What is SXSW anymore?
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #194 ❤️
This week, our newsletter comes to you from SXSW in Austin, Texas. More talk, less links this week.
So, we are back after a few years away.
But what does SXSW look like in 2024? It started as a music festival with digital, and became an “Interactive” festival, with music.
And film.
This is where tech giants (Zuck, Cuban etc) and media experts (Swisher, Galloway) turned into digital celebrities.
So, is it worth paying up to $2000 to join a very long AI TED talk?
Let’s get into it.
Ps – don't miss the bonus – it's a download link that will make you the most knowledgeable person in your company and that's a B&H guarantee.
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#1 - Things that remain the same
This is our fourth visit to SXSW, with the first being way back in 2014, a good decade ago. What remains the same and what tips can you glean from that? Here is a top five for you.
1 – The platinum pass is still not worth it. The all singing all dancing pass, an extra 300 dollars over the standard interactive pass gets you… next to nothing. In fact, it makes you look a bit of a swanky douche. Save your money, buy the normal pass. Use what is left over on BBQ, beer or both.
2 – Talking about BBQ, it’s still ubiquitous, still on every street and you still cannot eat enough of it. Until you do, then there are always tacos.
3 – The App remains one of the worst we have ever used. Given it is an Interactive festival you would think they had SOME friends in the industry to try and improve this. Clearly not.
4 – Panels are still the worst thing to go to. You learn nothing and they are just soundbites that play to the crowd. Avoid like the plague.
5 – The side tracks to the main events are more interesting in the long run and that way do the nuggets lie. Find more obscure talks, look for serendipity, it’s the best way to find out something new.
#2 – Things that are different
This year, there is an increase in brands. And not sexy ones. We see Accenture, Dell, IBM, among others.
There are also fewer agencies. You can notice that by the scarcity of creative directors wearing their typical outfits (jeans, tight jackets, quirky hats).
Or women in white t-shirts and black trousers. It reflects the shift in SXSW over the years from a place to send your promising talent to learn from the best in the industry, to corporates on a fun trip.
There are also MANY more Latinx attendees than we recall. Hello Brazil!
Which is a positive thing and might help us learn languages faster at B&H since one of the team is Argentine.
South America has discovered SXSW, and it improves the experience.
We hope to see more speakers from their countries, in their langauge - there must be a lot of exciting activities south of the border. Right?
#3 - The Good
One thing we noticed this year was that social was not a hot topic. Or a topic at all. Maybe it’s because it’s so common it’s not interesting, or because it’s too harmful it’s not worth it. We saw a talk that said social is dead (we never went) and we went to one poor panel where the advice was “digital is here, we have to deal with it”. That’s obvious. But these moments were rare.
AI was EVERYWHERE but not in a negative way. Many discussions on what it means, how to use it and how to protect against it (deepfakes etc). Some very interesting talks out there. We were impressed.
The music was still rewarding. Some great bands in some great bars and you should try Pete’s Duelling Piano Bar at least once in your life.
But finally, possibility still feels like it is in the air. When Twitter launched here it was not that SXSW had a series of unicorn launch successes, it was just the right place at the right time. We hope to see more of this at SXSW in the future. Just not this year.
#4 - The Bad
Advertising is ubiquitous with brands paying for everything that moved and most that did not. That is unfortunate, but not very different from other years. It still seems a bit crude though.
The quality of WiFi connection is still poor. We wrote years ago that WiFi should be like air, free and everywhere. SXSW and Austin would be the ideal place for this to happen. Not yet.
The main problem this year was the lack of excitement in the air (see opportunity in the air above). We recall the year we came when Snapchat spectacles were launched with pop up vending machines creating a buzz all over the city. When scooters became a solution for the last mile problem they were here first, and we used them all. Bird, Uber, Lime, all of them. We saw Kevin try to justify, poorly, why he sold to Facebook. Hint. Money. Lots of it. But this year? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Even the launch party was a disappointment.
The most interesting thing was seeing Scott Galloway again (we met with him before his digital fame when he was trying to sell our founder his old companies services).
He is still shorter in real life.
We hope that SXSW recovers its charm. We hope to be here when it does.
#5 - The Ugly
This year there were chuggers everywhere (charity muggers). You could not move without someone yelling “so you don’t want to save the animals in the Congo then!”. They got in the way and made relaxing in and around the conference centre a pain.
Homelessness remains a problem in the city, as it does for all cities now across the globe. The US though seems to have a lot more homeless people with obvious mental illness. It’s a shame and while a complex problem one we would like to see a lot more support for.
It is hard to say anything bad about Austin though. It’s an amazing city with great people and a vibe that is exciting and releasing. There is nothing ugly about that.
See you next year Austin. Stay weird.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus - The Future is Here
We told you we had something huge for you. Every year, there is a truly powerful presentation by Amy Webb, a "futurist". She doesn't use a crystal ball. She uses data analysts and teams to make real predictions and to separate fads (like the current big mugs from Stanley) from trends (like AI combined with medical analysis on your wrist).
Her presentation was amazing - and we have the link for you to download her full presentation and analysis deck. It's more than 100 pages, so you might want to use ChatGPT to give your boss a summary.
Hint - the future is AI combined with Connectable combined with Biotechnology. She calls it a Technology Supercycle. It is both frightening and exciting and will either free us or trap us. Sit back and get some popcorn.
To find out more on how you can retain your top talent, or how we can help you with digital solutions to your business and marketing challenges, check out our case studies.