions and panels being streamed through Meerkat. VentureBeat: "Some of us who have been coming to SXSW for years have long wished the event was live streamed. And some sessions are. But for the most part, if you’re not in the room, you’re out of luck. The same is true at countless other trade shows, conventions, and events. ... It will be interesting to see how conference organizers respond to this new dynamic since it does remove some of the exclusivity. And that may make them happy, since it can potentially broaden the appeal of their events with no additional cost. But either way, it seems that there’s little they can do about it." http://bit.ly/1DroNml

2. HAS SXSW BECOME TOO NOISY?: As South by Southwest continues to grow, brands are finding navigating and doing business at the festival more and more challenging. Digiday: “‘It’s the petting zoo effect,’ said Mark Silva, CEO of Kite, a company that has worked with companies like GE and McDonald’s to connect brands with startups. ‘They come and they take meetings but no business gets done.’… Zach Paradis, director of strategy at SapientNitro, said that ‘Every group has a harder time to push through the noise at SXSW. The festival has become so big across so many venues and parts of the city that it’s hard to capture the zeitgeist like Twitter did in 2007.’” http://bit.ly/1GcJK22

3. HOW SOMEONE'S LIVING ROOM BECAME A CONCERT VENUE: Brian Loucks, an agent with the Creative Artists Agency, has turned his Studio City home into the site of a mini concert series, where brands and industry executives can connect with musicians to create original content. What began as a small, unsponsored event around a decade ago has since become an important platform for artists like Tim McGraw and Annie Lennox and sponsors like Microsoft. Adweek: "Even the mention of the brand's name in connection with an artist on the level of Lennox makes it a worthwhile venture, explains Shawn Sanford, [Microsoft's] senior director of lifestyle marketing, because 'this is an experience you can't possibly get anywhere else. It's always hit above its weight class as far as ROI.' ... While his Living Room Series has a distinct L.A. vibe, Loucks plans to expand it to San Francisco, putting musicians under the same roof with Silicon Valley denizens, ‘a whole new creative group of people working on the frontier of everything,’ as he puts it.” http://bit.ly/1EpEB6N

4. DESIGN AND THE TED CONFERENCE: The TED2015 conference starts in Vancouver today, but is the annual gathering getting enough people talking about design, one of the three concepts that make up its famous name? Quartz: “The founder of the influential conference, Richard Saul Wurman, is a trained architect and graphic designer, who saw the forum as a way to explore the convergence among the three fields he named it for: Technology, Entertainment and Design. But since then, as TED has expanded its reach and social mission, it seems that the D has been overshadowed by the T and the E—and at times even dwarfed by the P of politics, S for science, E for education, and another D for development.“ http://bit.ly/1DrrCDX

* LOCAL NEWS *

CHICAGO:  Steppenwolf Auxiliary Council will host its Red or White Ball at Venue One on April 10. The benefit will offer a V.I.P. reception with tasting and cocktail stations from local restaurants such as the Dawson and Arami.

LOS ANGELES:  Event and floral designer Ricardo Luna’s Luna Gardens Events announced plans to open a new retail store, a flower shop specializing in D.I.Y. bouquets, in June.

Local event listings from Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  First Draft: A Literary Social, a free event from the Center for Writing and Literature at Miami Dade College, will take place Wednesday at the Butcher Shop. The guided writing session will have a theme of murder, mystery, and mayhem.

NEW YORK:  The Museum Dance, the junior benefit for the American Museum of Natural History, is set for April 17 at the museum. The theme is “Masquerade Retrograde,” a Roaring Twenties-style masked dance.

Local event listings from Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

ORLANDO:  Orlando Culinary Tour is a new option for teambuilding and corporate outings. The tour takes guests to Quantum Leap Winery, East End Market, chef Jamie McFadden's teaching lab, and Txokos Basque Kitchen. Each stop includes tasting opportunities and hands-on experiences.

Jadan Sheive has been appointed executive chef at the JW Marriott Orlando and Mariano Vegel is the newly appointed chef de cuisine at Primo by Melissa Kelly, the resort’s farm-to-fork restaurant.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  The Shakespeare Theatre Company presents its 20th annual dinner and mock trial May 11 at Sidney Harman Hall. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will preside and will be accompanied by Justice Stephen Breyer and a panel of judges to hear a case based on Dale Wasserman’s Man of La Mancha.

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With contributions from Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, and Anna Sekula in New York.

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