This year is already in full swing – I’ve got lots of cool research projects on some products in development and further work on ones in preview.

Next week I’ll be chairing the 2nd Consumer Insights in New Delivery Conference in Miami. It is perfect timing as the following weekend finds me in Winter Park for a Rollins College President’s Leadership Council Meeting. While there, it’d be great if there’s a chance to sneak in some time at the radio station.

March brings SXSW and a panel on online identity and resumes. That is being done with the awesome team of Jennifer Jongsma, Kristy Duncan and Kevin Lawver. We’ve been meeting and exchanging a lot of comments already. I’m looking forward to that conversation.  Our panel is Monday morning, so hope you can check it out.

Finally, another side project of mine (along with my lovely husband and our friend Kevin) is the San Francisco Silent Reading Party. We’re having our next event on Feb 9th. Come join us.

The talk will focus on the iPad testing we’ve been doing at AOL for a particular app that we’re launching this year – and how it influenced the product development process — and didn’t.

This year was much more satisfactory than last and didn’t over-twee it. Instead, a little more diversity and a lot more fun.

Top 10 for 2011!

1. Quiet Company, The Marq & Lipstick 24

In my anal retentia prior to SXSW, I listened to 600 bands and made a short list of about 100 that I would listen to over and over again in preparation for the festival. In my notes on these guys I had written “Epic choruses, a must-see.” Dead on in my assessment, the first time I saw these guys this year, I lamented the fact that I was at a show alone and having to dance and sing-along with a field of strangers. Far and away, my favorite band this year. You can’t go wrong with a horn section, guys who dress in tie and jacket to play, and hooky choruses.

We loved them so much we bought the t-shirt and followed them on Twitter. Not to mention, got an immediate shoutout from them on Twitter & answers to a question. Love!

2. Geographer, Betsy’s/Yelp Day Party

San Francisco based bands I haven’t yet seen dominate my top 10 this year – leading the fray is Geographer. Despite a broken leg in the group, they managed to pull off a tight and energetic set that made me want to go see them every possible chance. They are the closest thing to an actual rock & roll band we saw – straightforward and honest.

3. Uccello & The Calder Quartet, The Velveeta Room

SXSW has slowly been expanding their classical offerings. This year had a full evening of modern classical curated by Gabriel Prokofiev (who DJed). These two groups, Uccello, a quintet and the Calder Quartet, were amazing. Modern strings played with verve in a non-traditional venue. We were whooping and hollering as we watched these groups play. The Calder Quarter played some modern compositions that they had especially commissioned, making the evening even more entertaining.

4. Sugar & Gold, Toulouse/SF Embassy Day Party

This San Francisco based band had me mentally grooving and the tight quarters revealed a smile on every face in the courtyard. Eating watermelon and playing keyboards mid-day seemed perfectly natural. Can’t wait to seem them play out and about in town.

5. Yearbook Committee, Esther’s Follies

We raced to this show, only thinking we’d stay for a song or two before hitting another act. I ended up staying for all but one song of their set. They look like they met on a yearbook committee, with the sort of adorable nerdiness you recognize in all those who cut & paste images of everyone else in school. These multi-instrumentalists were interesting – breaking out a cookie sheet to make noise at one point, overlaying it all with sweet vocals. My favorite is their song Watermelon. You’ll be humming it for days.

6. The Limousines, Buffalo Billiards

This group, another SF-based band I’ve yet to see on my home turf, had a great connection with the audience. People were super engaged and delighted to rock out with this quartet. I admit to being obsessed with the lead singers wrist tattoo – super cool!

7. Lord Huron, The Stage on Sixth Street/Paste Day Party

A friend called this sound “retro civil war hipness” and they would be right. However, Lord Huron seems to do this better than most of the bands from this genre and put on an unexpectedly good set at the Paste Day Party.

8. Anamanaguchi, Mohawk (inside)

One of my favorite venues in Austin couldn’t disappoint this year – a kaleidoscope of music and videos entertained me during the set. This isn’t deep, meaningful music, but it IS fun chip bit music. Great for the work day -  doesn’t distract, and you can play along in your head.

9. Capsula, Nuvolo

This was the Spanish Iggy Pop + band. Full of histronics that included walking over to the bar and drinking someone else’s beer, this band proved to be the perfect antidote to the sweeter stylings we had been hearing. Energetic and punk en espanol.

10. The Bangles, Cedar Street Courtyard

I wasn’t going to include them in my top 10, but who am I kidding – the 16 year old inside of me was DELIGHTED to see a band I sang along to driving in my dove gray Monte Carlo in the late 80s/early 90s. They sound pretty much exactly the same and played every song you hoped they would. It was funny, I even predicted they would open with Hazy Shade of Winter and I was right. Also, the most packed show of this year’s festival for me.

Also, there is no way not to give huge shoutouts to my two favorite bands from last year, Jeremy Messersmith and The Spring Standards. We saw both twice again this year – both are on tour at the moment, too. Go see them!

All Shows!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

• Sharon Van Etten, Hilton Lobby
• The Vaccines, AOL Pop-up show at First Baptist
• Or, The Whale, Cheers
• Judgement Day, Sixth Street
• Jeremy Messersmith, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Toro Y Moi, Red 7 Patio
• Lord Huron, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Kopecky Family Band, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Sondre Lerche, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Eisley, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Ivan & Alyosha, The Parish
• Yearbook Committee, Esther’s Follies
• Ted Leo, Swan Dive
• Yeti Lane, 512 Balcony
• Tahiti 80, 512 Balcony
• Spring Standards, Esther’s Follies

Thursday, March 17, 2011

• Sugar & Gold, Toulouse/SF Embassy Party
• The Head & The Heart, ACC Day Stag
• The David Wax Museum, The Stage on Sixth Street
• The Submarines, The Stage on Sixth Street
• Capsula, Nuvolo
• California Wives, Buffalo Billiards
• The Limousines, Buffalo Billiards
• I Was Totally Destroying It, Easy Tiger
• Quiet Company, The Marq
• The Bangles, Cedar Street Courtyard
• The Sounds, Cedar Street Courtyard

Friday, March 18, 2011

• Maps & Atlases, Cedar Street Courtyard
• The Forms?, Red Eyed Fly
• Geographer, Betsy’s
• Jeremy Messersmith, Betsy’s
• Black Atlantic, Brush Square Park
• Uccello, The Velveeta Room
• Gabriel Prokofiev, The Velveeta Room
• The Calder Quartet, The Velveeta Room
• Chain Gang of 1974, ND
• Sondre Lerche, Central Presbyterian

Saturday, March 19, 2011

• Quiet Company, Lipstick 24
• Mother, Paradise
• Ha Ha Tonka, The Liberty
• The Spring Standards, Base Invasion Parking Lot
• Kitten, Brushy Square
• Anamanaguchi, Mohawk (inside)
• Pujol, Mohawk Patio
• Elephant Stone, Spill
• Intimate Stranger, Maggie Mae’s
• JEFF the Brotherhood, Mohawk Patio
• Ume, Skinny’s

I had the opportunity to speak at a Marcus Evans conference at the end of March, on the intersection of research and innovation. My talk was mainly about the research technique of in-home ethnography (or applied ethnography) and how we use this type of research to drive insights to help the product innovation process.

Over the many years I’ve been doing research, it has become more and more critical to me to actually intersect with consumers in the spheres where they are actually using products. When I first learned about conjoint (which was *the* sexy research technique for a while), the whole sales pitch was around how this recreated a “realistic” marketplace, because consumers are forced to make choices based on variables like brand, price and features. While conjoint isn’t as sexy anymore, the in-home study has risen in prominence as a way to feel very close to consumers.

This is because there is no substitute for seeing someone use your product in the way they do every day. While surveys are useful and provide quick hits for feedback, getting into the consumer’s mind and having a picture of a consumer can change the mindset of a product, marketing or design person. You have someone real to hang your hat onto  — and an ability to see the distractions from your product.

My talk at this conference in March focused on specific exercises for in home interviews that linked to things that we desperately needed to understand – either for search while I was at Ask or on products in the AOL Applications and Commerce Group.

Other talks focused on how to manage an innovation pipeline. It was interesting to hear how product managers take insights and then merge those with industry trends and competitive threats to develop new products. The team at Sunny Delight is doing some interesting work, and I got to hear from Coleman Products and Allstate Insurance too. This enjoyable aspect of this conference was that they deliberately keep attendance low. With significantly fewer people there is a greater opportunity to network and deeply discuss with folks how they area apply their research findings.

It’s always great food for thought to be able to talk to other people who do what you do, but in disparate industries. I’m still mulling over ways that CPG and insurance companies deal with their pipeline and how to apply other innovation tools to our processes.

My favorite is still the Gulf War cocktails, in the Worth Noting section.

Jeff’s move was yet the first of many new things to happen this year. The remaining big ones are all professional and have benefit from his presence.

First off, in January, I switched roles at Ask.com to head up their emerging community of Q&A answerers. I jumped at the chance to put my years of participating in communities online into action as a community manager, not merely a member. Not soon after, however, an old acquaintance (Mike Maser) came a-knockin’ having just left Digg to move to AOL. He offered an opportunity to conduct research among larger audiences and across a wide swath of products. It was a tough choice to leave Ask.com, but I realized the opportunity to have an impact on more products and more people was a professional challenge I needed. After five years at Ask, I bid adieu in late June. Leaving the fantastic women and men of Ask.com was sad, but I look forward to seeing lots of great answers to questions in the Ask.com community.

I began at AOL in late June. These first few weeks yield a vision for the type of analysis and insight that can help a company transform. AOL is a start-around: taking a huge company and turning the tide and all the associated brand imagery built up over 25 years into something new. This is a task that is mentally stimulating and one that will be rewarding. It’s thrilling to be a part of this re-energization of a stalwart so many of us have known. I hope to be able to share some of my philosophies around research here as I delve more deeply into this role. Spending lots of time on airplanes engenders time to ponder research methodologies and techniques deeply – and their application more so.

In other professional news, at the turn of the year, online I met a fellow Rollins alum, John Dick, CEO of Civic Science. He had called to ask a few questions about how I viewed the world of research and through the course of our conversation, we discovered a mutual passion for real time consumer insights, especially among hard to reach consumers (hey teenagers and tech-savvy elites–I’m looking at you!). The Civic Science model allows for polling that can be aggregated in powerful ways to draw conclusions about the marketplace on a nearly inexhaustible list of subjects. This led to me taking a role on the Advisory Board for Civic Science. In the future, you’ll see cross-posting here on CarlaBorsoi.com as I ruminate on data coming from Civic Science’s Millennial Index.

All of these changes are exciting and daunting. It delights me to have these opportunities and appreciate the chance to grow both personally and professionally this year. However, they do mean that I am on the road a great deal and have been traveling extensively this year. You may see me at an airport gate sometime soon. Stop by and say hi and let’s talk some shop.

Founder Cariwyl Hebert also announced quite a few fun things at the most recent event. One of these is a text fact of the week. To get this for free, text Salon97 to 41411. (As the commercials say, your text message rate still applies – hopefully you are smart and have unlimited texts, as I do.) Cariwyl has also been blogging about a composer a week. This week is Amy Beach – one of the new-to-me composers I heard at one of the very first events.  Her music is delightful.

Look out for the next event at Citizen Space on June 17th, 7pm!

In the months before SXSW I sampled the music of about 600 bands and got to a short list of things I really wanted to see. Among the ones I missed and will be on the lookout for shows in SF are The 88, Break of Reality, The Movits and Fergus & Jeronimo.

1. The Spring Standards at Clive Bar/ The Spring Standards at BD Riley’s

The first show was a mellow melodic morning show at Clive Bar, and the second a rocking rolling show at BD Rileys. Without a doubt, the fantastic harmonies and ability to blend the alt-country, folk, with a slight bluesy sound thrilled me to no end. I’ve already pre-ordered their new album. You should too.

3. Jeremy Messersmith at Maggie Mae’s Rooftop/ Jeremy Messersmith at Central Presbyterian Church

Melodies, harmonies and straightforward classic rock-n-roll were hallmarks of this fine gentleman (and crew) from Minneapolis. He impressed me when the power went out at Maggie Mae’s and he and the band went “coffee shop” style — a most excellent performance ensuing. A few nights later he managed to rock a porch. Jeremy also maintains a great Twitter profile.

5. Holy Fuck at Galaxy Outdoors

After lots of twee and melodic time, I needed the palate cleanser that was Holy Fuck. Canadian and prone to having to give fake band names at the border, this electronica outfit had me tapping my toes and shaking my booty.

6. Two Star Symphony at The Hideout

The first show of the whole week had me nervous it would be the best thing I’d see and it would all be downhill from there. Houston based classical musicians put together a fantastic 45 minute set and handed out CDs to attendees.

7. Local Natives – Emo’s Main

From my show going notes: “One of the best shows we saw, energetic and polished with cracks in the veneer.”

8. Jukebox the Ghost – Clive Bar

As a child of the 80s there is never enough synth. Upbeat and poppy, this band stole my heart.

9. Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main

Great, tight show– almost verging on too polished. Look forward to seeing them again soon – they are well put together.

10. Fanfarlo – Galaxy Backyard

Delightful and mellow music in a wonderful outdoor space.

All Shows

Wednesday, March 17

1. Neilyo at Shangri-La
2. Tiger City at Shangri-La
3. Nneka – ACC Day Stage – Only caught two songs, but her voice amazed me.
4. Two Star Symphony – The Hideout
5. Mantler – Beauty Bar
6. L’Orchidee D’Hawaii – Beauty Bar Patio – This amazing combo of crazy sounds sounded amazing and interesting.
7. Ben + Vesper – Beauty Bar
8. Fanfarlo – Galaxy Courtyard
9. We Were Promised Jetpacks – The Parish
10. Frightened Rabbit – The Parish
11. The Black and White Years – Dirty Dog Saloon

Thursday, March 18

1. Invade Rome – Habana Calle 6
2. Jeremy Messersmith – Maggie Mae’s Upstairs
3. The Hush Now – The Side Bar
4. Phantogram – The Side Bar Parking Lot
5. Hot Panda – The Side Bar Parking Lot
6. Dengue Fever – The Side Bar Parking Lot
7. The Seedy Seeds – BD Riley’s
8. Peter Wolf Crier – Emo’s Main Room
9. The Lovely Feathers – Paradise
10. Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main
11. Local Natives – Emo’s Main
12. The Chapin Sisters – Hilton Garden Inn, 18th Floor
13. Uncle Lucius – Valhalla
14. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Valhalla

Friday, March 19

1. The Spring Standards – Clive Bar
2. The Watson Twins – Antone’s
3. Citizen Cope – Antone’s
4. Minus the Bear – Antone’s
5. Jukebox the Ghost – Clive Bar
6. The Spring Standards – BD Riley’s
7. Twin Tigers – Emo’s Annex
8. Solid Gold – Club DeVille
9. Uffie – Mohawk Patio
10. Summer Cats – Mohawk
11. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Emo’s Annex – Way better live than recorded, can’t wait to see them again.
12. Fool’s Gold – Emo’s Main – Yet another band I wished I’d seen more than half a set for!
13. We Are Scientists – Emo’s Main
14. Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger! – Soho Lounge – This group deserves a special shout out for playing the single worst venue in Austin – a “club” is not the right place for a punk band. They also get love for stopping me in the street and giving me their CD.

Saturday, March 20

1. The Trews – Paradise
2. The Middle East – ACC Day Stage
3. Duchess Says – Galaxy
4. Holy Fuck – Galaxy Backyard
5. Reed Arnos & Valerie Kuster – Rainforest Partnership
6. This Will Destroy You – Lustre Pearl
7. Oh No Ono – Lustre Pearl
8. Jeremy Messersmith – Central Presbyterian
9. Fictionist – Iron Gate

Note: That Saturday was about 38 degrees, so we skipped evening shows and instead saw American: The Bill Hicks Story instead. Highly recommended.

For previous years, see: 2007, 2008, 2009.

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]]> http://www.carlaborsoi.com/2010/04/sxsw-music-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.carlaborsoi.com/2010/02/smx-search-behavior/ http://www.carlaborsoi.com/2010/02/smx-search-behavior/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:10:40 +0000 admin http://www.carlaborsoi.com/?p=138 I’ll be speaking at SMX West on Using Research to Improve Results - talking about how Ask.com uses insights to improve the overall experience. I’ll primarily be speaking about the intersection of qualitative data and clickstream behavior.

Come see me next Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 1:30 in Santa CLara!

One of these is a group of amazing women who meet up to discuss life, tough life questions and enjoy wonderful meals in our homes. This is called the Comfort Food Club, started by Tara Hunt and Rachel Weidinger.  I appreciate the high quality conversation, an ability to discuss industry (and non-industry doings) and to discuss food.

The next was inspired by LUPEC, and it’s LARC  – Ladies Advocating Respectable Cocktails. Many of us are fans of high quality concoctions made with premium ingredients. Everything from homemade ginger simple syrup or homemade grenadine has made it into drinks featuring everything from Creme to Violette to rum. Every month we have a featured liquor and every member is responsible for bringing a recipe to try. We report out on our successes (yes, only successes) on our group Tumblr. We had a fantastic organizational meeting, agreed on a set of ground rules and have been enjoying all sorts of deliciousness!

The final is a new book club I joined, started this year by Corey Denis. Our group name is SpaceMonkeyLit and you can follow along with what we’re reading each month on Twitter.

What’s interesting about each of these is that each one established its own ground rules for success. Each one has a unique personality and adds to my life in a different way and draws on different people to enhance the things I’m interested in learning more about on a daily basis. For example, while I’ve always been a fan of cocktails, I’ve been learning a lot about the art of mixology as well as the science and history behind the hooch. Comfort Food Club has broadened my food horizons and ways of thinking about food, as well as made me re-think a lot of life’s big questions. Finally, SpaceMonkeyLit has exposed me to new ways of thinking of books I both love and hate.

Ultimately though, these all are centered around my most important life project: people! Familiarizing myself with new friends, getting to know old friends with a new lens, and learning how everyone reacts to specific filters (food, cocktails, books) enhances my own life.