Tricks of the trade: Why the SXSW trade show is the only game in town for some delegates
By Alison Ray at SXSW
An afternoon spent at the Spotify house, chatting with employees of arguably one of the most successful social music sharing sites of the moment is an interesting follow up to a few hours spent at the SXSW trade show. How do you go from coming to SXSW with a dream, to hosting the hottest party in town?
While initially not interested in attending the trade show, a bit of spare time between sessions saw me wandering through and staying for longer than expected. I’d assumed I’d be hit with the smell of desperation as soon as I entered the room. Really, would it be much more than a room full of start ups, just looking for funding or someone to listen to their own version of the next big thing? While there is a few of those people wandering the conference, the trade show had a remarkably professional feel to it.
There is the typical shameless bribery with a range of promotional products (I personally got 6 free t-shirts, I’ll be honest). There are also the products that you think, do you really belong here, like waterproof iPad cases. But overall there was a good mix of new technology, and the well known players such as Amazon and Getty.
I spent some time talking to a few guys who were ex-artists, there to launch their own music sharing site AAMPP.com. Billed as a new, easy to use platform where creative professionals can share with fans what they love most: music. Set up to be used by artists, agents, managers, producers, promoters and fans, the site is about letting the artists take back control of the distribution of their own music. These guys are here, talking to everyone, trying to get their site off the ground. Will they be the next big thing? Its hard to know, but as Twitter and FourSquare were the same boat a few years back these guys obviously believe its possible.
This is a different side of SXSW – those who are here to network, and promote their own business offering. I asked Melbourne based Zia Word (zia@pausefest.com.au), a colleague from a past life, why her 4th SXSW isn’t about attending the keynotes. “This is the biggest and best place to meet people in digital. It’s huge. I’m here to link up and meet with people to talk about the conference I’m involved in, Pause festival. As the new business director, I’m looking for potential attendees, interesting speakers and of course sponsors”.
For Zia and her business partners, this is the perfect opportunity to meet their target audience all in once place. With Pause fest having a similar format to SXSW, with an interactive component with keynotes and speakers, there is also going to be start ups and new business there to promote their ideas. Running in Melbourne and Perth this year, the conference has already tripled its attendance since launch.
As long term SX attendees they have seen that coming to Austin every year is prohibitive for many Aussies, so are looking to bring the experience down under instead. Hope to connect with presenters and companies here, their vision is to create a digital hub for Asia Pacific. This is the entrepreneurial spirit that SX has running in its veins, and I can see how infectious it is when Zia tells me about their dreams and goal. In fact, I kinda start to wish I’d thought of it.
I dismissed this side of the conference when I first got here. I didn’t think I was interested, and I was probably a bit narrow minded in thinking it wasn’t for me. These people are passionate, and working hard to bring their dream to life – be that a new website or a conference to bring SX to their home countries.
Alison Ray, planning director at The Brand Agency in Perth, Western Australia, is attending SXSW in Austin and reporting exclusively for Campaign Brief.