If you do it wrong, SXSW can be exhausting, complicated, and bad for your health. Do it right, and… well, it’ll still be all those things, but in the fun way.
I’ve been to SXSW in Austin a bunch of times as well as to both the inaugural SXSW Sydney events in 2023 and 2024, and through trial and error (mainly error) I’ve learned a few things about how to navigate one of the most complex events on the face of the planet. The Sydney version may not be on quite the same scale as the hometown event, but it’s still big enough to boggle the mind (and tire the feet). These are the core tips you’ll want to remember to make the most of it all.
Plan Like A Raving Maniac
This is absolutely not an event where you want to be winging it! It’s a firehose of non-stop events, and your brain will just shut down in the face of it all if the first time you start planning it is the first day of the festival.
Instead, plan like a headcase. Seriously, go fully nuts, all-out tinfoil-hat conspiracy map-level crazy. Obsess over your plan. Make Google Maps your best friend and know where every venue is and the shortcuts between them better than the Uber app does. Revise your plan over and over and over again. As well as actually giving you a plan, it’ll teach you where to find information and how to navigate the city. Despite having lived and gigged here for a decade, both years still taught me new things I didn’t know about the city. Plan, plan, plan.
Go To Everything – Or, More Accurately, Anything
Now you’ve got your plan, get ready to shred it and make a million changes on the hoof. Things will change – including your mind – so use your plan as a starting point and a fallback, and expect to find the unexpected during the event.
This is the magic of SXSW – you “could”, I suppose, only go to stuff that you know you’ll like, or all the big shiny shows. There’s value in seeing the more established stuff, mainly to learn how the experts do it, but don’t forget you’re also there to find the next thing, not the last one. Go to as much as you physically can, and suspend your critical faculties a bit. Go to stuff you might not normally go to, and you’re almost certain to discover something unexpected and brilliant.
Pay Attention
A few of the things that will definitely blow up your plan is things that come up as surprises, or that get announced at really short notice. Keep a watchful eye on socials, and set up alerts for venues and organisations you’re interested in. There is NOTHING more annoying than finding out about something you wanted to see after it’s already happened, especially if it was avoidable. One year, I missed a rooftop gig by one of my favourite bands because I forgot to set up the right alerts. Don’t be me, it still hurts.
Collect Your Badge Or Wristband EARLY
While the tech that SXSW Sydney have in place for badge and wristband collection is actually pretty damn slick, and there are an army of people there to help, it can still get crazy busy. It’s like checking in for a flight – it *should* all work fine, but if you go at a peak time and something goes a bit sideways, you can end up missing something important. I always collect my badge as early as possible – either on the day before it all officially starts during the three-hour window when virtually no-one else is there, or literally when the doors open on the first day. If you can’t help but pick up your creds when it’s busy, assume it’ll take a decent amount of time to do so. Also, be nice to everyone working there – they have to deal with people like you except times a bazillion, so I can guarantee they’re having a rougher day than you are.
Have A Secret Base
One thing that I found really beneficial both in Austin and in Sydney last year was to find a bar that had very little to do with SXSW (or that didn’t have constant events going on inside it) and use it as a regular place to bolt back to in order to get a bit of breathing space from the madness. Admittedly, the bars I chose in Austin were always a bit mental even on their calmer days, but being around locals instead of festival-goers was actually really cool, and it was awesome to just remove my mind from the constant insanity of SXSW. Last year, I just found somewhere that was, critically, quiet.
Most importantly, you should tell no-one about your secret base. I’m damn sure not going to tell you mine.
The Conference Is Not Just For Industry Dorks
Some of the best things I saw at any version of SXSW happened in a conference hall. Just as much as the live shows, hearing legends speak or learning from the best brains in the game or finding out about future innovations is an amazing experience. If you’ve got a badge, get to the conference events too. I’ve seen Chance The Rapper, Dave Grohl, Stevie Nicks, and Lou Reed talking, up close, and it was as fascinating as their live shows.
Also, the conference centre is a great place for clean bathrooms, water and electricity, all of which tend to be in short supply elsewhere (and you don’t need a badge to use them).
Pay Attention To The Weather
Sydney in October is – usually – totally glorious, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not capable of howling down with rain in the morning and pushing 35 degrees in the afternoon. Wear sun screen while also being prepared for rain.
Pace Yourself
At the risk of channelling my mother, do not forget that this is a multi-day marathon, not a sprint in a single day. One year, I went to a German record label’s party the night before SXSW Music started, and because I was an idiot (and because they were serving what I can only describe as pints of gin) I woke up in the middle of the street around 4am, without my phone, and never really recovered for the rest of the week. Once again, this is a ‘don’t be me’ lesson.
FFS Wear Comfortable Shoes
Now I’m totally channelling my mother, but you’ll honestly thank me for it. By all means, bring your fashion game, but if you don’t find some tough, comfortable shoes to get you through the week, you’ll end up unable to walk. There is a LOT of standing and walking at SXSW Sydney. Just getting from the conference centre to the music venues is further than you think, especially if you do it a few times a day. I tend to go for skateboard trainers, which aren’t insanely expensive and which are purpose-built to take a beating.
Batteries And Cables
Just a reminder that just about everything you do at SXSW will require some electricity to power your phone. Do not, under any circumstances, let your phone run out of juice, it will simply guarantee that those minutes or hours will be the exact ones when you fail to receive the notification that your favourite artist is playing a secret one-off show right now, just round the corner.
Take What Is Offered, But Bring $$$
If you play your cards right, you can scrounge tons of free goodies from all over the place. The best places for this are the sponsored venues that run during the day – look for tourism-based ones, or ones run by tech companies – their budgets tend to be huge. If you can’t find free stuff (and are visiting from abroad) then remember that Sydney is one of the least affordable cities on the earth. Plan accordingly and bring money.
Write It All Down
Even if you just keep track in your Notes app it’s worth making sure you write down everything you saw and did, and do it in real-time (I use Notes for conference sessions, and have a specific blogger setup in Google Sheets for gigs). If you do SXSW Sydney right, you’ll have a whale of a time and it’ll sit in your mind as one of the best experiences you’ve ever had. However, if you SXSW Sydney really right, it’ll also mean that you’ve seen so many things and done so much that there is no chance your addled and over-stimulated mind will remember all of it after the fact. You’ll make memories at SXSW Sydney for sure – but unless you write it down, you’ll damn sure forget some of them.