[12] Associated events included live music, film screenings, an arcade of independently produced video games, a market, and food trucks.

[13] News media and bloggers noted an "impressive list of speakers" and an "intimate tone" missing from other technology-focused conferences.

"[14] The festival returned to the Yale Union Laundry Building with speakers, workshops, films, music shows, game events, and a market.

[15] Baio described it as being "about artists and hackers and makers that are using the internet to make a living doing what they love independently without sacrificing creative or financial control".

[7] Conference speakers included feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, data visualization designer Rachel Binx, software engineer Edna Piranha, Welcome to Night Vale creator Joseph Fink, Lifehacker founder Gina Trapani, lexicographer Erin McKean, and technologist Paul Ford.

[17] Baio and McMillan aimed to increase the number of talks focusing on the challenges of being an independent creator, and to offer more criticism than previous years.

"[9] The Guardian attributed the festival's popularity to "its gentleness, its emotive undertone and thoughtful curation, but also its commitment to supporting individual artists over businesses and corporates.

[21] Speakers included musician Neil Cicierega, journalist Sarah Jeong, satirist Jenn Schiffer, and Itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran.

[6] After experimenting with a larger event in 2018, XOXO returned to its previous size and venue for its seventh year, with 1,200 attendees at Revolution Hall.

In an interview with Willamette Week in 2020, festival co-founder Andy Baio said that, due to uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic, "The last XOXO may have been the last one.

[31][3] In June 2015, the organizers of XOXO announced they were opening a shared, pay-what-you-can workspace to "bring some of our favorite people and projects in indie art and tech under one roof" in a 13,000 square foot building in Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District.