It’s time for my third annual South by Southwest (SXSW) wrap-up post. A vacation immediately following SXSW delayed my post this year, but hopefully my conference wrap-up details will more than make up for it.

Breaking Taboos (#taboo$)

This conversation led by Mark Hemeon and Whitney Hess, focused on discussing important project aspects with clients, regardless of how sensitive the topics may be. Budgets, payments, client representation and other key issues were brought up during this panel.

Whenever the topic of budget comes up, a defensive position seems to quickly follow by both sides. Clients don’t want to pay too much and the agencies don’t want to give away too much. This can be a touchy situation at times, however, Hess stressed the importance of finding out a client’s budget up front. She stated that if a client doesn’t know how much they want to invest in improving their company then there’s no way that she’s going to invest her time into helping them.

Too often, a project may involve many individuals, both from the client and the agency. Hemeon stated that he tries to streamline the amount of partners involved in the project by getting rid of “talkers” or people who don’t bring anything tangible to the table. By including the main decision makers in meetings, decisions can be made quicker and the overall project can be completed in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.

There were also a lot of great tips from the audience. One audience member stated that he adjusts his rate every year based on analyzing the amount of overages that accumulated on projects from the previous year. This helped his project quotes for future work become more accurate.

Collaboration Nation (#SideProjects)

Another excellent conversation I was able to attend was Collaboration Nation, led by Noah Stokes and Phil Coffman. A more appropriate title might have been Side-Project Nation as both speakers talked more about the importance of companies allowing their employees to partake in side projects, rather than collaborating with other agencies.

First it’s important to note the difference between freelance work and side projects. Freelance work involves employees having their own clients, outside of the regular agency clients. This can often create a conflict of interest, which is why I generally don’t think freelance is a great idea when you work for an agency.

Side projects on the other hand are personal projects that operate outside of work, almost like mini start-ups. I was surprised to see that practically everyone in the room raised their hand when asked if they were currently involved in side projects outside their current jobs.  Examples in the audience included designing and selling t-shirts, writing a book, starting a design tutorial site, programming iPhone apps, and even creating an online prayer site. Most audience members said they made little to no money on their projects, but were more interested in the creative outlet and skill development it provided them.

There are really great benefits for the both employees and their employers. When you work with a client there is always a compromise, but a side-project outside of work gives creative types complete freedom over a project. Side projects also allow employees to train and develop skills they normally don’t utilize at work, thus becoming more well-rounded team members. A designer might learn some HTML/CSS, or maybe a front-end coder learns some project management skills by organizing the tasks and deadlines for a personal project.

On the employer side, side projects allow employees to train on their own time. This in turn allows employers to keep the hours between 9 and 5 billable, while still having employees gain new skills. Successful side projects also help bring attention back to the employers. I know there are several great firms that I’ve discovered through their employee side projects, like Happy Cog, KNI, and Springbox. Allowing employees to partake in side projects also makes the company more attractive to potential employees who know that a cultural exists that encourages experimentation, personal growth, and development of leadership skills.

One great tip I picked up from Stokes and Coffman was to ask to view side projects from potential employees. Most individuals that have worked in the industry for a few years will have a few nice portfolio pieces, but it’s often hard to tell what role was played in the project. Viewing a potential hire’s side project is a great way to see how passionate they are about their field and shows their pure untainted vision.

Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better (#gameful)

Jane McGonigal’s panel was really interesting, but I suspect it would have been mind blowing for those that view video games as pointless and responsible for corrupting today’s youth. She is an enthusiastic speaker and offered lots of facts and studies to back up her claims that video games have the power to help us solve real world problems. 

• Studies have shown that playing cooperative video games for just 25 minutes triples the likelihood of helping someone in real life.
• Video games can also help with self-confidence. Playing a video game that includes an avatar for just 90 seconds will increase you self-confidence for the next 24 hours.
• A study was done on soldiers to see what helped them cope with stress. Several different activities were compared including listening to music and reading.  Playing video games for 3-4 hours was found to be one of the most beneficial coping mechanisms.

McGonigal’s panel also featured one of the best icebreakers. A gigantic thumb wrestling match with hundreds participants was held to get the session off to a great start. (Unfortunately, I wasn’t victorious.)

Cure for the Common Font (#fontcure)

This panel was packed full of great tips for picking fonts for the web. With more and more font choices becoming available through services like Typekit and Fonts.com, the choices can be a bit overwhelming. My favorite tips came from Frank Chimero. Some of these may seem obvious but it’s always great to go back to the basics.

• Chose a typeface that’s appropriate for the content and for the reader.
• Don’t use too many typefaces. It’s hard to make a site look nice with more than two typefaces.
• Have a clear hierarchy. More important things should be bigger and less important things should be smaller.
• When in doubt read the page with your selected font.

All in all, this year’s SXSW conference was a positive experience. I’m already looking forward to SXSW 2012.