-->

Planning SXSW, and Edinburgh Fringe Comparisons

Two large scale celebrations are now rapidly becoming fixed points in my media year – Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I cover both of these for The Podcast Network with daily shows of the events, happenings and people at each of them, and while they are both radically different beasts, there are a huge number of similarities.

The Fringe is very much a performing arts event, based around people (both individuals and groups) putting on shows for others. I do a mix of reviewing the shows, talking with the performers, writers, directors and others involved, and recapping the daily headlines. SXSW is a different beast. Much like Edinburgh in August it is more than one festival, in SXSW case there is Interactive, Film and Music, but they are much more closely linked than the disparate festivals in Edinburgh. As they run almost concurrently with each other (this year from the 7th to the 16th of March), by taking elements from each of three conferences into each daily show, the manic assault of everything going on is assured.

Both of the shows attempt to get over as much of the fun and excitement of each event as much as possible, including the wide range and diverse topics that can occur. But the kicker, of course, is in the planning. With all the best will in the world, I find it very hard to do more than lightly sketch out the planned content for these shows. Looking at SXSW, as that’s what I’m heavily involve din at the moment, many of the interviews will be after I’ve listened to panel discussions; a few of them will simply be stopping people in the halls and going “so what do you do then?” but really that’ll only cover the technology side of things.

Something more regimented is needed for the other two sides. Film requires me to get into the PR machines and schedule interviews before, during and after the screenings; and Music requires a keen eye on legal clearances and suchlike to ensure any music played is podsafe (although I’m still gunning to get an interview with Lou Reed…). What makes it fun? The list of films is released on the 5th Feb (features) and 12 Feb (shorts), while the Music/Gig list is released in ‘early to mid February.’

Which means it’s going to be an absolute ball trying to chase down even half the stuff I need before I leave for the states. Hopefully the flights, hotels and all the travel details will be sorted by the 4th Feb, leaving me open to concentrate on the big beast of SXSW, and the other conferences I’ll be attending in March

January 13, 2008; Daily Links;

Possibly Related posts:

If this is your first time here, why not consider subscribing to my RSS feed?

Comments

One Response to “Planning SXSW, and Edinburgh Fringe Comparisons”

  1. Tech Conference Podcast Coverage at SXSW Baby : Ewan Spence’s All New Musings. on January 14th, 2008 12:27

    [...] on from the post yesterday on the organising of the SXSW podcast schedule, I’m happy to be working with Brad Graham and the rest of the bloggers at SXSW Baby, the [...]

Leave a Reply