SXSW has arrived in Austin, TX, which is unusually chilly this time of year. The festival’s big gaping maw has barely begun to open to swallow up the tens of thousands of people who show up each year to discover and celebrate the seemingly infinite amount of creative endeavors put on display. And to network. Oh, the networking. Around every corner, you can hear the shuffle of wallets as business cards are exchanged, musicians oh so casually mention where their bands are playing, and movie people (mostly producers) talk a little too loudly on their cell phones about meeting up with some famous celebrity. But that comes later.
Right now? Right now, registrants are still on their way to town (if they don’t already live in Austin), impressive tech gurus are going over their presentation notes for the fifth time, booths are stacking up next to each other like Minecraft blocks, and the line to receive badges sees a rare down time.
You can practically see the SXSW volunteers holding their breath in anticipation.
For now, the Press, Interactive, Gold, and Platinum Badge holders may pick up their badges. Film and Music Badge holders must wait until Monday, March 11 to pick up their badges. The crossover of Interactive, Film, and Music events is brilliantly choreographed to give the most exposure to the most people. On Thursday, those who arrived early easily breeze through practically non-existent lines and then pick up their bags full of not much. There’s the requisite copy of The Austin Chronicle, the city’s independent newsweekly, and multiple SXSW Interactive guide books. The largest of which ranks in at 250 pages of an overstimulating amount of images and a dizzying assortment of buzzwords.
SXSW bags today, canvas grocery bags tomorrow.
(Image courtesy of Roy Janik, co-owner of The Hideout Theatre)
Truthfully, there’s not a lot to see at this point, but that doesn’t stop the interactive portion of SXSW from leaking out onto the lobby floor of the convention center before the convention even has a chance to start. The most inescapable installation in the lobby has to be the creepy semi-hologram (images are projected on a flat piece of plastic) by 3M that greets you and quizzes you about SXSW.
Notice how the Virtual Presenter’s eyes follow you wherever you go. Her lifeless, lifeless eyes.
Not everything in the lobby gives the feeling that its trying to charm the soul out of you though. American Airlines has a rather large display showcasing the many, many people who tried to win free tickets to SXSW by retweeting the airline’s tagline that “American is Evolving” to form a picture of one of its new airplanes on a giant screen. The airline is recreating its brand identity and SXSW is as good a place as any to advertise that. In front of the flickering lights are several charging stations for cell phones that open or lock with a credit card. No charge is made to the cards; they simply act as keys for the horizontal doors on the devices. These charging stations will come in handy throughout the festival, but there’s likely going to be a line to use them unless there are dozens more positioned around locations of the festival.
How amazing would it be to see these on street corners in your city?
The festival spreads itself all over Austin. Parking downtown isn’t a possible thing as most roads are blocked off, but there are shuttles scheduled to haul you back and forth the mile or so between event centers. What this city sees now is tame compared to what happens when the Music and Film portions of the festival begin to truly make SXSW’s presence not just known, but unavoidable. In case you ever forget who or what’s happening at SXSW, signs for every damn thing wallpaper the city to remind you.
Everywhere.
Later today, everything at SXSW Interactive kicks into gear. NASA gets social. Games have their own expo at the aptly named Gaming Expo. Cats line up to have their internet stardom questioned. And hackers prep to break everything they see to try to make something better. It’ll be hours yet before headlines start dotting the digital landscape about what is or isn’t the next Twitter or Foursquare.
It’s early yet, and there’s much to do.
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