It’s SXSW (or Southby as the natives say) here in Austin. The streets, restaurants, bars and hotels are full up with people here for this Interactive, Film and Music Festival, which runs through March 16 (although sadly Interactive wrapped things up last night).

On Monday, March 10, the streets weren’t the only places that were packed. The Jim Hogg Parlor of the Driskill Hotel was standing-room only as Jen Grogono, our CEO, led a session about change, the need to embrace it and it’s connection to video. Last week, we previewed her talk. If you’d like a copy of her slides, we’ve made them available.

What made her session so successful was that it was interactive. And why not? This is SXSW Interactive after all. So, we opted for a two-way conversation not a static lecture. The audience responded with question after question. (Especially interesting is that Q’s came from both sides of what we call the maker, manage, and leader side of the video equation. See earlier post.) You were interested in HTML5, sculpting longform into shortform, the SEO implications of YouTube collecting YOUR analytics, how to get viewers to actually press “play,” what information the video player can tell you, the best promotional strategy for a video, and more.

Such interest – the result of a positive interaction – is where its at – in our professional lives, our personal lives and, now, in the content we consume. Video, in particular, comes the closest to replicating our offline experiences. Experts confirm why this is true.

We’ll just say great interaction – whether at a SXSW session or from a video – contains the same elements. They both begin with a hook — a reason to engage. They deliver on a promise — that whatever initially hooked you was worth hearing more about. And they conclude with an emotional response — from an eager hand waving to be called on to a click thru to conversion.

That’s how you know that what you’re doing works.