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Last year I walked into SXSW with AJ when our team was less than 5 people. This year? We flew in 11 team members of our 35+ person team for our first Creator Match offsite in tandem with SXSW.
The contrast was genuinely wild to sit with.
Same event. Completely different version of Creator Match. Seeing that growth reflected back at me in something as simple as a headcount made it feel more real than any milestone post ever could.
(Fair warning: I was so heads-down all week that I barely took photos. My team however was very much on their content game, so follow along as they share all the selfies and BTS moments over the next few weeks 😅)
What we actually heard on the ground @ SXSW
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This year I skipped the badge, in exchange for more brand activations and 3rd party panel-hopping which led to more real conversations. (tip: if your a creator and don’t get a free badge next year, I wouldn’t buy one)
Here's what kept coming up:
Newsletters are having a serious moment - creators are hungry for monetization strategies and owned audiences are the answer everyone kept circling back to
AI search is top of mind for brands and they're already thinking about how creator content fits into that picture
Quality over quantity is the new default - with AI-generated content everywhere, standing out means slowing down and doing the work well
Creators want AI as a collaborator, not a replacement (sound familiar? 👀)
Everyone, brands and creators alike, is craving real human connection in a feed full of AI slop
Last year I counted maybe 40 B2B creators in the town. This year? Easily 150+. SXSW is officially a must-attend for this space and I expect that number to keep climbing.
Why creators who show up in person win
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Here's something I've watched play out over and over again from both sides - running creator campaigns for brands and working on behalf of creators, the creators landing long-term brand partnerships aren't always the ones with the biggest audiences. They're the ones who keep showing up in the same rooms as the decision makers.
Algorithms can get you discovered. A 20-minute hallway conversation can get you a two-year retainer.
IRL events are a cheat code that most creators either skip or underestimate. You build trust faster in person than any amount of DMs or Zoom calls can manufacture. Brands want to work with people they actually know, like, and trust - and nothing accelerates that faster than grabbing a meal together or having a real conversation at a side event. The relationships you build at one conference can compound for years.
That's not an exaggeration. Some of our best and longest brand partnerships at Creator Match started with a single in-person introduction.
How to actually make events worth it
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Showing up is step one. Here's how to make sure it converts into something real:
Have one clear goal before you walk in the door - not "meet everyone" but something specific like "have 5 meaningful conversations with brand marketers" or "find two potential collaborators." Vague intentions get vague results
Follow up within 48 hours while you're still fresh in people's minds - a quick "loved chatting about X" message does more than you think
Share what you're learning in real time on your platforms - your audience wants to see you in the room, and brands notice who's showing up
Want a full events playbook?
I'm thinking about putting together a guide covering how to prep before you go, how to work a room without it feeling awkward, and how to follow up in a way that actually turns conversations into opportunities.
Hit reply with "events" if that would be useful and I'll build it out 🎯
💜 Tara
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