Expected to be one of the biggest creative events of 2014, this year's South By Southwest is bound to be overcrowded, confusing but downright memorable. Although known as a music festival, SXSW is known as a set of conferences dedicated to mankind's latest innovations, Entreprenuer said in its report.
Hugh Forrest, who is the director of the Interactive portion of the annual Austin-based festival for digital, film and music, talked to NPR about the evolution of the festival in the last few years. He said, "We'll be pretty close to what we did last year, which was about 30,000 people total. Last year was our biggest year. This year, probably not as much growth as we did in the past. We're trying to gently push some of that growth off to some of our other events and we've also kind of hit some hard limits in terms of the capacity of Austin hotels and lodging."
Want to know what the top five events at the SWSX Conference would be? Read ahead.
The South By Southwest Music Conference would obviously be the main priority of conference goers, as it will be peppered with favorite acts like Coldplay, Lady Gaga, 50 Cent and Soundgarden, and up-and-coming ones like Norwegian Grammy nominee Highasakite and Black Sabbath-influenced The Wytches, TIME said.
On the other hand, Entrepreneur suggests hitting The Startup Village at the Hilton Austin Downtown for conference goers who wish to get acquainted and network with the best of entrepreneurs. Former government contractor Edward Snowden has already made his first public appearance at the Interactive conference via video link after seeking asylum in Russia following his classified document leaks, and Forrest also confirmed that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, among other experts, will tackle issues on data privacy in the conference as well.
For "Games of Thrones" fans, the Austin Music Hall will be a treat as a feature exhibition will be held there, said the magazine. For food aficionados, Entrepreneur suggests making a stop at the world-famous Franklin Barbecue at non-peak hours like lunch and dinner as the lines could be longer than expected.
Film connoisseurs could still catch the remaining film screenings at the Film Conference, which will end on March 15. CBS said that several much-anticipated films like Kickstarter-funded movie adaptation of "Veronica Mars," Zac Efron-led frat comedy "Neighbors," and the pilot screening of Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," among others, has debut at the conference. Conference goers will also expect stars like Jason Bateman, Tilda Swinton and Mike Myers to grace and participate in live panels and workshops in between film screenings, CBS added.