2024 SXSW Recap
Last week, for the fourth time, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend SXSW in Austin, TX. As I’ve written about on this blog before, every time I’m able to spend a week at this event it’s one of the most reenergizing experiences for me. To be able to surround yourself with industry leaders and discussions about truly almost any topic you can imagine is incredible.
For me, when attending sessions I like to not only focus on video and our industry specifically, but also enjoy taking in speakers talking about business, technology, leadership and sometimes even ones that are completely random, but fascinating nonetheless. (Ever heard of stock exchanges that sell fractional ownership of songs from big-name artists? Neither had I until last week.)
First Time Speaker Experience
This year was even more special because I was fortunate enough to be selected as a speaker at this year’s SXSW. It was such a humbling honor to have the chance to talk to people from across the globe about Storytelling in Sports, sharing a stage with Jonny Greco of Shine Entertainment, Tara Hewit of Charlotte FC and Lamont Buford of the Seattle Kraken.
This was especially meaningful because through PEG we’ve had the opportunity to create some of our most memorable pieces with everyone who joined me on that stage and I couldn’t think more highly of each of them and the work they do.
While some people or groups might find a full hour of public speaking a lot of time to fill, we could have talked for an entire day. The discussion was fantastic and I’m excited for you to see it. (We’ll be posting it soon so you can watch the entire panel discussion if you’re interested.)
Everyone is Talking about AI
Beyond our panel, the big topic this year at SXSW, unsurprisingly, was the emergence of AI. It felt like every third session was based around it in some way or another, discussing what it can do, can’t do, where it’s going and how it will be able to be integrated across a variety of industries, not just ones like ours.
It’s incredibly exciting to think about what it will be able to help us do in the future, potential efficiencies it can create and how it can be used to not replace the creativity that organizations like ours bring to the table, but how it can allow us to do things that we may never have been able to before.
A big theme that continued to come up was how important it will be to stay up to date with everything happening and to be on the forefront of the new technology, something we’re really focusing on here at PEG. Unlike some hot-button topics that pop up at SXSW for a year and then have mostly disappeared by the next, I’d expect the conversation around AI to be on that will continue there for years to come.
All in all, it was another memorable year in Austin and one that I’m grateful that I had the chance to be a part of. Keep your eyes open for the video of our session on our social channels and be sure to let us know what you think!
