The ShowClix Road Show hit Austin last week for South By Southwest 2017 (SXSW). Founded in 1987, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries – a sprawling world-renown gathering of tech geeks, rock stars, filmmakers, and onlookers. With over 68,000 registrants at the Music and Interactive sessions alone, raising your brand’s message above the noise is no easy feat to accomplish.
Our week kicked off with COO Brian Arnone hosting an SXSW Official panel entitled “What Festivals Can Learn from Pop Culture Conventions.” It featured two of the industry’s biggest icons – Comic-Con International’s David Glanzer (San Diego Comic-Con) and ReedPOP’s Lance Fensterman (New York Comic Con and others) – and represented the first time leaders from these two organizations had simultaneously shared the stage. The results couldn’t have been better: Lance and David got along famously. Both very complimentary of each other’s success as well as very cognizant of the different and synergistic roles their organizations play in leading the pop culture con industry.
Two days later, after many partnership meetings (XLive, ID&C, Lyte), parties (Twitch, Pandora, Townsquare Experiential), and fact-finding missions that included a Sammy Hagar/Run DMC duet, a private showing of Snoop Dog’s new feature film “Grow House,” and an opportunity to walk on water, the ShowClix team took a break from the action to escape to the Hill Country for Plum Creek Sound’s “From the Hills With Love.” This is an all-day affair at rocker Israel Nash’s ranch/studio featuring appearances from The Bright Light Social Hour, Texas outlaw rocker Ray Wylie Hubbard, Matthew Logan Vasquez, and several others. ShowClix sponsored the event by providing registration services and a cashless point-of-sale system. This free event, located 40 minutes outside of Austin, “sold-out” of 500 tickets in two days, and provided us with a great platform for doing what we do best – using technology to help event producers streamline and improve their event operations.
All-in-all, a very successful trip to the Lonestar State, and another SXSW in the books. Mission accomplished… until next year when we go bigger.