Celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year, the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (or SXSW for short) in Austin, Texas has grown to become one of the largest music festivals in the United States. Taking place over nine days in March, SXSW has grown to feature performances from more than 2,000 bands artists and bands playing over 90 venues, keynote speeches and panel discussions and a film festival. Collectively, SXSW is the highest revenue-producing event for the Austin economy, bringing in an estimated $167 million in 2011. The festival has also spawned an annual Canadian counterpart, Toronto’s North by Northeast (NXNE), which takes place this year from June 11-17.
For the thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs that attend the SXSW’s interactive conference, there’s more to the festival than just free beer, great music and Austin’s world famous BBQ. Drawing an estimated 20,000 followers last year, SXSW Interactive has gained a reputation for introducing emerging technologies. Keynote speakers in the past have included Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s then-CEO Evan Williams and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. Last year’s headlining presenter was Seth Priebatsch, founder and CEO of the mobile-gaming platform SCVNGR . If you need further proof of the money invested into SXSW, take a look at this year’s corporate sponsors, which include Chevrolet, Doritos, Miller Lite and Pepsi.
With all the big name companies and money involved with SXSW Interactive, it isn’t surprising that Toronto and Canadian entrepreneurs are trying to get a slice of the pie. North of 41 is a Toronto-based organization that was set up to help Canadian entrepreneurs expand their contacts by facilitating discussion with American investors, entrepreneurs and customers. The man behind this initiative, Dynamite Network owner and president Jeff Musson, says the idea for North of 41 came to him when he was in Austin a few years ago.
“About three years ago I was down at SXSW and I kept bumping into a bunch of Canadians,” says Musson, “It was right after the Vancouver Olympics and I said, ‘Why can we not create a “Canada House” down here, where we rent a venue for the entire weekend, we throw a sixteen by thirty foot Canadian flag over the side of it and really market ourselves to the world just as if we were Americans, loud and proud.’ So we did this event last year and it was a great success. The real purpose of North of 41, to give you one mission statement, is to expand their networks outside of Canada.”
This all sounds fine and dandy–but how do these Canadian companies stand out from the pack? For every or Evan Williams or Zuckerberg, there’s a hundred entrepreneurs who leave Texas empty-handed. Musson has a few suggestions for companies hoping to earn what he half-jokingly refers to as a “lottery ticket”.
“You always want to set your sights in reason but always reach for the stars,” he says, “Be creative in terms of what works and you have to get, as the proverbial saying goes, above the noise.”
Musson predicts smart phone apps and video-producing technologies will be at the centre of this year’s SXSW Interactive. “Everybody is saying, ‘I want my video to go viral,’ but how do you make that happen and how do you measure it?” he says, adding that analytics and metrics will also be important discussion topics at the conference. With this in mind, North of 41 has partnered with Toronto-based companies such as Tenfour Labs Inc. and yapAgame. The former has developed an app called Syzzle, which allows users to share live music, bars, shopping deals and more with friends via text messaging, email and social media, while the latter focuses on sports. North of 41 also works with more established companies like Infobright who use the conference to build on previous exposure and contacts. SXSW Interactive Awards are also handed out to the best new and existing companies, outstanding developers and entrepreneurs.
And while guaranteeing what will catch on at the festival might require a crystal ball, Musson is optimistic about the Canadian entrepreneurs attending. “Toronto is a great place in which to develop technology and we have a tremendous amount of talent in the start-up community here,” says Musson.
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Max Mertens writes about arts and culture, food, journalism and more for Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter: @Max_Mertens.
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