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, 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 inaugural version in Sydney may not be on quite the same scale as the hometown event, but it’s still going to be 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 probably 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 SXSW Sydney.
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. Revise it over and over and over again. As well as giving you a plan, it’ll teach you where to find information and how to navigate the city.
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 the big 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 unpexpected and brilliant.
Pay Attention
A few of the things that will definitely blow up your plan is things that come up as surprises, or at really short notice. Keep a watchful eye on socials, set up alerts etc 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.
Have A Secret Base
One thing that I found really beneficial in Austin was to find a bar that had absolultely nothing to do with SXSW, and use it as the regular place to bolt back to and also to get a bit of breathing space from the madness. Admittedly, the bars I chose 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. 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’ve seen at SXSW happened at the conference hall. Just as much as the live shows, hearing legends speak, 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 Dave Grohl, Stevie Nicks, and Lou Reed talking, up close, and it was as fascinating as their live shows.
Also, the conference is a great place for clean bathrooms, water and electricity, and forests worth of free tote bags.
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, and lots of it.
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 early the next morning without my phone, and never really recovered for the rest of the week. Don’t be me.
FFS Wear Comfortable Shoes
Now I’m totally channelling my mother, but you’ll 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. I tend to go for skateboard trainers, which aren’t insanely expensive, and which are built to take a beating.
Batteries And Cables
Just a reminder that everything you do at SXSW will require electricity. 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. That said, Sydney is one of the least affordable cities on the earth. Plan accordingly.
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. If you do all of the things above correctly, you’ll have a whale of a time, and it’ll sit in your mind as one of the best experiences going. However, if you do it right, it’ll also mean that you’ve seen so many things and done so much that there is no chance your addled, 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.