SXSW Sydney
- Event Overview: SXSW Sydney is the Asia-Pacific expansion of the iconic Austin-based (The USA) festival, bringing together innovation, music, screen, tech, games, and culture. The 2024 edition spanned multiple venues across Sydney’s CBD, drawing thousands of delegates,
speakers, performers, and attendees over a week-long program of conferences, showcases, and exhibitions.
- Our Role: Since 2024 Casual Hands was engaged to design and manage the entire volunteer program. This included recruitment, onboarding, training, rostering, and onsite delivery across all key festival streams. We worked closely with the internal SXSW operations and stakeholder teams to ensure volunteers were well-prepared, supported, and aligned with each day’s schedule and venue needs.
- Achievements: Delivered a multi-venue volunteer program covering music, screen, gaming, tech, exhibitions, and conference streams. Since recruitment process, training, and deployment of over 400 volunteers across a complex 7-day schedule contributing to smooth festival operations.
- Unique Value Added: We embedded directly into SXSW operations, reducing the internal workload while providing a dedicated team focused solely on volunteer logistics. Our flexible rostering, real-time communications, and venue-specific training ensured consistent, high- quality delivery across a complex, citywide program.