Add Your Votes To The New SxSW Panel Picker

For those who follow this blog, you know that I attend and speak at a lot of events.  Each has a different vibe and type of attendee – and I’ve been to some amazing events and heard many fantastic speakers.  This past year, one that stood out was the annual South by Southwest Festival that takes over the town of Austin, Texas for more than a week.  During that time, there is a film festival, a music festival and the interactive event – and the atmosphere around the event is unlike any other for interactive marketers.  Because of the combination of music, film and interactive – it is a haven for creativity and this past year it was a big venue for new sites and services to try and launch their betas and get them in front of influential individuals.  Many trace back the fast rise in popularity of Twitter back to SxSW this year.

Next year’s event in March 2008 promises to be no different and is going to be very important timing for me because it is likely to coincide closely with the release of my new marketing book which I’ve been fairly silent about apart from announcing the deal back in June of this year. Look out early next week for much more detail about the book – but in the meantime I have several panel ideas up on the interactive panel picker for SxSW and there are more than 600 entries from great minds and influencers from across the interactive industry.  Visit the Panel Picker at https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ and check out some of the great panels in the lineup. 

Here is a direct link to go directly to my three panel submissions: https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/index/2/q:ogilvy

Also, here are the descriptions that I provided for each idea that you can read on the panel picker:

1. 10 Easy Ways To Piss Off a Blogger (and Other Mistakes Marketers Make) – The short history of blogging is filled with the examples of clueless marketers who have suffered being flamed, outed or ignored by the "cruel" blogosphere. Yet approaching bloggers is not as risky as it might seem — it just requires a new approach. In this session, you will see real examples of 10 of the most common mistakes marketers make when approaching bloggers and how to avoid them. Vote for this panel now – https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/20
2. Creating the Ultimate Personal Brand With Social Media – Starting a blog is easy, but getting it to stand out among millions of blogs is going to be tougher and tougher. In this session, you will get real tips for how you can make your blog, social networks and online profiles all work together to help you build the ultimate personal brand — to help you make money, get your dream job, sell that big book deal or rank first on Google for your name. Vote for this panel now – https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/19
3. The Authentic Business: Making Your Personality the Secret Weapon – Despite what you might have heard, transparency doesn’t matter. In an age of authenticity, the rise of social media means that customers are looking for the true identity behind a company or a product and just letting them in is not enough. This session will show you how to make your business stand out by using your real personality.  Vote for this panel now – https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/21

If any of these seems interesting to you, I hope you register on the site and add your vote.  In addition to my own submissions, there are lots of other great panels worth voting for.  I have not yet had time to go through all of the more than 600 panel ideas, but I already cast my vote for several that stood out for me.  Here are a few of the ones I recommend checking out (I’ll put in links when I get a chance to do the cutting and pasting – but for now you can use the search feature to find any of these):

• Michelle Osorio, DivX – How Filmmakers Got Their Voice Back
• Anastasia Goodstein, Ypulse.com – Totally Wired Teens: How Teens are Using Your Applications
• Zadi Diaz, Smashface – Immersive Entertainment: The Next Step in New Media Production
• G. Kofi Annan, Annansi LL – Africa 2.0: Affecting Change Using Technology
• Tim Ferriss, Author – The Art of Speed         
• Daniel Hope, MotivateMedia – Blog on Company Time Without Getting Dooced
• Henry Copeland, Blogads – The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007
• Rachel Clarke, Behind the Buzz – Stories, Games and Your Brand         
• Mike Monello, Campfire – Persistent Engagement: Why Your _____ Isn’t Enough
• Ned Desmond, Time Inc. – Cover Story: Building Brands for a Digital World

Happy voting and hope to see you at SxSW next year!