South by Southwest Sydney ®
14 – 20 October 2024
7 days, 5 days conference
1,400+ conference speakers.
300,000+ total attendees.
413 conference sessions.
94 expo exhibitors.
OVERVIEW
For the second consecutive year, ICC Sydney served as the dynamic hub for South by Southwest Sydney® (SXSW Sydney), the city’s premier festival for creatives, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Held from 14-20 October 2024, the event brought together global thought leaders and trailblazers, including high profile speakers such as Melanie Perkins, Johann Hanni, Jennifer Robinson, and GRAMMY®-nominated artist The Kid Laroi. The action-packed 5-day Conference showcased an impressive lineup, featuring more than 1,400 world class speakers across 400+ sessions, including talks across 23 tracks, as well as workshops, mentoring, networking events, and more. Attendees also enjoyed the venue’s stunning outdoor event deck and a grand gala dinner in Hall 6. This event truly showcased the full range of ICC Sydney’s capabilities, highlighting the flexibility of its versatile spaces, bespoke culinary offerings and proximity to all there is to offer in Sydney.
“Working with the ICC Sydney team has been a fantastic experience. They’ve made sure that the dream and the vision we had with our partners was possible. Where the venue’s located means it’s easy and accessible by all. We can house conference, expo, outdoor activations, partner activations and networking events. That’s one of the reasons why we like to return and bring South By South West Sydney to ICC Sydney.”
– Tom McAlister, Operational Manager, SXSW Sydney
ICC Sydney is really the hub of South By South West. The experience that ICC provides our attendees is world leading. We’re lucky to work with a venue that has such incredible spaces. It allows us to have conference sessions that seat 2,500 people, all the way down to one-on-one mentoring sessions.
– Jono Whyman, General manager, SXSW Sydney
Endless opportunity
ICC Sydney was excited to build on the success of last year’s inaugural SXSW festival. Spanning over 40,000sqm and situated in the vibrant Darling Harbour precinct, ICC Sydney offered attendees opportunities to discover emerging talent, explore innovative ideas, and make meaningful new connections.
Adding to the unforgettable experience, ICC Sydney hosted Grammy-nominated, Platinum-selling UK artist Jorja Smith on her ‘falling or flying’ tour – a highly anticipated performance as part of the SXSW Sydney Music Festival in its 9,000 capacity theatre. The venue also hosted headline film premieres and daily screen launches in its 2,500 seat Darling Harbour Theatre. In addition, the world class Exhibition Centre played host to the festival’s Tech and Innovation Expo, meeting the diverse needs of the event and its audience.
Operational Prowess
Through meticulous planning, the ICC Sydney team successfully facilitated a seamless experience for attendees, delivering exceptional directional guidance, crowd management, set up, move out, and precise scheduling. As with every event at the venue, the ICC Sydney team conducted comprehensive briefings to ensure a smooth and efficient experience for all.
Building on insights gained from hosting the festival the previous year, event planners implemented key improvements, such as optimising queue management and adjusting spacing between sessions. This ensured that attendees could effortlessly move between events, never missing a moment at the creative industries event. A notable change was the redesign of badges, making them session-specific and significantly improving queue efficiency.
ICC Sydney introduced additional pop-up coffee carts during peak times ensuring convenient access to refreshments to further enhance the attendee experience, A sunset ‘happy hour’ was also trialled and well received by attendees. The team ensured effective security and ushering across all three event centres and provided support for SXSW activations.
Extension of your team
This year, SXSW engaged ICC Sydney’s impressive event deck for an activation by Zeecar, an electric car company, open to the public. ICC Sydney’s team worked to maintain acceptable noise levels, structural integrity, risk mitigation, and weather contingencies were all carefully managed to ensure the activation’s success.
With the addition of more tenancies and the Gallery becoming a central hub, alongside the venue’s harbourside café, security was strategically positioned throughout the venue to ensure smooth crowd control and provide a safe point of contact for attendees. ICC Sydney’s security team also supported VIP musicians and their teams, ensuring a secure and seamless experience for all involved.
