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The air felt different at this year\u2019s SXSW, the annual March festival where tech meets pop culture in Austin.\u00a0I was reminded of the 2019 SXSW when people packed downtown, and snake lines formed out of local ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attendees said it was like that again this year, though my friend, who lives in the area and has attended many times, admitted that some stuff has changed. For instance the festival is now two days shorter than it used to be.<\/a> It was also \u201cdecentralized,\u201d mainly due to the demolition of the Austin Convention Center, which scattered events and panels throughout downtown venues. That made the whole conference feel less overwhelming but also less connected.<\/p>\n The event is also still recovering from the pandemic, during which it laid off staff and went two years without much income. It\u2019s switched hands since then and, as of this year, has adopted a new strategy.<\/p>\n Greg Rosenbaum, the SVP of programming at SXSW, said this year, the conference\u2019s 40th anniversary, was its most \u201cambitious reinvention\u201d yet. He cited changes like the new Clubhouses, for recharging, networking, and special programming, that attracted 5,000 people daily. He noted how attendees were experiencing \u201cmore of Austin and the downtown community.\u201d<\/p>\n For at least the tech founders I spoke with, the conference remains immensely valuable, and everyone had the same advice: conferences like these, you get what you give.\u00a0<\/p>\n After all, there were people to meet and panels to speak on. The Grammy-nominated Lola Young performed, Vox threw a hot party, the new Boots Riley film premiered, while Serena Williams and Steven Spielberg had keynotes. (I also moderated a panel about AI and taboo topics like relationships and money, which was pretty good if you ask me.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Ashley Tryner-Dolce, an investor and founder, said the conference was still an \u201cincredible gathering of ideas.\u201d Like many festivals, though, she found the most \u201cmeaningful moments\u201d happened at the side events \u2014 like INC\u2019s Founder House party, where she connected with other founders and CEOs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> \u201cIt\u2019s less about the main stage and more about who you\u2019re sitting across from,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n James Norman, a managing partner at Black Ops VC, didn\u2019t even have a proper badge to the festival. He threw an event to connect founders with opportunities and attended some film screenings and dinners.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re just showing up without the right connections or proximity to the rooms and conversations that matter, you\u2019re going to struggle to unlock the real value of the event,\u201d he said, which is exactly what Jonathan Sperber, a founder who participated in the SXSW pitch competition, also expressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe value tends to depend on how well you prepare for it,\u201d Sperber said, adding that his team made sure to have meetings lined up and a clear strategy going in. He called it an \u201ceffective setting for connecting with large enterprises and other key stakeholders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The talk of SXSW being dead has circled the industry for years, but that never seems to be the case. For every batch of tiring founders, emerges a crop of fresh eyes and ambition, ready to take advantage of what lies in the festival\u2019s wake.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, this was Simon Davis\u2019 first SXSW. He said that his overall impression was that it was \u201ca media conference with a tech angle, not the other way around.\u201d He praised the diversity of the event compared to other tech events (which we will spare to mentioning).<\/p>\n \u201cAt SXSW, you get a much wider range of people, backgrounds, and experience levels,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe live music programming reinforces that. It\u2019s a different energy entirely. Not somewhere you\u2019d necessarily go to do deals as a tech company, but a great place to share and learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This year, SXSW introduced a new badging system, meaning each person had a different experience, depending on what track badge they bought \u2014 film, music, or tech. I, for example, felt surrounded by conversations about AI and technology, and overheard other tech people talking about how the festival once had a stronger music focus (though it did seem, for sure, that there were more tech-focused panels this year than music showcases or film opportunities).<\/p>\n The conference also eliminated the secondary access that let people with, say, music badges get into film events. Instead, people had to buy the all-in-one premium badge for around $2,000. It also introduced a reservation system (to help with lines), where badge holders had to book time for whatever they wanted to do. That was true even for those with a platinum badge, like Sperber.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, he said the festival didn\u2019t feel like a place where anyone could just show up, and noted that some events booked up so quickly they were difficult to get into. The decentralized bit also made it harder to get around than he would have liked.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI liked the openness and the ability to meet folks from all life experiences, got to really understand the city, and some of the interactive exhibits were very interesting,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rosenbaum said the team made the decision to get rid of secondary access after hearing feedback that attendees want more of a \u201cstreamlined access across the badges, as well as more benefits for Platinum badges.\u201d They also lowered the price of the platinum badge to make the all-in-one option more affordable. Reservations, meanwhile, will return next year, he said, citing positive feedback (aside from a few technical errors and capacity confusion). \u201cWe will certainly adjust and refine them as needed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Norman described it as more of an \u201cunconference\u201d now, at least from his perspective. He said the event was more flexible, allowing people to move around, meet people, and then go to other places.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rodney Williams, the co-founder of the fintech SoLo Funds, has also noticed a change, but again, it\u2019s not necessarily a bad one. He\u2019s been going to SXSW for more than a decade and has hosted events and spoken on panels. Usually, he goes for the entire festival, but this year, he decided to go only for a few days, throwing his own events and avoiding lines.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He said that for tech founders, SXSW has \u201cmoved from an intimate, scrappy discovery zone to a high-cost, high-competition space,\u201d focused on \u201cinvestor interaction and experiential marketing\u201d \u2014 meaning companies with big budgets can put on the big activations and get more eyeballs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are attending for the first time or don\u2019t have access to the right events or connections, the event can definitely prove to be tricky,\u201d Williams said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n