South By Southwest to co-host Virtual Worlds Forum opening party

by Staff, Brand Republic 28-Aug-08, 12:25

LONDON - The influential US technology conference South by Southwest Interactive is bringing a taste of the festival to the UK in October for the second year in a row, in conjunction with Virtual Worlds Forum Europe.

SXSW, the technology conference and festival held annually in the US, will be co-hosting the Virtual Worlds Forum opening party on Monday October 6. The venue will be Digress City in Moorgate, London.

Guests will include representatives from the UK interactive, film, music and media industries, as well as a number of speakers, sponsors and delegates attending the Virtual Worlds Forum.

SXSW is best known in the UK for the legendary Austin, Texas music festival, which annually attracts more than 13,000 music industry delegates and features more than 1800 artists from around the globe.

This year, more than 1000 UK delegates made the annual pilgrimage to Austin, which over the years has featured many well-known British acts, including Amy Winehouse, Duffy, the Darkness, Kaiser Chiefs, Lily Allen, Artic Monkeys, Joss Stone, Franz Ferdinand, Jamie Cullum etc

However, SXSW also includes two other standalone festivals - SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive - which run around the same dates.

This year, more than 7500 people attended SXSW Interactive with the UK representing the largest audience outside of the US.

Sasha Frieze, executive conference director Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, says there is significant cross-over between the two organisations.

"We're delighted to be working with SXSW for the second time, especially after the success of last year's partnership. Both SXSW and Virtual Worlds Forum Europe share a love of exploring creative and digital innovation, as well as promoting new business opportunities through these kinds of networking events."

Hugh Forrest, event director at SXSW Interactive, added: "We had a great event last year, so teaming up with Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2008 again to stage an event in London makes perfect sense and helps us further engage actively with our European audience and community."