Today the doors of Hackney House Austin will swing open for their biggest exhibition ever, alongside the infamous South by Southwest festival.
We asked three Hackney House regulars to give us their top tips for surviving and making the most of SXSW.
Practical tips
- Download and use the SXSW social tool, get RSVP’s to key events as they fill up quickly
- Research the timetables to death and mark them in the SXSW app
- Keep in mind the distance between venues and meet up early before
- Keep in mind that evening events are social link ups, not sales events
- Make the most of Hackney House Austin
- Avoid big brand parties, at all cost
- Don’t expect to sleep!
Top Three Survival tips
Nick Farnhill, Partner at Poke
- Go armed with a phone power boost pack
- Lose all friends and make new ones
- Use the side entrance at the Mohawk
Johan Brand, Co-founder at We Are Human
- Download the app ‘Austin FoodCarts’ – and experience the real Austin Street Cuisine
- Go to the flagship whole foods and stock up on healthy food – the rest of the festival is pure BBQ madness
- Pack a battery pack for you mobile, so you can look up the best sushi in town when your brain grinds to holt towards day 3: uchiaustin.com
Duncan Ray, Shoreditch Town Centre Manager at Hackney Council
- Get all your social platforms, media management tools, cabling, workflow all ready before you head on over – imagine you’re going into a jungle
- Pack some clothes that are louder than what you’d usually wear, a few T-shirts with funny things on them that will spark conversations should do the trick
- Spend some ‘me time’ each morning getting yourself properly prepped in a cafe so you’re ready to face the day, so don’t book too many early meetings