The Side Event Is Better Than the Main Event

The keynote stage during a week like Austin Tech Week draws the crowd, but plenty of the real conversations happen afterward in a smaller room nearby. Larry Chiang’s read is simple: the main event is where everyone performs and the side event is where everyone actually talks. Austin Tech Week runs October 26 through 30, 2026, out of Capital Factory on Brazos Street, and the official schedule is only the start of what’s happening that week.

Treat the big event as an External API, since you don’t need a speaker badge to benefit from thousands of the right people being in one city at once. PQRST still matters before the week starts, so preview which side dinners and afterparties are drawing the people you actually want to meet. A side event puts ten people in a room instead of a thousand, and ten is a number where you can finish a real conversation.

SuperModel posture works harder in a small room, where notes out and phone away make you one of the few people actually listening. Larry’s line on business model still applies here too: attack the money, since a side event is for finding the one person who can say yes.

Karma compounds fast at side events, since you’ll likely see the same twenty people again at the next one and the one after that. House money keeps you from chasing every invite in the group chat, so pick two or three side events a night and work them properly.

The main stage gives you talking points, while the side event gives you the actual relationship. That’s the whole argument behind Web12: the visible event is the excuse, and the side event is where the real work happens.