The Mario Blog

03.08.2013—12pm    Post #1631
South by Southwest: the essentials of change and storytelling in the tablet

TAKEAWAY: In Austin, Texas, at South by Southwest, discussing storytelling in the tablet and presenting results of the Poynter EyeTrack: follow updates in this weekend blog.

TAKEAWAY: In Austin, Texas, at South by Southwest, discussing storytelling in the tablet and presenting results of the Poynter EyeTrack: follow updates in this weekend blog.

This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated Friday afternoon and later as needed. Next blog post is Monday, March 11

Update #1: Austin, TX, Friday, March 8, 18:30

It was a packed house for our presentation at the South by Southwest presentation this afternoon. What an amazing crowd, with an eclectic mix of web developers, designers, filmmakers, teachers, students, and fantastic questions as we concluded presentations of the Poynter EyeTrack Tablet research.

I am happy to read so many tweets that were sent as we spoke, and to see that my reference to the importance of change as a catalyst to all we do received a welcome reception.

Follow the presentations here:

What journalists are saying about #poyntertab on Twitter
http://muckrack.com/topic/%23poyntertab

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Texas’ capital city of Austin hosts the SXSW conference

It is Friday and today I do a presentation at this incredibly fascinating event that is South by Southwest, a gathering of people from around the world with common interests in technology, music, media and assorted other topics. The South by Southwest® is all about the convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies.

It is my first time here and I join my colleague from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Sara Quinn, along with Dave Stanton, of Smart Media Creative, as we present a session titled, Lean Forward, Lean Back: Tablet News Experiences about the results of Poynter’s EyeTrack Tablet research.

I will do a short version of my Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet presentation, dealing with the conceptualizing and designing of tablet apps, before we present the findings of the Poynter study.

Preparing for what is a short 15-minute presentation has been good training, indeed. Normally my presentation is 45 minutes, so I had to discipline myself to narrow down to what is truly the essentials, and it came down to four centerpieces: storytelling, navigation, pop ups and look & feel.

SXSW® calls itself “the premier destination for discovery.”

And discovery of the new and our ability to change to adapt is what it is all about. My presentation will emphasize the importance of being open to change, something that I am certain is what makes participants of South by Southwest thrive.

I am looking forward to this afternoon’s presentation and to what I know will be an eclectic audience that is a change from the usual group of publishers/editors/designers. I will update this weekend blog after the presentation, and I am sure that you will be able to follow my chat via Twitter.

SND competition: follow up

Our three-part series SND Competition and Infographics, which ran the week of Feb. 25, continues to stimulate the discussion. I still receive passionate emails from people who would like to keep discussing the competition, and not just Infographics, but other categories as well, and also other SND-related topics.

While I appreciate your interest, and thank you for your enthusiasm about the series, I am asking that you direct your comments and queries directly to the SND folks, starting with current president, Rob Schneider, executive director, Stephen Komives, and competition coordinator Melissa Angle.

Like you, I believe that the conversation we started in this blog is pertinent and needs to be continued. Good luck.

Our SND blog posts:

SND & Infographics: Part 1

https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/psnd_amp_infographics_is_it_tougher_to_win_today_p/

SND & Infographics: Part 2

https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/psnd_amp_infographics_what_are_solutions_to_improve_competition_p

SND & Infographics: Part 3

https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/psnd_amp_infographics_a_tale_of_two_entries_p/

SND contact:

www.snd.org

Executive Director Stephen Komives at skomives@snd.org

Coming up: Project Nostalgia

As readers of this blog know, my first newspaper project outside of the United States was La Nueva Provincia, of Bahia Blanca, Argentina, in 1980.

This week I prepare to return to Bahia Blanca as I make my first visit back since the original redesign: this time we will look at how La Nueva Provincia will rethink itself to adapt to the many changes necessary to be part of the media quartet.

Working side by side with me on this project, Rodrigo Fino, of our Garcia Media Latinoamerica office in Buenos Aires, with Paula Ripoll as senior art director for the project.

Our earlier blog post about La Nueva Provincia:

https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/40_years_40_lessons_7._abroad

Where’s Mario until March 21, 2013?

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Mario’s upcoming speaking engagements

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Take advantage of our iPad Design/Ad Lab workshops

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Do you want to take your brand to the next level by creating a tablet edition? Garcia Media can help. We now offer one- to two-day iPad Design Lab workshops on demand to jumpstart your presence on this exciting new platform. We also offer iPad Ad Lab workshops to develop engaging advertising models for your app. Contact us for more information.

Purchase the book on the iBookstore

iPad Design Lab has been given the QED Seal
TheMarioBlog post #1210
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