The festival runs March 13 - 17, 2015 and according to SXSW "attracts digital creatives from every corner of the world with an active interest in everything from design, government, entrepreneurism and non-profits to life sciences, space exploration, food, fashion, sports and green technology."
Panels are grouped into categories according to general theme and include everything from the more conventional Branding and Marketing to Convergent and Immersive Entertainment but this is definitely not your typical conference. Topics such as Better Living Through Minecraft and What Snow White Can Tell You About Your Customers make clear that this conference is about everything except the status quo.
What's even more interesting about the panels is the actual process by which they were designed. SXSW utilizes a proprietary online tool called PanelPicker through which registered members of the SXSW community are able to submit, review, comment, and vote on programming ideas. PanelPicker was first used as part of the SXSW Music Festival in 2007 and was extended to the Film and Interactive festivals in 2010.
SXSW doesn't leave every decision up to its community though and says it weighs the following opinions into its final programming decisions by the following percentages:
Will this form of crowdsourcing ideas catch on at other conferences? Will the end of "stuffy" conference topics be in the near future? I for one certainly hope so!
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