History of South by Southwest (SXSW) [Infographic]

The annual South by Southwest conference commences in Austin Texas on the 11th of March. This year’s conference the 25th year anniversary of the festival. In order the commemorate the landmark Eloqua, a marketing automation company and SXSW sponsor, collaborated with creative agency JESS3 to produce an infographic, titled “The History of SXSW”. The infographic celebrates the festival’s impact on the cultures of music, film and technology.

The partnership also put together a fair amount of information as well as visualising some did-you-know facts about the festival. Some of which include:

1987: The first “South by Southwest” festival (and conference) is held in Austin, Texas. 150 attendees are expected, but more than 700 show up.

1990: First mention of “SXSW” as the conference’s nickname in a major US publication — LA Times

1992: Shifting directions, Willie Nelson delivers a welcome speech instead of a keynote. But he is upstaged by singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked, who shocks the crowd with a controversial speech about race

1997: More than 2 000 attend one of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne’s “Parking Lot Experiments”, where he plays 30 synchronized car stereos in a parking garage.

1999: A major thunderstorm floods Emo’s and forces cancellation of all outdoor events, including a Willie Nelson concert.

2003: Haven’t heard of SXSW Music keynote speaker is Daniel Lanois? You should know he produced such albums as U2′s “The Joshua Tree”, Peter Gabriel’s “So” and Bob Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind”

2006: Interactive keynote speakers include founders from two of the internet’s most disruptive websites: Craig Newmark of Craigslist and Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia

2007: A little birdie flutters in with a messaging service and makes a big splash at SXSW: Twitter

2009: Future Academy Award Best Picture-winner “The Hurt Locker” has its US premiere

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