SXSW

South by Southwest.

The first year that you go, if you are new to it, you may wind up doing what I did and writing those four letters in a nearly random order every time you email or text someone about it.

Once known as spring break for marketing nerds, the Interactive segment of the festival no longer merits that description. Many of the crazier parties have moved on in recent years, marketers have aged and don’t stay up as late as they used to, and the Austin weather in March is not conducive to wearing Foursquare t-shirts and cargo shorts.

Half of TikTok’s audience was not yet born the last time anything significant launched at SXSW, but the festival can sometimes provide a boost for emerging brands, such as SXSW 2019’s breakout brand, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.