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SXSW Panels – We Can Do Better

posted on August 16, 2011

It is that time of year again with the opening of the voting gates to the 2012 SXSW Panel Picker.

For those of you not familiar, SXSW is the must attend event for anyone working in the online, film or music space. They allow anyone to submit panel ideas and then the world can vote for the ones they like. This community vote counts for roughly a third of the decision making process.

Because of this, you’re going to see lots of people pimping for votes and people bitching about this pimping, but I’m hoping that we can do better this year.

I have a proposed panel this year called The Power of  Visual Storytelling and of course I hope that it gets chosen to be part of the official program. But, you’re not going to see me ever ask the public for votes because it is desperate and frankly annoying to all who see it.

My suggestions for how to do it better this time.

  1. Mention that you have a panel. Just this morning I linked to it on both Twitter and Google+ but in both situations I did not ask for votes. I know if people are compelled to they will, but I don’t want to be “that guy” asking for the votes. There is nothing wrong with informing your followers, but there is no need to beg.
  2. Promote other people’s panels. Two from friends that I found this morning and really want to see picked are Community Management is the New Black and
    5 New Tools to Share Video Like Max Headroom.
  3. Spend time going through the entire panel picker and the categories you are interested so that you can cast meaningful votes. Panels chosen should not only be about those with the biggest audiences.
  4. Leave comments on the panels you are most passionate about because I know the organizing committee does read these and they matter. Go beyond just a thumbs up or down.

I can’t even imagine the scale of what goes into picking the panels that become part of something as mammoth as SXSW and kudos to the organizers. They certainly work their tails off, so lets all step up and do a better job helping make that 30% of the decision mean more then screaming out and begging for votes.

We are better than that right?

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Categories: Events
  • http://www.theincslingers.com/blog Simon Salt

    C.C. I think the problem here is that with 3800 panels being submitted, who the hell has time to go through each one and decide in a really objective way which ones to vote on? People do the screaming thing because they are concerned their panel won’t be seen. I’d prefer to see different tracks for people to vote on. Like “Headliners”, “Knowledge leaders”, “First timers” something like that. Yes it sounds hierarchical but to be honest, I’m much more interested in seeing you present on something than I am seeing someone who has little or no public speaking experience and is using SXSW as a resume builder. If the event were free fair enough, but if I am going to shell out that kind of money then I want value and I want a lot of the work done for me. 

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      That IS an interesting way to think about being able to sort the panels. I had never thought about it that way and I would love to see a “first timers” list to be honest with you.

      I always make sure to set aside a couple of hours and go through the panels because I feel that as someone who loves SXSW and wants to see it’s content be as great as possible I owe it to do that. I know I’m probably in the minority on that.

      • http://www.facebook.com/keithburtis Keith Burtis

        CC, I think what you say there is so true. At the end of the day if we have the ability to shape the conference (can be debated) I think it is worth the time to go through the panels. It would be awesome if they (SXSW) explained a bit better what their criteria is. I submitted a panel last year that got a couple hundred votes from the panel picker and lost out to similar subjects that had many fewer votes. So I’m not sure exactly how they judge.

        Simon, I think we agree more than disagree. It would be great to be able to sort the panel picker. I’d go so far as to ask them to sort by topics as well. This would help ensure you were able to vote for topics that interested you as well as having the information about first timers and old salts. :) The system is certainly not perfect but SXSW is still my favorite place to be in March. To be 100% honest, I haven’t spent much time at any of the sessions. Been more about the people for me. Hope to see you both there!

    • http://www.facebook.com/keithburtis Keith Burtis

      Simon, I completely disagree. There are sooo many people out there doing really good work, developing really good case studies and that have a lot to share. Frankly, I’m sick of the same old, same old. I’ve heard the “evangelists” time after time give me funny quibs and stories about why we need to engage in social and all that. Yea, CC is awesome, Brogan has chops and Gary Vee is a joy to watch but I’d love to see something/someone new rise from the  space. We talk all the time about how social and digital have democratized the web. Lets prove it. It’s unfortunate but like any other voting system the popular kids will draw the most attention. 

      Two years ago at Blog World the guys that started “Third Tribe” commanded a huge audience and packed the room. Brogan spent the hour screwing around, the other three were “ok” at best and the majority of the session was a pitch for their new Third Tribe venture. Talk about desperate??? 

      In my opinion popularity in social does not = quality of insights. 

      • http://www.theincslingers.com/blog Simon Salt

        Keith
        I’m not proposing that they only have the glitterati, nor am I suggesting that popularity equals quality. If you look at what I am proposing I am suggesting the way that everyone gets a fair crack at being selected is to break them out. Let’s face it whether we like it or not, Social Media has not democratized anything. If I don’t know a name then chances are I’m going to skip over it. However, if I know that they are in a separate list, then I can be more careful with my selections. I can go to the “first timers” list knowing that the caveat is that they might or might not be good at presenting information. I agree with you that some big names have not thrilled at all times and have treated audiences with disdain. But knowing that means if they are in a list of their own you don’t have to vote for them.
        Given that over the past two years SXSW has hiked prices a massive 60% I expect them to do more of the heavy lifting.

      • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

        Wow. Amazing how we can be in the same room and get a different perspective. I loved that Third Tribe panel. I’m not a fan of the personal attacks. Sort of surprised that you’d call specific individuals out.

      • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

        Wow. Amazing how we can be in the same room and get a different perspective. I loved that Third Tribe panel. I’m not a fan of the personal attacks. Sort of surprised that you’d call specific individuals out.

    • Anonymous

      I’m with Simon on this one. There are just sooooo many panels to choose from; I’m not sure that many people would even find my proposed one if I didn’t point them to it. Here’s the approach that I use:

      * Sending out a link to my panel and asking for their *consideration* of a vote. I think that’s a reasonable way to do it! 
      * Reading through as many of the other panel proposals as I can, and voting and adding comments for the ones that interest me (I see you’re doing this as well, C.C.!)
      * Putting together a blog post or two with a curated list of panels that I’d like to see chosen.

      • http://tiffanymonhollon.com/blog Tiffany Monhollon

        As with most things, there’s got to be a balance. But it’s silly not to promote your idea, I’m with Bryan here. I’ll use myself as an example. Because last year, I submitted a panel picker idea with two awesome women in social media, and we “bought into the anti-promo hype” and didn’t “pimp” our panels other than writing a blog post that mentioned it and reaching out to a few friends because we wanted to avoid being tackled by the anti-promo crowd. Despite being a panel with some fairly influential women on the important topic we were pitching, we got crickets.

        This year, I’m going for a balanced approach. I wish that the panel picker process was more refined, but it is what it is. So, I’ve tweeted it a few times and shared it once on Google+ and I’m tracking the clicks so I can see what’s working and what’s not. But we also did something different in that we created a Twitter hashtag to generate conversation around the topic itsalf, which as been fun. And we have a Posterous and Tumblr account to share content around the topic we’re presenting so that we can start adding value around the idea now, and hopefully generate support of the panel picker idea, too. What’s been interesting is to see this balanced approach generating interest, support, and comments on the idea. 

        I think you have to be creative and balance the self-promotional side. Making it about the idea and not the people may be another way to tackle this. 

  • Sunny Hunt

    I don’t mind asking for votes as long as you tell me WHY I should vote.  Throwing out a blanket plea with no backup in social media channels is akin to standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign, begging for cash when your pockets are already full. 

    Talented people with valuable panel submissions should be above begging and smart enough to communicate value clearly.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      WELL said!

      • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

        Just so you know, C.C., Sunny is good people. She’s smart. She’s funny. She’s sarcastic. She lives in the 801!

      • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

        Just so you know, C.C., Sunny is good people. She’s smart. She’s funny. She’s sarcastic. She lives in the 801!

  • http://twitter.com/theglamlife Marcy

    Look, it is a big popularity contest. Like a lot of social media stuff.  Yes, I pimped my panel ONCE on G+ (mainly cuz I wanted to use the phrase ‘pimped’ and  refer to myself as a ho) and I likely won’t do it again. I will rely on the other 70% of the voting process to get selected. Let’s face it, public voting works for prom queens- because it isn’t about the quality of her content- but only on her popularity with the football team. But when we are talking about educational, intellectual presentations? Voting from the public is useless and insulting. 

  • Jesse Noyes

    I agree. It’s not that I perturbed by the amount of requests I am seeing, it’s just that there’s so many I can’t keep up. Promoting others’ panels will make me want to search out yours to vote up.

  • http://jplovescotton.com/ Janice

    I know some people have raised questions about people touting their own panel too much…. I agree it can be overdone but in reality, I’m also circling, following or whatever because I like the content someone puts out. I should have an interest in their panel as well as some of the others they are interested in. So your suggestions are spot on. Thanks for a bit of positive guidance to folks wondering what the best practices are. 

  • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

    I really appreciate your 4 suggestions, C.C. 
    Believe it or not, I’ve never been to SxSw. In fact, I was in Austin for the first time ever earlier this year. 

    When I saw that the Panel Picker was live, I had a bit of that same “oh no, pimp time” feeling. Then I got an email from my buddy Gavin. I totally forgot that he had included me on a panel submission: “I could unsubscribe, but I’d rather be a jerk.” (nice title, huh?).

    I’m not sure that I have a plan per se (yet). I’m likely going to follow your suggestions and see how things go. However, I may do a *bit* of pimping – not vote for me – but more of “you’ll laugh, you’ll smile, you’ll learn” type stuff. And, I’ll take Sunny’s suggestion to heart and answer the WHY.

  • http://socialbutterflyguy.com/ DJ Waldow

    I really appreciate your 4 suggestions, C.C. 
    Believe it or not, I’ve never been to SxSw. In fact, I was in Austin for the first time ever earlier this year. 

    When I saw that the Panel Picker was live, I had a bit of that same “oh no, pimp time” feeling. Then I got an email from my buddy Gavin. I totally forgot that he had included me on a panel submission: “I could unsubscribe, but I’d rather be a jerk.” (nice title, huh?).

    I’m not sure that I have a plan per se (yet). I’m likely going to follow your suggestions and see how things go. However, I may do a *bit* of pimping – not vote for me – but more of “you’ll laugh, you’ll smile, you’ll learn” type stuff. And, I’ll take Sunny’s suggestion to heart and answer the WHY.

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  • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

    Important points to share CC. It’s also important to remember that the voting is only 1/3rd of the total selection. I advise spending the time to make a unique, compelling and truly interesting panel pitch idea rather than working too hard on getting out the vote. Finally, if you aren’t picked, don’t sweat it, put on your own panel at a pub instead and you’ll have a blast!

    from @daveohoots