The SWOMfest '08 Agenda

After having attended or spoken at hundreds of business conferences, SWOM founders Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba wanted to create a conference they'd love to attend.

That they'd easily pay to attend.

A conference with a high level of learning mixed with a fun, party-like atmosphere, such as SXSW and its cool, smart people but on a smaller scale. And no panels, either.

That was the genesis for SWOMfest. A festival, but for a day. Fest, for short. Interesting, challenging content. Great speakers outside the mainstream of business-speak. Music. Beer. Cupcakes. Plenty of time to meet other people. Everyone gets a car!

OK, maybe not that last one.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 2008

SWOMfest '08 is during Halloween week, so we'll blind ourselves with costume party science on Wednesday, Oct. 29, the night before SWOMfest. The pre-conference party theme? The '80s. Bring your Devo energy dome and leg warmers. We'll have prizes for best costume. Then we'll adjourn to see the best '80s cover band ever, the Spazmatics.

THURSDAY, OCT. 30, 2008

8 AM: TEXAS SOCIAL BREAKFAST, SPONSORED BY DELL

We'll start the full-day conference in true Texas style: Austin-style breakfast tacos and plenty of strong coffee, including an espresso station.

During breakfast, we'll take the features of Facebook and MySpace and put them to work in person. We'll provide everyone with a personal social networking kit (inspired here) to tag yourself and others while trading and collecting pieces of flair, all while getting to know your fellow Swomies.

BUILDING WORD OF MOUTH INTO YOUR DNA

True word of mouth is more than viral videos or agents who buzz your product. Smart organizations know that word of mouth is built from the inside out, led by remarkable products and services and passionate employees. It all leads to the ultimate goal of creating loyal customer evangelists who sing your praises to all who will listen. We'll set the stage on what it means to influence the DNA of your organization so that it becomes driven by word of mouth and strong recommendations.

DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE

Are you in business to make money or to make money and change the world? Haley Rushing, founder of GSD&M's Purpose Institute, will explain how she and her team of social scientists dig deep into a company's historical psyche to understand then define its purpose. The benefit of that exam work: companies with a well-defined purpose tend to have stronger levels of word of mouth and customer evangelism. Haley will provide you some of the knowledge and tools to examine and define your organization's purpose.

TELLING YOUR COMPANY'S STORY SO IT SPREADS

Strong word of mouth goes beyond the realm of traditional PR, where someone else tells your story for you. Strong word of mouth is about you telling the story of your company or product in a way that makes it easy for others to spread. That'll be the focus of SWOMfest speaker Yaphet Smith, a screenwriter who's written for Walt Disney and Spike Lee. In his session, Yaphet will explain the elements of effective storytelling -- and how to craft a company or product story that's almost like a movie and easy for others to talk about.

LUNCH

Food is the cultural binding agent for establishing and building relationships and friendships. That's why you can count on an outstanding lunch (no boring box lunches at this conference) coupled with plenty of time to meet and chat with fellow Swomies. Craft brews provided by Flying Dog Brewery. DJ Mel will serve up a fun, lunchtime soundtrack.

THE SCIENCE OF NETWORKS AND COMMUNITIES

Paying people to secretly spread buzz within networks is unethical. Some say it's evil. It's against the law in some countries. How, then, does your company's purpose and story spread through networks and communities? In this session, we'll jump into the cultural science of understanding networks and how information spreads and why.

Sponsored presentations

TEACHING WOM AT A BIG COMPANY

Word of mouth is a simple concept but when it comes to being adopted inside a business, it gets complicated. This need not be the case. Sean McDonald leads Dell's Communities and Conversations team. Sean will explain how Dell is using word of mouth in customer service, marketing, corporate communications, and niche customer groups. You'll learn how word of mouth became the cornerstone objective of Dell's mission of listening and engaging with customer discussions, and how word of mouth as a company objective exposes more employees to the concept and practices of word mouth, eventually seeping into the company's DNA.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO REACH A NEW MARKET

A trip to the bank isn't necessarily a trip to the amusement park. So how to build word of mouth for a credit union? Enter Young & Free Texas, a program in which the credit union TDECU is searching for a spokesperson for a year with one directive: find free things to do and blog about them. TDECU's Trey Reeme will explain how Young & Free Texas has given his credit union a compelling story to tell and how they’ve seen it spread both online and off.

What'll make SWOMfest educational and fun?

Try these fun facts on for size:


The word of mouth weekend

There are more word of mouth-worthy things in Austin than you can shake a blog at. For a true, word of mouth immersion, spend the weekend in Austin -- ranked as America's most creative city -- after SWOMfest. (The WOM Weekend is is an on-your-own affair and entirely optional to SWOMfest.)

The list below represents some of the city's more buzzworthy places. As you visit them, think about their unique characteristics. (Hint: It's not their advertising.) To get the most out of your Austin WOM Tour, bring along a notebook for notes and ideas or better yet, a videocamera.

If you want to follow where we'll be that weekend, follow us on Twitter

FRIDAY, OCT. 31

Breakfast: Magnolia Cafe
Magnolia is an original Austin diner. Open 24 hours. Awesomely huge pancakes and tasty breakfast tacos. Read the word of mouth about Magnolia on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/magnolia-cafe-south-austin
Address: 1920 S. Congress Ave.
Phone: (512) 445-0000

Activity: Walk around Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail
Town Lake (recently renamed Ladybird Lake) runs through downtown Austin. Great way to walk off breakfast and see stunning views of the downtown skyline. Start at Riverside and Lamar, walk across the pedestrian bridge, turn right. Cross the bridge, turn right again and make the circle back to Riverside.
Map (PDF)

Lunch: Shady Grove
Dine under the shady pecan tree on the patio while sipping a frozen margarita and munching on the Hippie Chick sandwich.
Address: 1624 Barton Springs Rd
Phone: (512) 474-9991

Activity: Rock of Ages Tattoos
Austin probably has more tattooed people per capita than any place in the country. If you want to get your own, Rock of Ages Tattoos is a winner. Rumor is that some of your fellow Swomies will be getting tattoos on Friday.
Address: 2310 S Lamar Rd #105
Phone: (512) 804-1213

Dinner: Oasis
If you have a car, it's worth the trip to the Oasis. It's a multi-tiered deck of a restaurant that overlooks beautiful Lake Travis. Make sure you are there at sunset when everyone applauds as the sun sinks below the horizon.
Address: 6550 Comanche Trail
Phone: (512) 266-2442

Nighttime activity: Halloween on 6th Street
Austin is very bullish about Halloween, so wear your 80's costume again and hit the bars on 6th Street on Halloween night. The city closes the street every weekend night so revelers can safely walk, saunter or stumble.
Watch highlights from last year:

SATURDAY, NOV. 1

Brunch: South Congress Cafe
This one's pretty simple: Carrot cake french toast. Heavenly.
Address: 1600 S Congress Ave.
Phone: (512) 447-3905

Activity: Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool
Zilker Metropolitan Park is considered "Austin's most loved park." This 351-acre park is home to a variety of fun, picture-worthy places like Zilker Botanical Garden, Austin Nature and Science Center, canoe rental, and hike and bike trails. Nearby Barton Springs Pool is a natural spring and perfect for relaxing and people-watching.
Address: 2100 Barton Springs Road
Map (PDF)

Lunch: Flip Happy Crepes
9 am - 3 pm
Gourmet crepes out of an Airstream trailer? Hell yes! Experience the best of Austin's "Airstream Cuisine" at Flip Happy. Cash only. One\ favorite is the shredded chicken with goat cheese and carmelized onions. Don't forget to follow up it up with a dessert crepe. Your mouth will thank you.
Address: 400 Jessie St
Phone: (512) 552-9034

Activity: South Congress stroll
South Congress Avenue defines the creative Austin vibe. Plus, it was a haven for retro clothing before it became a must-visit location for visitors. Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds and Electric Ladyland (that's the store's complete name) is where Bob Dylan is rumored to have shopped for retro outfits. New Bohemia is another retro spot for clothes and home furnishings, plus there are boutiques including Blackmail, for all things black, and Vivid, for all things... well, vivid. Need a funky item for the house? Stop by Uncommon Objects. Fabulous shoes? Goodie Two Shoes. The list goes on.

Dinner: Home Slice Pizza
Best pizza in Austin. Home Slice Pizza was created by three great friends -- married couple Jen and Joseph Strickland and partner Terri Hannifin -- with a passion for food and entertaining and a vision for an Austin institution based on the original, unfailing goodness of authentic NY-style pizza. It's even better than a lot of pizza *in* New York.
Address: 1415 S Congress St
Phone: (512) 444-7437

Activity: Watch the bats
The Congress Avenue bridge in downtown Austin is the spring and summer home to some 750,000 bats with up to 1.5 million bats at the peak of the bat-watching season. It's the largest urban bat colony in North America. Each evening around sunset the bats emerge like a black cloud from the crevices of the bridge. Covering the countryside in search of food, it is estimated that the bats consume from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects. Thank god.
Map

Activity: World-record Thriller Dance Watch 2,000 people take to the streets of Austin to break the record for the world largest recreation of Michael Jackson's Thriller dance. Sponsored by the Alamo Drafthouse. More details to come.

SUNDAY, NOV. 2

Breakfast: Maria's Taco Xpress
Noon - 2 p.m.
Since it's a Sunday, time for "Hippie Church" at Maria's Taco Xpress. Order some morning drinks (the mango margarita rocks). Nosh on some breakfast tacos. Get your groove going and relax. Hippie Church is pretty busy so get there before 12:30 pm to get a table.
Address: 2529 S Lamar Blvd
Phone: (512) 444-0261
Check out Hippie Church on YouTube:

BONUS: If you are still in town from 4-6 pm, check out Chicken Shit Bingo at Ginny's Little Longhorn. It's one of those things you have to see to believe.
Address: 5434 Burnet Rd
Phone: (512) 458-1813