Last week voting opened up for SXSW and I’ve pulled together a collection of panels submitted by some of my favorite people on Twitter (and in person!) and I’ll be doing a followup SXSW post on cloud companies with panel submissions.

My submission made it in even though I didn’t get an email from the SXSW staff.  I’ve been graciously invited to speak on two panels so if you want me presenting out SXSW, please vote for the second panel listed, WordPress: The Small Business Swiss Army Knife , because WordPress and  business is where my heart is.

How to Vote for a SXSW panel

First off.  How important is voting anyway?

Voting accounts for 30% of the final vote on which panels are selected.  The other 70% is split between a SXSW board (40%) and SXSW staff 30%.  Last year for my presentation, “How Sci-Fi Shapes The Internet“, I did very little promotion or “vote begging” and it was still selected.  Cream will always rise to the top.

My advice for anyone who feels strongly about getting votes for their panel is to write up a post expanding on the value your topic delivers to the SXSW audience, ask for a vote in the post and ask people to comment on your panel.

Voting for a SXSW panel

You can vote between August 11th – 27th.
You need an account at SXSW.com to cast your vote.
Here are instructions directly from the conference site:

Just sign-up for an account here. During the public voting phase (August 11-27, 2010) all you need to do is sign-up for an account. Signing-up is free, quick and easy. And your sign-up information remains completely confidential.

The SXSW Panels!

Here they are! I’ll tell you which one I voted for at the end *smile*

What The Government Can Learn From Amazon

Adria Richards, ButYoureAGirl.com
Have you ever bought something on Amazon and wondered, “Why isn’t buying a passport as easy as this?” With over 300 million people in the United States, there is certainly room for improvement how their lives are recorded, updated and exchanged.  If the Arpanet was created to provide a centralized, communications network, why are we not taking advantage of this access to lower costs and reduce data errors? Amazon processes, ships, and delivers packages all over the world and can now predict delivery within 12 hours of ordering. Why does your driver’s license take two weeks? We will explore what advances in digital data records and key benefits including: savings on redundant data entry and mistakes, less identity theft and fraud, rewarding efficiency and creating social benchmarks. The other side of this data coin includes managing expectations, privacy, security and opt-out from such programs. RFID’s in passports, pets and popcorn seem like the stuff of science fiction.
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Government and Technology government, Privacy, RFID

WordPress: The Small Business Swiss Army Knife <<<< VOTE FOR THIS ONE FOR ADRIA SO SHE CAN SPREAD THE JOY OF WORDPRESS AT SXSW

Stephanie Frost, Zero-G Creative, Adria Richards invited on panel
WordPress has been steadily growing in popularity as a CMS over the last two years because it’s free and relatively easy to learn–especially when compared with other packages like Joomla and Drupal. But WordPress is more than just a convenient choice — in many cases it’s the only web tool a small business owner is ever likely to need. WordPress isn’t just for blogs anymore, seamlessly handling media content, ecommerce, membership sites, search engine optimization, mobile sites, lead generation and much much more. Our panel of experts will describe the many uses and strengths of WordPress and demonstrate how WordPress is adaptable into just about any small business use.
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Content Management Content Management System, small business, WordPress

What Comic Books Can Teach Mobile Application Designers

Anjuan Simmons, Adverlyze
Mobile application design is a conversation that allows the developer to speak to the user. While manuals are able to guide this conversation, nothing is more immediate and enduring than the user interface of the application itself. Comic books have evolved through the years to maximize their ability to tell a story while confined to two dimensional static images. This presentation will explore the design principles Eisner shared in his landmark book and specifically apply them to mobile application design. Scott McCloud’s book “Understanding Comics”, which built on top of the foundation laid by Eisner, will also be covered as well as McCloud’s later work “Reinventing Comics”. The comic book medium can provide a blueprint for blockbuster mobile applications as well. When attendees leave this session, they will know how to throw some Eisner onto their mobile application designs!
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Mobile Applications applications, design, mobile

How to Ensure a Diverse Tech Event

Erica Mauter, swirlspice.com
Social networking is supposed to be the ultimate facilitator of grassroots interaction between producers and consumers. In the tech space, these online interactions go offline at conferences and unconferences around the world.  Are you hoping to attract more diverse audiences to your existing programming or are you tailoring your programming to diverse audiences? How can your product appeal to a diverse audience if you don’t have a diverse group developing it?  Individuals, organizations, conference organizers, sponsors and bloggers will walk away with actionable steps they can take to diversify events. We’ll explore what event organizers like O’Reilly are doing to encourage new people to attend. We’ll explore the barriers individuals face when joining new online communities and when transitioning into offline participation, as well as opportunities for contribution within the community.
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Social Issues Conferences, diversity, Events

Social Media: The Pink Collar Ghetto of Tech?

Keidra Chaney, The Learned Fangirl – Adria Richards invited to panel
With women accounting for the majority of users on social media sites, there are exciting opportunities for women to take leadership roles in social media – as consultants, developers, entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Still, women make up less than 20% of panelists at major tech conferences, while women focused social media conferences like BlogHer, She’s Geeky, and Blogalicious continue to grow. Is social media is seen as a “soft” profession and drawing lower comparative salaries and less room for executive level leadership than other technology – oriented fields? Is this already happening? This panel of women professionals that work in social media will take a hard look at the unique issues women tech professionals face in the age of the social web, and discuss whether social media is helping to crack the “digital ceiling” of the tech world or creating a separate but equal space for women to lead?
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Career / Work Concerns digital ceiling, women in tech, women in social media

Under 25 and Rebuilding Communities Using Social Media

Karl Rivera, Teen On Da Rise and Corvida Raven, SheGeeks.net
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” -Neil Postman, The Di…  “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” -Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Childhood (introduction), 1982 As we move into an era of digitalization, today’s youth are poised to reap the rewards they sow (and tweet), and have been given the opportunity make history along the way. The youth are taking the reins on this technological era to generate more options for our lives than ever before. Youth from all over the globe are using digital platforms and tools to transform communities and building our very own empire. Free from financial limitations, cultural pressures, and stigmas, the Internet is serving as one of the biggest platforms to help the youth make impacts in everyday life. We’re creating new jobs, rebuilding communities, expanding networks, developing critical business skills, and learning how to preserve our history. We’re using the internet to “connect the dots” and this panel will take a deeper look at how the youth are making changes.
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New Technology / Next Generation community, Impact, Youth

Ten Sexy Skills for Project Success

Denise Jacobs, PapillonEffect Consulting
What if you knew your project would be a success from the very beginning? What if we could do away with dreading the inevitable scope creep, budget blow-out and overrun schedule, what if every team member could take control of the project outcome and make it a win? Join us for a fun, interactive session to learn solid communication skills, great project management tools, and how to cultivate an effective and enjoyable team culture. Leave the session with a fresh approach to looking at tech and new media projects and ways to apply new management skills to your personal workflow.
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Career / Work Concerns communication skills, project management, team culture

Die Laughing So Your Brand Can Live

Luvvie Ajayi, Awesomely Luvvie
With people facing chaos in their everyday world and the constant threat of layoffs, debt and war, a little humor can go a long way. When people want an escape from daily life, they turn to the Internet for entertainment and laughs.  In this session, learn how to set yourself and your brand apart from the rest by using humor to engage your audience, build value and get your message out.
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Branding / Marketing / Publicity brand, humor

Hater Blocking 101: Your Blog, Your Rules

Panama Jackson, Liz Burr, Very Smart Brothas
Do you author a blog that has engaged in its fair share of controversy resulting in a lot of negative attention and hateration? If so, you’re not alone. “Hate” is a good problem to have. How you deal with the hate can determine if you sink or swim.  Join us for a panel discussion on hateration, how to make the most of it and make it work for you with guests who are no stranger to controversy.
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Community / Online Community Audience, blogging, community

You’re Not Obama: Effectively Using Tech for Campaigns

Maurice Cherry, 3eighteen media
Since the 2008 Presidential election, politicians nationwide are realizing that social media can be an effective tool for reaching out to constituents, media, and potential voters. Unfortunately, most of them are completely unaware as to where to begin with integrating social media into their campaigns along with other technologies. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook…how does it all work to get votes? Using best practices and case studies of proven tactics from municipal and federal campaigns, I will show you how to unlock the power of social media and technology to help take your campaign to the next level of engagement.
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Government and Technology Political engagement, Social Media ROI, Technology

The Progressive Web: Let’s Change the World (Seriously)

Andy Stratton, Sizeable Interactive with panelist Denise Jacobs, PapillonEffect Consulting

Web 2.0, social media, digital communities and relationships – what next? Can we be doing more? We’re at a climactic turn for technology and how it’s become an immovable piece of business operations and our personal lives – but: *can we be doing more?* Are we balancing our ability to produce, sell and acquire more with improving the overall quality of life for ourselves and our planet? Or are we making it easier to fit more work into the same amount of time.  Analysis, thoughts, musings, hopes and inspirations from my brain, and the brains of my friends and industry peers who believe in the same things and share the same hopes.
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humanity, progress, social

Cultivating a User-Centered Culture

Nancy Lyons, Megan Wilker, Geek Girls Guide
We’ve all heard about the importance of user-centered design (hopefully). But, how can a person, a team or an organization hope embrace it as a core value if the entire organization isn’t focused on who those users are? How can we bridge the gap between a typical web developer who is male and between the ages of 18-29 (according to A List Apart’s “Survey for the People Who Make Websites”, 2008), and the 45% of the senior population in the US who are now on the Internet (According to Pew Internet and the American Life Project, 2009)? From design to production to project management to customer service and support, this session aims to help web development teams view work product as a direct outcome of a work culture that includes and respects users at every level.  We’ll prove the hard business value of soft, squishy terms like emotional intelligence, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and vulnerability. But no hugging, we promise.
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Career / Work Concerns social media, users, work culture