SXSW Baby! Interactive

Let’s hear it for the last minute!

2008-07-15T20:13:05Z

Last Friday, the deadline for submitting ideas for the 2009 converence, the folks at SXSW Interactive received more than 700 panel proposals in one day alone. They’re still wading through all those under-the-wire submissions, plus the hundreds submitted beforehand. The Interactive “panel picker”, which will permit prospective attendees to vote on favorite panel ideas, is scheduled to go live on August 8.

SXSWclick finalists announced

2008-06-27T17:45:00Z

SXSWclick, the itty-bitty online film festival from the folks at SXSW, has posted the finalists in the 2008 competition. There’s some fun and intriguing stuff here, and you can have your say by voting for your favorites (up to once daily) until July 27 in the Popularity Contest. Winners in all categories, including the Grand Jury prize, will be announced August 1.

Interactive panel submission process now live

2008-06-06T21:07:01Z

It’s a smidge later than we expected, but the folks at SXSW have opened up the panel submission process for the 2009 Interactive conference. A couple of important notes:

One change for the 2009 submission process is that individuals are limited to two (2) panel / presentation ideas—last year, we allowed people to send in three ideas each. Also, if you are submitting a panel proposal and your idea is accepted, then you will need to confirm all speakers by December 12 (or your session will be replaced by other programming).

Submission deadline is July 11, although organizers reserve the right to cut off entries before that date if they reach capacity, so submit early for best chances.

Respect the backchannel

2008-06-02T23:43:00Z

After his own experience on a panel at SXSW, blogger Rohit Bhargava offers some advice on how to speak at a conference without getting skewered on Twitter.

2009 Interactive panel submission process begins next week

2008-05-27T16:46:01Z

Do you have an idea for the perfect panel? Get your thoughts in order and prep for the first step in the Interactive conference panel submission process, which begins next week. From June 2 until July 11, panel topic and solo presentation submissions will be accepted at SXSW.com, then subjected to the democratic thunderdome of the “Panel Picker”, where former and prospective registrants choose their favorites. While not all panel programming is plucked from the Picker, it’ll be a big part of what goes down in the Convention Center next March.

Full details on the panel submission process are expected to be posted in the next few days. In the meantime, pop on your best brainstorming chapeau and e-mail inter@sxsw.com with questions.

Interactive feedback released

2008-05-09T00:10:00Z

All those little cards you filled out after SXSW Interactive panel sessions this year? Somebody actually read them, and tallied the rankings. Now here are the results. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the keynote by game guru Jane McGonigal ranked highest of all, while the infamous “keynote interview” of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg by journalist Sarah Lacy hit the very bottom.

SXSW Interactive introduces panel mentor program

2008-05-06T23:09:01Z

The latest e-mail from SXSW HQ contained this bit of news about a new program for the Interactive conference:

One of the improvements we will implement for the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival is a panel mentor program. The idea here is that qualified members of the online community help facilitate communication between the SXSW staff and the many industry experts scheduled to speak at next year’s event. This program will require a significant investment of time and energy—and all panel mentors will be given a comp badge for their efforts.

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, send an e-mail to for details; be sure the subject line of your e-mail is “SXSW Panel Mentor Program”.

SXSWclick is calling—for entries!

2008-04-28T18:10:00Z

Attention camera jockeys: Today is the official “call for entries” for SXSWclick, “a year-round initiative created to showcase short-form storytelling via mobile devices and the web”. In other words, it’s an online film festival of sorts, accepting entries in five categories: narrative shorts, documentary shorts, animation, music videos and our favorite category, “What the F*#!?”. (That’s, er, “what the film?!”.) Submissions must be no longer than 10 minutes and uploaded no later than June 13.

Check out last year’s winners and get all the info here to craft your submission for the fifth annual festival.

It’s a sickness

2008-03-30T20:30:00Z

Aside from a ton of inspiration and memories of much great music, some folks returned home from SXSW with a little something extra: a pernicious flu bug. The not-medical-professionals at SXSW Scurvy are dedicated to tracking the epidemiology of the little virus that could and sharing remedies.

Congratulations to the Photo Show Winners

2008-03-20T15:41:00Z

Pixish has announced the SXSW Photo Show winners, and there’s some great work there. The theme was “My Big Idea: From Inspiration to Invention.” Winners receive a free year of Flickr Pro as well as an Interactive badge for SXSW 2009. Congratulations!

Give Your Feedback

2008-03-20T14:55:00Z

If you were an Interactive, Film, Music, Gold, or Platinum registrant at SXSW 2008 this year, look in your inboxes for a feedback survey from SXSW. Do fill out the form and let SXSW know how your experience went, from your hotel accomodations to the Convention Center layout to the helpfulness of the staff, and more.

If you were an Interactive attendee and want to hash your SXSW out on the Baby! Boards, feel free to add your feedback and continue the discussion.

SXSW baby…literally

2008-03-18T15:14:00Z

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but several of your peers are...well, let’s just say that none of us is as young as we were and some of us are starting families. Which means some of us—a lot, actually—are having to choose between attending SXSW Interactive or staying home with our kids. Or trying to juggle both opportunity and obligation.

After spending much of this year’s conference tending to his wee one, Jeffrey Zeldman puts forth the idea of SXSW Parents Cooperatives:

SXSW Interactive is the annual gathering of the tribes. Many of the tribes now have younguns. Attending a two-day educational conference without your kids is not a huge deal, but SXSW lasts a week. The choices are not good: See the whole show but miss your kids for a week? Bring your kids and miss practically the whole show? Attend for only a couple of days, missing your kids and most of the show?

On the third day I found myself in a costly hotel room across from the conference center, skipping a keynote to play with Barbie dolls, it occurred to me that groups of parents could band together to create a more optimal experience.

Save the Date for SXSW 2009

2008-03-17T17:39:00Z

SXSW 2009 is scheduled for March 13 - 22, 2009:

Interactive: Friday March 13 through Tuesday March 17
Film: Friday March 13 through Sunday March 22
Music: Wednesday March 18 through Sunday March 22

Looks like we’ll miss out on the Daylight Saving Time change, but St. Patrick’s day will fall upon the last day of the Interactive conference. Registration opens sometime in August; look for a reminder in your inbox if you’re a previous registrant.

Set up a reminder in your calendars now. Don’t forget to register early for the lowest badge rates and the widest range of hotel options—the most inexpensive hotels tend to sell out fast!

Is the pen mightier?

2008-03-15T02:12:00Z

While most of us sat in SXSW Interactive panels slack-jawed tapping away on laptops (or perhaps simply slack-jawed), Wisconsin designer Mike Rohde was taking notes the beautiful, new old-fashioned way, with a Moleskine sketchbook and a decidedly non-digital pen. Check out the story of his SXSWi sketchnotes or view the entire Flickr set.

2008 Panel Podcasts appearing online

2008-03-11T18:30:00Z

Continuing the theme of “how you can pretend to be in Austin for SXSW”, not only can you eavesdrop online at the Music festival, you can also check out more than two dozen panel podcasts from the Interactive conference. These early entries will be added to throughout the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the official SXSW podcast page for new additions or subscribe to the SXSW Podcast feed.

And, of course, Scot-about-town Ewan Spence continues to report daily from SXSW for the Tech Conference Show on The Podcast Network. You can catch his exclusive coverage right here on the Baby!.

Full of win at SXSW

2008-03-11T02:29:00Z

The winners of the SXSW 2008 Web Awards were announced Sunday night and the winners of the 2008 Weblog Awards were revealed today. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees!

TODAY: The other Zuckerberg keynote

2008-03-10T20:03:00Z

A hundred tweets are spreading the news: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be hosting an open Q&A session today at 4:30 pm at Pangaea, the warehouse district lounge in the location of the former Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado.

What’s Your SXSW Secret?

2008-03-10T16:47:00Z

This just in: Frank Warren of Post Secret, today’s keynote speaker, is collecting SXSW secrets before his presentation. He will then read some of the secrets during the keynotes. Very cool. See you in Ballroom A at 2:00pm!

Downtown Restaurants Closed Today (Monday)

2008-03-10T15:58:01Z

The following restaurants downtown are closed today:
Stubb’s BBQ (try Ironworks or Lambert’s instead)
Chez Nous

Extreme sports round-up

2008-03-07T08:11:00Z

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you picture a large gathering of geeks for a tech conference? Dazzling displays of athleticsm, AMIRITE?!

OK, perhaps not, but still, there’s a surprising variety of sports and games activities planned around and during South by Southwest Interactive.

Biking: Bike Hugger has a couple of rides planned on Saturday, March 8 and, because it seems mandatory for any SXSW-related event, there’s a beer and BBQ gathering Saturday afternoon open to all badgeholders. Bicycle Sport Spot offers rentals during SXSW.

Climbing: Not the tech career ladder...no, these folks are serious climbers. Geeks Love Climbing has a plan to meet for a couple of hours of up and down on Friday evening, March 7.

Running: Candidly, the Baby! only runs when chased. But if you’re interested in getting in some roadwork during the conference, meet up with the SXSW Runners for 8 am runs on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Of course, there is also the aforementioned Saturday morning kickball game organized by Anil Dash and the folks at Six Apart (with the promise of on-site coffee and tacos, the breakfast of champions) and Sunday’s Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza, which is now full-up with teams but welcomes spectators who can’t get enough of web jockeys in rented shoes.

We’ve also heard rumors of pick-up hockey and basketball games in the offing. While we stick to such arduous events as the All-Day Panel Sit and the Marathon Bar Crawl, it appears everyone else will be out gettin’ all healthy. Ah well, that’s SXSW: something for everyone.