Mad Betty’s SXSW 2015 Panel Picks

SXSW 2015 is months away, yet it’s time to start thinking about it. South by Southwest hopefuls have submitted their ideas for next year’s conference and now the community gets to vote for their favorites.Votes account for about 30% of the decision and it’s a highly competitive arena. I submitted a proposal among the 3,000 others in the interactive category and am crossing my fingers that we make the cut. And you can help by checking out the panel picker and giving thumbs up to my entry and any others you’d like to support. Even better, leave a comment and contribute to the conversation in the SXSW Panel Picker.

My panel New Journalism: Black & White & Reddit All Over (which can also be accessed by clicking on the web tile just to the right) will be a conversation about the (often contentious) relationship between bloggers and traditional journalists. We’ll seek to address issues about credibility and bias among writers, and about how people get their information today. The part that excites me the most is the prospect of exploring these issues with two people I respect very much: Corrin Foster and Mike Sutter. So please, give us a thumbs up and share in the comments what interests you about this panel.

Another panel I’m also pulling for You Can’t Sit With Us: Craft Beer Subculture, is about the exclusionary attitude that can take place in craft beer culture. Mr. Betty put together this one with other knowledgeable people in the craft beer community. As someone who sits on the fringe of craft beer culture, I’m intrigued by this topic.

You’ll notice that the panel What Every Marketer Should Learn from Weird Al has generated a lot of buzz and for good reason. This crossover of innovation, business, and art is what SX is all about and Jason Wesbecher is just the person to speak about it. This one’s going to be popular, you guys.

Crowdfunding for Causes (Without Losing Friends) is a great topic and very relevant to me. I happen to know a lot of brilliant, ambitious people who are often looking for funding. Amanda Quraishi has one of Austin’s biggest hearts and actively advocates for the causes she believes in.

In a discussion about a topic that affects all of us, Addie Broyles will interview the Supermarket Guru about the future of grocery stores. Addie’s a pro interviewer and always gets right to the heart of what people want to know.

A related topic, Building a Better Breakfast, will focus on sustainability and making healthy eating affordable. This will likely draw a big crowd who want to see Andrew Zimmern speak.

And, here are a few more fun ones that I’d like to see happen:

No More Kittens! Content Marketing for Social ROI

NASA’s Next Giant Leap: The Path to Mars

KU! What Makes Asia Such a Pop Culture Powerhouse?

Is Pop Culture Binging a Good Thing?

When Did Spoilers Start to Matter?

Social Media Celebrity: Audience vs True Influence

Hamburger Helper is My Bae: Weird Brand Twitter

Those are my picks! I, and my fellow SXSW submitters, would be so grateful for your votes. It doesn’t take much to set up an account and vote, just an email and password. (And SXSW doesn’t bombard you with emails; I think I get two a year…if I submit.) Voting closes September 6, 2014.

Did you submit a panel? Please leave a link in the comments so we can vote for you.

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