SXSW 2005

I’ll be heading to Austin next week to attend South By Southwest. I’m going for the Interactive phase of the conference which is shaping up quite nicely.

Established in 1994, the SXSW Interactive Festival consists of four days of panel programming, a Trade Show & Exhibition, plus a full schedule of exciting evening activities. This is a unique event where top-notch developers, cutting-edge designers and out-of-the-box thinkers share their inspirations about the future of the web.

While we cover the how of new technology, SXSW Interactive pays particular attention to discussing the larger questions such as why did this happen and what are the long-term implications of this innovation.

Many people I know will be there as well. Some of them are speaking or are on a panel. A few are going just for the parties.

The people that I know from San Francisco who are speaking or doing a panel are (I’m sure there are many others): Craig Newmark (craigslist), Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), Ted Rheingold (Dogster), Alex Russell (JotSpot), Philip Kaplan (AdBrite), Irina Slutsky (Red Herring) and Alex Steffen (WorldChanging).

I recently met Molly Holzschlag and Eric Meyer, both of whom are speaking there as well (they don’t live in San Francisco, but are here frequently).

If you are planning on going, especially if you are speaking or on a panel (I’ll add you to the list), let me know. Maybe I’ll see you there.