SXSW Day 1

Posted on the A Mind at Work LinkedIn company page on 3/13/26

DAY 1: Greetings from sunny Austin, TX! I’ll be recording a full Piece of Mind video with an overview of the best sessions I attend at SXSW this year, but until then I wanted to drop some memorable ideas and impressions from each day. Here’s what stood out on Day 1. (Attribution of ideas below are intentionally not called quotes. I’m not a journalist, but I did my best to capture the spirit of what these folks said. Anything without attribution is all A Mind at Work).

-Many of the sessions this year are focused on centering our humanity in the face of the massive changes from Gen AI. Nice synchronicity with our AI for Teams workshop methodology.

-AI is not “the thing,” it is the multi-tool that allows lots of folks working on moonshot projects to go faster and, hopefully, minimize risk. -Arati Prabhakar

-Figuring out WHERE we want AI to fit in our creative process is important. Bring it in to refine and shape, but maybe not to get started (otherwise we may forget how.) -Andrea Virgin, PE, LEED AP

-If you’re not a habitual journaler but want to up your mindfulness game at the end of each day, try this daily 30 second “mattering” exercise:
1. When did I FEEL valued today?
2. Where did I ADD value today?
-Jennifer B. Wallace

Off to Day 2! Let me know if any of the above resonated with you.