Were finally back in the Studio this week after hopping in and out of cars, taxis, planes, trains and even a limousine all last week. Yes, nothing like being back home and in our element after getting kicked in the ass for seven days and nights from city to city to participate in both SXSW and the 14NTC.

We know that some of you know all about this and could probably relate to how exciting participating in both SXSW and NTC could be but also understand how exhausting it could be. But for those of you who didnt make it out this year, heres a quick roundup of some of our experiences at SXSW and how we survived as well as what happened down in DC when we exhibited at the 14 NTC Science Fair and why we still love the conference despite some setbacks.

Roundup of Ideas at SXSW

• Technology especially sensing technology is becoming even more smarter but we need to think about how these tools can truly improve our quality of life and create meaning in a world where people and technology are becoming more self aware.
• Nonprofits looking to innovate need be prepared to be more transparent and open to collaborating with other organizations especially social enterprises.
• One of the most valuable assets for a Nonprofit is their data and they should begin looking for ways to make it available to the public but also use it to frame their own stories.
• Privacy in the digital space is about control and knowing who has access to our private data tells us a lot about who is really in power.
• The Millennial and Post generations see the digital realm as an open playground and space to connect with one another. They seek more personal, immediate and intimate experiences and are not tied down to one platform and will easily move from one to another or wherever their peers may be.
• The three finalists in the Social Technologies Accelerator were Samba (winner), Felt and Connect. Watch out for these technologies in the coming months.
• Design research will continue to spark innovation and improve the quality of user experiences.

Roundup at 14NTC

For those of you who stopped by our booth, a big thank you! We know we were hard to find in the huge maze that was the Science Fair. This year was hugetwice as many vendors and over 2k participants at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC. But despite these numbers, this year there was no dedicated time for conference participants to focus solely on visiting vendors in the Science Fair. And we felt it. We were getting a bit lonely. Whereas last year when we drew a crowded line to engage with us, this year we saw very few.

Things got so desperate to attract people that our booth neighbors at Movements.Us began giving away free dollars, we of course matched that with free candy. And it actually began to work. Yes, we posted signs advertising free money and candy and we did get to see a few more people come our way.

Do the best you can with what you have. That’s what we call #nonprofit marketing at 14ntc! @movementsus pic.twitter.com/9njF5BQht0

LimeRed Studio (@limeredstudio) March 14, 2014

Despite all of this, we still have much love for NTEN and NTC. In fact you can check out our latest post at the NTEN blog or sign up for an upcoming webinar with NTEN on Building Online Communities.

The best thing about this years conference at 14NTC is that we got to spend a good amount of quality time getting to know the people we did meet and discovered we made a few new super fans along the way. There was of course the opportunity to see some of our favorite people that converge on the conference every year and that always makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

To find out a little more about what happened at SXSW and 14NTC, follow us on Twitter and check out all the happenings we documented.