Our very own Cass is currently in New York, busy checking out all that Social Media Week NYC has to offer. For the uninitiated, Social Media Week is a leading news and publishing platform and worldwide event that takes place in 26+ cities each year. The New York leg of the week is one of the most prestigious and well-attended, with speakers this year including Seth Godin. Here’s her exclusive report from the opening party.

Overall, despite the minus temperatures here in NYC, it was a good turnout for the official opening party for SMW NYC. The party was held at the official Hub for SMW, The Highline Stages. The event was super interactive and encouraged social media activity in all its forms, from the user through to the brand and then to the analytics. It was a fun night to connect with other guests at social media week with most of the attendees digital media specialists, or students.

The Highline stages is a large warehouse style space with three levels and was a fantastic choice for the launch party, which was held on the ground level and was split into two main areas, both of which consisted of sponsor booths and activations.

Local food vendors had stalls around the room showcasing samples of their produce and running social orientated competitions to engage guests. Nokia – the Week’s headline sponsor – set up a central booth in the main room showcasing its latest technology. They also set up #nokiapods throughout the venue, which consisted of a tablet and phone to interactive with.

There was a number of other sponsors and brands active at the party. My favourite activation was the highly interactive #tagboard, which is run at all SMW’s across the globe and consists of live collections of social media posted with hashtags.

NYC based stationary company Poppin, gave away free notebooks and pens and held a competition to win a whole set for your desk in your favourite colour. All you had to do was hashtag an image of the product in your favourite colour, for example #workhappypurple.

The Unplugged Playground by Prodigy Network was also a cool activation to promote the power of the crowd and crowdsourcing, which was set up at the party. It is a collaborative art installation by NY based Alfalfa Studio.

There’s a million more seminars, lectures, events and parties to attend, so watch this space for more updates!