The TED Conference, Elitism and South by Southwest
Sara Lacy laid into the rise of even more elitism on display at the TED conference last week, but this quote, from her rant about the TED conference caught my eye:
Now when the day’s sessions are done there’s a hierarchy of parties throughout the LA-area with strict lists and security. Cliques within cliques, if you will. One friend I spoke with yesterday told me it was so bad last year he couldn’t even hang out with his friends much of the time. Because that’s what you want when you’ve paid $6,000 to attend an event—to be told your friends are still better than you.
And it caught my eye because SXSW Interactive is coming up. While it’s not a $6000 a head event (although once you add on hotel costs it can be close if you’re not careful), the interactive portion of SXSW has a problem. And it’s Austin.
Austin is a great city for the music part of SXSW (which, if you talk to Austinites, is actually SXSW – mention the interactive bit and you get a bit of a blank look). Lots of small venues that can hold 50-200 people with a band and you get a great vibe; bar hopping to hear a new different band is a great experience.
But Interactive, and specifically the parties in the evening, is a killer. because people are looking to single venues and one company name – the Mashable party, the Digg party, the Opening Mixer at Six, all nicely scheduled to not clash… and there’s no venue in Austin that can cope with over ten thousand people looking to get into one party.
So you will get haemorrhaging in Austin, you will get people wondering just what to do in the evening because Party X has a 90 minute queue to get in… you will get people new to SXSW Interactive feeling completely lost and out of place… and you will get the A-Listers all on the guest lists, all waved through on a nod and a wink, and one of the key benefits of SXSW – the mix of people – appears lost.
If you’re heading to interactive, please don’t loose heart. By all means sort out a ticket on Eventbrite for your favourite event, but be aware that doesn’t mean you won’t queue, or that the event won’t be overbooked. Because they will be. Here’s my advice. Just find a group of people, doesn’t matter who they are, tell them “we’re going to have a good night” and go find a bar, a diner, a restaurant and talk to these brand new people. Make a point, right now, to have at least one meal where you know nobody you sit down with – and I’ll bet you that night will be one of the most memorable nights of the conference.
Parties don’t make conferences… people make conferences. Connections make conferences. Work on some new ones no matter which conference you go to.
These conferences are both elitist. Nature of the beast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I just wish people accept this and be honest. Hypocrisy is far worse than elitism.
Euan
spot on the money. For people like me who are definitely not on the sexy A-list your advice is what I have worked out for myself to be the best way to go at SXSW.
I met a group and did just that – a quiet dinner and the outer room at a so-called ‘cool’ party. Now we know each other in the flesh as well as online. Plus you can keep everyone else guessing about what fun you had by tweeting madly!
Rebecca
Or just do what I’ve been doing the last few years – skip the big parties and do what you love and what sounds like fun, and chances are you’ll find interesting people to hang out with. It’s a much better way to establish lasting relationships (like Rebecca said above), and chances are you’ll have a better SXSW experience.
Euan – you are soo right =) one of my best memories of SXSW last year was ending up in a quiet bar playing pool and getting to know some really cool people…
OH – and BTW – I will queue with you for 2 -3 hours any time – only to be crammed in a corner for 20 minutes and head some place else =)