In order to be heard, you need to interrupt.

If someone misunderstands you and does a project wrong, it’s your fault for not communicating right.

This is American Business Listening 101. We rush through ideas because time is money. We interrupt one another in meetings because we want to prove our mettle. As a result, we waste hours of time and execute projects ineffectively.

If we could actually listen, we’d streamline communications within our teams, produce more accurate projects for leaders, even sell more to clients. So why don’t we do it?

Because we don’t know how. That’s what Marian Thier, who runs the consulting, coaching and training organization Expanding Thought, wants us to know. An expert in teaching businesspeople new ways of thinking, Thier recently realized that we have a serious listening deficit. Her new mission is to educate people about what listening is, why it’s important, and how we can become better at it.

I caught up with Thier to learn more about the art and science of listening. Here’s what she had to say.

BP: Can you talk a little bit how lack of listening skills could derail a leader?

Here’s the most important thing a leader does: A leader makes decisions. If you don’t listen fully, you don’t’ get all the information you need to make a good decision. That’s one way leaders are derailed.

Another responsibility of a leader is to be able to model behaviors. People coming up in the organization learn from the way you as a leader behave, so you best be an effective model.
When you don’t listen fully, others are also apt to lose their attention. So they leave a lot of information on the table that’s readily available to them. Because they are not appropriately listening to the situation at hand, they miss stuff and often make partially informed decisions.

Poor listening skills also prevent people from questioning, so they are not very critical in their thinking. They take things at face value. They trust the person who’s talking rather than being able to analyze and diagnose the value of the information that’s being put on the table.

There’s just too much that’s lost because they a) don’t know how they listen, and b) don’t know if how they’re listening fits the situation.

BP: It sounds like learning to listen could save time and be a competitive advantage, because you would be so streamlined and efficient.

Totally. But if so much is riding on it, how come people aren’t trying to develop those skills?
When I started to beta test this research, I learned that we form habits around the way we listen. Those habits become ingrained. We become very reliant on them without questioning whether that habit serves us well in a particular situation.

So how does that habit form? Brains begin to develop neural pathways very early in our lives. When information comes into the ear, the brain co-opts that information and takes it into an established neural pathway. Basically, our brains are pretty lazy. Our individual brains become wired for a certain kind of listening.

Another part of habit formation is physical. Say we’re on a tennis court. When I play tennis, I have established all sorts of physical habits. For example, when the ball is coming my way, my body and brain all say, “Okay, I know that this is a forehand shot, so get ready for it.” My opponent can read my posture to know where to place the ball. The same thing occurs when we’re listening. The body puts out signals that say, “This is the way I look when I listen.”

The next habit-former is psychology. When I get on the court and start thinking, “Oh no, something is going to hinder my back hand.” or “Oh gosh, this is a strong player,” I develop an emotional and psychological basis around all these messages. Same thing when you’re listening. You look at somebody as they’re talking and you might think, “That person reminds me of this really snappy boss I had, so I have to be very defensive when I listen, because if I don’t assert myself, I’m not going to get listened to.” Now you have another habit around something that has no merit, but it’s locked up into you habitual way.

And then the last consideration is our behavior. What are the things we actually do? There are people who do very specific things in their behavior. They interrupt, for example.

BP: Then you try to help somebody understand what interrupting really is?

Interrupting is really a part of the interaction. The interrupter has something to say and wants to share it. Good listeners hold off until the speaker has concluded, but interrupters don’t hold their tongue and break in, cutting off the train-of-thought and decreasing the amount of shared information.

BP: In every corporation I’ve worked in, especially the bigger ones, interruption and displays of assertiveness are ingrained in corporate culture. It’s like you have to be the top dog to be heard.

More true in the Western nations than in the East.

BP: So with that kind of culture, how can you even afford to listen if you’re so busy asserting your alpha status by interrupting everybody?

Probably the better question is, how can you afford not to listen? One of the things we’re doing in my company is educating people about preferred listening habits to help them grasp the breadth of the topic. Most people agree that listening is critical, but they really know very little about it.

To increase knowledge of the field and one’s self, I developed an assessment instrument that helps people understand which of four listening habits is their preferred habit.

To understand your habits is to raise awareness about how you listen. Part of the knowledge is being able to hold a mirror up to somebody and say, “This is the way you look when you listen. This is the way you attend when you listen. Is that the most effective way for you?” That’s question number one.

Question number two is to ask whether there are ways to be more effective as a listener. One way is to watch someone and say, “I watched you in this interaction and you interrupted the speaker eight times in ten minutes. What happened as a result of that?” That behavior is unconscious for most people.

BP: Could you talk a little bit more about the purpose interrupting serves, and what it means when people interrupt?

We can think faster than a person can speak. Thus, if someone is talking, instead of following them as they speak, we speed up our brains to move further ahead. We make assumptions about what that person is going to say and stop listening to what they are saying. The person who is supposed to be listening is actually not listening but is preparing to speak—to interrupt.

In a positive sense, interruption shows you’re engaged and you want to be additive. You want to inquire. You want to be a part of the conversation, but you’re not using your best skill—full-listening or turn-taking.

I teach people a tactic to use when they are in a situation and they want to interrupt. First, I ask, why is it you want to interrupt? What is behind it? If it is because you have a question, then just write down the question, then refocus on what’s going on. If you want to add your point of view, then write your comment down and keep listening. Chances are the speaker will cover the point you wanted to make or answer the question you posed, usually later in the interaction. Writing your mental disrupters ensures your thoughts are captured and enables you to remain focused.

Listening is the most respectful thing you can do. If you want to respect the person you’re listening to, tell yourself that maybe in 5 minutes that person will get to the point you want to make. Is there value in making that point? Or is it your ego that wants others to think you’re smarter than everyone else by raising an issue or inserting a comment?

Image: Simon Blackley/Flickr

BP: That was how I interpreted the chronic interruption that was going on in the workplace—ego stuff.

Yeah. In our workplaces we have:

a) very impatient people
b) high value for demonstrating our intelligence
c) a very male-oriented sort of way of interacting. It’s a game that gets played. Who can have the most control? Who can one-up others? Believe me, that’s a high-contact sport that results in many injuries of the hidden kind.

I observe a game I call “Who’s the smartest in the room?” I watch everyone in a discussion and award a “prize” at the end. After the interaction, I explain the dynamics I was observing. Then, privately, participants write the name of the person they think played the game most “successfully.” I tabulate the anonymous results and before I reveal the name I ask what the “players” learned from the game. I usually end by asking each individual what s/he did to be a contender for the title.

It’s rarely necessary to say the name of the person who “won,” because the offender almost always self-identifies.

A lot of this work is just helping people to be conscious about what they are doing. A huge amount is realized when someone can say, “I listen in this way.”. And then to be able to analyze the compatibility of the way they listen to the organizational dynamics. At that point someone can say, “I lose too much by not listening appropriately and I best devote time to skill development. That’s a simple formula. It’s not simple to effect, although easier than people thought.

BP: What about global implications?

If you look at Asia, for example, why is it that Americans who work in China have such a hard time there? Americans are fast-paced. They say “tell me in two minutes what it is, okay I got it,” and they’re ready to run off. While Asians complain about the lack of deliberation when dealing with Westerners.

In the West, there is the expectation that the speaker must make himself totally clear. The responsibility of the listener is to execute what the speaker is saying. If you don’t make yourself clear and someone else doesn’t execute properly, it’s your fault as the speaker, not the listener.

In Asia, it’s flipped the other way. The responsibility for listening is on the listener. I have to get from here everything I need in order to execute. So if something goes awry it’s my fault because I didn’t listen well. Think about how different the perceptions are and how those perceptions impact listening.

BP: That’s interesting. That’s how feel as a freelancer. I need to get everything right first in order to do the assignment properly. Otherwise, it’s my fault if anything goes wrong.

Good analogy. It’s the same way in corporations. You come back with this wrong product, all these people wasted their time working on a problem that actually wasn’t the right problem. They say, “You didn’t tell us the right thing.” Actually the issue went awry from the get-go because the parties involved didn’t have a clarifying interaction that was complete enough for both sides to tackle the assignment.

To remedy that problem, all involved need to be able to demonstrate that they’re clear. There’s a tool I teach people called a listening loop that helps people do that. It takes time to do.

People go, “Oh man, it takes too long.” Yeah, but how long does it take to fix the problems when you’re three months down the road and you’re doing the wrong thing? It’s much more expensive then than investing time at the start of a process.

BP: It sounds like becoming aware of the way that you listen involves a high level of coaching. Is there anything that people reading this interview could do by themselves that could help them become better listeners?

Absolutely. The first thing is to watch yourself when you’re listening. Say to yourself, “How engaged am I? At what point do I check out? What causes me to stop listening? What can I do to bring myself back so I can remain focused?” Observe yourself.

The other thing is to observe others. Try to see if you can pick up the signals they give you. They give you signals all the time about what they care about and what to listen for. Clues are in the kinds of questions that people ask.

For example, if you’re talking to someone who asks a lot of detailed questions, and you are a big picture thinker, you’ll probably shut off when that person gives you a lot of details. But your job is not to shut off. So if you observe that person asking detailed questions, you mirror by asking detailed questions, too. That way, you’re synchronizing with one another, rather than you each reverting to non-effective habits.

Observe yourself, observe others, and try to listen in the way that is compatible with another.

BP: I can see how you could train yourself to be a more effective person in general by adopting those skills.

Yeah. Many of the hundreds of people who have taken my assessment instrument Hear! Hear? tell me, “I never before thought about how I listen.” So just by being a self-observer you’re a leg up on developing capacity.

This is important work, but not daunting work. Here’s why. A habit is just that. It’s a habit. And it’s changeable. If you take any of the four elements that develop a habit and put energy towards changing it, it will change. Each of our listening habits is a strength. They are not deficits.

Sometimes what we need is to have more in our repertoire–to be additive. We’re not talking about stopping using a listening habit that serves you well, we’re talking about gaining access to others to broaden your capacity to listen well in any situation.

Official bio: Expanding Thought was founded in 1984 to help people think beyond the obvious. The firm does this through coaching, training and consulting initiatives. Marian and her staff work with individuals and organizations to think strategically and originally, and enable high-potential employees to fulfill their promise. Here is Marian’s blog on listening.

Remember when everyone you knew had a Nokia flip phone? Nokia wants those days to return, but with smartphones. It unveiled three new smartphones at Nokia World London today. PCWorld has more on Nokia’s newest hopefuls:

Nokia’s new devices include the business-focused Nokia E7, the consumer-oriented C7 and a revised version of the Nokia C6. All three devices feature Symbian^3 OS, the latest iteration of Nokia’s smartphone OS first introduced this year on the Nokia N8.

The smallest of the bunch, the Nokia C6 features a 3.2-inch…touch widescreen with a 640-by-360 resolution…front-facing camera for video calling, and a rear-facing camera with 8 megapixels, dual LED flash, 720p video capture and 2X digital zoom. The smartphone has a miniscule 340 MB internal storage, but includes microSD card support for another 32GB. Other features include GPS, 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity; FM stereo radio; and a 3.5mm A/V connector. Nokia claims the C6 has 11.5 hours of talk time over GSM networks. The C6…will sell for about $335 in Europe.

Nokia will also release the N8. From Ars Technica:

(Nokia VP and new phone presenter Anssi) Vanjoki described the Nokia N8 as a breakthrough multimedia device with a top-notch camera. It has a 12MP sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash, and a mechanical shutter. Although he acknowledges that it still can’t rival a dedicated digital camera, he contends that the N8 has a better camera than any other smartphone. To demonstrate its efficacy, he showed a series of impressive photos that were taken on the device.

The new Nokia lineup doesn’t sound that much better than anything already on the market. There’s not enough innovation in the lineup to lure consumers away from their iPhones and Droids. So what will Nokia compete on with these new phones? Price? According to Bloomberg,

Nokia said in July that the operating margin in devices could fall as low as 7 percent in the third quarter as it prepared to release the N8. The margin was 12.5 percent last year and 18.2 percent in 2008. In July, Nokia posted a 40 percent drop in second-quarter profit.

Where will Nokia get the volume from to make up for a low-priced phone, if they do choose that strategy? With their current batch of underwhelming devices, I don’t know how Nokia will find its desired niche in the smartphone market.

Blogs

Engadget
Gizmodo
Ars Technica
Wired
CNET
gdgt
Macrumors
Macworld
Crunchgear
Technologizer
Slashgear
The New York Times

Twitter

@MacRumorsLive
@arswwdc (Ars Technica)
@theappleblog
@markmcc (for Wired)
@jsnell (for Macworld)

The Huffington Post also has a neat page for streaming WWDC 2010 updates.

A cool new iPod Nano, revamped iTunes, innovative home content sharing, and digital LP technology stole the show at Apple’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” conference today. Steve Jobs himself appeared at the San Francisco event, much to viewer’s delight.

Here’s a summary of the Apple show, based on what the folks at Engadget reported on their liveblog:

First, Steve Jobs himself appeared on state. He recounted a few key Apple sales statistics (we have included all the stats in the entire presentation below):

–30 million iPhones sold in just over 2 years
–75,000 apps in the App Store
–1.8 billion apps downloaded by users
–100 million iTunes accounts, all with credit cards
–220 million iPods sold to date
–Latest market data gives iPod 73.8% share
–20 million iPod touches sold
–21,178 entertainment titles (games) in the App Store
–100 million iPod nanos sold

New Software/Hardware:

iPhone OS 3.1
–This free upgrade is available today

–Apple has applied Genius technology to Store apps. Genius can reccomend apps to you based on what you own.

–Adding more than 30,000 ringtones to the Store, for $1.29 a pop

iTunes 9
–Home sharing. You can copy songs, TV shows, and other content between up to 5 computers in your home. You’ll see everyone’s content, then drag and copy it to your own library. (Apparently this means that one person in your home can buy an app, and everyone else can have it, too.)

–New: Genius Mixes, a DJ-like program that plays mixes from your library. Like having a personalized radio station.

–Improved syncing. You can now sync by artist, genre, playlist, etc.

–Manage apps in iTunes. You can now move apps through iTunes and arrange your home screens there.

–Better Store. A cleaner design, new artist and movie pages, new integration with Facebook and Twitter,

–iTunes LPs. iTunes has essentially imported the classic LP–with illustrations, lyrics, photos, writing, even interviews–onto iTunes. You can now see and browse entire LPs through iTunes.

iPod Nano
–Each new nano now comes with an 8GB (video) camera in back. You can send videos to YouTube, watch them on your iPod, and send them to your computer.

–New features: Genius mixes, FM radio, pedometer (syncs to Nike), voiceover, microphone/speaker.

–Nanos now have a larger display.

–New prices: 8GB — $149. 16GB — $179.

New iPod Touch prices
64GB — $399
32GB — $299
8GB — $199

iPod Classic
160GB (new capacity) — $249

iPod Shuffle
–Now with snazzy new headphones, which all have the controller for the shuffle.

–Shuffle voice will now inform you when it closes the airlock, and when the battery is full.

–New colors: pink, silver, blue, green, black. Special edition: polished stainless steel.

–2GB — $59; 4GB — $79

Price Drop on Current iPod Models
Apple dropped prices on its current models earlier today. The 8GB iPod Nano and 120GB iPod Classic dropped $20 in price; the 8GB iPod Touch costs $40 less; the 16GB Nano and 16GB Touch are $50 cheaper, and the 32GB Touch is a whopping $120 less.

Demos include new iTunes, new games for iPod Touch, LPs, and more. Please see Engadget for details.

Security expert Charlie Miller is sharing the details iPhone hack today at the annual Black Hat security conference. The iPhone virus takes control of the device through SMS messages. All an attacker needs is a person’s phone number. Once they’re in, they can send the viral SMS to everyone in the person’s address book. Miller and his colleagues claim to have told Apple about the iPhone virus about a month ago, according to Engadget, but Apple hasn’t reacted yet. CNET has more:

Here’s what happened: While I was talking on the phone to Charlie Miller, his partner, Collin Mulliner, sent me a text message from his phone. One minute I’m talking to Miller and the next minute my phone is dead, and this time it’s not AT&T’s fault. After a few seconds it came back to life, but I was not able to make or receive calls until I rebooted.

In the more recent research, Android-based phones were found to be similarly susceptible to an SMS attack, only an attacker could temporarily knock the phone off the cell network but not take control, according to Mulliner, who’s getting his PhD at the Technical University of Berlin. Google patched the hole last week within a day or two of being notified of the problem, he said.

Apple might want to think about patching at this point.

Today at WWDC 2009, the new iPhone 3GS, which hits stores on June 19, stole the show. Equipped with video, voice control, a 3 megapixel camera, and other cool features, the 3GS is another homerun by Apple. Below is a review of some the WWDC keynote’s highlights, as noted on Engadget’s liveblog:

iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS is supposed to be twice as fast as the 3G. Its 3 megapixel camera comes it autofocus and auto white balance. All you have to do is tap what you want to focus on. It takes macro shots from as close as 10cm.

It also shoots video, with audio. You can edit and share videos with a tap of your finger, as well as scrub along with them.

Comprehensive voice control, a built-in digital compass, and Nike+ support are other neat features. You can also invert black and white, zoom in displays, and read text through the 3GS. All 3GS phones will also come with hardware encryption. With 23% less packaging, the devices are greener, too.

Costs: $199 for the 16GB 3GS. $299 for the 32GB 3GS. And only $99 for the 3G.

The iPhone 3GS hits the market a week from today, releasing in more than 80 countries by August.

iPhone OS 3.0

AT&T support will be ready “by the end of the summer,” whatever that means. No mention of partnership with AT&T. You can now rent and buy movies from iTunes on your iPhone. It has new parental controls, and tethering, which lets you share a connection with your computer. Find My iPhone feature lets you located your iPhone remotely, then send it a message, make it audio alert, or wipe out its data. Other features: New HTML support for audio and video tags. AutoFill feature now live. The new OS also supports more than 30 languages.

OS 3.0 is free for iPhone users and $9.95 for iTouch users. It releases on June 17.

MacBook Pro

Apple released a new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. It uses the same non-removable battery as the 17-inch version. They replaced the ExpressCard slot with an SD slot. With (up to) 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, and 8 gigs of RAM, it’s also Apple’s fastest notebook ever. It costs $1,699. The 17-inch now costs $2,499. New: A 13-inch MacBook Pro, starting at $1,199.

MacBook Air

Pricing now starts at $1,499; $1,799 with SSD configuration. It also comes with the new SD slot and, like the MacBook Pro, a standard backlit keyboard. It also has a FireWire 800 port.

Snow Leopard

The new, improved version of Leopard has Exchange support, runs 45% faster, and saves 6GB of disk space after installation. A new feature, called Expose, zooms out your open windows when you click and hold on an application. Snow Leopard also uses AI for text selection. The trackpad now has handwriting recognition.

An upgrade to Snow Leopard costs $29 ($49 for a family pack), available in September.

Safari 4

Safari 4 for Leopard, Tiger, and Windows ships today. They’re calling it the fastest browser on any platform. Expose gives you several new ways to find and sift through content. For example, you can drop images directly into an email message. Another example: you can view your history in a cover flow. Another new feature is crash resistance. If a plugin crashes your browser, your windows will stay intact, all you have to do is reload the page. In Quicktime, you now get a visual timeline of your video, as well as trim and share features.

**
With affordable iPhones, Apple is on fire. Competitors (Blackberries) have some serious catching up to do.

Today at 10am PST, Apple SVP Phil Schiller’s WWDC 2009 keynote will finally reveal the new iPhone (or not). Live TV coverage of the event isn’t permitted, so you’ll have to catch live streams via blogs and tweets. Here are a list of prominent WWDC 2009 liveblogs and twitterers:

Liveblogs
Engadget
CNET
Slashgear
Technologizer
Macworld
Macrumors
Ars Technica
Gizmodo
CrunchGear

Twitter
@macrumors
@macjournals
@mmilian (LA Times)
@theappleblog

Find more keynote twitterers here.

If you can’t attend E3 live, then live coverage will have to do. Many websites offer detailed coverage of the event, which lasts through June 4, but four of them are exceptional:

1. G4

Website: g4tv.com/e3

G4TV offers liveblog video and written coverage, including keynotes. Additional coverage, which runs live 22 hours a day, includes press conferences, first-time demos, game debuts, and the ever-important booth babes. You can also find news, trailers, screenshots, photos, tweets, and new games by platform, publisher, and developer on the site.

2. Gamespot

Website: e3.gamespot.com

Gamespot runs continual updates on new games, behind-the-scenes video demos, press conferences, and their live stage show. Each live broadcast is archived, so you can see it anytime you want. A floor map and virtual booth/video tours give you an up-close-and-personal look at the conference’s layout. Also includes live Twitter and photo updates.

3. IGN

Website: e3.ign.com/

IGN’s complete coverage suite includes a liveblog, press conference livestreams, an E3 news ticker, tweets, trailers, email updates, reader polls, and live updates listed by console.

4. Wired Game|Life e3 Coverage

Website: Wired.com/gamelife/tag/e3

Wired’s Game|Life E3 coverage features expert commentary by Chris Kohler, Nate Ralph, and Chris Baker. Aside from a written liveblog, YouTube broadcasts, and iTunes podcasts, you’ll find analysis, gossip, predictions, rumors, leaks, and all the informal info that makes coverage more entertaining.

5. e3 insider

Website: e3insider.com

E3 Insider, E3′s official coverage site, livestreams press conferences. It also shows trailers and interviews. Its offerings are more limited than some of the sites in this list, but it’s worth a look if you need an info fix and the other sites’ load times are slow.

OnLive, a new service that replaces video game consoles like the XBox and PS3 with a small online device, was announced at today’s Game Developer Conference. OnLive will offer hi-res video games over your broadband connection, opening doors for video game downloads, multiday online rentals, and other exciting options. InformationWeek reports:

A startup company called OnLive is trying to disrupt the gaming industry by delivering high-end games through the cloud to a computer or Internet-connected television.

For the game publishers, the service could open the door for another revenue stream without the costs of shipping and manufacturing games on disks. The service already has the backing of Atari, Eidos, Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS), Take-Two Interactive Software, THQ, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. These companies plan to launch titles on OnLive at the same time as the console and PC counterparts.

OnLive is a spinoff from San Francisco-based Rearden Companies, a multimedia powerhouse that develops products and services for companies in the entertainment, communications, multimedia, and consumer electronics industries. The man behind Rearden is former Apple engineer Steve Perlman, best known as the founder of WebTV.

The product and technology sound groundbreaking. Perlman will reveal more today at the conference, at 7:15 PST. Stay tuned.

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a unique event that combines music, film, and digital media into one massive, 4-day series of events. Each of the three South by Southwest event categories have their own conferences, festivals, and trade shows, so participants need to register for one of three themes.

This year, SXSW takes place in mid-March, and will probably see more than 10,000 attendees. In 2008, the event made the city more than $110 million in revenues. That’s a lot of people spending a lot of money–and looking for a lot of opportunities. There are many ways you can make that $400 wristband pay off.

But scale is only one of the things that makes South by Southwest a must-do for anyone with a business related to film, music, or the Internet. Gurus, conferences, tradeshows, talks, parties, and shows offer unbeatable opportunities to advance your network, company, and internal creativity. Here are 5 ways that attending South by Southwest can help your business:

1. Be Seen

Last year, South by Southwest (SXSW) saw more than 10,000 attendees from around the world. That many people in one place–most of whom have clearly defined interest niches–are a marketer’s dream. Setting up a trade booth at SXSW is a key way to make yourself visible in the industry, find customers, make new contacts, and scope the competition. SXSW organizers also offer marketing, sponsorship and advertising opportunities, which anyone with a budget should not pass up.

Hundreds of panel discussions also take place, enabling you to present your product or service to leaders in your industry. In the evenings, South by Southwest participants host an enormous number of concerts, networking events, and parties. It would be amazing if you don’t come out of SXSW with a promising number of new contacts and prospects.

2. Network

Working your social skills at SXSW can pay off handsomely. The sheer number of events, talks, concerts, and parties at South by Southwest means that making contacts is more than inevitable. Take a big stack of business cards and/or have your PDA ready for a healthy expansion of your network. People find business partners, clients, industry contacts, and new friends at breakneck speed here. You can cover every level of your businesses in one place.

3. Spur creativity

Not only does South by Southwest encourages, coalesces, and catalyzes cutting-edge ideas and concepts. When you cram 10,000 creative people into one happening city, great things can happen. Be inspired by industry leaders, discuss new services, products, and concepts with your peers, or get ideas from the items people display in the trade show. The energy and excitement of SXSW can rev your business out of a holding pattern and inspire something completely new. In times of recession, when motivation hits a lull, this kind of environment can save you.

4. Get to Know Your Industry Intimately

If you’re in the music, film, or generally-defined interactive online category (read: you have anything to do with the Internet), you will find unparalleled opportunities at South by Southwest. SXSW offers firsthand exposure to cutting-edge trends, innovations, experts, and competition. By the end of SXSW, you’ll have what amounts to an education on every aspect of you industry. You’ll be able to rattle off the who’s who, what’s what, and where’s it happening in your industry. The many panels, parties, and other networking opportunities at SXSW will ensure that you are personally with acquainted industry players, too. Your business can benefit greatly from this new information. For example, you can find areas to expand into. You can see where it’s time move your focus. You’ll become a smarter competitor.

5. Get on the Cutting Edge

Companies have a habit of unveiling their latest and greatest creations at South by Southwest. Twitter, for example, launched here in 2007. Everyone from startups to major players wow audiences with the latest products. Attending SXSW is witnessing digital evolution as it happens—you can’t get more cutting-edge than that. South by Southwest puts you ahead of the curve, which is exactly where you want to be as a business.

Dates for this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), which takes place in Austin, TX:

SXSW Interactive: March 13-17, 2009
SXSW Film: March 13-21
SXSW Music: March 18-22