There are actually two types of creativity, one much more powerful than the other, and while I can't speak for SXSW because I have never been there, from your p

There are actually two types of creativity, one much more powerful than the other, and while I can't speak for SXSW because I have never been there, from your post I can infer that the creativity you are referring to is limited at an event like SxSW, but the much more powerful creativity is abundant at a large gathering of like minded folks. Here is how Napoleon Hill breaks it down. Synthetic Imagination: "Through this faculty one may arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations. This faculty "creates" nothing. It merely works with the material of experience, education, and observation of which it is fed." "Creative Imagination: Through the faculty of creative imagination the finite mind of humankind has direct communication with infinite intelligence. This is the faculty for which hunches and inspirations are received. It is by this faculty that all basic or new ideas are developed. It is by this faculty that thought vibrations from the minds of others are received. And it is through this faculty that one individual can "tune in to" or communicate with the subconscious minds of others. The faculty functions by ONLY when the conscious mind is vibrating at an exceedingly rapid rate, as for example when the conscious mind is stimulated through the emotions of a strong desire." These desires that make the mind vibrate at an exceptional rate are: "The Desire For...sex,love, fame, power, money, music, friendship, harmony of two or more people who ally themselves for spiritual or temporal advancement, mutual suffering, autosuggestion, fear, narcotics and alcohol. " While I am not a psychologist, and Napoleon Hill formulated these concepts close to a century ago, so I can't speak to where "Creative Imagination" really comes from...I certainly believe that there are strokes of genius that are not simply arranging old concepts into new combinations, but more like paradigm shifts that completely change the way to see a problem and create for it. I would think that an event like SxSW would have thousands of people whose minds are vibrating at an extremely high rate, and It is probably a great place to trigger true sparks of genius.