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Digiday is at SXSW giving you the latest industry news out of the festival at Austin, Texas. More from the series →
Digiday’s coverage of SXSW, which runs March 7-11 in Austin, Texas, is sponsored by Dstillery, the pioneer in audience targeting for brands.
South by Southwest is, on its face, a pretty nice event to attend. There are great speakers, free food and drink wherever you turn, great bands and interesting people. You’d think attendees would thank their creator for putting them in a position where it’s possible for them to do something like this — and, more often than not, have their employers foot the bill. You’d be wrong. The unofficial sport of SXSW is complaining about SXSW. Here’s what the people of SXSW complain about:
Wonky Wifi
Hotel WIFI is officially worse than cell service at #SXSW. Hilton: 7Mbps down. AT&T: 13Mbps down. Cell is much improved since 2008.
— benhuh (@benhuh) March 9, 2014
Hangovers
Fighting a hangover for @mindykaling @ikebarinholtz & @adampally at #sxsw. Please bring coffee. — Rob Moynihan (@robmoynihan) March 9, 2014
Crowds and drunks
Calling it s night. Sxsw crowds are scary. Especially when they are inebriated. — Michelle K. Dinh (@mkdinh) March 9, 2014
Marketing jargon
SXSW…. Because the world needs more empty marketing speak from ad agencies pic.twitter.com/6BGdKlq7bw
— Bob Bonner (@RBonner_) March 7, 2014
Ad agencies and their clients
When ad agencies and brand managers take over your film festival, you can officially say SXSW is dead.
— McSand Films (@mcsandfilms) March 8, 2014
The dearth of real nerds
The biggest complaint of #SXSW: It’s too many PR, advertisers and marketers and not real technologists. You know, people who build shit. — Geoffrey Colon (@djgeoffe) March 10, 2013
The presence of hip people and hip things
Oh my god I can’t even take anymore hipness.
— Ari Paparo (@aripap) March 11, 2014
Google Glass wearers
Just spotted the first douche bag wearing google glass #sxsw
— Cory Key (@pleekabar) March 7, 2014
All the brands here
Also, I hope everyone at #sxsw is thoroughly engaging with some great brands. #BrandsMakeAmericaStrong — Anton (@anton612) March 9, 2014
Having to walk
No cabs anywhere = I walked 50 minutes to get to convention center #sxsw — Kelsey Harris (@kelsrenhar) March 9, 2014
Parties they voluntarily went to where they were provided free food and drink
don’t need sentiment analysis to know this party sucks :( #sxsw (@ Seaholm Power Plant) http://4sq.com/hi2qft — Jason Wilson (@feKaylius) March 15, 2011
Not constantly eating
I’m on the #sxsw diet … lines are too long for me to bother getting food! Haven’t even had my coffee yet #needcoffee — EricaDuignanMinnihan (@ericaminnihan) March 9, 2014
Bad beards
I’ve seen so many sad, patchy beards in Austin, it’s like puberty quit before finishing the job. #SXSW
— Jenny Johnson (@JennyJohnsonHi5) March 8, 2014
Inaccurate GPS on shuttle buses
Tech-savvy people don’t have much tolerance for the inaccurate gps or clunky e-commerce of the #sxsw hotel shuttle bus. — Colleen Newvine (@cnewvine) March 9, 2014
Waiting in line for sessions
#sxsw so far: line to get speaker badge longer than attendee line, first session I went to see was closed/full. At least it’s warm out. — Rick Mason (@Egnaro) March 7, 2014
Men with poor aim
gentlemen of #SXSW .. aim your pee. — Soft Reeds (@softreeds) March 14, 2013
Having to wait for a taxi at the airport
The taxi line at the airport is ridiculous. No Uber’s available either. The next few days will be fun. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/hxvo6iXEjj — Daniel Brusilovsky (@danielbru) March 7, 2014
The weather
Austin, your weather really sucks #sxsw — Ashley K (@districtofash) March 9, 2014
Uber surge pricing
I’m fine with 2.5x surge pricing, but $151 minimum fare is slightly ridiculous #uber #sxsw pic.twitter.com/haiQUhHJBT — Marty (@smarty) March 9, 2014
People who leave sessions early
I don’t understand why people start leaving sessions when the Q&A starts at #sxsw. We got 20 people outside who wish they were in here.
— Chad Parizman (@CParizman) March 9, 2014
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