[av_heading heading=’The Reinvention of Media’ tag=’h2′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
Written by: Matthew McGuire
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SxSW Convergence Day takes place on the 4th Floor of the Austin Convention Center on Tuesday, March 17. This section of the festival will be open to all badgeholders. Austin, Texas will become a traffic nightmare, as well as a huge opportunity for emerging workers to connect with industry professionals within multidimensional companies.

For those that have attended SxSW in the past, the badges might make sense. Readers that have never been to South by Southwest may need a quick breakdown.

SxSW is a multidimensional festival that takes place from March 13 and continues through March 22.

This makes up two main weeks of the festival.

The first week hosts events based around technology and film. These events are panel discussions with industry professionals, interactive trade shows, film debuts, and several more events centered around the film and technology industry from 13-17 for interactive events, and 13-22 for film related events.

During the second week, the music recaptures the festival from 17-22. The film section runs all the way through SxSW.

As industry professionals in the technology industry leave town, the next round of big bands will be entering Austin to breakthrough in music.

Guests will pick up badges for each section of the festival, or for platinum users, be able to attend the film, music and interactive sections to the festival.

The day that overlaps these two weeks is called ‘Convergence Day’ at SxSW. This day gives guests the opportunity to experience multiple sections of the festival if they are a single section badge holder. It will be interesting to see how this section of the festival develops in the upcoming years.

The festival should strongly consider on developing different pricing options. Other major festivals are a fraction of the price, and I have been covering this festival for three days non-stop and have not seen the benefits.

The Job Market can be a huge drawing point. It provides some substantial value for upcoming workers to connect with companies, but would be far more valuable being held on Convergence Day.

Media is in a state of major influx right now, and our outlet is on the firing lines of warfare. We continue to battle on and fight corporate outlets, very similar to indie filmmakers, and musicians, working against the corporate industry. SxSW at one point also embodied that spirit. We plan to help reignite that flame and spirt.

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A quick breakdown on price for badges includes:

  • $1745 for a platinum badge that includes all sections.
  • $1295 for the interactive badge.
  • $695 for film.
  • $895 for music.
  • $1495 for a gold badge. This is similar to the platinum badge, with less options for music events.

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Only on Tuesday, March 17, 2015, Level 4 of the Austin Convention Center will be open to all SXSW badges. With featured Interactive and Film sessions in 18ABCD and Ballroom D.

Entertainment & Immersion Content in Room 18ABCD
Running Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 17, Room 18ABCD in the Austin Convention Center contains sessions that showcase the ever-increasing convergence between the Film, Interactive and Music industries with a special focus on the latest content and distribution technologies.

Scope out all the events at SxSW’s main website.
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SxSW has a new section of the festival on Tuesday, March 17, SXSW Music Showcases will be provide access to all SXSW badges to experience events taking place.

*EXCEPTION – Showcases at Clive Bar are only open to Music & Platinum badges
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Next Stage offers the latest in convergence multimedia, including media storytelling, fashion design, virtual reality, engineering, digital transitioning and thousands of individuals coming together to share unique ideas.

This year the stage will feature an interactive installation on stage developed by Symmetry Labs. The Sugar Cubes are a modular light sculpture that reacts to music, movement, and even your heartbeat.

Ongoing to the Next Stage is the Trade Show at SxSW. Interact with both of these events. — The four-day show encourages targeted connections and new discoveries through niche exhibit categories – including the Come & Capture Film Factory and Startup Central, plus original programming on the Next Stage.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Future of TV’ link=” linktarget=” linkelement=” icon=’ue8ab’ font=’entypo-fontello’]
These series of events take a look at the digital transition taking place for television industries. There will be panel discussions Saturday, March 14 through Tuesday, March 17.

Stop by and dig deeper into how companies plan to make the transition.

Personally, I would like to find out more on how quickly the major companies plan on move to 4K and 8K recording, if ever. Users are using cell phones to watch more and more content on demand, and with users bandwidth being compromised by every single Internet provider, it will be interesting to see how TV companies will start to merge more with the Internet service providers, and outright create their own product.

Below is an image from Google Fiber and their upcoming plans to expand their service. I would suggest TV companies follow this outline.

Google Fiber
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Convergence Day

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SxSW Live on YouTube

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After the live stream is wrapped, users can go back in and watch the live stream on YouTube.

 SxSW News

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