Yesterday, I got an email from SXSW saying that the time for voting on panels is coming to a close. I did not realize that this was coming up so fast, and thought I would make an attempt to get some last minute votes. At the bottom of the post you can read more about my three panel submissions. But for now, these are the titles of my proposed panels.

These three panel ideas I am very excited about and would love to be able to get together a group of people and share our thoughts and have a conversation with the SXSW community. I have never attended SXSW before, instead for the past two years I have followed the conference through blog posts of those who went. If my panel submissions were to be accepted, I would get a complimentary pass to the conference, thus decreasing the high cost for someone without a steady income to attend. (by the way, I am 17 year old designer, blogger, and entrepreneur)

So if you think I have some good ideas, pleas go and vote. Thanks.

There has been much talk lately of the issues and problems with this conference, and I thought now might be a good time to share my thoughts and ideas on this with you.

From what I have heard, the major problem is the quality of the panels. I think that people need to talk about there panels ahead of time, its not the hard with a few emails. I also think that when voting for a panel online, your vote should count more if you are planning on attending or have attended in the past. If my panel was chosen I would make sure that we had a simple presentation that was designed well, a handout for people to leave with, a way for everyone to continue the conversation after the conference online, and I would make sure that the audience got a good amount of questions and comments in. Now I have never been to SXSW before, so I don’t know if people have already done these things.

Moving on, here are the descriptions of the panels that I would like to share with you. Simply click on the link to go vote and leave comments.

A New Kind of Social Media Consulting
A group/network of thinkers, designers, business people, and developers coming together and offering consulting services, thus drawing on everybody’s expertise and offering consulting to brands and companies to get them taking advantage of the new internet, online communities, etc. Could be compared to an artists residency program.

The Internet Creating Real World Interactions
No longer is it just about interacting with people online. Rather, it is about taking that experience offline and into the real world. Such examples include Meetup, Un-conferences, Co-working, Streetmining, Photowalking, 1000 Journals, and more. Learn how this could work for you and your business and why it is important.

The Future of Learning
Not about why we have to bring blogs, wikis and the internet into the classroom. Rather about how teachers and students can use them to collaborate, connect, and be educated. Take a look at re-structuring the classroom, sustainable education, the design of educational space and more.

I have received several responses on these ideas, one from Twitter, one on this blog, and one on the panel picker website.

“The second one particularly interests me. I’m impressed by your ideas.”
-Carolyn Foote

“Appreciate your 2nd SXSW 08 panel submission. Lots of potential there!”
-Christian Long

“Wow, sounds interesting! If you’re interested in a panel member, let me know!”
-Jake McKee

Thanks for reading and for your support. Feel free to leave comments and get in touch with me. Thanks again.