I’ve just wrapped up my 13th SXSW. I met a lot of really great people in Austin - and the one question I heard more than any other when meeting new people was “How has SXSW changed over the years?”
Well… everything is different, and everything is still exactly the same.
My first year at South by there were just under 10,000 attendees during the week of Interactive. (That’s back when music didn’t overlap with Interactive or Film weeks yet.)
This year numbers are not official yet, but I would expect that close to 80,000 people attended conference sessions, and well over 400,000 are participating in some aspect of the conference this year.
It’s certainly harder to decide what to attend - there are lots of overlapping speakers, sessions and activations. FOMO is a real thing at SXSW. My advice, as in years past, has been to select 1 or 2 events each day that are your MUST DO events. And then, get to those events early and stand in line so you are sure you get in.
Everything else that happens each day is serendipity. Try to go to other events, but don’t stress if you can’t get in. Follow the flow, be open to just wandering or following along with friends or strangers when they invite you to join them somewhere. Follow a crowd if it looks interesting. Once of my best SXSW stories from years ago was joining a random meeting about 30 people. We were not told what to expect. And...the next thing we know we are all on Willie Nelson’s Tour Bus heading out to….but that’s another story.
What hasn’t changed over the years? The connections you make every day. Seeing old friends, meeting online friends in person, and meeting new people is the heart of the SXSW experience. Attending a keynote session with 5000 people where you get to watch a celebrity on a screen is great - but I experience much more meaningful interactions from the small groups that I engage with. Meeting people from a Facebook group over breakfast and coffee, or hanging with new friends on the back patio at the Four Seasons overlooking the water. A great dinner at a food truck or one of Austin’s exceptional foodie restaurants. Sitting at the bar meeting new people and catching up with friends at one of the many hosted events.
Wow, it’s really easy to just eat your way through SXSW.
So...what’s the SXSW experience in 2019 vs. 13 years ago? It’s bigger, lots more people, more overlapping and conflicting events, everything is way more crowded, it spreads out further each year.
And it is exactly the same in every way that matters.
Well… everything is different, and everything is still exactly the same.
My first year at South by there were just under 10,000 attendees during the week of Interactive. (That’s back when music didn’t overlap with Interactive or Film weeks yet.)
This year numbers are not official yet, but I would expect that close to 80,000 people attended conference sessions, and well over 400,000 are participating in some aspect of the conference this year.
It’s certainly harder to decide what to attend - there are lots of overlapping speakers, sessions and activations. FOMO is a real thing at SXSW. My advice, as in years past, has been to select 1 or 2 events each day that are your MUST DO events. And then, get to those events early and stand in line so you are sure you get in.
Everything else that happens each day is serendipity. Try to go to other events, but don’t stress if you can’t get in. Follow the flow, be open to just wandering or following along with friends or strangers when they invite you to join them somewhere. Follow a crowd if it looks interesting. Once of my best SXSW stories from years ago was joining a random meeting about 30 people. We were not told what to expect. And...the next thing we know we are all on Willie Nelson’s Tour Bus heading out to….but that’s another story.
What hasn’t changed over the years? The connections you make every day. Seeing old friends, meeting online friends in person, and meeting new people is the heart of the SXSW experience. Attending a keynote session with 5000 people where you get to watch a celebrity on a screen is great - but I experience much more meaningful interactions from the small groups that I engage with. Meeting people from a Facebook group over breakfast and coffee, or hanging with new friends on the back patio at the Four Seasons overlooking the water. A great dinner at a food truck or one of Austin’s exceptional foodie restaurants. Sitting at the bar meeting new people and catching up with friends at one of the many hosted events.
Wow, it’s really easy to just eat your way through SXSW.
So...what’s the SXSW experience in 2019 vs. 13 years ago? It’s bigger, lots more people, more overlapping and conflicting events, everything is way more crowded, it spreads out further each year.
And it is exactly the same in every way that matters.
