This tech-themed gathering
has exploded in the years since the term "dotcom billionaire" became a
career goal for any 20-something with a computer and an idea. The
Interactive portion of the festival now draws more than 30,000 people
each year, more than both the original Music portion of the festival and
Interactive's older cousin, Film.
With that growth has come some meaningless noise. If you wanted to see a grown man in black fingernail polish swing on a wrecking ball like Miley Cyrus or hear a big-money venture capitalist attempt to rap onstage with Nas this week, you could.
But beneath the noise, there's still a lot of signal.
All-night parties and
desperate sales pitches aside, South by Southwest is still where some of
the digital world's smartest people come to talk about ideas that will
guide agendas for years to come. It's where trends crystallize and where
nascent startups take flight.