7. Your best friend at SXSW and constant FOMO
Is the SXSW app. No question. It's amazing. It contains everything you need to know about SXSW, all in your hand. All the events, which you can filter by type, by subject, read an overview, and then briefs about the people presenting. You choose your favourites, and it shows you little maps about where you need to go.
You can see how many other people have favourited the things that you like, which hints at how good they might be, and also how easy it might be to get in, and then, in the run up to the event, it tells you if access is easy, if you need to hurry to get to the queue, or if they're full.
For the most popular items this can be crucial, especially on the first three days (Friday to Sunday) but not ultimately helpful. If you - like me - failed to get an express pass to see Trevor Noah and the Daily Show team on the Saturday, you might have gone to the Convention Centre an hour before the session started to start queuing. You would have gone to the head of the line, seeing on your app that it was still doable, and then walked back along it, to join the end. You would have walked, and walked, and walked. The longest lines went all along the top floor of the building, down stairs to the 3rd floor, along that, and down more stairs. You would walk for ten minutes, and then the app would blink red. Too many people in the line already. You lose.
The answer is to use the app - if you are certain its something you want to see - check whats happening in the room your target is using, in the session before, and go see that. You'll probably learn something unexpected, then when the event ends, stay in your seat. Take a snack, don't drink too much, so you don't need to go to the bathroom. Sometimes dehydration is worth it...
You can see how many other people have favourited the things that you like, which hints at how good they might be, and also how easy it might be to get in, and then, in the run up to the event, it tells you if access is easy, if you need to hurry to get to the queue, or if they're full.
For the most popular items this can be crucial, especially on the first three days (Friday to Sunday) but not ultimately helpful. If you - like me - failed to get an express pass to see Trevor Noah and the Daily Show team on the Saturday, you might have gone to the Convention Centre an hour before the session started to start queuing. You would have gone to the head of the line, seeing on your app that it was still doable, and then walked back along it, to join the end. You would have walked, and walked, and walked. The longest lines went all along the top floor of the building, down stairs to the 3rd floor, along that, and down more stairs. You would walk for ten minutes, and then the app would blink red. Too many people in the line already. You lose.
The answer is to use the app - if you are certain its something you want to see - check whats happening in the room your target is using, in the session before, and go see that. You'll probably learn something unexpected, then when the event ends, stay in your seat. Take a snack, don't drink too much, so you don't need to go to the bathroom. Sometimes dehydration is worth it...
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