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these kinds of risks when putting
events together.”
What can festivals learn from
conferences?
More and more festivals are
also beginning to learn from the
conference and exhibition industries,
which have typically had a heavy
focus on businesses rather than
“SXSW 2019 featured 25 different
conference tracks, eight exhibitions
and five separate festivals.”
consumers. A number of festivals,
such as Gothenburg’s Way Out West,
have incorporated keynotes and
panels into their event programmes.
But none have embraced it to the
extent of SXSW in Austin, Texas,
which has grown from a music
festival with 700 attendees to a huge
conglomeration of separate festivals,
conferences and exhibitions.
SXSW 2019, which ran from
8-17 March, featured 25 different
conference tracks on topics as
diverse as blockchain, food, sports,
journalism, retail, cannabusiness
and virtual reality. It featured
eight exhibitions including an art
programme, gaming expo, virtual
cinema and trade show.
To top it all off were five separate
festivals: an interactive festival, a film
festival, a comedy festival, a gaming
festival and, lastly, the music festival.
Quite a dizzying array of culture and
business, all rolled into one uber-
festival umbrella brand.
For some, including Laurie Kirby
of festival/conference organiser
FestForums, the conference tracks
are the most important part of
SXSW. Kirby comments: “There are
many useful panels that introduce
best practices for organizers of
events. I derive a lot of my agenda for
FestForums.com from what I see is
happening at SXSW, in areas such as
cryptocurrency, sustainability and
the legalization of cannabis.”
Perhaps, then, conference elements
at festivals can set themselves apart
with the diverse array of topics
they cover, and the often much
wider audience they are able to
reach. Festivals are the sector of the
events industry with the most mass
appeal, and if that popularity can be
channelled into constructive learning,
everyone benefits.
Kirby says she expects the trend to
continue, too: “Virtually every festival
that wants to grow is now providing
edutainment, education and an
opportunity for learning as an added
benefit, to stay competitive in the
festival marketplace.”
All the industry’s a stage
Mega-events like SXSW continue to
blur the lines between festivals and
conferences, and indeed between
B2B and B2C events as a whole. While
each sector still targets a very distinct
corner of the events market, the
lessons they can learn from each other
are valuable, and organisers would do
well to keep them in mind.
Right: The Daily’s
Rukmini Callimachi
and Michael Barbaro in
conversation at SXSW
2018
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