AUSTIN, Texas — People come to Austin for SXSW from all over the country and even the world.
Even though this year's festival doesn't officially start until Friday, there were still plenty of people packed into the Austin Convention Center all day Thursday.
Frank Pflaumer traveled from Brazil with a group of his coworkers to see if they could learn some new innovative and tech-based methods to take back to their office.
"We are so excited about this festival," Pflaumer said. "We're here to find out more about interaction, digital networking and entertainment, of course."
Pflaumer and his coworkers met up with another group from Mexico, as their company coordinated their trips around the same time.
"We're amazed," Pflaumer said, looking out at Austin. "I didn't expect a big city like this. I was expecting much smaller."
Pflaumer and many others went to the Austin Convention Center on Thursday to get registered and get their credentials.
Even though people were able to get registered earlier this week, Thursday saw the biggest amount of people show up so far -- including Liz Engelke, who traveled just a bit less than Pflaumer.
"I'm here from Leander, Texas," Engelke said. "Just northwest of here."
Even though Engelke has lived nearby, she's never been to any part of SXSW before. That's why her husband decided to surprise her with a platinum pass as a gift this past Christmas.
"When I delved into all the offerings, it was exciting and a little overwhelming," Engelke said. "People have to really step outside of your own limited understanding of life, work and reality. To augment that, so you can feel more comfortable with change."
This festival is also nothing like what it was at the beginning. Back during the first year of SXSW in 1987, there were only 700 attendees. Last year, 432,500 people participated. Coordinators are expecting an even bigger number this year.
One of those people this year is Tai-Cha Fujimoto. He came all the way from Tokyo by himself, with a goal of learning as much as possible in the tech realm.
"I just popped into downtown today," Fujimoto said. "This is going to be a great experience. I am going to explore as much as I can."
While Fujimoto is ready to explore, Pflaumer is going to do his best to plan out exactly what he's doing every day so he and his coworkers don't feel overwhelmed.
"We don't intend to see everything," Pflaumer said. "Now we have to go through it and book whatever we want to see."
The first day of the festival includes many keynote speakers, tech sessions and movie screenings, including Jordan Peele's upcoming horror film, 'Us' at 6:30 p.m.
This year, there are 133 feature films showing and 1,740 musical performers a part of SXSW.
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