If you are based in Austin or visited in the month of March you can fail to notice the influx of guests, escalating hotel prices and increased buzz in Austin’s night life as thousands descend for SXSW, the Music, Film and Social Media festival. For the past few years Dell has attended and spoken on panels at SXSW Interactive and this year is no different.
Various colleagues of mine engaged in the Social Media world have proposed panel topics at SXSW 2010. If you are intending on attending the event or interested in any of these Dell panels, please take the time to vote.
Timeframe for 2010: Voting closes today, September 4.
Update from Lionel: Just saw that SXSW panel voting has been extended through the Labor Day weekend. Now you have until 11:59pm Central Time on Monday, September 7 to vote.
Voting is simple, you need to register your e-mail and name on this page, and then you can vote for one of the following panel picker sessions. Your vote will help our panels get noticed.
- Beyond Democracy: How Has Twitter Changed China? Most Westerners link Twitter usage in China to freedom of speech and the government's crackdown on democracy. However, microblogging and social media in China are more than that. We will interview some of the most popular Chinese microbloggers on the social and commercial ramifications of Twitter and its numerous clones in China. Featuring Jacqui Zhou who runs Dell's Chinese blog.
- Preparing Students for the Workplace Using Social Media – The jobs of the 21st century require constant connectivity and digital literacy. We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist. Social media has the potential to engage and prepare tomorrow’s workforce. Discuss the fundamental role that social media/technology will play in preparing students to succeed and the effect on the education system.
- Lifestreaming: Its Impact on Blogs, Brands and Beyond – Tools like FriendFeed, Twitter and Posterous are powering the real-time web while devices like the iPhone are making it easier than ever to upload text, images and video in minutes. Hear from tech industry luminaries about their experiences with Lifestreaming and the effect it’s having on blogs, brands and beyond. Confirmed panelists: Steve Rubel, Robert Scoble, and Lionel Menchaca
- Shift Where You Work — Technology’s Role In Working Remote – The workplace is changing. Where you work is less important that the output of your work. Technology and social networks are the tools of the "digital nomad", the "workshifter", the "location independent professional", the "co-worker." This panel will look at how to leave the office, tools to be effective and the challenges of working remote. Proposed by Bruce Eric Anderson.Confirmed panelists: Chris Brogan, Conjunctured Co-Founder Cesar Torres, LocationIndependent.com's Lea Woodward and Dell's Bruce Eric Anderson.
- Prisoner's Dilemma: Transparency and Trust in Social Media – Panel will address the unique problems companies face in working with customers online- specifically around the inequality of disclosure that each side is compelled to provide. Methods for bridging that gap and developing trust when working with an anonymous person will be presented.
- Social Media Measuring Spoons – Discussion around the tools and best practices for measuring online conversations.
- Social Scars: Real Life Lessons in Digital Marketing – Tired of digital marketing and social media concepts, promises and pontificators? Why not learn from someone else’s journey? Participate in this case-study based discussion with practitioners and hear the good, the not-so good and the potential for marketing in the digital and social realm. Confirmed panelists: Paul Young from Dell, Cisco Systems' Melissa Mines and Graham Joyce from Pragmatic Marketing.
- B2B Communities – Reading Lips Behind the Glass Door – End users "get" online communities, they engage because they are passionate about what they *own*. How do you invoke that same level of passion as you move up the food chain and engage companies and corporations?
- Unleashing Employees Through Social Media – It used to be about command and control. It’s not anymore. Lots of companies are thinking about how to engage customers through social media. It all starts with employees. Hear from leading companies about establishing an engagement framework, educating employees and providing them the tools and resources they need. Confirmed panelists: Bryan Rhoads from Intel, Dell's Lionel Menchaca, and Bert DuMars from Newell Rubbermaid.
- Whats the Holdup? Web 2.0 in Corporations – Community, transparency, information-sharing…Why don't we see more adoption of web 2.0 ideas and tools in the enterprise? What are the barriers to adoption? This panel will include speakers from companies with projects in this space and we will discuss why adoption is so slow. Confirmed panelists: Mark Masterson from CSC Financial Services, Dell's Lionel Menchaca and Chris James from AMD… moderated by KP Partners' Keri Pearlson.
- Building a Team that Embraces Social Technologies -This session will cover how brands successfully integrate internal and external teams to engage with customers using social technologies. Both agencies and companies will learn how to work together more effectively to serve the customer. It also covers what consultants can do and what is best left to the brand. Confirmed panelists: Altimeter Group's Jeremiah Owyang, Converseon's Paull Young, Bert DuMars from Newell Rubbermaid, Lionel Menchaca from Dell and My PR Pro's Kami Watson Huyse.