The Motley Fool at South by Southwest 2017

The South by Southwest conference is wrapping itself up after a busy week. The Motley Fool sent a team of analysts down to Austin to discover some the latest technology and insights that companies are showcasing this year -- tune in to get a preview of what they have learned.

A full transcript follows the video.

Chris Hill: Hey, everybody! I'm Chris Hill, here with Simon Erickson and Dylan Lewis. We're here at South by Southwest. There's so much going on. We're here at the trade show. I don't know if you can see behind us, but booths from around the world and across America. I wanted to talk a little bit about what we're doing here at The Motley Fool. Our podcasts, Market Foolery and Industry Focus, all week we're focusing on South by Southwest, so you can check those out. Dylan Lewis, what are some of the things you've seen that you're going to be working on?

Dylan Lewis: We've been lucky in that there have been a lot of highly followed public companies that have spoken at the conference. We've heard from Netflix, we've heard from Facebook. It's really been great to get that behind the scenes look at some of these companies. Obviously not a ton on the investing angle. There's not so much talking about where these business segments are going, what the growth is. But it's a really interesting lens into how they work and some projects they're working on that might ultimately find their way into consumers' hands. Same goes for Disney. We talked about it extensively on the Industry Focus show.

One of the areas that you do get to see a little bit more emerging tech, and I think people are willing to share a little bit more, is out here on the trade show floor. I know, personally, I was really surprised with how much we've seen with augmented reality and virtual reality this year. Obviously, that was a focus last year, and I think we're moving past where it's simply a gaming platform and a content consumption platform. We're seeing people get into mobile marketing with augmented reality, we're seeing people get into social channels and building communities so that when you're in these platforms, you're able to engage with your friends. And there's all these additional layers that are being added right now. It's been interesting to see from one year to the next the improvements and developments, where all those resources are going in that field.

Hill: Yeah, we were here at South by Southwest last year. Definitely a much bigger presence in virtual reality this year as opposed to last year. Simon Erickson, what are some of the things that you've seen that you're going to be working on?

Simon Erickson: Chris, we've been here almost a week and there's a ton of things going on at South by Southwest. But I'm actually going to be offering a free report on the three biggest changes that I see happening in technology over the next five years. That goes for computing, for healthcare, and for entertainment -- three of the largest trends that I've seen personally at South by this year.

Hill: Now, I know you're still working on the report, so give me a little sneak preview, at least, on the entertainment side.

Erickson: Entertainment is always the big hit at South by Southwest. My biggest takeaway in entertainment is that it's going mobile. Movie theaters are going to be a nostalgic past-time. More and more, it's going to be headsets like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. Consumers will be able to digitally download movies, videos, or gaming content directly to them. Now, they're actually going to be able to do this from anywhere that has WiFi internet, whether that's on the train, or at your local Starbucks, and they'll know the location of where you are, so advertising can adapt to that accordingly, too. Watch for entertainment to go mobile in the next five years.

Hill: All right. And watch for Simon's report! That's coming in the next week or so. You can find it right here on Facebook. From South by Southwest, for Dylan Lewis and Simon Erickson, I'm Chris Hill, we'll see you next time.

Chris Hill: Hey, everybody! I'm Chris Hill, here with Simon Erickson and Dylan Lewis. We're here at South by Southwest. There's so much going on. We're here at the trade show. I don't know if you can see behind us, but, booths from around the world and across America. I wanted to talk a little bit about what we're doing here at The Motley Fool. Our podcasts, Market Foolery and Industry Focus, all week we're focusing on South by Southwest, so you can check those out. Dylan Lewis, what are some of the things you've seen that you're going to be working on?

Dylan Lewis: We've been lucky in that there have been a lot of highly followed public companies that have spoken at the conference. We've heard from Netflix, we've heard from Facebook. It's really been great to get that behind the scenes look at some of these companies. Obviously not a ton on the investing angle. There's not so much talking about where these business segments are going, what the growth is. But it's a really interesting lens into how they work and some projects they're working on that might ultimately find their way into consumers' hands. Same goes for Disney. We talked about it extensively on the Industry Focus show. One of the areas that you do get to see a little bit more emerging tech, and I think people are willing to share a little bit more, is out here on the trade show floor. I know, personally, I was really surprised with how much we've seen with augmented reality and virtual reality this year. Obviously, that was a focus last year, and I think we're moving past where it's simply a gaming platform and a content consumption platform. We're seeing people get into mobile marketing with augmented reality, we're seeing people get into social channels and building communities so that when you're in these platforms, you're able to engage with your friends. And there's all these additional layers that are being added right now. It's been interesting to see from one year to the next the improvements and developments, where all those resources are going in that field.

Hill: Yeah, we were here at South by Southwest last year. Definitely a much bigger presence in virtual reality this year as opposed to last year. Simon Erickson, what are some of the things that you've seen that you're going to be working on?

Simon Erickson: Chris, we've been here almost a week and there's a ton of things going on at South by Southwest. But I'm actually going to be offering a free report on the three biggest changes that I see happening in technology over the next five years. That goes for computing, for healthcare, and for entertainment -- three of the largest trends that I've seen personally at South by this year.

Hill: Now, I know you're still working on the report, so give me a little sneak preview, at least, on the entertainment side.

Erickson: Entertainment is always the big hit at South by Southwest. My biggest takeaway in entertainment is that it's going mobile. Movie theaters are going to be a nostalgic past-time. More and more, it's going to be headsets like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. Consumers will be able to digitally download movies, videos, or gaming content directly to them. Now, they're actually going to be able to do this from anywhere that has WiFi internet, whether that's on the train, or at your local Starbucks, and they'll know the location of where you are, so advertising can adapt to that accordingly, too. Watch for entertainment to go mobile in the next five years.

Hill: All right. And watch for Simon's report! That's coming in the next week or so. You can find it right here on Facebook. From South by Southwest, for Dylan Lewis and Simon Erickson, I'm Chris Hill, we'll see you next time.