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”.
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Moby at SXSW 2008 from Nadia M. on Vimeo.
Check out last year’s winners and get all the info here to craft your submission for the fifth annual festival.
]]>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!
]]>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.
]]>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.
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!
]]>]]>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.
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!
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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.
]]>We applaud his stamina.
]]>SXSW Wristbands on sale 7:30 p.m. tonight at Antone’s, Austin Music Hall, BD Riley, Continental Club, Emo’s Jr, Molotov, Rio, Thirsty Nickel, Volume, Mohawk and Waterloo Records. $165 CASH ONLY. Wristband will be placed on wrist at time of sale.
On a related note, Austin American-Stateman sent out an intern to see if the Music Festival could be enjoyed on $50 a night, no badge, no wristband. The results? He was not allowed into Stubb’s to see REM (badges and wristbands only) and unable to get into another hot showcase, but enjoyed the music of lesser-known artists.
]]>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!.
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