Whirlwind Tour of Samsung’s SXSWi 2013 Experience!

South By Southwest (SXSW) 2013, the 5-day Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas has sadly come to an end. With the nearly endless calendar of events, concerts, and networking opportunities, it was definitely overwhelming (in a good way!) For those that were in attendance, we hope the Samsung Smart Blogger Lounge and Samsung Galaxy Experience were on the top of your list for must-see events. Both for those who attended and those who could not make it to Austin, we have collected the highlights of Samsung Techset Blogger Lounge and Samsung Galaxy Experience for you here. Let’s check them all out!!

Samsung Techset Blogger Lounge

The Samsung Techset Blogger Lounge (also known as the Samsung Smart Lounge) was once again opened at SXSWi 2013 on the 4^th floor of the Austin Convention Center. This lounge was designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration between the world’s most notable bloggers and real-world personalities. It was also a prime location to kick back and take a break from the non-stop activity. The bloggers and visitors also had the opportunity to get hands-on experience with the latest digital solutions from Samsung, such as notebooks, GALAXY Note, GALAXY Camera and a lot more tools designed for a smarter life.

The lounge was also home to a host of activities, including exclusive interviews with celebrities, book signing, musical performances, and announcements.

Exclusive Interviews with Celebrities

A host of familiar faces dropped by the Samsung Blogger Lounge during SXSWi 2013, such as W. Kamau Bell, the cast of Burning Love Season 3, and Deadliest Catch Season 9, as well as Shaquille O’Neal. Host Shira Lazar led interviews with the celebrity guests, who also included Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com; Fred Armisen, the SNL and Portlandia star; Shaycarl, the American Vlogger; John Cena, the American professional wrestler, and Hannah Hart, the American internet personality and comedian. The Lounge was the place to be to hear about their experience and future plans. What’s trending joined us for live talks and interviews. If you’re wondering what you missed, check out http://www.youtube.com/whatstrending

Book Signing

A long-time SXSW favorite Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group, prominent blogger and an award-winning author, appeared at the Samsung Smart Lounge to sign copies of his latest book “What’s the Future of Business.”Ekaterina Walter, a social media strategist and innovator at Intel, was also on hand and was signing her bestseller book “Think LikeZuck: the Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg.”Her panel session was a big hit with the crowd as well.

Announcing the Winner of Solve For Tomorrow Contest

As we have mentioned in our previous post, Samsung Tomorrow Heads to Austin, TX: SXSWi 2013!, the result of Solve for Tomorrow contest was announced at SXSWi 2013. Just to recap, Solve for Tomorrow contest was a competition which Samsung and its partners invited public school teachers in the US to raise student interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by challenging them to consider the problem “Show how science or math can help the environment in your community.”

Samsung’s major goal at this year’s SXSW interactive was to focus attention on the technology gap in America’s classrooms. Hence, with the focus on future technology, SXSWi was the ideal place to present the winner of the Solve for Tomorrow contest. With the announcement streamed live on What’s Trending, David Steel, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Samsung Electronics North America, announced the winners at the Samsung Blogger Lounge. All five winners used STEM to address local environmental issues. As a reward, these schools received more than $100,000 in technology products such as smart boards, LED TVs, and laptops. Check out the winning clips below.

The Samsung GALAXY Experience

The Samsung GALAXY Experience was a place for visitors to get hands-on experience with the GALAXY series. The site booth offered a place where people could try out GALAXY cameras; share music, photos, and information at the S-beam Bar, and a variety of other products.

Also, many exciting events took place such as ‘Printing T-Shirts and Badges’ and ‘Photo Station.’

Printing T-Shirts/Badges

At the printing t-shirt and badge printing events, visitors were able to draw anything they wanted on the provided GALAXY Notes and Samsung helpers printed out those drawings on T-shirts and badges for them. Visitors were able to walk away with a one-of-a-kind souvenir!

Photo Station

Another event that was a big hit at the GALAXY Experience was the Samsung photo station, where visitors could pose with various backgrounds to create another memory of the festival.

The Samsung Blogger Lounge and Samsung GALAXY Experience were big hits at SXSWi 2013, and we’re glad to be able to share some of the highlights from this year.  Hope to see you all there next year!

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