No matter how you view Social Media Week NYC this year, (for an entertaining take, check out Richard Morgan’s article in Fortune), an apparent 3000 millennials and professionals packed in the Highline Stages to take it all in, making it the largest SMW NYC yet.
For the most part, the crowd was early to mid twenties, and the vibe of many Q&A’s carried an undercurrent of “how can I get hired by you guys?” However, there were some gems along the way that made the hassle to get into the forums worth it.
"Pete Cashmore, creator of Mashable, attempted a forum but the live twitter board behind him was distractingly flooded with Zac Effron references..."
Jesse Jackson held a lovely forum about diversity and media approached the event with a human element that felt like a breath of fresh air from most of the brand heavy speakers. Will McInnis from Brandwatch charmed the crowd with a comprehensible presentation about the physicality of the web while charismatic Matt Anchin from Monster.com wowed everyone with his talented and ballsy media control center.
Amadeus Stevenson from Decoded led a fantastic forum on wearables where he deconstructed a Fitbit and had the audience light-heartedly pitch API's. Then Pete Cashmore, creator of Mashable, attempted a forum but the live twitter board behind him was distractingly flooded with Zac Effron references.
Alex Blumberg, formerly from This American Life, was asked what it was like to be a CEO and he laughed and admitted he had no idea what he was doing – at this moment everyone loved him. Meanwhile Hoote Suite’s Jeanette Gibson created such a stirring tribute to the brand, the presentation felt perfect except for the lack of steeple above the stage.
And last but not least, Jeremy and his crew at Coatchex provided an iPad driven coat check experience that, either from the hubbub of everything else about the experience or because it really was THAT great, stood above the rest as one of the best parts of the whole thing.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this year’s snafu’s and successes affect Crowdcentric’s development of next year’s program. Would you attend in 2016?