This year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, Film and Music Conference in Austin, TX was the place to be March 11-20. Held at the Austin Convention Center, the Interactive portion of the event took place March 11-15, the Film portion took place March 11-19, and the Music portion took place March 15-18.
Couldn’t make it to SXSW this year? Here are 5 reasons you should have been there.
- President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were keynote speakers. The POTUS called for more civic engagement in technology and the FLOTUS promoted Let Girls Learn, an initiative that aims to make education available to girls around the world. This is the first time in SXSW’s 30-year history that a sitting president and his wife participated in the event, and the president got up close and personal with attendees in a subsequent Q&A session.
- The Online Harassment Summit brought important issues surrounding digital aggression to the forefront, including the psychology of online hate, today’s youth and the computer’s role in bullying, and social responsibility. Online harassment is a real and serious problem that we need to find ways to deal with in today’s digital society. This event was a good start.
- The SXSW Job Market connected hundreds of attendees with 21st century, cutting-edge employers, and there may have been an exciting opportunity for you.
- The four-day SXSW Trade Show featured hourly exhibitor meet-and-greets for the first time, and you could have seen products, asked questions, and gained knowledge first-hand
- You missed the Dewey Winburne Community Service Awards, a celebration of digital philanthropy and 10 people who use digital technology to help others, and the Interactive Innovation Awards, which recognized the most inspiring and creative innovations in digital design, health technology, privacy and security, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, and more
South by Southwest (SXSW) is a six-day music and media conference, festival and tradeshow held every March in Austin, TX. The first event took place in 1987 and has always featured dynamic speakers, the most innovative and cutting edge technology at the time, and stellar music performances.
This year’s Super Sponsors included Bud Light, Capital One, Deloitte Digital, Esurance, McDonalds, Marriott Rewards, Mazda, Monster, Pandora, Pepsi, Samsung, Sonicbids, Ten X, The Austin Chronicle and United.
