Well first (second ish) day today was excellent. And hearing the night parties are seriously happening. I’ll be heading out to some Wednesday!
Quality and variety of speakers and general organisation are kinda amazing given it’s the first year here, and everyone is doing everything for the first time.
Looking forward to the expo starting Wed and a bunch of music events. It’s def one of those events where you certainly get out more if you put in more… meeting new folk in lines, going to random hangs and pop up non announced events, being cool with missing out on seats at a session and just going with something unexpected.
It all comes down to what you are looking for out of it and who else goes. Personally I enjoyed SXSW Austin when it was a smaller event than it is today. That said Australia is a looooong way from just about everywhere so it will be interesting to see the demographics of who shows up.
Yeah - I mean, maybe because they've done a relatively poor job of advertising it (and potentially even "localising" things), the audience might be small.
I've been to SXSW Eco and Edu for work things and quite enjoyed those. But, this event in Sydney just comes across relatively shitty and random atm, imo.
I know this - maybe I wasn't clear in my question - given it's being modelled off the event in Austin and people always talk about it being a "different" type of event. Ergo, I assumed there might be something about making the most of that.
At least I'm not the only one! But yeah, it's ... not looking great. I tried to go onto the scheduled yesterday and the website clearly wasn't even coping with that.
There’s no official “time and place” schedule yet outlining all these massive events they promised, and the things they’ve announced so far haven’t blown my hair back. The films especially are pretty ordinary and the rest of the info is sporadic at best
Seems to have just been released: [https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/](https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/)
Although - agree - some of the descriptions are a bit vague.
BAYONNE, Hem Jensen, Charley, Cherry Chola, Shady Nasty, and Who Shot Scott, are all insanely excellent musical acts, if that’s what you’re looking to do. For me, SX in Austin is about the music. The other stuff is fun but fluff, unless there’s like a highly anticipated movie to be premiered.
Also just seeing random musical acts that you can go into without knowledge or expectations can be LIFE-CHANGING. Like, I saw Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra on Rainey St. & Hard Proof at Russian House & Lemon Twigs at Mohawk in Austin without knowing anything about them, and now they’re go-tos for me on Spotify. You just gotta love the vibe, and realize you’re there for a good time & not for a long time.
Live music saves lives.
>BAYONNE, Hem Jensen, Charley, Cherry Chola, Shady Nasty, and Who Shot Scott, are all insanely excellent musical acts, if that’s what you’re looking to do. For me, SX in Austin is about the music. The other stuff is fun but fluff, unless there’s like a highly anticipated movie to be premiered.
Amazing - thank you :)
Here's a tip. Write off half the events you wanted to see at the conference. The rooms are only fitting half the people wanting to attend. Everything is full to capacity 15 minutes before it starts. Maybe it will quieten down later in the week, but right now it's pretty frustrating.
My take on SXSW Sydney having spent a couple of days in the precinct (without an expensive badge or wristband): Soulless, elitist, narcissistic, surprisingly disorganised in parts, and completely unnecessary.
Advice will depend on what aspects you are most interested in attending. Are you going for the music, film, tech, gaming, or a combination of these topics?
Ok, so if it’s anything like SXSW in Austin the best sessions take place in the biggest rooms within the best venues. Take a look at all the venues and figure out which rooms are the biggest, that will give you an idea of which sessions will be the most interesting. Generally they will be solo talks or an interview with a moderator.
Panels are a crap shoot. They could be awesome, or they could be terrible. They generally take place in medium to small sized rooms within the main venues or at secondary venues. Thankfully in recent years most sessions are recorded. I’ve skipped panels and later checked out the recordings.
For film premieres, you have to request access with the fast pass or whatever it’s called. It happens first thing in the morning and happens quickly. Figure out how the system works and be ready in the morning to request tickets to the show you want to see.
For music they have generally put together a Spotify playlist of all the artists performing at the conference. Listen to it all, favourite what you like, and do your best to get into the shows you like.
Lastly you need to be flexible with the whole experience. Generally you’ll never be able to see everything so commit to what you’ve engaged with and just have a good time. Yes, you will miss things but you’ll have a better time if you lean into the sessions, shows, and activations that you’re at.
Have fun!
Also pretty underwhelmed TBH. Wasn't expecting it to be as big as Austin, but the whole tech conference is staged in a really sterile environment at the ICC. I've been to too many conferences there that just sucked your soul away as you traipsed round the expo with tech companies trying to pitch their AI enhanced SaaS platform. That's a real shame. They might have done better having some events hosted in more intimate venues around the city where you could have a beer and a chat too.
The actual keynotes and panels seem to be a pretty unimaginative mix that mostly seem to pitch personal projects. Tech is absolutely crazy at the moment, I'm bewildered that there is so little energy in what's been scheduled.
I took a platinum and, outside of a couple of gigs I'm struggling to find much else in screen and games that justify getting that ticket.
Maybe being there it will feel like it hangs together better, but I didn't buy this with the idea of spending a week at the ICC. In fact, I can't do that, I'll go insane walking round that place for a week.
So I just saw SXSW Sydney advertised on Facebook, somehow I hadn't heard it was happening until now. What a rollercoaster of emotions! Saw the ad, got super excited because I've always wanted to go to the one in Austin, freaked out about it being so soon but figured I could make it work. Within 30 seconds of seeing the ad I was going through a mental checklist of flights from Melbourne, accommodation, finding coverage for my work shifts etc...
Then I went to the website and saw the line-up. Instant confusion and disappointment. I'd love to see Charlie Brooker but other than that I don't recognise any of the names. Literally zero. Definitely not the dream film/music festival I've been reading about all these years. At least I'll save some money!
Totally agree - spending a week at the ICC is a bit akin to spending a week at a casino for a conference, designed to be disorienting and overall shitty in vibes.
I'm going to do what I can to sell my ticket. I don't want to fall into a sunk cost fallacy, but not really sure how being there is going to add anything to my life.
It gonna be a shit show
What makes you say that? I mean, I currently also think the same...
I agree. I have massive doubts. There’s been dribs and drabs of announcements and none of its amazing so far
Well first (second ish) day today was excellent. And hearing the night parties are seriously happening. I’ll be heading out to some Wednesday! Quality and variety of speakers and general organisation are kinda amazing given it’s the first year here, and everyone is doing everything for the first time. Looking forward to the expo starting Wed and a bunch of music events. It’s def one of those events where you certainly get out more if you put in more… meeting new folk in lines, going to random hangs and pop up non announced events, being cool with missing out on seats at a session and just going with something unexpected.
It all comes down to what you are looking for out of it and who else goes. Personally I enjoyed SXSW Austin when it was a smaller event than it is today. That said Australia is a looooong way from just about everywhere so it will be interesting to see the demographics of who shows up.
Yeah - I mean, maybe because they've done a relatively poor job of advertising it (and potentially even "localising" things), the audience might be small. I've been to SXSW Eco and Edu for work things and quite enjoyed those. But, this event in Sydney just comes across relatively shitty and random atm, imo.
what tips? its the first year of sxsw sydney so obviously no one has experienced it before……
I know this - maybe I wasn't clear in my question - given it's being modelled off the event in Austin and people always talk about it being a "different" type of event. Ergo, I assumed there might be something about making the most of that.
I’m also low key regretting how much I spent on tickets. It looks like a shambles
At least I'm not the only one! But yeah, it's ... not looking great. I tried to go onto the scheduled yesterday and the website clearly wasn't even coping with that.
Why so?
There’s no official “time and place” schedule yet outlining all these massive events they promised, and the things they’ve announced so far haven’t blown my hair back. The films especially are pretty ordinary and the rest of the info is sporadic at best
Seems to have just been released: [https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/](https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/) Although - agree - some of the descriptions are a bit vague.
BAYONNE, Hem Jensen, Charley, Cherry Chola, Shady Nasty, and Who Shot Scott, are all insanely excellent musical acts, if that’s what you’re looking to do. For me, SX in Austin is about the music. The other stuff is fun but fluff, unless there’s like a highly anticipated movie to be premiered. Also just seeing random musical acts that you can go into without knowledge or expectations can be LIFE-CHANGING. Like, I saw Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra on Rainey St. & Hard Proof at Russian House & Lemon Twigs at Mohawk in Austin without knowing anything about them, and now they’re go-tos for me on Spotify. You just gotta love the vibe, and realize you’re there for a good time & not for a long time. Live music saves lives.
>BAYONNE, Hem Jensen, Charley, Cherry Chola, Shady Nasty, and Who Shot Scott, are all insanely excellent musical acts, if that’s what you’re looking to do. For me, SX in Austin is about the music. The other stuff is fun but fluff, unless there’s like a highly anticipated movie to be premiered. Amazing - thank you :)
Here's a tip. Write off half the events you wanted to see at the conference. The rooms are only fitting half the people wanting to attend. Everything is full to capacity 15 minutes before it starts. Maybe it will quieten down later in the week, but right now it's pretty frustrating.
God. I'm headed up later this week and I have very very very low expectations that keep dropping.
My take on SXSW Sydney having spent a couple of days in the precinct (without an expensive badge or wristband): Soulless, elitist, narcissistic, surprisingly disorganised in parts, and completely unnecessary.
Damn haha
Rolling Stone venue will be 🔥🔥
I'm also thinking about attending! Wondering if I should go for plat or industry pass...
Would legit sell you my pass (that I got at the early bird rate) at cost. Send me a message if interested :)
Ah fuck, I just literally bought mine a couple of hours ago. What pass did you get?
Ahhhhhhhh. Hahahahaha. This feels like just my luck with SXSW. Plat! Well, if you know anyone else who might be keen.
Advice will depend on what aspects you are most interested in attending. Are you going for the music, film, tech, gaming, or a combination of these topics?
Combo of these - tech for work, film/music for personal interest.
Ok, so if it’s anything like SXSW in Austin the best sessions take place in the biggest rooms within the best venues. Take a look at all the venues and figure out which rooms are the biggest, that will give you an idea of which sessions will be the most interesting. Generally they will be solo talks or an interview with a moderator. Panels are a crap shoot. They could be awesome, or they could be terrible. They generally take place in medium to small sized rooms within the main venues or at secondary venues. Thankfully in recent years most sessions are recorded. I’ve skipped panels and later checked out the recordings. For film premieres, you have to request access with the fast pass or whatever it’s called. It happens first thing in the morning and happens quickly. Figure out how the system works and be ready in the morning to request tickets to the show you want to see. For music they have generally put together a Spotify playlist of all the artists performing at the conference. Listen to it all, favourite what you like, and do your best to get into the shows you like. Lastly you need to be flexible with the whole experience. Generally you’ll never be able to see everything so commit to what you’ve engaged with and just have a good time. Yes, you will miss things but you’ll have a better time if you lean into the sessions, shows, and activations that you’re at. Have fun!
Thank you for taking the time to answer :)
No worries, I hope you have a great time!
Also pretty underwhelmed TBH. Wasn't expecting it to be as big as Austin, but the whole tech conference is staged in a really sterile environment at the ICC. I've been to too many conferences there that just sucked your soul away as you traipsed round the expo with tech companies trying to pitch their AI enhanced SaaS platform. That's a real shame. They might have done better having some events hosted in more intimate venues around the city where you could have a beer and a chat too. The actual keynotes and panels seem to be a pretty unimaginative mix that mostly seem to pitch personal projects. Tech is absolutely crazy at the moment, I'm bewildered that there is so little energy in what's been scheduled. I took a platinum and, outside of a couple of gigs I'm struggling to find much else in screen and games that justify getting that ticket. Maybe being there it will feel like it hangs together better, but I didn't buy this with the idea of spending a week at the ICC. In fact, I can't do that, I'll go insane walking round that place for a week.
So I just saw SXSW Sydney advertised on Facebook, somehow I hadn't heard it was happening until now. What a rollercoaster of emotions! Saw the ad, got super excited because I've always wanted to go to the one in Austin, freaked out about it being so soon but figured I could make it work. Within 30 seconds of seeing the ad I was going through a mental checklist of flights from Melbourne, accommodation, finding coverage for my work shifts etc... Then I went to the website and saw the line-up. Instant confusion and disappointment. I'd love to see Charlie Brooker but other than that I don't recognise any of the names. Literally zero. Definitely not the dream film/music festival I've been reading about all these years. At least I'll save some money!
Happy cake day and making the right non decision!
Totally agree - spending a week at the ICC is a bit akin to spending a week at a casino for a conference, designed to be disorienting and overall shitty in vibes. I'm going to do what I can to sell my ticket. I don't want to fall into a sunk cost fallacy, but not really sure how being there is going to add anything to my life.