SXSW Baby! Platinum Feed

Get SXSW info down under

2008-07-17T17:36:10Z

Travel writer, publisher and Hawaiian shirt aficionado Phil Tripp will conduct a couple of seminars in August for Aussies considering attending SXSW Music.

The nights are for people thinking of heading to the music conference in Austin next March and give information about how to apply, what goes on and what you need to know before you get there.

Seminars are planned for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

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”.

Moby at SXSW 2008

2008-05-04T21:47:00Z

Here’s a great short video interview with artist Moby at this year’s festival, including information about his effort to release free music for indie filmmakers on his site.

Moby at SXSW 2008 from Nadia M. on Vimeo.

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.

Matt Dentler Leaving SXSW

2008-04-15T16:58:00Z

Matt Dentler, the director of the SXSW Film Festival since 2003, is moving on. As of May 1st, Matt will take up a new post as head of marketing and programming operations within the new Cinetic Rights Management unit at Cinetic Media. Though it will involve a move to New York, here’s hoping he’ll be back next year and able to actually enjoy himself for a few days in March.

Taking over for Matt will be Janet Pierson, a fellow board member from the Austin Film Society. Along with her husband John, she has more than 20 years of experience helping independent films find audiences. Janet and John and their children were the subjects of a film themselves in 2005’s Reel Paradise, in which they move to Fiji for a year to operate a cinema. Having seen that film, I would suggest that Janet Pierson is more than capable of handling a challenge. I look forward to seeing what next year’s festival will bring.

Congratulations and good luck to both Matt and Janet!

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!

Music Festival Coverage

2008-03-16T20:20:00Z

Looking for great recaps of the Music Festival? Check out the Austin Music Source, New York Times’ ArtsBeat, Your R Here from MTV News, and NME’s SXSW mini-site.

No Badge, No Problem? Not Really

2008-03-16T17:10:00Z

The Austin Music Source blog from the Austin American-Statesman sent their intern out to the festival with $50 in his pocket, no wristband, no badge on Friday night. The results:

The bottom line: On Wednesday, options were already limited for those paying cash at SXSW. By Friday, even wristband holders were finding themselves on the outside of key shows. I won’t even try to get into anything Saturday night as a cash customer.

Good for Dallas

2008-03-16T11:26:00Z

So you partied and you drank and you ate a lot of really delicious, not-particularly-good-for-you food and you heard at lot of great music. Which is really the point of the second half of South by Southwest, right? But what was good for you and an economic boon to Austin is also good for Dallas:

We Dallasites reap what Austin is sowing this month.

Look around this and next week’s local concert listings. They’re chock-full of big names: Acts such as Jens Lekman, They Might Be Giants, Grand Archives, Beach House and North Mississippi Allstars to name a few.

Of course, many other cities on the way to and from Austin are beneficiaries of bands maximizing their meager travel budgets. If you’re within shouting distance of central Texas, chances are pretty good you’ll see an uptick in variety on the bill at your favorite venue. Check it out!

More win: SXSW Film 2008

2008-03-16T11:12:00Z

Keep an eye out for these at the cinema: the winners of the 2008 SXSW Film Festival.