SXSW Interactive is one of the most attended conferences of the year for tech and media types, with 30,000 conference participants flooding Austin. But in recent years, the cost of an official interactive badge has gone up considerably and many are attending unofficial SXSW parties and related events that do not require badges. For people who have never attended SXSWi, it’s good to go with a badge at least one year — the depth and breadth of content discussed across hundreds of panels and sessions can be as valuable and high quality as the networking you’ll do. However, it gets redundant year after year. In past years I’ve attended the music portion of SXSW as well — this is incredibly fun and far fewer people spend time in the actual convention center. Why would you with all the amazing day parties and live music showcases across sunny Austin? Here’s a shortlist of unofficial events that I’ve RSVP’d for this year. For more info and discovery of unofficial SXSW parties I recommend Sched.org, do512, and Unofficial SXSW Guide.

Want to meet up in Austin? I’ll be there from March 6-12. Hit me up!

FRIDAY March 7
*ff Venture Capital’s ff MASSIVE 2014 is in Austin featuring their portfolio companies, a slew of panels, two full days of activities, plenty of food and drink, and of course, three evening bashes. Friday/Sat/Sun 1-5 and at night.

FRIDAY NIGHT – Robert DeLong, Octopus Project
Empire Control Room & Garage (606 E 7th St, Austin, TX 78701)
RSVP @ http://ffmassive.com/

*NY Tech Meetup
Saturday 11-7 / afterpary 4-7 @
The North Door
502 Brushy Street
RSVP @ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ny-tech-meetup-austin-2014-registration-10545268181

LA TECH CONNECT
Noon – 6pm at
508 Tequila/Pelons (8th & Red River, across from Stubbs – Grail on the patio)
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-tech-connect-austin-tickets-7056577413

Wednesday

SXSW seems to have a dearth of hip-hop on its schedule and this event was not an official part of the conference itself (though it got plenty of love as Amex is a SXSW sponsor). But let’s not kid ourselves, Jay-Z may be the greatest rapper alive but he’s every bit as much of a pop star today as he is hip-hop. The show was also simulcast within the W, on a big screen on Red River and on YouTube (watch on demand here). Photos, video and setlist below.

Click photos to embiggen. [See image gallery at andysternberg.com]

Jigga SXSW Part 1 by YardieGoals

Jigga SXSW Part 2 by YardieGoals

Setlist (via setlist.fm)

What More Can I Say
Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Where I’m From
U Don’t Know
99 Problems
Jigga What
Big Pimpin’
Heart Of The City
I Know
Girls, Girls, Girls
Excuse Me Miss
La La La
I Jus Wanna Love You
PSA
On To The Next One
Jigga (What’s My Name)
Run This Town
Lucifer / Free Mason
Allure
Beach Chair
Glory
Hard Knock Life
Empire State of Mind
Encore:
Encore

(l-r) Jeff Pulver, Beth Kanter, Stacey Monk, David Armano, Randi Zuckerberg, James Young, Scott Goodstein,Tikva Morowati

Many more recent studies and examples of this including this pdf white paper. Geoff Livingston is even teaching a class on Social Media for Social Good at Georgetown this semester.

Below, the rough takeaway — er, walkaway by myself and Shira Lazar: