LPP Makes SXSW Interactive Easy For You: Sessions You Should Attend [#LPPSXSW]

It’s finally here. SXSW Interactive kicks off this Friday and I think my unrelenting excitement is best explained by the fact that I will be doing this whole thing in crutches. If you see me out there, I won’t blame you if you pass me to make sure you get a decent seat at your session. But I will never forget you if you slow down to walk with me to the next session or if you donate your seat once I catch up with you there :)

Note for those who choose to walk with me: I’ll be shooting man-on-street interviews all SXSW long. Let me know (@andinarvaez on Twitter) if you’re interested in offering commentary around digital storytelling, emerging digital strategies, and key themes from this year’s Interactive festival.

Having said that...

It took two entire weekends and a full week’s evenings to narrow down the list of sessions I will be attending this year. Toughest thing I’ve ever done because sessions cover everything from digital storytelling, to gaming, coding, mobile, work-life balance and staples including social strategy, content creation, community management, engagement and measurement and monitoring.

Coming to SXSW? I hope the recommendations below are helpful. Let me know if you want to attend any of these together or look forward to my daily recaps in case you don’t make it.

Not going to SXSW? No matter. Subscribe to this blog and connect with LPP on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to experience SXSW Interactive vicariously through the onslaught of valuable content coming your way including daily recaps, video interviews with digital pros, photos, real-time tweets from sessions and more!

Friday, March 8 Sessions

12:30 p.m. -- OMMA: What Marketers Should Ask Themselves About Social
Why? This is a very broad session, hence, a good way to kick off SXSW Interactive. Questions addressed cover the staples and also how digital innovations are impacting the work of digital strategists.

2:00 p.m. -- Using Emerging Technologies to Reach Your Audience
Why? This session will cover new technologies/strategies to not only reach audiences, but also to engage and excite them.

3:30 p.m. -- OMMA: Marketing Implications of Facebook's Graph Search
Why? Facebook Graph is still a mystery, but we do know it will have a deep impact on digital strategy by revealing and providing access to the interests and connections of its billions of users.

5:00 p.m. -- Data & Gamification: Value to the Enterprise
Why? Many LPP clients are large enterprises that are looking to experiment with things like gamification for insights and innovation. Also, one of the panelists is Jeremiah Owyang whose brain is full of valuable insight.

5:00 p.m. -- How to Be Interesting
Why? A cartoonist is leading the session and it sounds incredibly refreshing.

Saturday, March 9 Sessions

9:30 a.m. -- Sources in the Social Media Age
Why? PR pros should care about how social media has changed previous conceptions of reporters, sources and journalism. Great group of panelists too.

11:00 a.m. -- Brand Fans, the New Brand Marketers
Why? High-profile panelists who I’m sure will have great things to share about taking fan engagement to the next level. Something digital pros get tasked with on the daily.

11:00 a.m. -- The Large Enterprise Social Media and Social Storytelling Meet Up
Why? If you can swing by either of these meetups, do! We can all whine together and share some ideas too, I’m sure ;)

12:30 p.m. -- Digital A-Z for B2B
Why? B2B digital strategies hardly ever get the attention they deserve, and yet it's what I do every day. Even if this session only covers A-F, I’ll be glad I attended.

2:00 p.m. -- Elon Musk Keynote
Why? He recently made headlines that had everyone talking about PR strategies for hot-headed CEOs (us included). This is going to be a hot one.

3:30 p.m. -- Event Success Through New Tools & Technologies
Why? Real-time social media support at events is a huge staple for agencies. Loic Le Meur has solid experience putting on LeWeb every year. Couldn’t think of someone better to share best practices.

5:00 p.m. -- What's So Funny About Innovation?
Why? From his days campaigning for Foursquare mayor at a delicatessen in NYC, to his role as digital editor for The Onion, his live-tweeting of the Twilight saga, his How To Be Black book tour, and his current days at Cultivated Wit … Baratunde Thurston gets it. Can’t wait for this one.

5:45 p.m. -- Designing for Real-Time Marketing
Why? I blame Oreo for this.

Saturday, March 9 Party Times

7:00 p.m. -- Tech Cocktail's #StartupLife #IAmInnovation Celebration
9:00 p.m. -- SXSW Comedy: FX's Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell Writers Show

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Sunday, March 10 Sessions 

9:30 a.m. -- Data, Storytelling and Breaking Through the Noise
Why? I’m going to go ahead and say that this is the most important session of the entire festival as far as I’m concerned.

11:00 a.m. -- Journalism by #s: Data Will Change Nature of News
Why? Great group of panelists who I hope will offer insight on how data is altering news, and maybe even how PR pros can help.

12:30 p.m. -- Cory Booker: The New Media Politician
Why? I’m obsessed with Cory Booker.

12:30 p.m. -- Say Goodbye to Corporate Marketing as You Know It
Why? If you don’t know what HearSay is, check them out. Even if this turns out to be a demo of their platform, I think they’re onto something very interesting over there in terms of harnessing the power of social media data/insights.

12:30 p.m. -- Sustainable Stories from ‘Disposable’ Content
Why? I blame this on my colleague, Jason Deal, for making me obsessed with The New York Times Emmy-winning “One in 8 Million” series. Also, anyone who mistakes “evergreen” with “disposable” content could learn a lot from these panelists.

1:30 p.m. -- Jeffrey Tambor's Acting Workshop
Why? Jefrrey Tambor is the best, and, outside of one elective in college, I’ve never taken an acting class. Hoping this will be a great exercise in improv, humor and a break from note-taking.

3:30 p.m. -- The Signal & the Noise
Why? OMG. Nate Silver.

5:00 p.m. -- PBS' Digital Evolution
Why? PBS is proof that an organization that has been around for 40 years and done things a certain way for 40 years can embrace change and transform itself.

5:00 p.m. -- Social Media Was Fun. Has Measurement Killed It?
Why? I’m very grateful for Adam Shoenfeld and SimplyMeasured. I love/hate measurement and would like to learn how to streamline it and make it fun.

Sunday, March 10 Party Times

7:00 p.m. -- SXSW Film + Interactive Fusion Party presented by Fandango
8:00 p.m. -- @PBS Party featuring Peter Sagal
9:00 p.m. -- Nat Geo Celebrates the ‘80s & Today featuring Girl Talk

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Monday, March 11 Sessions

12:30 p.m. -- Shaq Goes Social: The Big Interview
Why? #Kazaam. Also looking forward to Brian Solis interviewing.

1:15 p.m. -- Creating Brand Advocates via Employee Engagement
Why? Employees are a company’s best friends. Not everybody gets that.

2:00 p.m. -- Julie Uhrman & Josh Topolsky Keynote
Why? A bit of crowdfunding to change things up. Also, I’m a big fan of the OUYA story and Josh Topolsky's coverage of the tech industry.

3:30 p.m. -- B2B Social Marketing: Blazing New Trails
Why? The second session on B2B digital strategy.

3:30 p.m. -- Presenting Complex Information with Simplicity
Why? If your clients are asking for more infographics, this is a good session to attend to learn more about transforming data into compelling visuals.

3:30 p.m. Storytelling: The Next Wave of Engagement (workshop to 6 p.m.)
Why? I’m legitimately excited for this workshop to work on my storytelling skills from concept to reality.

Monday, March 11 Party Times

6:00 p.m. -- 11th Annual SXSW Nuclear Tacos Night
8:00 p.m. -- Funny or Die & Team Coco present The Super Serious Show
10:00 p.m. -- The Upright Citizens Brigade presents All Stars of Improv

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Tuesday, March 12 Sessions

8:00 a.m. -- Digital Marketer's Networking Breakfast
Why? The early bird gets to make this breakfast.

12:30 p.m. -- The Science of Marketing
Why? I've attended several of his webinars and can attest that Dan really knows his stuff.  

3:30 p.m. -- How to Get Fans to Spread Your Message (workshop to 6 p.m.)
Why? If you’re familiar with Dynamic Signal, you’ll agree that they are good teachers for this workshop on how to implement brand engagement programs - from beginning to end.

5:00 p.m. -- Deadmau5 & Richie Hawtin: Talk. Techno. Technology.
Why? A good way to kick off SXSW Music. No, I don’t think I’ll be sleeping until March 18th.

Tuesday, March 12 Party Times

9:00 p.m. -- The Interactive Closing Party Presented by (mt) Media Temple