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FEBRUARY 19, 2020 AWE-INSPIRING SXSW EXPERIENCE

By Mo i ue “M. P.” Sto e

When I say last year’s SXSW was amazing, I mean it was AMAZING. SXSW has evolved to becoming the largest Festival and Conference of it's kind and it all takes place in Austin, Texas. Last year's festival ran from March 4-17. It was 14 straight days of unparalleled education, enlightenment, discovery, interaction, entertainment, connecting and networking. In conjunction with dining, partying, powerwalking, touring, shuttling, scootering, pedi-cabbing, Face-Booking, Snap Chatting, Instagram-ing, Twittering, photo-flashing, podcasting, news reporting, production crew filming and just overall amazing. SXSW possessed all the ingredients necessary to deliver the proverbial “WOW” factor.

CNN described SXSW as “An annual conglomerate of conferences, screenings, parties, premieres, interactive media and music founded by Roland Swenson, Louis Jay Meyers, Louis Black and Nick Barbaro. The purpose of SXSW is to create an opportunity to develop careers by bringing together people from around the globe to meet, learn and share ideas.” SXSW, also known as “South By” has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to over 40,000 company and individual registrants in 2018 according to Wikipedia. Over 300,000 attendees convened on downtown Austin last year and the economic impact on the economy was 350.6 million.

When I say SXSW was huge, I mean it was “HUGH” and no way to experience it all in a day or two. There were back to back and over-lapping events at the Austin Convention Center the entire time. In addition, like in previous years, hundreds of pop up events were held in houses, businesses, parks, clubs, hotels, restaurants and even vacant lots to attract people to their product, service or message. SXSW was contained mainly within a 12 by 12 block radius with shuttle services to events scheduled

a few miles away. Almost every business in the downtown Austin and surrounding areas tapped into the 33 year old Conference and Festival's popularity and shared in it's message and wealth.

In summation, I was totally in awe. When I was covering the Red Carpet events, I truly felt as though I were at a Hollywood or New York film premiere, only right there in Austin. Moreover, everyone I encountered, from the SXSW staff, volunteers, convention center staff, vendors, exhibitors, partnering businesses and service providers were all extremely and genuinely friendly and helpful. However, this year’s 2020 SXSW is shaping up to be the biggest and most significant in the 34 year Conference and Festival history. The mind-blowing lineup of keynote and featured speakers include Oscar and Golden Globe winning film-makers, writers, producers, actors and Grammy Award winning musicians, See SXSW EXPERIE NCE, age 14