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SXSW Sydney debuted this past week, the first time the well-known – and down-home – music, film and tech fest from Austin, Texas, has lent its name to another endeavour.

The result, at the ICC and surrounding venues, at least the part I saw, was informative and fun.

It hurts your head to think of the logistics that went into putting together dozens of panels and events and big names – Nicole Kidman! Chance the Rapper! – with so many other strong guests from around the world. The daytime events, on a vast array of topics from activism to AI, were packed. If you really wanted to see something, it was smart to get in the queue early.

Aside from a few logistical issues, the fest seemed to be operated smoothly and thoughtfully. For example: in any packed room there is always a scattering of empty seats. SXSW’s efficient ushers went in, identified them, and carefully brought in those who’d been waiting in the queue outside. It’s a small thing, but it ensured as many people as possible had a good experience.

Chance the Rapper was among a strong line-up of guests.Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The opening keynote, with futurist Amy Webb interviewed by Adam Spencer, set the tone. Spencer, informed and sharp as a whip, kept her and other interviewees on their toes. Webb’s opinions were lively and she had a lot of warnings about the dark deeds our impending AI overlords were planning. However, I also found her a bit glib. I’m no futurist but I do know a few things about the entertainment industries and technology, and some of her assertions didn’t ring true.

I should note that there can’t be too many Sydneysiders for whom the four letters SXSW resonate as strongly as they do in me. I was a music critic and an arts editor back when the fest started, in the late 1980s, and I went to the first 10 or 12. This was in music-loving Austin, a town full of crack musicians, where just about any block of nightlife boasts at least one band that can convince you that that band, that night, was everything a bar band could be.

A few years in, the New Music Seminar, the music industry’s reigning weasel-fest in New York City, collapsed. The weasels shrugged … and headed to Austin, making SXSW overnight the biggest event in the industry’s calendar.

SXSW wasn’t fazed. “When you arrive at the airport,” that year’s program said, “we’re happy to help you down off your high horse.” The fest was soon on its way to becoming a music, film and tech behemoth, with its soul intact.

Nicole Kidman during her Spotlight on Blossom Films feature session.Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Sydney’s version was sprawling. Among myriad panels were sessions devoted to business (in three or four industries), design, tech, gaming and AI.

I liked hearing from the behind-the-scenes folks. The most enjoyable panel I saw was devoted to Paul Martin, one of the guys behind Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive series, which has taken F1 into a new world of attention (and profits). Lots of dish here, and his questioner, Jules Lund, was quite good as well, pressing him on sensitive questions about whether he had editorial freedom to include unattractive material about his subjects. (Martin said he did. His team finalises the series at the end of each year, he said. He cited a remark from the show’s de facto star, Christian Horner from Red Bull: “Every year you ruin Christmas for me.”)

Technologically, the fest gets a C. I dutifully signed up online, replying to a multitude of prying questions, including my age (!). Then, at the registration centre, I had to dutifully fill it all in again. I heard similar stories from others.

Signage was poor. And then there were the badges. These were large – nearly the size of a paperback book. There was no plastic holder, meaning they got abused quickly, and the names were tiny. What convention-goers want is folks’ first names and, most importantly, their affiliations, in big, big letters, so schmoozers and wannabes can better spot their prey.

I found the schedule, online and in the app, kludgy and awkward to use. The supplied maps were useless and, later in the week, after the trade show opened, the daily schedule was suffocated by hundreds of “events” that were just the names of the exhibitors in the trade expo.

SXSW Sydney was no Austin, but that’s not a fair metric. What they accomplished was to pull off a successful and ambitious multi-industry assemblage that sets the stage for year two.

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