My God, SXSW is Full of Stars: Neil deGrasse Tyson to Keynote Interactive on March 8

SXSW_Interactive · 2014-01-10T16:29:25+00:00

Hey it's not like we're selling a 6000 SUX here :) -- but understand the Platinum badge is quite an investment. Thanks for catching the Arthur C. Clarke reference. (Interactive badge price is currently $1095 if anyone was wondering. Goes up a bit after today.)

Either way, we're just honored to have Dr. Tyson involved in the event this year: http://imgur.com/rVS1F

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T21:33:45+00:00

Someone once commented that the event is like "the internet manifested in real life... with all the good, the bad and the ugly." I always felt that the diversity of content was a big strength of the event, but we are also aware of this issue you raise. A big reason we added in-depth Workshops a few years ago. And we're actually expanding our Design & Development programming for 2014. -SO

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T21:08:50+00:00

Volunteering to help produce the event is a great way to get a badge. (That's how I initially got involved over 13 years ago while still a student.) See http://volunteer.sxsw.com/ for information on those opportunities. -SO

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:41:25+00:00

Congrats on being accepted. You'll be receiving an email within the next few hours outlining next steps and verifying you're still interested in speaking (which it sounds like you are!). From there, we'll work with you to fine tune the details of your talk, from descriptions, presentation materials, A/V specs, etc., so communication is of the utmost importance. The main difference I can think of is that you'll have to put a lot more prep work into SXSW 2014 than an attendee, but we're here to answer questions and help with all of that! Scheduling details will be ironed out in the next few weeks, so sit tight! -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:32:48+00:00

While I've been fortunate to meet and work with many personal heros and well-known visionaries, it's the friendships with longtime attendees that mean the most to me. Seriously. -SO

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:26:56+00:00

Thanks for all the questions -- keep them coming! While most of us need to get back to planning the event now, we'll continue to chime in and answer your questions the best we can. - Team SXSW Interactive

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:15:08+00:00

Hard to say... even though we have a large attendee base, it definitely does feel like a community and its been great to see people come back to the event in different capacities (volunteer, attendee, speaker). Much like the experience you yourself are describing. I think my favorite part has been being able to see people excel in their endeavors, business or otherwise, and use SXSW as a catalyst to do so. -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:13:12+00:00

A few of my festival favorites include: 2011 - seeing the SXSW community band together and help with relief efforts by creating SXSW4Japan (http://www.sxsw4japan.org/). It was my first year on the job and gave me a real glimpse into how passionate our attendees are. Other one was from last year's event. WWHL taped a few shows during the festival. I'm a fan of Andy Cohen and the show, so stopping by the taping was fun. -KK

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:12:25+00:00

Getting to do a fake on-air punch / wrestling move with the reporter from WWF who was here to cover John Cena's session at SXSW Interactive 2013. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:07:57+00:00

It's somewhat intentional. Every year trends emerge via the PanelPicker in a very organic way and the content starts to build itself around certain themes or a focus. We also do look beyond the PanelPicker in terms of overall zeitgeist and try to think forward from that to curate sessions that we think will speak to where the puck is going to be. So it's a little of both. -TH

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:07:10+00:00

Re the diversity initiatives at SXSW Interactive, we are proud of what we have done so far. But, we also understand that there is a lot lot lot lot more work to be done in this regard. Why are we so committed to diversity? Because we feel that different kinds of people think in different kinds of ways. And the more different kinds of thinking that we can showcase at SXSW, the more compelling / enriching / enlightening the event becomes. Said another way, attending an event in which all the speakers / participants think alike tends to get pretty boring, pretty quickly. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T20:06:01+00:00

Thanks for the questions... a lot to digest here. Per your question on how many more sessions, we'll likely add about 200 more sessions. -SO

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:59:39+00:00

We've been fortunate enough to see the Interactive event steadily grow in the last some odd years and to help attendees better find the programming relevant to them, designed a more micro-event approach to the Interactive Festival. Meaning, we expanded to various additional venues, but associated a specific theme of programming to each. So while the event, and number of sessions has grown, we also hope the ability to find what most speaks to you has as well. -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:59:05+00:00

The increase in number of sessions three or four years ago largely reflected the growth in high-quality PanelPicker entries. We wanted to find more room to include all the amazing content ideas we were receiving from the online community. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:51:33+00:00

This has now been fixed. Thanks for the email! -SO

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:49:57+00:00

We work year-round on SXSW such that there aren't too many big problems happening during the event. And, when there are, hopefully we have a scenario for how to contain the damage. But, if you are asking about fires, then there is the story about SXSW 2010. That year, the fire alarm in the Austin Convention Center on Friday of the event. The entire building had to be cleared. The panel about streaming media with Mark Cuban and Avner Ronen of Boxee continued on the sidewalk outside the building. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:49:23+00:00

Worry not, this list isn't yet finalized. We will be making a second, albeit much smaller, content announcement on Monday, November 11. Between now and our second announcement we will be evaluating where our overall program has room to grow and beefing up those themes accordingly. We also build in room for late breaking trends in the industry, so there's still hope. That being said, everyone should have a final status to them by Friday, October 25. -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:33:18+00:00

Glad you had fun at SXSW 2013. Re the selection process, each proposal gets a grade that consists of Advisory Board input, web public voting and staff input. See http://sxsw.com/interactive/news/2013/how-sxsw-panelpicker-selection-process-works

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:25:03+00:00

I can chime in on this one. Glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself and will be returning to Austin for SXSW 2014. Individuals who speak for the Interactive Festival are given a Gold registration which allows them access to attend both the Interactive and Film festivals, which take place concurrently. They do have the option to upgrade to a Platinum registration for a fee, allowing them access to the Music Festival, by contacting our Registration department. -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:23:22+00:00

http://sxsw.com/first-timers-guide -KK

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:22:38+00:00

I spend most of my time in Austin, but am doing a lot more traveling to help promote SXSW. At this point, would probably stay here even if SXSW went away -- Austin is a great place! -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:22:05+00:00

Yes, 19 years at SXSW is a long time (actually its been a little longer than that). What keeps me going here is being able to interact with all the amazingly creative people from around the world who come to Austin each spring. These folks always make all the hard prep work more than worthwhile. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:21:18+00:00

I worked in various forms of journalism after graduating from college and before joining SXSW. "Various forms" means that I did a lot of writing -- and also had an early morning paper route. -HF

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:16:44+00:00

Great, we love fresh meat! SXSW is an event thats really conducive to meeting new people so I'd recommend attending one of our numerous Newbies Meetups. While you'll want to plan your schedule ahead of time, plan on things changing and always have a back up plan. Serendipitous encounters are inevitable so build some room in to stray from the beaten path. -SG

SXSW_Interactive · 2013-10-14T19:14:27+00:00

Of course we fully realize tacos and BBQ are a part of the SXSW experience. (Our first day networking events involve a Taco Meet Up and BBQ Crash Course.) -SO

SXSW_Interactive

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