Next week South by Southwest will kick off in Austin, Texas, welcoming tens of thousands of attendees to the leading cultural and entertainment festival in the world.
This year, however, SXSW will also represent the single largest deployment of iBeacons (more than 1,000) for any single event.
To make it happen, South by Southwest (SXSW) teamed with Eventbase, a mobile event platform, to release an update of the official 2015 SXSW GO app.
The freshly deployed technology is designed to change the way people experience the festival.
This year’s app will offer an unparalleled event experience with industry-leading technology including the largest deployment of iBeacons at an event and a new social networking feature.
“Integrating new ideas and technologies into the fabric of SXSW is always something we strive to do,” said SXSW Director of Technology Scott Wilcox. “We’re excited to work with Eventbase on this large-scale project as mobile has become such an important platform for us.”
Specifically, a formal announcement from SXSW reads, the implementation of over 1,000 beacons enhances another new in-app social networking feature, Around Me.
Here’s how it works: an attendee checks into “zones” at official SXSW venues and the app identifies what’s happening nearby and people who have also checked in recently.
“We’ve been working with SXSW since 2011, and they’ve always been a partner in pushing the envelope with technology to enhance the event experience,” said Jeff Sinclair, co-founder of Eventbase. “If we can send attendees home with even one new connection or experience they wouldn’t have had otherwise, then we’ve done our job.”
To learn more or to check out the app, click here.
Join the Conversation