You’re in a crowded bar, your group text buzzes again “Who at the Andressen party? Can we get in?”. You take another swig of an American IPA you didn’t pay for, as the cute lady with the appitizers walks by again. “Hey guys, group together for another photo”, you hear the stranger with the DSLR yell at you. You smile, the camera flashes and you realise “Stay weird Austin” is more than just words, especially in the interactive week of SXSW.
I’m in my second open bar party of the night, tripled booked for every hour of the night with Eventbrite RVSPs, being asked to hashtag something for the fourth time. During SXSW interactive start up marketters decending on downtown Austin turning any venue in a 7 block radius of the convention centre into a hash-tagging, beer-flowing, networking party.
This was my first year at SXSW and I attended with several friend all networking hunger marketers from various startups. Generally I like to think of myself as a developer that can interact with all the other parts of the business, but this week marketer and the business girls and guys go into hyper drive and believe me its overwelming.
So here is my guide to surviving SXSW as a less extroverted individual and some personal highlights about the fun you can have if you embrace the weird.
5 Step guide to surviving SXSW
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Bring comfy shoes and a backpack: There is a lot of walking, after day one I gave up on the stylish bag and shoes and elected for trainers and a backpack with big comfy straps.
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Great to meet people but difficult to open conversations as an introvert: There will be so many great people and opportunities to network for any one in tech at SXSW and because of this it’s hard to start them. My personal advise is to hang with a friend how’s a natural, they can open the chats and like any good conversationalist they’ll bring you in at a natural time. When they do talk naturally, you don’t have to pitch your product in the first 10 words. Trust me, they’ll ask what you do at some point.
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RSVP to everything and anything: I was fortune to have some help filling up my schedule, but before you get off the plane at Austin, look online and event brite the be-jesus out of SXSW events. They’ll be enough free ones to free every hour of every day and night and having the options in your calendar at a glance will pay dividends.
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Take the party you can get into over the unknown everytime: Maybe this is personal peference but on some night we spent a good chuck of it, chasing from line to queue, trying to find the ellisive perfect party. All the time dismissing the party some of our friends were hosting because we knew we could get in there, “It’s a safety net” the group leader said. By the end of the evening we we’re at the supposed safety net party, with no line and turned out to be one of the best parties that night.
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Don’t be afraid to just walk in: Several of my favourite moments this year came from scenidipious moments where we saw something or someone invited us into an event we’d never heard of or knew about before hand. You don’t have to stick to your plan so don’t be afriad to take these opportunities when they hit you.
Personal Highlights:
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Scoring a Pied Piper T-shirt: After seeing a large group of people emerge from an alley, our group decided to check out where they we’re coming from, The Mashable House exit we found. So we walked around the front and entered to a grotto of brand energy and activity. The highlight of which was HBO pitting Hooli and Pied Piper boothes right next to each other to battle it out for attention. The real winner, us, with a Pied Piper Tee to show at the office and a cool bullet time picture from Hooli.
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Random non-profit party: Walking down Congress Street, “Do you wanna come up stairs to our party”, we hear from a lady standing outside the Contemporary Art Meusum. We gambled and found ourselves in a swaky roof top party we waiter giving us they’re speciality cocktail, a great DJ and some hip hop dancers. This wasn’t a planned stop for us but proved to be one of the better parties we found. #missionmatters
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Slap push-ups with a Bro: “Save the Bros” they shouted as we found a group of three guys in vests, arms three times the size of mine, on the corner of 4th and Brazos. “Free T-shirts, Save the Bros” they shouted. This peeked the interest of our group so we asked for the shirt. “10 slap push-up” was the answer. So I’m lead to a less dirty part of the street with a guy my height but twice as wide and get down and do then push-ups high fiveing between each rep, all for a T-shirt. 20 Bucks I was told later the shirts cost, money saved.
Photographs by Jack Plunkett AP.