Last week at SXSW, Derek Sivers led a discussion he titled “The Tao of the Conference.”
In it Derek shared advice on how musicians can best network and receive big gains from conferences like SXSW. In his presentation he played some crowd-sourced videos in which he asked musicians and other professionals what “real-world” tips they had for conference attendees. The videos included clips from Tim Ferriss, Larry Weintraub, myself and a bunch of other musicians, marketers, PR people and music business pros.
I wanted to thank Derek for sharing my clip. It made me feel like I was in Austin in spirit.
Below is a clip from Derek, my clip and Tim’s clip. (RSS Readers may have to clip through to see all the videos)
Derek Sivers SXSW Clip – The Tao of the Conference
To put in my 2 cents and to summarize the overwhelming theme of Derek’s talk, let’s break down how to have a successful conference:
Do your homework – know who you are looking to approach and have something to say to them
Give before you ask
Don’t just hand someone a CD, it’s going in the trash
Follow up – no deals are made at the actual conference. The deals are made by the relationships you create and the followup on those relationships
Be nice, no egos and no bad attitudes
How can you provide value to what that person does?
These are just some things off the top of my head as well as from my video and watching the clip from Derek. Let’s end today’s post with: what has been the most successful thing that has come out of an event or a conference for you? Why do you think that was? Let’s chalk it up in the comments.
This is a follow up video on outsourcing in the music business as an indie (or even major label) artist. After we shot the video, we received a ton of comments, ideas, concerns and a little resistance from the outsourcing subject (Bruce from Hypebot also posted the video and there were some good comments there as well).
In this video we take a look at:
What can you outsource other than web work, design, etc?
What about the economy and sending money overseas when we need to keep jobs in America?
When is the right time to outsource your music marketing or other activities?
What services I personally use
And then I ask for your help. More about that after the jump!
For more resources check out the previous post on outsourcing
Get Your Music Industry Outsourcing Questions Answered!
As I mentioned in the video, I am going to start compiling a new free musician resource on outsourcing in the music business. I want you to be a part of it! In the comments below, ask a question that you want answered and I will include it in the guide.
We will be reaching out to VA firms, outsourcing pro’s and lifestyle designers with your questions and others to come up with a nice 101-style guide for outsourcing. I am pretty excited for this, as I have been big on the concept for about a year now and am really getting great response for not only my company, but for the musicians and brands that we are working with. It really frees up time for big picture stuff.
So, let us know what you want to know. You will be credited in the resource with a link to your site and also a rock star answer!
