South by Southwest 2015 will return to Austin later this month, providing opportunities for entertainment and career-building conferences, and now-enhanced networking opportunities with four apps hitting the market.
The four apps – Heard, Holonis, Vuevent and SideChef – are highlighted as the best tools this year to maximize the SXSW Conference and Festival experience for attendees, including ACU students and alumni.
According to its website, the conference offers attendees the opportunity to examine the future of the music industry through various activities at the Austin Convention Center while more than 2,200 regional, national and international acts perform over a period of six nights.
“With more than 65,000 attendees and 500 exhibits to visit at SXSW, Los Angeles’ tech and app public relations firm, PMBC (Publicity, Marketing, Branding, Consulting) Group, is highlighting the hottest apps to enhance the SXSW experience,” said Lisa Inouye, senior account manager of PMBC Group.
The apps Inouye featured are:
– Heard, a social exchange network that matches user content to the perfect audience. It is the place to find the latest tech gossip and breaking news content.
– Holonis, a marketing app which helps startup businesses manage their online presence. It allows users to publish on all major platforms, engage with customers on their major channels and manage orders, reviews and deals from one place. Holonis is set to launch at SXSW.
– Vuevent, a mobile event app that allows users to search, share and discover events that are happening all around them and is customizable to each users needs. At SXSW, the app can be used to find networking events or celebrity-studded after parties.
– SideChef, a step-by-step cooking app that will be hosting a happy hour at SXSW featuring the best food and drinks from the app.
Many students said they were not aware of the existing apps.
Melody Landrum, junior math major from Fresco, said she’d never heard about the apps before and that they would have made it easier to maneuver around the festival instead of figuring everything out on her own.
Alumni and current students have downloaded apps for SXSW before, but ended up not getting much use out of them.
“I think I had to download some for free stuff, but I didn’t actually use them,” said Emily Sears, junior psychology major from Austin. “I always use the one they make for ACL, and it’s really helpful, but a SXSW app would be great to have, especially with how spread out it is.”
