{"id":424,"date":"2018-07-05T20:41:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T03:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=424"},"modified":"2018-07-29T15:47:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T22:47:40","slug":"austin-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"austin space: a journey through sx"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months ago I had my first experience of the phenomenon that is SXSW.\u00a0 Herewith some observations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A preface of sorts:<\/strong>\u00a0 South by Southwest (SXSW or, in the local vernacular, simply \u2018south by\u2019) \u00a0crept onto my radar many years ago; its mix of popular culture, digital media and bleeding edge tech punched a lot of my buttons. \u00a0SXSW was where cool, edgy things went to happen. The event\u2019s cachet was further burnished through chance encounters, such as when I heard Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter, describing how the now ubiquitous app first found its wings at SXSW. \u00a0I harbored a desire to attend someday.\u00a0 In 2018, the opportunity arose and I jumped at it.<\/p>\n

Alas, like so many things in life, I fear I came to the SXSW experience too late, and only got to know it After Corporate Got Involved.\u00a0 SXSW has transmogrified into a colossus of an event, dwarfing its original self beyond all recognition, and while the indie spirit still burns brightly throughout the festival, corporate fingerprints are everywhere, and the profit motive omnipresent.\u00a0 This may not be the SXSW of yore, but it\u2019s what is on offer today, so I\u2019ll take it.<\/p>\n

Backstory:<\/strong> SXSW was launched in 1987 as a vehicle to draw attention to the rich seam of musical and related artistic talent in Austin.\u00a0 It took off big time.\u00a0 In 1994 it added film & interactive festivals to the roster, and has continued to expand into other related streams of interest.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, some 30+ years on, SXSW has aquired a larger than life reputation. It has a global profile and attracts a truly international audience, not to mention world-class speakers and presenters.\u00a0 \u00a0On hearing I\u2019d attended many friends and colleagues jumped on me afterwards wanting to know: \u2018what was it like?\u2019<\/p>\n

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This essay is an attempt to answer that question.\u00a0 What follows has no narrative arc, cohesive theme, or dramatic momentum; it is simply a cluster of wildly varied experiences and observations. Not unlike the event itself.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/strong>\u00a0 Before I ever arrived in Austin, there was much to do.\u00a0 Having registered, I was encouraged to set up my SXSW account and begin to build a schedule of events, which I gamely endeavoured to do.\u00a0 But oh, my \u2013 so many choices.\u00a0 I tried to keep my focus on the Marketing stream of programming \u2013 my ostensible reason for attending \u2013 but so many other events competed for attention.\u00a0 I made several attempts to build an itinerary of events for the whole week but failed every time, weighed down by indecisions in the face of such a glut of choices.\u00a0 In the end, I headed to Austin with a patchy itinerary and hope that things would work out on the day.<\/p>\n

Downtown flooded:<\/strong>\u00a0 I had never been to Austin before, but SX is no time to try and get a sense of the city.\u00a0 The festival completely transforms the downtown core.\u00a0 Anecdotal reports say that anywhere from 300 to 400 thousand people descend on Austin (a city with a resting population of a mere one million) for SX. Its effect on the city\u2019s SOP is profound.\u00a0 The only relateable analogy I have was when Vancouver hosted the 2012 winter Olympics: the entire downtown core was sealed off and rebranded for the occasion.\u00a0 Everywhere you went within the Zone, it was all Olympics, all the time.\u00a0 SXSW was exactly like that.<\/p>\n

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SX\u2019s nerve center is the Austin Convention Center, but as it has grown has also taken over meeting and display spaces in a handful of hotels within a block or two of the ACC.\u00a0 In addition, nearly all of the commercial establishments within walking distance are also co-opted to serve SX, mostly for corporate sponsors and other hangers-on with an agenda to promote and a cool event to host.\u00a0 (A surprising number of sovereign states have a presence, hoping, I suppose, to lure cool tech startups to their various Silicon Valley wannabes.)\u00a0 Nearby strips of entertainment venues \u2013 Rainey Street, 6th Avenue \u2013 are also absorbed into the SX fold, their various hostelries rented out for \u2018brand experiences\u2019 and other such events.\u00a0 Throughout the week, there are street closures aplenty, and you never have to walk to far to encounter the Perimeter: barricades and clusters of police cars keeping threats at bay.\u00a0 As an attendee, you definitely feel like you\u2019re living in a bubble, sealed off from what passes for reality in day to day Austin.<\/p>\n

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And, yeah, everywhere is crowded.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Interesting side note: I arrived on Friday evening, as SX was just kicking off (a colleague joined me a couple of days later).\u00a0 On Saturday morning, I cabbed to the convention center and as I walked a couple of blocks to the registration area, I noticed a curious thing: all the streetlamp poles and sidewalk stanchions were swaddled in cling-wrap.\u00a0 As the week wore on, the reason became clear: every day a small platoon of bill posters patrolled the Zone, papering every available surface with announcements of events, happenings, performances, you name it.\u00a0 Everytime you walked one of those pavements, there were more content choices to take in\u2026.<\/p>\n

And the clingwrap?\u00a0 After the event is done, the local cleanup crews simply peel away the wrap, and strip the poles and stanchions clean.\u00a0 Ingenious, really.<\/p>\n

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Getting around:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>For reasons of economy and\/or availability, we were booked into a hotel about a 30 minute drive from the downtown core in an area called Sunset Valley.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t want to rent a car, and there were no transit options, so travel to and fro the SX heartland was either by taxi or by ride-hail.\u00a0 We used both, and I had my first, first-hand experience of the latter.<\/p>\n

And it was good.\u00a0 Austin apparently has some rocky history with ride hailing firms \u2013 won\u2019t get into it here \u2013 but while Uber is active in the city (and had an aggressive presence in the SX zone) Lyft seems to be the provider of choice.<\/p>\n

And did they provide.\u00a0 All our drivers were punctual, polite and knew their way around.\u00a0 Plus generally drove nicer vehicles than the city\u2019s cab fleet.\u00a0 The most interesting thing about riding with Lyft was the drivers themselves.\u00a0 One was a child of diplomats, a French mother and Nigerian father.\u00a0 Another was in university studing marketing, and quizzed us knowledgeably about our work.\u00a0 Another, a practising psychologist whose professional salary was so meagre, she drove Lyft to supplement it.\u00a0 Intelligent, educated people \u2026 all interesting.<\/p>\n

I did take a few cabs as well.\u00a0 The drivers all knew their way around, were charming and professional, and earned their tips.\u00a0 One did mention to me that life had gotten harder since the ride hailers came to town; business was down by half, he reckoned, and he was considering looking for another line of work.<\/p>\n

All things considered, though, I\u2019d have opted for a hotel closer to the zone.\u00a0 Being so far away made it impractical to bop back and forth, which curtailed a lot of activities.<\/p>\n

Eating on the run:\u00a0<\/strong>My typical\u00a0diet at SX consisted of the following:<\/p>\n