How Registration Works

For those of you returning to XOXO, this will all be very familiar. For those of you who have never attended, here’s how registration works and the timeline for distributing passes. Short version:

1. On Tuesday, May 14, we’ll announce the launch lineup for XOXO 2019 and open registration.
2. You’ll have eight days to fill out the registration survey — ending at noon PT/3pm ET on Thursday, May 23.
3. Like past years, attendees will be randomly selected from approved surveys starting on Tuesday, May 28.

Everyone must fill out their own survey to attend, even partners and significant others.

Timeline and Passes

This Tuesday, May 14 we’ll announce the XOXO 2019 lineup and open registration.

This year, you’ll have ten days to fill out the registration survey, ending on Thursday, May 23 at noon PT/3pm ET. There’s no need to hurry, and no advantage to getting your survey in early.

Once registration closes, attendees will be chosen from approved surveys by lottery. You’ll have a guaranteed 48 hours to buy your pass, and after that, it will be released to another attendee.

A full Conference+Festival pass at XOXO costs $500 and gets you access to everything: two days of conference talks, all our evening festival events, meetups, and parties. This year, we're bringing back our Festival-Only pass, a $250 pass that gets you access to everything at XOXO except the daytime conference talks on Saturday and Sunday.

For those who can’t afford to attend, we'll continue to offer subsidized passes this year to those who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. You’ll be able to apply for a subsidized pass on your survey.

This year, by popular demand, you'll be able to contribute to the cost of subsidized passes during registration, helping other people attend who don't have the financial means.

XOXO passes are non-transferable, but can be refunded in full until Friday, August 16. After that, all sales are final.

How Surveys Work

We ask you to fill out a short survey with three simple questions:

1. What do you do?
2. What are you working on right now?
3. What’s something you’ve made that you’re proud of?

In addition, we ask if you belong to an underrepresented group or whether you need a subsidized pass to attend for free.

This survey isn’t an application — we’re not judging or ranking you based on your answers. We use these responses to answer a simple question: is this someone who makes things, or builds tools to help people make things? Artists and creators of any kind are immediately approved.

Why Surveys?

Initially, we implemented surveys to screen out people who were looking to exploit the attention of XOXO attendees — namely companies who want to be at XOXO to sell you their services instead of participating.

Over time, we found it to be a powerful tool to ensure the group of attendees reflects the creative communities that the festival was designed to celebrate.

Each year, we’ve heard criticism from some people who see our survey system as exclusionary or elitist, arguing that a first-come, first-serve system for ticketing would be far more fair, equitable, and inclusionary.

In our experience, the opposite is true. A first-come, first-serve system favors those with time and money, which ends up benefiting predominantly white men with well-paying jobs and disposable income.

Our survey system allows us to factor diversity into admission, which helps to counteract systemic biases and prioritize access to the festival for underrepresented folx and independent artists.