This is my 2010 South by Southwest Interactive badge. New this year is a QR Codethat enables attendees to “scan” each other’s codes with their smartphones instead of exchanging business cards. Scan. Download. Export. Follow up.
I haven’t really seen scanapalooza catching on among attendees, but that’s OK. To me, there’s a more obvious aspect that’s missing.
With this data source hanging around my neck, I expected that at every session, panel, workshop, and after-hours event, someone would be capturing the code when I arrived and opening the door to some pretty-good granular data about who attended everything. And from that data, formulating some who, what, when, and where assumptions to apply to the future vision for SXSWi.
After all, this is a technology conference. Next year, I’m thinking my badge will be a smart card––and wherever I go (and whatever I spend) will be tracked and processed seamlessly.
I’m just sayin’.
