I feel like a jewel thief!

To have come into Austin, borderline-post-pandemic, have such a great trip, and then escape without a scratch (aka a positive Covid test result) seems too good to be true…

This story actually starts back in March 2020. SXSW (the annual technology, music and film jamboree held in Austin Texas) was cancelled just as I started a pre-conference road trip through Tennessee. A few eyebrows were being raised in Nashville, as the overseas “novel Coronavirus” made it into the local news segments, and then of course Tom Hanks got diagnosed with Covid and everyone lost their collective minds. I managed to squeeze in a quick pilgrimage to Graceland before getting on one of the last flights home prior to borders being snapped closed. My SXSW ticket got deferred to 2022 and, with so much water under the bridge since then, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Surprisingly, Austin was about as close to normal as you could hope (this is my sixth visit). Masks were worn en route, and in the convention venues and Ubers, but other than that things were pretty relaxed. I rolled the dice with a few busy-and-maskless bars, risking a delayed return home, but with no repercussions. Cases in Austin are very low, seemingly between case spikes ahead of the emerging ba.2 Omicron variant. Phew.

The city has changed a bit, of course. The decline of East 6th Street and Rainey Street has become a precipitous fall, and not just because of Covid. Rock and roll has been replaced by jam-packed crowds and rib-cage shaking hip-hop. OK Boomer and all that, but I like to hear who I’m talking with. Some institutions remain (like Casino El Camino) and some have gone forever (so long, Buffalo Billiards, Austin Java, and many more).

But plenty of fun can still be had at more far flung locations. BBQ at Franklin and Terry Blacks were highlights, and a visit to the White Horse never disappoints. It’s still a mighty fine city.

As for the conference itself, attendance was down by maybe 50% from previous years; certainly the crowds were thinner and the queues virtually non-existent (which was appreciated - previous SXSWs were getting ridiculously busy). The wearing of masks inhibited conversation a little bit, but not entirely. This introvert was quite happy.

But the best thing of all is that SX (“South By”, which is what attendees call it) has rewired my brain in the most invigorating way. I decided up front to avoid the hype machine around NFTs, DAOs, Crypto, Web3 and the Metaverse. The sheer number of grifters and charlatans in this space made me think the quality of talks would be low, or at least hard to discern up front. If you’re curious about any of these terms, then this New York Times overview is representative of my views.

As for the rest of the conference, with around 50 options in most time slots (for real - and that’s not including all the expos and pop-ups), there were plenty of high quality talks to find, and some real gems in there. To give you a birds eye view, here are the tracks:

The best thing about SX in my view is how these tracks overlap and influence each other. You can’t talk about climate change without thinking about civic engagement. Design and Healthcare overlap. With the dizzying array of session options, and seriously smart and well credentialed speakers, everyone at SX has a different experience - they can’t possibly have otherwise - and an element of FOMO is inevitable, so the sharing of learnings and ideas at the end of the day is one of the best parts of the event. It’s inspiring and energising in the best possible way.

Some of these ideas bump up against one another. I would guess that the majority of attendees are left-leaning (like Austin itself), but there are a fair few libertarians mixed in there too. Personally I feel uneasy at the thought of being in an echo-chamber, so these contrary and provocative viewpoints are stimulating - up to a point!

In my next post, I’ll attempt to summarise my main learnings and takeaways. It’s like trying to capture a firehose, so you’ll have to forgive me if it takes a few days to pull it together. But in the spirit of SX, let’s give it a go! (Update 26/03/22: Part Two is now here)

But in the meantime if you’re interested in seeing the photos from the trip, you can check out my Flickr album. Most photos have captions if you’re curious what you’re looking at!