Has anyone heard what the SXSW attendance will be this year? If it is like the thousands of others conventions or conferences that have not been canceled over the past six months due to too low pre-event registration then it should see a huge decrease in attendance.
But will the sponsors and investors in that ‘$ Billion Baby’ let it appear less popular? From what I have heard it is completely possible that the ad firms hired to hype the SXSW have resources to make that happen. But will they do that and launch a high level of “Propped-up Marketing” by bringing in paid supporters to fill in the gaps? OR will they do like the other conferences and conventions I reported on previously that are letting the chips fall where they may in their effort to highlight for ‘The Change Gang’ in Washington that TARP Funds shoveled out to event sponsors who accepted them should be targeted to supporting the economy these conference produce and not those companies’ executive salaries.
Not since the iPhone rage a few short years ago has the speculation of paid supporters (or audiences)been mentioned, but with these tech investors dropping hundreds of millions of dollars on product and business start-up launches, which is a traditional function of the SXSW Interactive venue, they have a lot to loose that is not applicable for government bailout funds.
So, will the producers of the SXSW Interactive gathering use “Propped-Up Marketing” to keep the appearance of the high level of popularity towards their products and businesses in hopes that it will produce an ROI? Or will they let the chips fall where they may and provide more support to the fact that the economy is on its second flush? Guess we will soon find out, won’t we?
I would hope not, as having psuedo attendees just cheapens the whole experience for everyone. One of the big reasons people attend SXSW is to network, I'd hate to continually waste time chatting with someone only to realize they're only there because they're paid to pretend to be an attendee.
From my twitter stream, it looks like a lot of people are still attending SXSW this year so perhaps it won't be an issue…
Adam,
I would hate it also, but I am afraid in the Tech industry Hype = $$$$ . Networking is an outstanding way to generate business but the investors of those product launches have too much on the line to pay for a place for geeks to hang out and Tweet ever move they are making there and then hope to get a shot of themselves standing next to one of King Pins of the tech world to post on their blog. They are wanting those who attend to buy something or invest in something they are marketing and producing a buying frenzy draws in people to shell out the real cash. The airplanes with SXSW supporters are in the air now, lets see how many of the traveling public that lands in Austin is actually going to SXSW..I hope all of them are real people going to do business…I really do.
I would hope not, as having psuedo attendees just cheapens the whole experience for everyone. One of the big reasons people attend SXSW is to network, I'd hate to continually waste time chatting with someone only to realize they're only there because they're paid to pretend to be an attendee.
From my twitter stream, it looks like a lot of people are still attending SXSW this year so perhaps it won't be an issue…
Adam,
I would hate it also, but I am afraid in the Tech industry Hype = $$$$ . Networking is an outstanding way to generate business but the investors of those product launches have too much on the line to pay for a place for geeks to hang out and Tweet ever move they are making there and then hope to get a shot of themselves standing next to one of King Pins of the tech world to post on their blog. They are wanting those who attend to buy something or invest in something they are marketing and producing a buying frenzy draws in people to shell out the real cash. The airplanes with SXSW supporters are in the air now, lets see how many of the traveling public that lands in Austin is actually going to SXSW..I hope all of them are real people going to do business…I really do.