[tor-reports] Tor at SXSW - Trip Report

[Kelley Misata]

For those interested in checking out a few photos from this event...
https://media.torproject.org/image/official-images/2013-SXSW/


On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Kelley Misata <kelley at torproject.org> wrote:

> Recently, Karen and I were invited by the Knight Foundation to (as a
> grantee) the Interactive portion of South by South West Festival in Austin,
> TX.  For those who may not know, SXSW is not only a well-known festival for
> interactive technology, music and film but is also an exceptional venue to
> spotlight Tor's technology and research with a very proactive and positive
> message to new audiences including journalist and film makers. By tag
> teaming throughout the week Karen and I were able to talk with tech and
> non-tech people looking for greater understanding about online privacy,
> security and circumvention tools.  Our brief PowerPoint loop (created by
> Karen) was the perfect amount of content paired in a visually appealing
> manner to inspire people to talk with us.  (Many of you saw it at the dev
> meeting "meet n' greet")
>
> Here are a few highlights:
>
> *Grantee Meet n' Greet Party* - we were invited to participate with other
> grantees in a social meet n' greet event.  People started arriving 30
> minutes before the event was scheduled to start and from that point on we
> were inundated with a constant stream of people who 1. had never heard of
> Tor, 2. those who had a sense of who were are but wanted to learn more and
> 3. those who were big fans actively engaging people around to come talk
> with us!  Several people commented on how great it was to see "the Tor
> people at SXSW".  We also took this opportunity to test drive our new
> informational brochures - handing out over 75 in total and gathering some
> important first impressions along the way which will be included in the
> next generation of these pieces.
>
> *Booth Time *- though our designated booth time wasn't scheduled until
> later in the event, Karen and I took the Knight Foundation's offer to come
> and "hang out" in the booth, conduct meetings if needed and walk around the
> exhibition hall.  We took full advantage of this spending Monday, Tuesday
> and our allocated time on Wednesday.
>
> *Daily Buzz Radio Interview* - Karen also participated in a panel
> conversation on Eugene Herandez's Daily Radio Show -
> http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/daily-buzz-sxsw-episode-4
>
> Also, here's a sample of the organizations we connected with:
> Amazon, AXT Hackerspace, OpenlyDistruptive, Public Radio International,
> EFF, MediaFonds, Media Innovation Studio, ApiSleuth, ScienceOnline, MAMA,
> American Film Institute, The Artist Partnership, United Nations Foundation,
> Lufthansa (Global Social Media), American Library Association,
> Movements.org and several others.
>
> So what were the results?
>
>    1. 75+ brochures handed out and tested for feedback/reactions
>    2. 50+ business cards exchanged and connections made
>    3. 1 very happy sponsor and (hopefully) an invitation to return to
>    SXSW 2014
>    4. Countless handshakes and positive commentary from a growing fan
>    base of Tor.
>
> Follow-up efforts since SXSW:
>
>    - A follow-up email has been sent to every business card collected at
>    SXSW - stay tuned for new opportunities.  Also, in the near future we will
>    be able tracking the genesis of these connections when the CRM - measuring
>    the value for Tor of attending events like this.
>    - Follow-up suggestions have been provided to Megan at Knight
>    Foundation and additional follow-up regarding Knight's verbal offer to host
>    our 2014 winter dev meeting.
>    - Several people asked if Tor would return next year to conduct a
>    "learning event" about the Tor technology and general information about
>    online privacy and censorship circumvention - we are following up on this
>    with the Knight Foundation.  If it falls on deaf ears, we will think of
>    other way's to help bring Tor back to SXSW.
>
>
> Karen - please feel free to add any additional comments.
>
> We also ran into Wendy at SXSW who was speaking - Wendy, please also feel
> free to add to this report.
>
> Kel
>
> --
> *Kelley Misata*
> *Outreach and Communications*
> *The Tor Project*
> *www.torproject.org*
>



-- 
*Kelley Misata*
*Outreach and Communications*
*The Tor Project*
*www.torproject.org*
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