As of today we've announced roughly one third of our programming for 2010. As excited as we are about our evolving line up, we are also aware that there may still be questions about how we go about the selection process. One question we are noticing concerns our list of confirmed speakers.

I see a lot of high-profile speakers in the SXSW Interactive lineup this year. Are you consciously moving away from younger / newer voices?

Yes, we have selected proposals from many well-known speakers this year. In addition to providing a wealth of knowledge and experience, accomplished presenters help to build buzz, which, in turn, attracts fresh talent to the event. Our experience is that these higher-profile speakers also tend to have more skill at delivering a high-energy / compelling presentation. But, each year, we also strive to include many newer faces at the SXSW Interactive Festival -- and 2010 is no exception to this trend. If you are only seeing the high-profile names when you look at the 2010 lineup, then you probably aren't looking closely enough.

More questions? Please read the following FAQ for a little more insight into our decision-making process for 2010.

Why don't you announce the programming all at once?

It would be great if we already knew all 400 titles for the 2010 event. But, "processing" (for lack of better term) all 2300 proposals submitted to the SXSW PanelPicker interface is a pretty gigantic task. Processing means that we weigh the public voting against the Advisory Board input against the staff input for every single proposal. In many ways, this works like one massive / extremely labor-intensive jigsaw puzzle. Moreover, accepting John Smith's proposal on "Web Design" slightly impacts if we accept David Jones' proposal on a similar topic.

How were the decisions made for which titles were accepted?

The SXSW PanelPicker interface allows the general web community to vote (and comment) on which proposals they most want to see at the 2010 Interactive Festival. These community voting totals account for about 30% of the decision-making process. Meanwhile, the input of the SXSW Advisory Board (approximately 50 web professionals from across the United States) accounts for about 40% of the decision-making process. The other 30% of the decision-making process comes from the input of the SXSW staff.

Did the first batch of announcements represent the top 100 panel proposals?

No, definitely not. We are saving many of the strongest proposals for the second and third batch of announcements.

When will the next batch of SXSW Interactive Festival programming announced?

The next programming announcement is scheduled for Monday, November 9. This announcement will probably consist of about 60 total titles.

How many total sessions will you have at the 2010 event?

For the 2010 SXSW Interactive Festival, we expect to feature about 400 total sessions consisting of keynotes, panels, solo presentations, core conversations, book readings and salons covering a wide variety of geek-related concerns. Content is king!

When do you expect all accepted titles to be announced?

We hope that about 90% of the programming lineup for the 2010 SXSW Interactive Festival will be finalized by mid-December. As for the remaining 10% of the programming, some of these slots won't be announced until mid-February. These last-minute announcements will largely be devoted to sessions that cover the most current technology stories / trends / ideas (i.e., developments that occur in December and January).

I read something about more technical / in-depth workshops at the 2010 event. When will SXSW announce these?
Yes, we will be adding a full schedule of more technical / more in-depth workshops to the slate of programming for 2010. Look for complete info on these workshops to be posted in late November.

Help, I am still confused on how the process.

Please email us your questions and we will try to provide an accurate answer.

Tag cloud represents SXSW Interactive 2010 programming as of November 9, 2009 only.