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The Art of Speed: Conversations with Monster Makers

Written by: Timothy Ferriss

Article Overview: I had a blast organizing and moderating the “Art of Speed” panel at the incredible SXSW conference a few months ago. It was standing room only (at least from what I could see), and I learned a ton from some of the best at creating monster hits.

The Art of Speed: Conversations with Monster Makers

I had a blast organizing and moderating the “Art of Speed” panel at the incredible SXSW conference a few months ago. It was standing room only (at least from what I could see), and I learned a ton from some of the best at creating monster hits.

Here is the recording for those of you who missed it. It’s about 60 minutes total but can be listened to comfortably in little chunks.

The description:

The Art of Speed: Conversations with Monster Makers

This session will focus on how to accomplish huge things in little time. From near-overnight IPOs and massive cult followings, to instant NY Times bestsellers and runaway viral campaigns, learn tricks from those who have created monsters of buzz, fame, and fortune…

The panelists:

Evan Williams - co-founder Twitter/Obvious
Evan is the founder of Obvious Corp, a San Francisco-based web product development company and co-founder of Twitter (my Twitter here — full post on uses/abuses of Twitter coming soon), a micro-blogging and social networking site. He was also a co-creator of the software used as the basis for Blogger, one of the first web applications for creating and managing blogs. Blogger was acquired by Google.

Mike Cassidy - Benchmark Capital (Name unfamiliar? Click here.)
Mike has been the Co-Founder and CEO of three start-ups: Xfire (acquired by MTV for $110M), Direct Hit (acquired by Ask.com for $500M), and Stylus Innovation (acquired by Artisoft for $13M). Mike has a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Cali Lewis - host and producer of GeekBrief.TV
Cali is the host of GeekBrief.TV, a three to five minute video podcast, covering new technologies, consumer electronics, and Web 2.0 projects. Along with her husband, Neal Campbell, they started GeekBrief.TV on December 23rd, 2005. Five months later, they began producing the show full time with support from PodShow Network and advertisers. Cali has co-hosted Call For Help with Leo Laporte, and appears regularly on MSNBC and The Lab with Leo Laporte.

Tim Ferriss (that’s me)
Please note that I was asked to also be a panelist and not just the moderator, so I’m participating in the discussion, not being a mic hog :)

Hope you enjoy it!

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Related Forum Posts
Re: SES Toronto Next Week - In that case, how about the following? Track: Get Me Up to Speed * State of Search Marketing in Canada Track: Practical & Actionable * Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions Track: Advanced * User Search Behavior * Social Media Success * Web 2.0 & Search Engines * Giving Credit Where It’s Due: Which Campaign Sold What?
Re: Meet the NEW Twitter.com - Hey GT, I wasn't aware of this at all. Looks like a good change is coming. The new interface looks much better than the current one, and I like the new features that will be included. Speed is definitely an issue for many sites, and Twitter especially. The current site is somewhat slow at times or doesn't load for me at all which requires having to hit the "refresh" button (sometimes multiple times). Sometimes ReTweeting doesn't work, etc. There's issues that will have to be addressed, and hopefully with the new site rolling out they can find a way to speed things up and make it efficient.
Monster vs Workopolis - [quote="ClintDixon":ovkkcvi9]Does your friend have a marketing degree? Without one he would likely have a hard time finding such work.[/quote:ovkkcvi9] I've heard from friends who are currently working in the field of marketing that it's pretty difficult to even get an entry level position without a MBA (or some sort of post-graduate degree). Can anyone confirm this? In addition, I don't know if it's just me, but I personally find that most of the "marketing/advertising" jobs listed Monster seem like they're all remedial cold calling/door-to-door jobs which don't even ask for an undergraduate degree, while the jobs posted on Workopolis typically demand at least 3-5 years of related work experience. What's up with that?
Re: Do bigger monitors save time? - Hi Kevin, Thanks for the welcome! I would agree that two 17's would work well but really, any size would work. I'd be careful in going after the larger monitors that are traditional heights but are really wide, unless you have the desk space for it. Choose your monitors carefully as well to ensure that you try to find ones that have a small frame outside of the actual monitor screen. That way, when you put them together, the screens look a little more uniform. Last tip for either multiple monitors or one large one... Speed your mouse motion up. If you don't, you'll spend forever scrolling from one screen to another or across a larger screen. It'll take a bit to get used to at first but after a few days, using a mouse with regular motion will seem painstakingly slow!
Re: Do bigger monitors save time? - [quote="Raye":k99n31np]Hi Kevin, Thanks for the welcome! I would agree that two 17's would work well but really, any size would work. I'd be careful in going after the larger monitors that are traditional heights but are really wide, unless you have the desk space for it. Choose your monitors carefully as well to ensure that you try to find ones that have a small frame outside of the actual monitor screen. That way, when you put them together, the screens look a little more uniform. Last tip for either multiple monitors or one large one... Speed your mouse motion up. If you don't, you'll spend forever scrolling from one screen to another or across a larger screen. It'll take a bit to get used to at first but after a few days, using a mouse with regular motion will seem painstakingly slow![/quote:k99n31np] Hi Raye, Thanks for the tips! But if choosing monitors with smaller frames outside of the actual screen space is important when using 2 monitors...then wouldn't using a laptop and a secondary monitor be a bad idea? And are there any current monitor brands and models you would recommend? For instance, for the same price, should someone go for a slightly larger screen or a smaller one with Dell's "Ultrasharp" feature?


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