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SXSW Interactive grows to 19,364 attendees
South by Southwest Interactive is concluding, with a growth in attendance that mirrors last year’s significant jump. The festival said on Tuesday, the last day of the festival, that paid attendance for Interactive is officially 19,364, up from last year’s 14,251. That number includes Gold and Platinum badgeholders who had access to SXSW Interactive; it doesn’t necessarily equate to the number of people who attended SXSWi events.
That nearly 36-percent growth rate contributed to crowded conditions downtown, some over-full panels and talk about the future of the festival and its ability to manage continued growth.
Festival director Hugh Forrest said that despite reports of shuttle bus problems and logistical changes caused by the fest’s new format of 10 separate campuses, “Things generally worked very well.
“The campus program is still very rough and needs a lot of tweaking, and we need to improve our shuttle bus service,” he said. “But we had very crowded panel rooms 10 years ago. It was a good start.”
When asked if that format would continue into 2012, Forrest said, “Barring the city doubling the Convention Center in size, there’s no way it won’t continue.”
Even if the festival stays the same size next year - and there has been talk of capping registration for 2012 - Forrest said, the staff will spend the next few months looking at feedback and seeking ways to improve next year’s fest.
Another significant, unexpected event that impacted the festival was the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami. During the festival, attendees started grassroots efforts like SXSW4Japan to raise money for victims. Some panels shifted their focus to talk about Japan and how to help. Forrest said, “Amidst a very dark cloud of the horrible tragedy in Japan, this was a small silver lining.
“It framed what’s really important and it showed how agile this community is and how agile the technology is for responding to a crisis like that,” he said. He said that several panels about social media and unrest in the Middle East also addressed the growing impact of Twitter, Facebook and other social networks and their real-world impact.
Forrest said that for next year, the festival crew will look at quality control for panels, although the abundance of content is not something that will likely go away. “Yes, there’s to much stuff, but it’s part of what we’re trying to do here. That’s a feature, not a flaw.”
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, SXSW, SXSW 2011
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By DaDaDer
March 16, 2011 10:31 AM | Link to this
Geez Tom M. -You sound completely incompetent! I guess we should be glad you were able to find the room. Any other stupid thing you did that you want to brag about? -Der
By Tom Myer
March 16, 2011 10:03 AM | Link to this
I would like to add, their tech support team for speakers is amazing. When I showed up to do my panel on Tuesday, I ended up with a Macbook with a fried port -- couldn't display my preso on the big screen. They ran and got some other dongles to test out, and when there was a still a problem, the shift leader offered the use of his Macbook so I could do the presentation in Keynote. Then, when I left, I forgot my charger -- the team tracked me down on twitter and kept it for me until I could pick it up.
FANTASTIC support, like I said. Kudos to the team.
By Texas Tom
March 15, 2011 9:49 PM | Link to this
NPR and he is bragging.
Imagine a total of 19,364 Socialist in one spot, that must be the ones that make up the total msnbc viewer rating...
By Stuart
March 15, 2011 7:35 PM | Link to this
I was going to leave a comment but a screen popped up and told me commenting on this article was BADGE-ONLY.