From Virtual Events to Communities

During a global pandemic where “Zoom fatigue” is a common phrase and everyone has been stuck working from home, finding authentic human connection and becoming part of a community has become challenging.

But that’s exactly what happened during SXSW and SXSW EDU this year. Swapcard, the virtual event platform that hosted SXSW Online and SXSW EDU Online over the past few weeks, is built for bringing communities together. People from around the world, who were disappointed at not being able to travel to Austin and watch the event live, connected through their computers and engaged with each other in meaningful ways.

• 38,214 new contacts were created among attendees
• Attendees exchanged over 170,000 messages
• They created over 50,000 discussions
• The average video meeting between attendees lasted over 52 minutes

Swapcard provided attendees with a place to meet their community, exchange over shared values and learn from each other. The SXSW team was brave in their decision to go virtual and it paid off. For now, technology is all we have to stay connected while waiting for the world to open up again, and what an abundance of opportunities tech can provide if embraced.

Stay connected with SXSW – follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook for the latest SX news.

Photo courtesy of Swapcard