As a 20-year-old co-ed at UT Austin in the early nineties, I attended several South-by-Southwest (SXSW) music festivals “back when it was cool” and when the music industry came to town to see what the Live Music Capital had to offer. But things have changed – dramatically. Now, in addition to global superstars all over the bill, SXSW has bookended the music festival with SXSW Interactive and SXSW Film. All of it has become too sponsored and too hipster for most of us who live and work in high-tech Austin. We avoid downtown bars and restaurants during Spring Break every year and then count the days until it’s all over and we can go back to our favorite haunts without paying $20 to park.
SXSW Interactive, not unlike the SXSW music festival, started with earnest intentions: focused on emerging technologies. But just like the music and film festivals, SXSW Interactive has lost its purpose and has been taken over by big numbers, big money, big names…and very little value. And did I mention that industry people now refer to the festival as “South by” (as if SXSW wasn’t short enough)? It is for these reasons that I normally stay far away from “South by” activities. Then I got an e-mail. PR firm Porter Novelli, through its Voce Communications group, was hosting a Texas Hold’em charity poker night on Friday, March 7. With a $50 donation to charity:water, participants could play poker and “network” with other industry influencers for the evening. Well, I do like poker after all.
Before I headed down to the Rattle Inn for said event, I was excited about playing tournament poker and seeing an old colleague from Detroit. I was not looking forward to the small-talk networking and elbow rubbing I was envisioning. What I experienced when I got there was nothing short of surprising for this old, bitter, been-there-done-that PR hat. This was a real, true, honest-to-goodness networking event without one single hard sell to attendees.
The night went something like this:
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. – Free top shelf open bar. Some people sitting by themselves checking their phones; others working the room; most just paired off and having enjoyable conversations. I was shocked to find myself saying, “Yes, please” to a public relations guy from Bratislava who asked if I wanted to see a video on his laptop of his client AeroMobil. I was even more shocked when I watched the video and realized that the flying cars from James Bond movies are here. I think I even exclaimed something to the effect of, “I hope I’m alive to see these things become commonplace in our skies.” Luckily for me, Mr. Bratislava and I were wrapping up our chat as the host announced that the tournament was about to begin. “Great,” I thought. “No more talk. Now for some fun.” Little did I realize the real talking and networking was about to begin.
8 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. – Anyone who donated $50 to charity:water received $160 worth of poker chips. There were five tables of approximately 10 people each, friendly dealers, clueless players, card sharks, and a lot of time to get to know one another. As time ticked on and antes were raised, the five tables dwindled to one, and the one table dwindled to one big winner (whose prize was a casino pack from Double Down). All actual money raised from the event went to charity:water. But it was the time spent at the tables that truly surprised me. I met Jeff from BedWatch in Austin, Melissa, a consultant from Lean Start in the Bay Area, Jacqueline from Brooklyn who works for Porter Novelli, Seth, a self-proclaimed social media “big deal,” Michaela, Wesley, Matt and dozens of other IT press, bloggers, and clients. As the night went on and our piles of chips got bigger then smaller, we found ourselves laughing, joking and actually caring when we asked each other about our respective organizations and lines of work. We were making connections in spite of a poker game going on. Side note: Melissa should just give up her day job now and become a Poker maven. She’s that good.
Monday Morning Quarterback says: Now THIS is good PR! Nothing was promised, nothing was owed, and people made their own connections and observations as the night and games carried on. Most influencer events I’ve attended have always had a clear agenda and message. This event treated us like adults. They put a bunch of smart people at poker tables and told us to have fun for charity…and we did. We also made new connections, learned new things, heard new ideas, and maybe even made some new friends. That’s networking in the true “old school” vein of SXSW, and Porter Novelli nailed it. And not for nothing, but this influencer (for the moment) has nothing but good things to say about them, Double Down Casino, AeroMobil, BedWatch, Lean Start…and even Brooklyn.
reallyBADpr 
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