onilecraM | Marcelino

SXSW Interactive: Panel Picking Advice

Every year, I do my best to pick SXSW panels that will be educational, engaging, and interesting. Over the last three years, I’ve developed a really simple set of rules for picking panels.

They’re not perfect, and occasionally I miss out on a panel or group session that I should have attended, but 95% of the time, they work. And if I stack that up against anyone else’s SXSW experience, I find that I always leave Austin more satisfied with my panels than most.

So in an effort to help out SXSW newbies and experienced attendees alike, here are my rules.

Please note, these are my personal rules and not affiliated with any company or organization, past or present. :)

Enjoy.

First off, go through the list of panels and find ones that you like. Then apply these four simple rules:

1. Do not attend any panel with an absolutist title, e.g., “Everything you know about design is wrong.”
2. Do not attend any panel where a majority of the panelists are from the same company. Exceptions - if the company is: 37Signals, Adaptive Path, Frog Design or Apple.
3. Never attend a panel with anyone from Razorfish on it. Doesn’t matter how cool it sounds. Every year this is the rule I break and every year I’m reminded why it’s one of my rules.
4. Always attend the keynotes.

This should get you to a list of panels that you’ll feel comfortable attending. If you still have a conflict for panel/time, then add both to your calendar. If the panel sucks within the first 10 minutes, get out and hit the other one.