At the conclusions of this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival, all attendees were sent a feedback form via e-mail. About 700 Gold and Interactive registrants eventually completed this online survey form, giving us their opinions on what went right and what went wrong. The SXSW staff has spent much of the last month culling through this survey data.
The bulk of this feedback was very positive, indicating that most attendees were very happy with their experience in Austin. However, these responses also revealed that there are many aspects of SXSW Interactive that still need significant improvement.
Posted below are attendee comments on 10 different elements of the event. These blurbs tend to represent the general tone of the dozens of comments we received in this particular area. SXSW response to this feedback is also posted in italics beneath each heading. The order of these headings follows the order of which topics generated the most feedback.
What do you think? Do you have brilliant solutions to the problems outlined in this document? Please feel free to add your feedback about the feedback by commenting below. Remember, the more you communicate with us, the more likely that SXSW Interactive improves.
WiFi
“The WiFi in the convention center was nearly unusable, I would love to see that work better in the future.”
We would also love to see the wireless work better in the future. The system at the Austin Convention Center was significantly upgraded between 2006 and 2007. Yet, these upgrades still did not match the increase in attendance. While we are working on new solutions for the 2008 event, registrants should understand what the experts are telling us — that the volume of WiFi demands at SXSW Interactive stretches the limit of what can currently be supported by any wireless system anywhere.
Panel Room Configuration
“It was very awkward to have some Interactive panels on the third floor, which was difficult to get to. I only attended two panels over there. I would recommend consolidating interactive on the fourth floor and moving Film to the third floor.”
The difficult of getting to panel rooms 8, 9, and 10 was another persistent thread on the feedback forms. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience registrants endured in walking to these far-off rooms. To this end, we are discussing more user-friendly room configurations for 2008. Unfortunately, due to the growth of the event, there are no easy solutions here. The reason we used 8, 9 and 10 in 2007 was that these rooms gave us the most seating. In other words, had we bumped Film to this section of the Austin Convention Center, we would have had significantly less capacity. SXSW is also very concerned that having all panels in one contingent block of rooms will make for hallways that are virtually impassible. But again, we are doing our best to plan for a more convenient solution in 2008.
Panel Programming
“Better ratio of lectures to panels. Panels are interesting for getting a pulse on the issue from the community, but can become redundant. Experts lecturing on specific topics would be a refreshing alternatve.”
There seems to be a general consensus that we should solicit more industry experts to deliver solo presentations at SXSW Interactive. Your feedback here is very valuable — we will move to incorporate more such single-person talks in 2008.
Please recall that much of the 2007 programming was determined through submissions received from the web community via the SXSW Panel Picker. While we think this system of programming added a lot to this year’s event, we also understand that the Panel Picker needs significant refinement. We are presently working on these refinements; these will be announced in the next few months. SXSW Interactive will begin accepting panel ideas for the 2008 event on June 1.
Onsite Registration Setup
“It would be great to have a more clear on-site registration process so that the minute registrants walk into the convention center it is clear where they need to go and how the registration process works. It changes a little every year, and it’s just confusing and not the greatest first impression for the conference to make.”
One of the biggest complaints from the online survey was the length of lines at registration / badge pickup. We are working on new strategies that will minimize this problem in future years.
Also, many people have suggested that we mail pre-registered attendees their materials such that they don’t have to check in once they arrive at the Austin Convention Center. Unfortunately, this is not a likely solution to this problem. Why? In past years, badges for SXSW have been counterfeited. We are concerned that that this problem will re-surface if badges are pre-mailed to attendees.
SXSW Website
“I like your website but the navigation is a tad confusing. I found the online schedule cumbersome — though the concept is useful — and I couldn’t make it sync with my own calendar.”
Lots of people have commented that the navigation on the website isn’t as intuitive as it should be. This feedback is mentioned particularly often from first-year attendees, people who have never been to SXSW before and don’t have a basic idea of how the event works. Point well taken. We are working on improved usability for the 2008 version of the site, which should go live later this summer.
Pocket Guide
“The small pamphlet guide should not have been tucked in an envelope in the back of the program.”
This is a fairly obvious point of improvement for 2008. Next year, we will have more copies of the Pocket Guide and these will be distributed throughout the Austin Convention Center. Likewise, we will probably eliminate the back-of-the-book envelope, which made sense a few years ago but doesn’t make sense now.
Other attendees suggested we put a PDF of the Pocket Guide on the website, allowing registrants to download this document before they come to the event. Great idea! Why didn’t we think of this before?
Program Book
“A map of the Austin Convention Center and how to get around should have been a part of the booklet so that we could carry it around. it was too confusing to figure out how to get to the multiple floors.”
Actually, there was a map of the Austin Convention Center inside the Program Book. However, having received numerous suggestions on this topic, we understand that there what we provided was not sufficient. Expect better, bigger and more detailed facility maps in the 2008 version of the SXSW Interactive Festival Program Book.
Size of Event
“It would be nice to have more organized ‘meetup’ type events. The panels were great, and the parties were great but both were almost too busy for networking. If there were some smaller meetups organized by subject (flash design, mysql, infrastructure, hosting, fulfillment, etc.) that would have been great.”
SXSW Interactive has traditionally taken a very laissez-faire approach to the networking process — letting registrants network with each organically as opposed to trying to make this a structured process. However, the increased size of the event means that it is probably time to adopt a different strategy on this matter and make it easier for attendees to meet others who share similar professional and personal interests. So, look for more bird-of-a-feather type gatherings at SXSW in 2008.
Parties and Evening Events
“Seems like the crowd is getting bigger every year for the evening events — we even had to wait in line to get in! That’s a good and bad sign about future conferences. Given that the parties are our prime time to network, it would be a shame if people weren’t able to attend. Also, I think that having some of the parties in venues more conducive (maybe theme oriented) to conversation and networking would also be really good.”
The 2007 SXSW Interactive Festival featured the most intense evening schedule ever, with 30 official parties and receptions. Nonetheless, the overall growth in attendance meant that there were lines to attend several of these evening events. As always, we urge our registrants to adopt a “go with the flow” attitude when they come to SXSW — meaning if one party is full, the best approach is to move on to the next party, which is probably just as fun and not quite as crowded.
Also, several registrants commented that loud music at parties prevented meaningful conversation between attendees. We understand and appreciate this concern — and will remember this point in planning the 2008 event. However, remember that the sponsoring client ultimately set the agenda for the given party. If the client wants high volume on music, then that the music will most likely be loud.
Food at the Austin Convention Center
“The food was awful and very expensive.”
We received many comments about the quality and price of food. This problem is just as frustrating to us, as we would certainly like to have more appealing in-house dining options for our attendees. We have stressed this concern in our ongoing meetings with officials at the Austin Convention Center. Unfortunately, the bottom line here is that SXSW has no direct control over food vendors that are contracted for this facility.
