SXSW Baby! Interactive

“Panel Picker” now live for all three SXSW 2010 conferences

2009-06-01T18:21:44Z

The “Panel Picker” is back for SXSW 2010 and the folks at South By have dialed it up to 11 this year, as the opportunity to submit panel proposals through the online interface has been extended to all three SXSW conferences: Interactive, Film and Music.

Check out the FAQ for complete details but here are the dates to remember: Panel submissions will be accepted from today through July 10. After that, voting on the proposals will be opened to the community from August 10–28.

After that, SXSW will use the community feedback along with guidance from its staff and advisory boards to make the final programming decisions for the March 2010 conferences.

Put on those creative caps and get to submittin’!

Panel submission process for 2010 to begin in June

2009-04-07T17:42:38Z

If you’ve an idea for an Interactive conference panel for SXSW 2010, start prepping your pitch. SXSW announced today that “Panel Picker” submissions will be accepted beginning June 1.

See you next year! Dates for SXSW 2010

2009-03-22T18:17:47Z

As things wind down (well, as much as they ever do in Austin) for SXSW 2009, the faithful are already planning for next year’s conferences and festivals. Mark your calendar!

SXSW Interactive: March 12–16, 2010
SXSW Film: March 12–20, 2010
SXSW Music: March 17–21, 2010

SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Tuesday, March 17

2009-03-17T14:06:54Z

It’s the last night of the Interactive conference, the eve of the Music festival and, of course, Film just keeps chugging along. If you’re in the mood for a bit of chugging (or sipping or conversing or what have you) tonight, have a look at this sampling of post-conference events:

St. Patrick’s Last Stand: Party like a patron saint (yeah, we don’t know what that means exactly) at the PureVolume House from 10 pm until 4 am, sponsored by Crash Corp, Avenue Labs, PureVolume and the inimitable Rick Webb.
Brit Bash: Latitude 30 will vibrate with goodness from across the sea, including performances by The Proclaimers, Alice Russell, The Post War Years, and The Webb Sisters.
Squarespace Party with Totally Rad Show 2.0: It’s a live taping of the Totally Rad Show, followed by a performance from The Last Place You Look.
Media Temple Interactive Closing Party: It’s sad to say goodbye, my loves, but if we must, we might as well do it at the official closing party of Interactive at La Zona Rosa. Performances by Voxtrot, Franki Chan, Prince Klassen and Winter Gloves, and free to SXSW Interactive, Music and Film badge holders.

And it’s St. Patrick’s Day in Austin, the relative calm before the storm of a massive music festival. Sixth Street will be chock-a-block with celebrants, and no doubt you’ll find plenty of diversions all over town. Check out listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.

SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Monday, March 16

2009-03-16T14:00:47Z

So, you survived the Ides of March and are probably absorbing many, many Ideas of March. Got room in your noggin for more? Good, because there’s bound to be plenty of great conversation (and liquid refreshment, natch) at this small sampling of today’s post-panel evening events.

Austin on Rails Happy Hour: Ruby, don’t take your love to town. Take it to Buffalo Billiards from 6 until 9 pm to lift a glass and have a munch with Rails developers in the upstairs Rec Room. Interactive badge or RSVP required.
Plutopia EFF Party: This is a big one. Five bands on three stages and more than 80 artists. Headliners include The Heather Gold Show, Bruce Sterling and Ian McLagan & The Bump Band. Free to SXSW badgeholders, $10 for all others at the door.
Nuclear Taco Night: Yep, there’ll be a hot time in Brush Square Park tonight. Now in its seventh year, this event is a testament to taste bud stamina. Plus cool treats from The Ice Cream Man and music by Hilary York.
20x2 v 9.0: What’s It Gonna Take?: Twenty speakers from diverse walks of life, each given two minutes to answer one question, through spoken word, music, media and, just possibly, interpretive dance. Free to Interactive badgeholders, small cover for others.
The Great British Booze-up: Come hoist a few with the geeks from Ol’ Blighty at Shakespeare’s Pub. DJ Clagnut spins the tunes.
Interactive/Film Fusion: “Where Interactive and Film unite.” Well, we’ll see. Enjoy a hosted bar and nibbly bits, plus the world premiere of Sparhusen at Red Eyed Fly from 8–10 pm.
DandyID/Brightkite Party: Geolocation and online identity management kick out the props to party into the AM at the PureVolume House. RSVP required.
Mashable/Blurb Bash: Meet the Mashable crew for comp drinks and tuneage from DJ Marko at Six Lounge. Free to SXSW badge holders, but RSVP encouraged.
32-Bit: The sequel to the popular 8-Bit and 16-Bit parties of the past two years. Massive fun at a secret location to be revealed by Twitter only. Follow @32bit to get the deets.
South by Northwest: Those crazy folks from the upper left-hand corner of the country—Acquia, Blue Flavor, Rackspace and Raincity Studios—take over the Iron Cactus from 10:30 until closing time. This is the fourth year of delicious madness. We love this party. RSVP strongly encouraged.

You need more? Oh, there’s more. There’s so much more. Check out listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.

And the Bloggie goes to…

2009-03-15T15:27:30Z

The nominations were made, the votes have been counted and the winners determined. And tomorrow, the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards, more commonly known as the Bloggies, will be handed out in a gala ceremony—hosted by Bloggies founder and impressario Nikolai Nolan, with presenters from the star-studded world of blogging—on the SXSW Interactive Day Stage at 12:30 pm. Check out all the nominees. You may just discover something new to feed your feed reader.

(If you can’t attend, you can follow the ceremony in the #Bloggies channel on irc.freenode.net. Old-school, old style!)

SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Sunday, March 15

2009-03-15T14:16:20Z

Believe it or not, all so far has been prologue. The SXSW party scene kicks into high gear tonight. Here’s a taste of what’s in store:

All Hat, No Cattle: OK, this is actually a mid-day one, but hey, who doesn’t like shopping? Browse the wonderful eclectic shops along South Congress after brunch at Guero’s with a couple hundred of your closest friends and kin. We’re in!
Cupcake Social 2.0: Yep, cupcakes again. And everything’s tastier when you call it two-point-oh! Sponsored by Cupcakes Take the Cake.
Austin Werewolf: There’s a killer on the loose, and it might be you. Murder and mayhem at the Karma Lounge, free fun for all—all who manage to survive, that is.
Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm: Now that we’ve gotten that karaoke out of our system, come hear what a truly talented “geek troubador” sounds like. $20 tickets, at Antone’s.
The Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza: In its fourth big year, this Interactive favorite continues to innovate. This year? Open bowling! Cheer on your favorite team or just come to bowl a few frames yourself. What’s sexier than geeks in rented shoes? Nothin’, that’s what.
Fray Café 9: Web celebs and civilians alike gather on the patio at the comfy Red Eyed Fly for an evening of personal storytelling. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll probably want to sign up for the open mic. We personally can’t wait to hear what rock star librarian Jessamyn West, one of several special guests, is gonna tell.
Bacon-Flavored Interactive After Party: You had us at “bacon”. Performances by Bacon Shoe and a raffle benefiting the Children’s Music Fund. And bacon? Please?
Google Reader Party: Oh yeah, baby, hot RSS and Atom action! The big G always puts on a great party, and they promise special treats for early arrivals. Interactive badge or invite required.

And of course, don’t forget the 12th Annual SXSW Web Awards ceremony, hosted by the utterly awesome Baratunde Thurston, at the Hilton at 7 pm (preceded by a pre-party at 6 pm).

More? Of course there’s more. Check out listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.

More bars in places other than downtown Austin for AT&T users

2009-03-15T03:53:17Z

Smartphones may be beginning to outpace laptops as the communications tool of choice for SXSW Interactive attendees, but AT&T customers —including the teeming masses toting iPhones — are finding cell coverage to be severely lacking at the Austin Convention Center and environs.

Social animal: Aardvark launches SXSW preview

2009-03-15T02:23:34Z

SXSW Interactive seems to have a peculiarly zoological bent this year. First it was gorillas and hippos and now a company called Aardvark has launched a “social search” tool by the same name and, although it’s currently undergoing an invite-only beta test, they’ve made preview available to SXSW attendees to try. Aardvark’s Max Ventilla explains:

Aardvark is an awesome way to find the best parties/panels/events at SxSW — or to find great places in Austin (best barbecue, etc.). You just ask any question via IM or Email, and get a live answer from one of your friends or their friends.

There’s nothing to download or install — Aardvark lives on the buddylist of your existing IM program, or your email contact list.

Aardvark applies advanced technology to identify the right person in your extended network to answer a particular question; and then lets you reach out without bothering people, spamming friends, or imposing on someone who isn’t interested.

It’s like we’ve always said…know your ABC!

2009-03-15T00:34:37Z

We’ve included this advice in the SXSW Baby! packing guides and tips for years (we got it from Michael at Cruftbox), and now five guys with too much time on their hands (we kid, we kid) have built a web shrine to the mantra of power management at SXSW: Always Be Charging.

Almost like being there

2009-03-14T20:34:59Z

Twitmatic is sharing a live stream of SXSW-related videos being posted about on Twitter. Film trailers, videos made by attendees, bizarre drunken verité—what’s not to like?

SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Saturday, March 14

2009-03-14T18:07:28Z

What’s that? The first full day of the conference has barely begun and you’re already looking toward the night? Well, we say good on ya! Here are just a handful of this evening’s events you might want to hit after the panels wind down:

Bike Hugger Mobile Social BBQ: They call it the “intersection of bikes, technology, and culture.” We call it an opportunty to score some ‘cue and rock out with the Sycon DJs. Awesome.
The Bigg Digg Shindigg: Would you just look at all those extra G’s? Now that’s the sign of a good party, friend. Live music, DJs and confidence tricks from Scam School host Brian Brushwood. No badge required.
SXSW Interactive Opening Party: Hosted by Frog Design, this is a big one. Promising uniquely Austin entertainment and, if past is prologue, some killer lines for beer. Get there early. Interactive, Platinum and Gold SXSW badge holders only.
OK! Happy Cog’aoke: Zeldman sings! Well, maybe. Even if you haven’t Idol ambitions, you’ll probably get off on this friendly karaoke competition at the Scoot Inn, brought to you by Happy Cog.

Naturally, there’s a lot else going on. Hey, it’s Saturday night in the live music capital of the universe! For more events, check out listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.

SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Friday, March 13

2009-03-13T15:55:30Z

OK, before we start this thing, just remember: SXSW is a marathon, not a sprint. Trite and true, that should be your mantra for the days and nights to come. Don’t over-exert or over-commit yourself. There’s too much goodness in store to poop out early. Got it? Good. Don’t be afraid of Friday the 13th. It’s your lucky day now that you’ve made it to Austin, and here’s a selected round-up of events and parties to help you celebrate that great fortune:

Friday Night Mix at Six: Actually, it’s the Friday Night Mix at Six at 6 pm. Hosted by Social Media Group, it’s the official SXSWi pre-party atop the roof deck at Six, 117 W 4th St.
Blacks in Tech Meetup: A first-time event with an eye on diversity at the Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina, at 6 pm. Sponsored by Ogilvy and there’s no badge required to attend. Free refreshments and light food.
Interactive at the Movies: Take in a screening of The Two Bobs at the ACC Theatre, 1212 Rio Grande.
Pasties & Pastries: Or is it the other way ‘round? We always forget. You won’t want to forget this celebration of cupcakes and burlesque at Emo’s, 603 Red River. $15 at the door or free with an Interactive badge.
The TechSet Joins the Rat Pack: It’s gonna swing, baby! This event at the Belmont Lounge promises “style, swagger and distinction,” along with opportunities to network the digital elite. Free, RSVP required here.
AMODA Digital Showcase: Always a good time, presented by the Austin Museum of Digital Art, with interactive exhibits and the famous Laptop Battle with musicians competing for surpremacy, at the Mohawk, 912 Red River, from 9 pm until 2 am. Free for Interactive badge holders.
SXSW Film Opening Party: SXSW takes over Buffalo Billiards, 201 E. 6th, to celebrate the Sweet 16 of the Film Festival & Conference. Sponsored by A&E IndieFilms and free to Film badge holders.

There’s a taste, but there’s oh-so-much-more. For more events, check out listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.

SXSW Buzzword Bingo is its name-o

2009-03-13T11:15:01Z

Shall we play a game? If you’re in the mood for a little diversion while you’re taking in panels and keynotes this week, play SxSW Buzzword Bingo!

The interactive, smartphone friendly little app generates custom cards for you and all your friends, and provides a great way to have some fun when those inevitable phrases such as “monetizing eyeballs” and “long tail” start flying. Enjoy—just don’t interrupt the folks on stage by shouting “Bingo!” A modest fist-pump will suffice. (Thanks to Baby! pal Dori Smith for whipping this up with me.)

If you’re in the mood for a slightly more involved Bingo game—with actual prizes—including a Kindle 2, gift certificates and a Snuggie!—check out SXSW Bingo from the folks at Iridesco, played with cameras, Twitter and a little scavenger hunting.

Who doesn’t like a happy hour?

2009-03-13T09:09:57Z

There are lots of schedules, guides and geegaws out there but, c’mon, honestly? All you really want to know is “where the party at”.

The folks at Happy Hour dot org are building an iPhone app that puts the “social” into social media, and they’re giving it a trial run with a special SXSW Interactive edition. The site looks great on both iPhone and the web, and promises Twitter integration to help you find a good place to get your drink on.

SXSW Interactive 2009 Extreme Sports Round-up

2009-03-13T08:45:30Z

Each year when our minds turn to SXSW Interactive, one topic inevitably leaps right to the top. That’s right, extreme geek sports. 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.

Climbing: No, not the tech career ladder. Geeks Love Climbing has some rock-scaling planned for Sunday, March 15.

Biking: Enjoy a very literal “mobile social” with the folks from Bike Hugger, who’ve planned a Saturday ride, naturally followed by barbecue and an after-party.

Running: Join the SXSW Runners for morning runs on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. They’ll meet near the Susanna Dickinson House, which is by the Convention Center at 5th and Trinity, at 8 am.

Yoga: Slightly more tranquil but just as exhilirating, morning yoga returns to SXSW with 9 am sessions at the Convention Center on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Bowling: Yep, believe it or not, we’re choosing to forego the obvious puns here. It’s geeks in rented shoes, back for the fourth year of the Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza on Sunday night. New this year: you can bowl for fun, even without a team.

Billiards: If bowling is a bit too active for you, consider Pool 2.0, a 16-team eight-ball billiards tourney at Buffalo Billiards on Sunday night.

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!

(Psst...if you’re sticking around for the Music festival and feeling a little...er, splashy, perhaps Splash by Splashwest, a secretive “cannonball” party, will be to your liking.)

Must-have mobile resources

2009-03-12T13:37:54Z

Here are a few sites to consider bookmarking for your smartphone or other web-capable mobile device to help plan or navigate your SXSW experience.

my.sxsw.com: If you’ve used the official planning application from SXSW to set up a schedule for yourself, the recently-launched mobile version will let you tote it around without keeping track of a fistful of paper. SXSW also offers a second mobile app, rate.sxsw.com, which is a bit vexing. It, too, lets you put together a schedule of panels and other events and, once they’re underway, to “rate” them. (Presumably, the folks at SXSW get this info. Maybe it is intended to replace or augment the panel feedback cards distributed after each session.) However, rate.sxsw doesn’t tie into the schedule you’ve created with my.sxsw, so you should stick with one or the other unless you want to construct your itinerary twice. my.sxsw has a richer feature set; of the two, it seems by far more useful.
SCHED.org: The unofficial planning app from SCHED has one principal advantage over its SXSW-issued counterpart, in that it includes most, if not all, of the unofficial events and parties swirling around the festivals and conferences. The mobile interface is a bit spare and, on my iPhone at least, feels a little creaky. As SCHED grows and matures, though, I’d wager its on-the-go version becomes just as nifty as its web counterpart.
B-Side Festival Genius: The new kid on the SXSW planning application block is Festival Genius, a step up from previous offerings from B-Side. Their mobile site is an easy-to-use reduction of the web version, although it lacks the feature that gives the application its name; it doesn’t appear you can use the mobile version to automagically search for and resolve conflicts among events happening at the same time.
The Unofficial Pocket Guide: Offering schedules of panels and parties for quick reference, this application doesn’t allow you to create a personal schedule but does allow you to add public events not already included. The latter is accomplished by editing a publicly-accessible Google Spreadsheet, which ups the opportunities for mayhem but, hey, we’re all friends here, right?
Razorfish SXSW Guide: A combination schedule reference (again, no facility for making a personal schedule) and city guide, this contains a nice variety of information, from panels and parties to news sources to shopping and survival tips to pointers about what makes Austin truly unique.
MobileATX: Here’s one mobile site that doesn’t include a SXSW schedule, although it does have a nice quick reference to SXSW venues along with Google Maps links that’s easy to navigate and could be a vital resource when you’re rushing from party to party come the Music festival. There are quick links to mobile versions of other local sites too—including Show List Austin—plus social tools such as Flickr, Yelp, Upcoming and more. For the Music attendee, this is a winner.

Do you have a favorite SXSW or Austin-related mobile site we’ve left out? Or a favorite tip for using one of the above to its best advantage? Let us know in the comments!

Something for everyone

2009-03-12T13:15:57Z

Are you grasping for a way to describe the SXSW experience to your non-initiated friends and family? Sure, you could simply describe it as an annual tech conference or something equally benign, but really, what launches those two weeks in Austin into the stratosphere every year is the sheer variety of events, parties, drink-ups and wind-downs that accumulate alongside it.

Consider, for a moment, these few diverse offerings we spied taking place during the Interactive and Film days of SXSW:

Pastries & Pasties: A Burlesque Cupcake Cook-Off: Two great tastes that taste great together? Dunno, we just love the promise implicit in the name of this event at Emo’s on Friday night, with headliners from Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Jigglewatts, and Big Star Burlesque. Bring your SXSW and your appetite—for fun! (Come Sunday, there’ll be another cupcake-related meet-up, Cupcake Social 2.0. Because there’s always room for cupcakes, even at The Tiniest bar in Texas.)
Conservatives @ SXSW 2009: A conservative and libertarian happy hour? In Austin? At SXSW? Oh, come now, it’s not that strange. Texas Railroad Commish Michael Williams, who’ll be feted later in the evening by the Texas Social Media Awards, will be the special guest at this opportunity to techies and creatives on the right to mingle.
Flash, SEO and Bacon Tweet-up: This may be the ultimate proof that bacon makes everything better, even rising early on Saturday morning to talk about Flash, the Adobe AIR platform and search engine optimization. The organizers promise lots of surprises. Bacon, geekery and an air of mystery? It’s an embarrassment of riches!
Polaroid Breakfast: Devotees of the recently discontinued instant film will gather at Katz’s Deli on Saturday morning, even earlier than the bacon folk. It’s a chance to chat about all things Polaroid, including “The Impossible Project”, which aims to resume production of the film products next year.

You see?! And there are dozens upon dozens of events like this throughout the entire SXSWeek. Something for everyone! That’s the SXSW experience.

Indie bands won’t be the only ones singing at SXSW

2009-03-12T12:52:07Z

If you imagine that the only warbling at SXSW happens when the Music festival is on, you might want to start warming up your own pipes. For some reason, geeks and karaoke seem to be drawn together.

After making quite a splash at SXSW 2008, the {RV}IP Lounge & Karaoke Cabaret will be returning this year, providing a party-on-wheels with “red carpet karaoke”. They’ve posted a semi-schedule of where the big ol’ rolling den might be found March 13–20, but you’re just as likely to be taken by surprise when that musical motorhome sneaks up behind you.

If the possibility of portable pop singing doesn’t appeal to you, perhaps OK! Happy Cog’aoke will be more to your liking. Presented by legendary web firm Happy Cog, this karaoke competition combined with open bar—and that’s a big promise of entertainment, n’est pas?—will take over Red’s Scoot Inn late Saturday night. They’re billing it as a “first annual”, so you’ll want to make sure you’re able to say “I was there when...”.

({RV}IP Lounge photo thanks to Scott Beale / Laughing Squid and Creative Commons.)

Tips for networking (and job hunting?) at SXSW

2009-03-12T09:35:50Z

Thinking of using part of your time at SXSW as an opportunity to do a little job hunting? Austin author Thom Singer—who’ll be leading a Core Conversation at SXSW Interactive on Friday afternoon—has a few tips for effective and deliberate networking in a conference setting.