• Home
  • Blog
  • Best Global Event South by Southwest Discussion Question

Best Global Event South by Southwest Discussion Question

0 comments

just answer in 3-4 sentences for each question 

Best Global Event: South by Southwest (SXSW)

2.What has contributed to the success and growth of this event?

3. What challenges have the event organizers of this event faced over the years?

Best National Event: Norwegian Constitution Day

4.How did this event begin?

5.What has contributed to the success and growth of this event?

Best Local Event: Celebrate Fairfax!

6. How was this event conceived?

7. Why was this event successful?

8-13. For questions 8-13 you can select any 3 case studies in chapter 12 from pages 358-364 and answer all 2-3 questions from the 2/3 case studies you select (for a total of 6 questions answered).  Please be sure to list the name of the two case studies before answering your questions.  This will give you a total of 13 questions. I will send you information 

Best Global Event

The SXSW Global Phenomenon of Weird Practices that Work Wonders around the Corner and throughout the World

Austin, Texas is known throughout the world for its quirky slogan “Keep Austin Weird!” This slogan reflects the ultra?liberal and creative population that has developed in the capital city of Texas over many years. Austin’s rich musical history has featured major performers such as Willie Nelson and others developing their international careers from within the city limits of Austin as showcased on the popular American television music series entitled Austin City Limits. Add to this heritage technology pioneers such as Michael Dell, whose direct sales model revolutionized the personal computer industry, and Rick Linklater, whose debut film, Slacker, not only coined an immortal phrase but is honored in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, and you get a sense of the city’s leading?edge diversity. In addition, Austin recently hosted America’s first Formula One race since the Grand Prix left Indianapolis in 2007.

Despite these many noteworthy milestones, Austin’s greatest accomplishment may be the birth, development and legacy of an unusual event called South by Southwest, or simply SXSW.

In 1986, the organizers of New York City’s New Music Seminar—a conference, trade show, and festival for music industry professionals—visited Austin with the intent of launching a Texas spin?off. When they abandoned their plans Austin’s alternative newsweekly The Austin Chronicle joined forces with local music promoters and managers in 1987 to organize their own music event modeled on the successful northeastern seminar. The name South by Southwest (SXSW) was chosen by the Chronicle’s cofounder Louis Black as a play off of the Alfred Hitchcock film entitled North by Northwest.

The first event was held in March 1987 and 150 attendees were expected. When over 700 music biz representatives showed up from all over the United States, the organizers began to think they might have started something somewhat that was, well, truly weird.

Between 1987 and 2012, SXSW has become Austin’s largest event in terms of combined economic impact. The estimated economic impact in 2012 was calculated at $190 million dollars in an analysis by Austin economic consulting firm Greyhill Advisors.

Over the past 25 years, the conference and festival have grown and changed by paying close attention to numerous macro?trends. In 1994, the festival added a film component that included a multimedia track, which proved so popular that in 1995 the two components were split into separate events entitled SXSW Film and SXSW Multimedia. In 1999, to once again reflect changing industry standards, Multimedia was renamed SXSW Interactive. Anticipating future trends, in 2011, SXSW launched events for the education industry (SXSW Edu) and the sustainability community (SXSW Eco), and August 2013 will see the birth of SXSW V2V in Las Vegas, a unique conference bringing together creative startups and venture capitalists.

Some people consider SXSW to be responsible for the rise of the film subgenre known as mumblecore. As has happened perhaps thousands of times in the past two decades, an origin myth came to life over drinks at SXSW, in this instance a musician who was also a sound editor is credited with coining this new term while sitting at a local bar with fellow festival goers.

Over the years, SXSW’s conferences have regularly featured international trendsetters as part of their education program. For example, in 2006 SXSW Interactive featured Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Craig’s List founder Craig Newmark. Although the social media site Twitter was not officially launched at SXSW, it, like have many other technology platforms, gained tremendous traction in its embryonic stage as a result of participating in the festival. As one example of the power of SXSW for advancing new technology platforms, Highlight, Glancee, Sonar, Kismet and other social discovery (users finding users) mobile applications have gained instant traction during the Interactive conference. Although all of the SXSW events continue to grow, the Interactive conference attendance has more than doubled in the past few years to become the largest of them all.

Imitation is indeed the greatest form of flattery, and the SXSW format has been replicated throughout the world. However, the Austin, Texas festival continues to hold the preeminent position with its innovative decision to feature the music, film, and interactive industries within a single event for the creative industries. It is considered by most industry insiders to be the single best investment in terms of professional industry networking, introducing new products, and making important business deals as well as career connections. In this regard, SXSW is similar to the 65?year?old Edinburgh International Festivals that combine several different event genres within the same time period (Edinburgh International Festival of Music, Dance and Drama, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh Mela, and more) to create a highly successful kaleidoscope of complementary programming for multiple audiences.

As a result of SXSW’s significant long?term success and exponential growth, the City of Austin is facing challenges with developing ordinances and infrastructure to facilitate the growth of the event, which now spans 9 days and features over 2,200 musical acts, 425 film screenings, 500?plus trade show exhibitors, and 147,000 participants from all over the world. For example, in 2012 the city council considered ordinances that would strengthen safety and occupancy regulations and permit requirements for special events, especially at venues not typically used for public gatherings such as parking lots or retail establishments. According to City of Austin Music Program Manager Don Pitts, “We obviously want to keep the maverick feel of the city during SXSW, and our approach acknowledges that. The focus was planning, and then plan some more, and be prepared for anything to happen.”

In 2012, SXSW became a Gold Green Business Leader in the City of Austin. With growth, the SXSW organizers recognize that they must take responsibility for their environmental impacts. One way they do this is though an innovative bike share program.

The year 2012 saw the creation of SXSW’s first ever bike share program, SXcycles. According to many members of the bike industry, SXcycles was one of the largest free bike shares ever executed in the country. Open to all Film, Interactive, Gold and Platinum registrants, this program provided free bicycles for daily use courtesy of HBO’s newest series, GIRLS. These Tern Link D8 folding bicycles were seen all over the city during SXSW Film and Interactive, and proved to be a fun, easy, and eco?friendly alternative for getting around downtown. During the beautiful Austin weather, all 150 bikes were checked out within 2 hours of opening! As SXSW programming grows to include more satellite campuses, we hope that SXcycles will play an integral role in helping registrants get where they need to go.

Mike Shea was not only a professional musician but also partner in a trade association management company 23 years ago when he first became a consultant to SXSW. Now, as executive director, he helps run the show. He describes SXSW as a global marketplace for ideas. One of the major challenges his event faces year upon year is the need for more accommodations—in 2012, SXSW’s Housing Department booked nearly 11,000 hotel reservations totaling more than 50,000 room nights. As often happens with mega?events such as SXSW, the event’s growth has outpaced the ability of hotel and other accommodation suppliers to keep up with demand.

One of the unique attributes of SXSW is that, despite its size, it retains a feeling of intimacy, as many business deals are conducted not in gigantic meeting halls but rather in official SXSW lounges or local bars and restaurants. In addition, SXSW producers developed a start up village concept wherein new developers can hone their entrepreneurial skills through contacts made in smaller, more intimate settings among strategically targeted like?minded persons.

In just over a quarter of a century, the SXSW Conferences and Festivals have demonstrated that sometimes in weird and wonderful places such as Austin, Texas, great ideas may take root, flourish, and grow. Perhaps, most importantly, this uniquely successful event has also demonstrated that the better a event organizer becomes at listening to his or her customers and anticipating local, national, and global emerging trends and forces, the greater sustainable success they will achieve over the long term.

SXSW

Roland Swenson, Cofounder and Managing Director

Nick Barbaro, Cofounder

Louis Black, Cofounder

Brent Grulke (1961–2012), Creative Director

Hugh Forrest, Interactive Director

Mike Shea, Executive Director

About the Author

Follow me


{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}