The Introverts Dilemma: How to succeed at SXSW if you hate people

Ok, slight misnomer. I don’t hate people. But going into a week long event, with multiple tens of thousands of people being inundated by information and activity day in and day out could turn the kindest hearted person into a misanthrope.

All the tacos, all the time.

This past week was my first time attending SXSW,(an interactive tech, education, music and film festival in Austin, TX) and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. My dear friend Cate Johnson, who invited me on the Pitch Advisory Council and whom I stayed with during this event, is a self-described extrovert and “experience maximizer,” or all of the things that I am not. In the lead-up to the event, she was very helpfully sharing tips and tricks for how to navigate the event, including twitter feeds, Facebook groups, events to RSVP for, and even a WhatsApp group that gave me anticipatory anxiety. I hadn’t even gone yet and I was horribly overwhelmed! Pair this with the fact that on arrival day, I had gotten a whopping four hours of sleep, and I was worn out before it even started. Deep breaths.

By design, SXSW is meant to invoke extreme FOMO (fear of missing out), to compel you to want to attend everything, while also forcing challenging decisions between fascinating topics and headliners speaking simultaneously. (I remember one instance where an acting workshop with Henry Winkler — aka the Fonz — was happening simultaneously as a panel with AOC. I ended up attending neither).

By the end of Day II, I was completely exhausted, bristly with all of the interactions with new people and new information, and burnt out before things had even started. Luckily, I had a beautiful friend/ SXSW veteran, who encouraged me to come by her house near the woods, relax, drink a glass of wine, and just hang out.

This activity served as a huge RESET for me, and allowed me to take a step back from the frenetic energy I had just thrust myself into. Here are a few of my lessons learned, paired with the sage advice of these two beautiful friends.

1. Focus on Your Purpose. Like most SXSW attendees, my interests span multiple topics. I’m a self-described “Jill of all Trades” with a passion for civic engagement, tech equity, the arts, and empathy. When I really thought about my WHY, I realized that my raison d’etre was to network and find new business for my consulting business— focused on Arts Organization at the intersection with Tech/ Social Justice. This simple articulation made the filtering process of attending events so much simpler. It also made activities like finding free food and drinks a nice to have, not a must have.
2. Remember what you Need to do to Reset. For me, this meant sitting outside in nature. Having a leisurely meal. Going to art exhibits where I could learn and explore through different means. It was a huge blessing having dear friends there that I knew well, whom I could return to if I wanted to both participate, but be saved from the introvert’s worst enemy — small talk.
3. Don’t be Afraid to Opt Out. Did I make it to everything I wanted to see? Heck no. I knew that I wasn’t going to wait in 2–3 hour long lines, which meant I missed out on Trevor Noah and AOC as mentioned above. In addition, I was unashamed to leave a session if I wasn’t into it or if there was something else I really wanted to see at that time. Half of a good panel is better than a whole crappy one.
4. Let Serendipity Happen. One of my favorite events was jumping into a music gig on a lark, after one of our luxurious dinners out. The band we saw (Water Seed) completely blew our minds, made all the more special by the fact we attended on a whim. My friend asked them to play at her wedding, they were that good. (Oh yeah, and there was the time that we saw and spoke with John Hamm at a hotel bar after a night out. NBD.)

Water Seed in their full, epic, glory.

5. Let Go. Yes, let go. What I learned, very quickly, was that I would have to lean into the discomfort this type of event engenders, or else I would miss out on so much. Yes I would be exhausted, over-stimulated and over-whelmed, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s so much easier to push yourself beyond your boundaries when you know your time is precious and finite!

Bottom line — if you have the fortune to attend SXSW, wherever you fall on the introversion/ extraversion scale — DO IT. It’s definitely worth it, exhausting though it may be. You can sleep when you come back home. :)

Jessica Brown is the Founder of an arts Consulting firm called Fulcrum Creative Ventures, focused on helping arts and creative organizations grow and scale. She lives in Oakland, CA with her dog, Buddy the Husky. Special thanks to Cate and Amy for opening doors, and sharing your love and wisdom. If anyone knows John Hamm, tell him the offer to buy him a drink still stands.