Last night – over beers, rosé and an espresso martini – the Golden Dawn in Ponsonby Road hosted a 40-strong contingent of Kiwi agency & business people travelling to Austin Texas for SXSW 2017.
SXSW (South by South West), which runs March 10-19, celebrates the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries.
“Most of us were first timers eagerly looking to the few veterans for any tips on how to make the most of the week-long experience,” says Paul Pritchard (a self-described digital leader, who’s ex O&M and DDB), who organised the trip.
“There’s fewer agency types this year and more corporate – ASB, BNZ, ANZ, Westpac, Jucy, House of Travel etc, and startups like Latipay (who are up for an award for Fintech)
“For my part, I took away three important rules:
- Say yes – most of the best experiences at SXSW are unplanned. Meeting new people, starting up a conversation and eventually ending up at some side alley BBQ joint with a crew of tech entrepreneurs sharing thoughts on the future of the IOT really can’t be planned.
- Pace yourself – SXSW is long. Each day presents hundreds of sessions, meet-ups, panels, keynotes, events and parties, its easy to go hard early and fade at the end. The best advice was to pick 2-3 must see things in a day and go with the flow for the rest.
- 3 Carry a backpack – The weather changes so you need layers;, water can be hard to come by so you need to carry a water bottle and most importantly, a swag! So much free stuff to carry.
“So here’s to SXSW 2017 and all the Kiwis attending, I hope your experiences are awesome; you are inspired to make change, and you come back to NZ to make us all better.”
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