SXSW Interactive remains the biggest and best emerging technology festival on the planet. It’s earned a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies for a world ever more reliant on technology. Occasionally, as with last year’s attention to fake news and cyber warfare, the dark consequences of all this innovation spill onto the stage at South By.

Nigel Gwilliam is returning to Austin this March to see whether a shadow is still being cast or whether the festival will return to its tech-utopian roots. Will augmented and mixed reality rush past virtual? Will blockchain save the world? Will artificial intelligence get creative? Will a boy ever be born who can swim faster than a shark?

Come and join Nigel Gwilliam, IPA Consultant Head of Media and Emerging Technology, as he presents his findings from this year’s festival. 

Nigel Gwilliam, Consultant Head of Media & Emerging Technology, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

A 20+ year veteran of media, especially digital media, Nigel is on point for all media affairs at the IPA. His background spans agency (PHD) and media owner (Telegraph Group) in the UK, and internationally (Leo Burnett Hong Kong). He is responsible for representing the media and digital communities within IPA membership and in addition to running the IPA Media Futures Group, oversees the IPA’s digital and technology groups.