SXSW 2012 Schedule

SXSW Interactive is only a few weeks away, but as anyone who has ever been before will tell you, the time to start choosing what to do is now. If it’s your very first time, the prepare to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, panels, parties and marketing distractions. For newbies and veterans alike, I highly recommend this post by Houston’s very own Black Sheep Agency to get you started: Amateur Hour is Over. The old saying “a plan is worthless, but planning is invaluable” is never more apt than at SXSW. The thing that sets it apart from every other conference is that it’s not a conference at all – it’s a non-stop brain overload of interesting and amazing things to do, see and most importantly – participate. I think that you should go with the attitude that you’ll go with the flow and be able to drop your carefully crafted plan to go to something new and exciting that was suggested by someone you met randomly in a hallway or an escalator. It’s not uncommon for more than one and usually several things to be happening at once, so don’t try over-commit. Pick a plan A and a plan B if it doesn’t work out, but don’t be disappointed if you miss something as long as you’re spending your time being interested. One thing that most people overlook is that SXSW is not just for badgeholders, and there are any number of unofficial and completely separate events that are worth checking out like the Dachis Group Social Business Summit, Houston-born Dad2.0 Summit, and the Global Coworking Unconference Conference.

There are several tools to help guide your time at SXSW, but I’ve found that Sched is the most intuitive and comprehensive. Here is my curated list of panels, parties and events that favors startups and Houston speakers: http://austin2012.sched.org/marc1919 please add your tips and ‘can’t miss’ events to the comments.