Notes from a SXSW Veteran about Networking (or Not!)  & Doing Business at the Party  

SXSW ended weeks ago for me, and I still have a ringing in my ears. I also have a stack of business cards, emails from people with whom I never connected, and a pair of new cowboy boots.

These are just a few of the more obvious takeaways from my annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas for the music industry’s peculiar mash-up of the best business conference ever, and a spring break boozefest — with a few thousand live shows from artists around the world thrown in.

The dust is finally settling, and the backlog of emails and voicemails from the week in a festival time-bubble is being addressed. Laundry is done, the merch that looked so good at the Trade Show or the BBQ or the party or the showcase is assigned to the pile of fabulous memories — or the “oh-no-you-didn’t” cache. The receipts are filed to expenses; the attendees of the event I managed at SXSW for the Canadian music industry are noted, and added to an ever-expanding database. Thank-you’s and “see you next year” notes are sent to the team that supports my project every year.

Scrutinizing My Time at SXSW

So, this is the time for taking stock. Right now, before memories fade. SXSW is a serious investment of both time, energy and resources. It is important that the expenses and the outcomes match. And that balance sheet needs to note not only how the festival performed for me, but how I performed at the festival.

I have logged eight SXSW festivals in my career, and still struggle to find that elusive formula that will allow me to squeeze a little bit more into the five days of the festival –or ten if you sign on for the full-synergy experience of film, interactive and music. Every year I tweak my approach, rethink the way I schedule my time and (try to) manage my expectations. Every year I struggle to shake off the regrets.

Every time I answered no to the ubiquitous “Did you see…?” “Were you at the…?” “Did you meet..?” my heart would sink a little bit. FOMO? SXSW can be a special brand of hell. With hundreds of items weighing down every time slot on the festival schedule, you will miss out on something.

SXSW is, ultimately, a staggering buffet of opportunity. The conference sessions are great and inspiring. The live music is incredible – artists from around the world, some surfacing briefly from the obscurity to which they will return, and others walking straight from the stage at SXSW to top ten lists across the country. The parties are fun and plentiful, with great food and a seemingly bottomless supply of free beer and margaritas. The line-up at even the most sketchy- looking food truck is likely comprised of a who’s who of the music industry or media – people you want to know.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting: this year’s best lesson in managing your way through the singular party that is SXSW came from an unexpected source—an email declining an invitation to meet, from someone I really wanted to meet. “To be absolutely honest,” he said, “I’m only going for the music. I’m not planning on any conferences/connecting etc. If I bump into any industry people and strike up an interesting conversation, that will be a bonus…and it will most likely be grog-fuelled…and very hard to remember!”

Here is a man who went home from SXSW with no regrets, thanks to great clarity and foresight. I imagine his SXSW schedule was set with back to back shows, his tastes and interest ruling the day. His expectations and priorities were clear, and he refused to be distracted by something that would limit his time to do what he wanted to do.

Contrast this with another colleague who showed up for our showcases bleary-eyed from late nights at the laptop, where the sounds of SXSW were like a mosquito buzz in her hotel room.  Or the friend with a new tattoo and a hangover — but only the faintest memories of the bands she saw. Or the contact I saw after a three-year SXSW absence who still apologizes for the inane beer-fueled introduction he remembers with chagrin.

My ninth SXSW will be better thanks to that lesson that I add now to an accumulation of SXSW life hacks earned the hard way:

1. Don’t worry that you might miss out on something at SXSW. You will. Get comfortable with that.
2. Pack your business cards. That guy in the food truck line really might be someone you have been dying to meet.
3. Watch the booze intake; it can really creep up on you if you start your afternoons at a party and end your day twelve hours later at another party. It can make for some unintentionally memorable first impressions (although I overheard another delegate earnestly swear that “the day drunk” is the best drunk).
4. Read the schedule before you get there, and decide then and there what your must-do events are. The shiny baubles of cool things to do that someone else will dangle in front of you will distract you.
5. Bring an open mind, and ask a lot of questions. People are doing the most incredible things, and they will tell you about them if you just listen.
6.  Sleep. Five days is a long time to burn the candle at both ends and the middle.
7. Take notes. When you meet someone and have a great conversation, it is hard to believe that you can forget it a short time later. I am here to tell you that you can.
8. Cowboy boots can be amazingly comfortable.
9. If you want to go to SXSW to have fun, party and see bands, that is okay. If you want to go to SXSW to get inspired by what you hear, that is okay. If you want to go SXSW to network, that is okay, too. Just know what you want, because it is all there, and the spring break and business networking don’t always go together like beer and BBQ.
10. Tattoos will last a lifetime.

Written by Jennifer Price, Upstart Ink (@jlpriceUpstart)
Photo by kris krüg