I never anticipated that I would experience my 9th SXSW Conference from the couch in my living room. But, here we are…and it was an amazing experience.
One of the first signs of the severity of COVID’s cultural impact was the cancellation of SXSW 2020 in Austin. Of course, the onset of a global pandemic was somewhat fitting given the sense about the world I took away from SXSW 2019: Everything feels broken and we are all frightened. Technology may be able to help us, but we feel like we are running out of ideas. However, we still have us and that might be enough. What I was hearing at the conference two years ago was so bleak that I couldn’t even bring myself to publish my usual detailed musings on the SXSW zeitgeist (NB: I may actually go back, edit what I did write, and post it…the glaring 2019 hole on my blog is kind of annoying). But with increased optimism fueled by waves of vaccinations around the world and a shift in the global economic, social, and political climate, the SXSW organizers pivoted the conference experience online. The general mood was more hopeful and the tone more determined about coming together to shape a better post-pandemic future.
I remember launching the SXSW 2021 Online AppleTV app on Tuesday and feeling immediately transported by the comforting, familiar visuals and music from my living room to the Austin Convention Center. A newly coiffed Hugh Forrest offered his usual warm welcome and I dove into the conference content. For those who have been to SXSW before, you know that the conference is completely overwhelming. At a pre-pandemic SXSW, there are over 2,000 pieces of content across the conference, the film festival, and the music festival. This year’s online edition featured over 500 sessions offered over the course of five days. The best thing about shifting online is that I was able to engage with far more sessions than during my previous in-person experiences. Because most of the content was on-demand, I could catch live, scheduled sessions and then watch additional sessions as they were released. Experiencing the conference online, I never got “locked out” of a session because it was full, I was able to get in to see several festival films, and even catch a little music! For about 12 hours each day, I was immersed in SXSW content. I took far fewer pictures this year (I think, one…see above) and did a much better job of eating while taking in all the sessions. Overall, it was an excellent experience.
While the ability to engage with so much content was sublime and I definitely came away with that familiar SXSW feeling, the experience made me long for when we can gather again in Austin. I missed not being able to talk with presenters and panelists following sessions. I missed meeting my neighbors in the audience and while walking from session to session. As a deeply intuitive person, I missed feeling the collective energy in the rooms, in the hallways of the convention center, and on the streets. That “collective energy” is a key input for me as I articulate my sense of the SXSW zeitgeist from year to year. Coming away with this perspective informs the vision and tactics of my work in marketing and communications – and for life in the world. I appreciated the lengths that the SXSW online experience went to in order to recreate this dimension of the SXSW experience. The chat for each session was often lively and engaging. While I didn’t get to enjoy the XR experiences, I heard from one or two others that they approximated the experience of “being there.” The Connections platform was also helpful for reaching out to other attendees. And yet, as I’ve discovered in several online academic conferences and events that I’ve helped to produce this past year, it is very difficult (impossible?) to replicate this dimension of the traditional conference experience.
My hope is that as SXSW organizers look to SXSW 2022 they will imagine a hybrid approach to conference content. There would be great value for attendees in being able to follow an in-person schedule supplemented by on-demand or recorded, live-streamed content. Adding this dimension to the in-person conference would help participants engage with content in other concurrent sessions or sessions that were simply full. I think that this would be a constructive way to glean from the 2021 online experience and carry that value forward into the future of the SXSW conference.
As I participated in my final sessions, I had the same feeling of sadness I usually experience on my last day of SXSW. After being informed, challenged, and inspired for the past five days by an array of amazing people, it is now time to descend from the mountaintop (although this year without the post-conference travel). SXSW 2021 Online leaves me looking forward to next year when we can be back on the streets of Austin. I can’t wait.
Over the next few days I will be unpacking the following summary of my SXSW 2021 experience that seeks to grasp what I am coming away with from this year’s very different, but excellent conference. I hope that you will follow along: In the wake of the historic disruptions of 2020, we must move forward with empathy and authenticity, making sure to include everyone, and responsibly designing virtual platforms to rebuild trust both at home and abroad.