Tech conference death match: Etech vs. SxSW
Etech and South by Southwest are a study in contrasts. Etech is old school. It’s a serious affair, with a reverence for the tech industry and its history, a gaggle of software companies convening with the usual 9:1 male/female ratio and mild-mannered “receptions” to match. The annual theme (this year was the Attention Economy) gives the whole thing a strong point-of-view; it’s about the content. It also reinforces the echo chamber dynamic. San Diego is the perfect host city–well-manicured, sunny, but culturally sheltered and utterly convinced there’s no better place on earth.
The South by Southwest Interactive conference is the offspring of its famous rock-n-roll parent, and it shows. Here in Austin Web startups may as well be rock bands playing the club circuit, with sex-and-drug-drenched lifestyles to match. There are lots of hot girls, many of whom get excited talking about folksonomies and vlogging, and the vast number of ironic t-shirts are matched by the hordes of sassily-stickered Powerbooks. There’s some good content, but everyone cuts “class” as a matter of course. Austin’s spicy party culture, with its undercurrent of slackerdom and Texas-sized audacity, sets the tone for this event.
Etech, is about the ideas and technologies that will reshape our world. SxSW presenters spend a lot more time talking about css tricks and the monetization of blogs. Etech, charging over $1000 a ticket, gives away a plain black shirt with a giant Foldera logo in their gift bag. SxSWi only costs about $300, and you have to buy your t-shirt separately at a stand, like you would at a concert. But they come in half a dozen kick-ass designs, all pretty cool.
I bought the Harley-Davidson-inspired design.