A new South by Southwest event has launched in Las Vegas at the Cosmopolitan known as “V2V.” According to the official FAQ copy, “This new version of the classic event seeks to bring visionaries active in the entrepreneurial arena to Las Vegas, Nevada for a truly unique SXSW experience. Visionaries to Vegas, Vision to Venture, Voice to Voice, Venture to Vegas – all the variations of the V2V moniker carry the same theme, the movement from idea to reality.”

The event was host to a list of great keynote speakers, such as Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, AOL co-founder Steve Case, and FEED’s Lauren Bush Lauren. It also featured a pitch competition showcasing companies in education, health, mobile, entertainment, and world innovation.

But V2V is not a copy of the large Austin affair. V2V’s first annual gathering was an intimate affair, taking place on a single conference floor at the Cosmopolitan and featuring free lunches for all attendees so that no one had to leave the property to eat, plus free shuttles to the after parties, music showcases, and the single film screening. Imagine the startup focus of SXSW Interactive — that’s what went down.

—

What follows is a series of transcribed memos, Instagram photos, Vine videos, DSLR snapshots, and musings — all from SXSW V2V.

First, on Sunday night, August 11th, I picked up my badge from the fourth floor of the Cosmopolitan.

However, I skipped the opening party in favor of an intimate show and comic book sale at HellPop! in the Arts Factory in Downtown Las Vegas.

The downside to Vegas: there are always tons of things going on, and there is no easy way to clone oneself…yet.

After watching Kid Little play some tunes, including the crowd favorite “Let Yourself Go,” I headed back to the Cosmopolitan. I ended up hanging out with a filmmaker who was in town and staying on the 59th floor with a few folks who spend their days working for the amazing designers of Fresh Wata. We talked until the wee hours of the night, brainstorming and networking…what SXSW V2V is all about.

Day 1, August 12th

Voice memo, 9:01 am: Went to bed at around 3 o’clock. Maybe 4. Took in the sights, took in the sounds…it is now 9 am…after one quick phone call I am on my way to the press brunch. Press brunch is being held at the Wicked Spoon, which is a wickedly expensive, wickedly decadent buffet. I’ve eaten there twice before, and one can only hope that I can get full enough to get through a few of these panels and through to the networking lunch. Then I’ll see where that takes me.

The first panel I attended was called “Before You Build It, Make Sure They Will Come.” Amanda McGlothlin and Stephen Brown of Mutual Mobile brought their wisdom to the SXSW crowd by talking about making a brand’s app stand out from about a million apps available out there.

The four most important things brands must assess before creating an app in the first place are:

1. Do they want it?
2. Will it help my business?
3. Should it be mobile?
4. How should it be built?

All great points I agree with — although, I think number three is a no-brainer in 2013.

Voice memo, 1:24 pm: Networking lunch consisted of talks about startup weekend, chips, pugs, Boston terriers, and the smell of the salty ocean air of San Francisco. Lunch was a fancy box lunch, which was free to all attendees. Score.

During the keynote presentation, “Downtown Tony” Hsieh talked about the movie Notorious and how Sean “Puffy/Puff Daddy/Diddy” Combs told Biggie Smalls to chase the dream and not the paper, which turns out is very similar to his own advice to entrepreneurs who ask him how they can work on something worthwhile. He also thinks its important to motivate workers. According to Tony, the main ways to doing this are as follows: fear, incentives, or the Zappos way, promoting a vision of values and inspirations.

Soon, the company will be moving into the Las Vegas old city hall, and it researched the Nike, Google, and Apple headquarters to see what they collectively wanted in their new home. At the same time, Zappos is pumping millions of dollars into the Downtown Project to increase productivity and innovation in the City of Las Vegas. Pretty inspiring stuff.

Next up was Jeff Rosenblum, who started an ad agency (despite never having ever set foot in one) after a hiking trip where he may or may not have taken psychedelic drugs. Ever since, he has won tons of accolades and awards. In his panel “Learn How Top Brands are Succeeding by Being Transparent,” Rosenblum showed clips of his documentary The Naked Brand and discussed the prehistoric ad business and why it needs to change. The Naked Brand argues that companies can profit by being more environmentally aware and more conscious of employees and consumers — and, of course, by offering better features.

In her panel “Market Like Movies (Without the Studio Budget),” Jenn Deering Davis (co-founder of Union Metrics, and co-creator of TweetReach) talked about using social media the way Hollywood does, namely spending tons of cash on Tumblr and pushing behind-the-scenes content. Go figure. Tumblr? No wonder its rates are so high!

Next up, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League discussed his and his wife’s history in the movie business, as well as the trials and tribulations of escaping one state to go live in another after a car wrecks the front of your failing business. His thoughts on where startups can get money? He has no idea. His empire started on the laurels of his own money, coupled with a loan from his in-laws. But whether you raise money yourself, go heavily into debt, crowdfund, or get investors, Tim believes that as long as you are doing something you are passionate about, people will see that and you will be a success…eventually.

Voice memo, 6:32 pm: After being snubbed not once, but twice, by one of the directors of SXSW Austin after an insightful panel, I made my way to the MediaTemple Margarita Bar…but now I’m off Downtown to where the party will get started. The free shuttle is off. Leaving the uber-fancy Cosmo in favor of the newly renovated Gold Spike.

I stumbled away from the Gold Spike a few times, came back a few times, and ended up shooting some video interviews with The ’80s Kids. Can’t wait to see that drunken video escapade.

Day 2, August 13th

Voice memo, 8:38 am: Today’s goals are emails, retweets, and, hopefully, the Commonwealth after-party later tonight. We will resume memos tomorrow. Why I’m calling myself “we” is beyond me.

Voice memo, 1:35 am: Party at the Commonwealth, check. Lots of crazy drunken dancing, check. Google Glass virtual reality games, check. Met Daniel Atler, the guy who throws the Kings of Con party at San Diego Comic-Con every year, check. Have to be at the first panel session on the fourth floor of the Cosmo at 9 am, for the love of God, check.

Day 3, August 14th

“Exploring Deep Creativity and Brainstorming” was a fantastic group panel with Jey Van-Sharp, Jim Hopkins, Adam Marelli, and Helen Todd. During it, they each talked about inspirations, muses, and how to make time for yourself and your creative endeavors. I suggest you look up each of these folks and learn more about them.

Andy Budd’s panel “Using Design for Competitive Advantage” dug into how brands can use design for more than just making something aesthetically pleasing. Not only is design extremely important, Budd says that if your company can start with a fantastic designer on board as a co-founder, you will be very successful.

Lauren Bush Lauren, founder and CEO of FEED — which “Creates Good Products That Help FEED the World” — grew her social enterprise from seller of simple burlap bags, to powerhouse brand with strategic partnerships among major retailers and brands such as Target, Whole Foods Market, Disney, and Tory Burch. Over the past six and a half years, her company has donated more than $6 million while providing nearly 60 million school meals to impoverished children, as well as vitamin supplements to more than 3.5 million children.

After posing several queries regarding her business, Inc. contributing editor Donna Fenn pressed Bush Lauren with two superb questions: whether she could specify an instance in which she was crushed by a failure, and whether her ties to the Bush family helped her business in any capacity.

Bush Lauren answered that she has never really been demoralized by a failure, because she sees failures as necessary stepping stones in the business game, a way to learn about mistakes and hardships so that you may never encounter them again. And yes, she explained, her name might have gotten her the deal with Target, but the work with Whole Foods was thanks to her own legwork that spanned a two-year period. Great answers, very inspiring.

After the keynote, I met with some friends and some of the mentors with whom I could not get a session during the event, but who were partaking in beer, wine, chips, and popcorn at the pre-game party on the fourth floor of the Cosmo. I even ended up handing my business card to Lauren Bush Lauren. Then, while I was on my way to the official after-party at Hyde in the Bellagio, the official SXSW Instagram account reposted my photo, and all was right with the world.

Of course, while reposting the screenshot of said repost, an after-party-goer spotted me on my phone, full open bar drink in hand, and yelled at me: “Stop working! It’s over! Drink your drink!” The sign of a good party, and it had barely begun.

Once SXSW came to a close, with a looming article deadline and an inbox full of emails, I did the only thing a sensible person would do on a Thursday morning: I took the Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association chartered bus to Laughlin for a day of rest and relaxation. And wave riding.

—

Shahab Zargari runs the Las Vegas-based firm Assurance Advertising and is a frequent contributor to Verbicide.