Last week Mark and I were fortunate enough to head Stateside to Austin, Texas to experience the world famous South by South West (SXSW) festival for the first time and, as it heads into its last few days, I feel I have recovered enough to reflect on my own experience there last week and consider how to proceed with all the things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met.
The 10-day SXSW festival is a series of interactive, film and music conferences and events. We attended the interactive part of the festival, which this year took place between the 7-11 March. The interactive arm of the festival acts is a melting pot of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity which featured bags of compelling presentations and panels along with stimulating networking events (read: parties) hosted by industry leaders all designed to expand delegates’ knowledge and understanding of the world of digital and interactive.
In the coming weeks we will be producing some detailed content based on what we’ve seen, done and learned which will be shared here for anyone who wants to know more, but before I do that I wanted to give you a feel for my overall experience here in Austin.
Considering I’ve been in the middle of Texas, the best comparison I can come up with is that it reminds me of a skiing holiday… It's fast paced, the days are long, my legs ache but it's incredibly exhilarating and great fun.
The chaos
Each March, the whole city of Austin is taken-over by the event and this year was no exception. Over 30,000 people attend 200+ sessions a day across 40 venues (my estimate!). This means a lot of queues, and for everything; the sessions, food, beer, toilets and even the bus -just like a great ski resort where queuing is obligatory.
Even the event schedule is like a piste map, you can't make head nor tail of it at first, but by the end of the week, it’s languishing at the bottom of your satchel as the entire map is embedded in your brain!
The festival definitely has a work hard play hard mentality; those of you that know me, you understand that I need plenty of sleep and food - well at SXSW you get plenty of food (and drink) and not a great deal of sleep, I averaged about 5/6 hours a night - nothing compared to my usual 8/9 hours.
My first day started early with a beautiful walk along the Colorado River into downtown Austin for the 9.30am sessions. After an intense 3 hours, I came up for air at lunch only to start again at 2pm. The afternoon sessions end at 6pm giving no real time to return to our condo (which we sourced via FlipKey – which is excellent by the way) to freshen up before hitting various networking events which dominate the SXSW evenings. All of my eating and drinking was done in the following 4/5 hours before returning back along the river again to our apartment for some well-earned shut-eye. On day 2, I did it all over again, just as I would on a ski trip. You’re just not here long enough not to make the most of it, but I certainly tried.
Who attends SXSW interactive?
As with boarders and skiers there are definite groupings at SXSW Interactive. Marketers, tech geeks and entrepreneurs. However, unlike being on the slopes, these three groups need to get along. Entrepreneurs can't innovate without tech developers and they can't expect to get their product to market without the help of marketers.
So, for any business looking to innovate in the digital and interactive world, SXSW would be a very useful diversion on your way to bringing your product or service to market. It's full of bright people ready and willing to listen.
Would I do it again?
I guess the biggest comparison is that both skiing and SXSW are obsessive, I want to come back next year already, but I definitely need a break. I'm exhausted.
As for next year? I will be better. Better prepared, better equipped (subject of another blog) and a better all round delegate.
And as for my highlights, I don’t want to give it all away just yet, but things I didn't expect included Edward Snowden’s google hang-out. I now understand the sacrifice he's made and the purpose of making it, as well as the wider debate around who owns what data and who has access to it (either overtly or covertly).
And finally for now -Oculus Rift. These 3D glasses are amazing…oh and meeting Nicolas Cage, whose social media experience hasn’t been the best, that was cool!
More to come soon, but for now, it’s time for some sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzz
