South By Southwest: Why I want to go and you should to.

(Video from http://www.sxsw.com/)

When it comes to the subject of new and emerging technology, the cutting edge of innovation, and entrepreneurship, I can be found sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what’s next. The last decade has been an exciting span of time for the music and entertainment industry that’s brought with it all kinds of new instruments, gear, apps, and more. In this blog post I’d like to discuss the growing popularity of a particular event that’s been taking place annually since 1986 and a few of the reasons why I can’t wait to attend my first one. In case you haven’t guessed which event I’m talking about yet, it’s South by Southwest, held annually in Austin, Texas.

As I mentioned, SXSW began in 1986. It started as a platform for smaller artists to get noticed in a showcase featuring larger names like Jay Z and Johnny Cash. Featured speakers have ranged from “A list” artists, actors, CEO’s, and even President Obama this year. Since it’s beginning, SXSW has branched off into different subcategories or sub-events including music, film, interactive, and exhibitions. Of them, I find the South By Southwest Interactive event to be most attractive, which launched in 1994. SXSW Interactive has become known as a valued launching pad for startups with numbers of attendees topping both SXSW Music and SXSW Film. Alan Berg, an Austin resident and award-winning film maker said this year (2016) that “These giant technology companies, they’re bringing armies of people… It’s great to have the tech people here – but the whole vibe just totally changed.” Twitter and Foursquare even got their starts at SXSW where they were discovered by tech investors. As an aspiring product developer and entrepreneur, I’d like to join the 30,000+ registrants who attend this event every March and get involved in the action.

South by Southwest appears to offer a little bit for everyone. If the Interactive portion of SXSW isn’t quite your cup of tea, you might choose to attend the many conferences, stages, keynotes, live venues, festivals, and networking events made available by just the Music portion alone. That’s not even counting the film side of things which includes it’s own extensive schedule of events including but not limited to film screenings, panels, and meet ups. There are many auxiliary exhibitions going on around SXSW as well in case you’d like to catch up on the latest happenings in the Gaming world, including emerging virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.

I have hopes of preparing for my first SXSW trip in 2017. I hope to see you there!

References

Fung, B. (2016, March 9). SXSW is bigger, but is it better? Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5J86-WHG1-DXXY-32FN&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Hernandez, B. A. (2016, March 24). What Has SXSW Become? Lil Wayne, Emerging Artists And Big Brands Describe The Festival's Puzzling State. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/brianhernandez1/2016/03/24/what-is-sxsw-music-tech-film-brands/#1416e86631a1

Peisner, D. (2014, February 26). Oral HistorySex! Drugs! Apps! SXSW Interactive At 20. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.fastcompany.com/3026402/oral-history-sex-drugs-apps-and-sxswi

South By Southwest. (n.d.). South by Southwest 2016 Music, Film and Interactive Festivals - Austin Texas. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.sxsw.com/