SXSW PanelPicker Trends and Themes
The Forrest Four-Cast: August 6, 2018
Monday, August 6 marks the first day of community voting and commenting for the 5000+ speaking proposals in the 2019 SXSW PanelPicker. Voting and commenting is easy once you have logged into your account (or create a new SXSW account by clicking here).
This community voting and commenting process will continue through the end of the day on Thursday, August 30.
Over the next three weeks, this space will explore some of the top trends in this year’s PanelPicker, trends that are a function of total number of submissions on a given topic. Inspired by a June 22 post about the speaker proposal entry process, these columns will help readers understand the more prominent themes in this year’s interface. Some of the PanelPicker topics that will be explored between now and when the polls close include:
August 7: Blockchain
August 8: AI
August 9: Diversity / Inclusion
August 10: Transportation
August 11: Fake
August 12: Robots
August 13: Sex, Passion and Love
August 14: Privacy and Security
August 15: Health
August 16: Cannabis
August 17: International
August 18: Startups
August 19: Trump
August 20: LGBTQ
August 21: Chatbots
August 22: Data Data Data
August 23: Jobs
August 24: Sharing
August 25: Streaming
August 26: Power
August 27: Community
August 28: Austin
August 29: Future
August 30: Creativity
The PanelPicker process culminates in mid-October when 500+ confirmed sessions for the 2019 event will be announced via the SXSW website.
Buy your badge now to reserve your spot for all the forward-thinking content that occurs each spring in Austin. Special rates apply for students and for groups. Register now while convenient downtown lodging is still available.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
