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Kevin Kozlen
I consult, advise and speak on communications, marketing, strategy, social media, technology, and digital transformation.

The Power of Periscope

After going to SXSW in 2010 and 2011, a series of job changes has prevented me from being able to go back. However, every year since, I have my own “virtual SXSW,” and do my best to participate and learn from a distance. Along with raising a Shiner beer during the weekend, I usually track hashtags on Twitter, other social media, and streamed videos. This year, Periscope made the experience unlike any other year.

Over a 5 day period at SXSW, every 1.5 hours there is typically 40–50 learning sessions/presentations/panel discussions/etc. on topics as varied as digital health and virtual reality to entrepreneur culture and design thinking.

Last year, Meerkat opened the door to live video at SXSW, and this year, Periscope made my experience even better. I was easily able to open up Periscope, and see what was happening in Austin, TX using the app (see picture here). Typically, there were about 3–5 presentations being streamed live each session, and a lot of them were geared to my interests.

On the first day of SXSW 2016, I started out watching the official SXSW Live app on my Roku. But I also had my iPad out and watched several presentations via Periscope, and, since the app saves the videos for 24 hours, I was even able to watch the recording of a few. On day 2, I ditched TV and watched solely via the iPad (knowing I could watch the “official” SXSW videos later). That day, I discovered I could save the web address of each broadcast and download the video to my computer (but lost a few, learning that the link doesn’t work after exactly 24 hours).

Over the next few days, I felt more like I worked in a SXSW video control room. I spent each session grabbing the URL of every new session I saw pop up. I decided I’d go back and watch the videos later, and needed to spend my time capturing the videos (even though I did get to watch several). During SXSW, I was able to capture about 100 videos of sessions — ranging from a couple minutes to over an hour. You can check them all out on my YouTube channel.

Here are a few things I learned as a Periscope power-viewer of SXSW 2016, and a few things you’ll notice if you watch these videos:

  • SXSW is serendipitous, even via Periscope. There are so many sessions I wouldn’t have thought to watch, but did because someone scoped them. For example, I’m grateful I got to catch Vincent Dignan’s growth hacking presentation, when I might have been sitting watching President Obama speak. Likewise…
  • You get to meet new people. I found a few “Periscope personalities” whose interests seemed to match my own. I’d follow them and began to experience SXSW both with them, and through their eyes. I really enjoyed streams from @ISocialFanz and@ArvinPoole, both because they went to sessions I wanted to watch and because they streamed a ton (and were entertaining as well). In addition, they showed me Periscope isn’t just streaming, it’s interactive, which both of them took advantage of to interact with me and others watching.
  • You participate in more than just the sessions. At SXSW there are a ton of parties, and people brought Periscope with them. For an introvert like me, it was great to watch and virtually share a beer with these random people periscoping from SXSW. In addition, some of my favorite moments were participating in the nightly Google Store “I’m feeling lucky” claw game (article coming soon on the Google Cardboard I won!), and#AtMidnighLive streamed by Comedy Central.
  • I learned more by watching Periscope. When you’re at SXSW, there are 10–20,000 people there fighting to get into the same sessions, parties, etc. as you. It’s overwhelming, and you spend a lot of time just navigating SXSW. Via Periscope, I could watch one session and save others at the same time for later (or switch if one wasn’t so great). Honestly, I’ll probably be busy for the next 3 months trying to catch up and watch the videos I captured (BTW — this “watch later” mentality is exactly how I predict Periscope will make money — charging people to watch videos from more than 24 hours ago).
  • You’re at the mercy of the person recording. On one hand I was tremendously grateful they were recording the session (and tried to thank them while I watched), but frequently, I found people would stop and start streams after a couple minutes or switch between landscape and vertical video. Just when it might feel like I was actually at SXSW, someone’s bad or short stream would snap me back to reality.

It’s such an awesome and invigorating event that I’m planning to go back to SXSW next year (on my own time and dime), and I’m planning to use Periscope to help more people in the same situation I was in. I’ll also plan to grab streams of sessions I can’t be in as well.

I’m also grateful that Periscope has really given me (and others) a new outlook on participating in conferences and events. Even though I may not be able to be at Social Media Marketing World next week, I’m going to be counting on folks like @ISocialFanz again to capture the sessions and atmosphere for me. It’s a more modern version of the guy who gets a college education simply by sitting quietly in large lecture courses.