Content Strategy Storms South By Southwest Interactive!

Those of you who know me or follow this blog know that I make pilgrimage to Austin, TX every year for the South by Southwest Interactive festival. SXSW Interactive is part of a larger two week event that also features the best in movies and live music.

I attend to learn what is hot and what everyone in the design and Web development world is up to. I don't go to learn about content strategy issues as content is just not a topic of discussion. Until next year that is.

People have submitted their panel proposals for next year and content and content strategy are making a big appearance in the list!

Part of the process for selecting which panels will actually be offered includes a public voting component called the Panel Picker.

So if you are inclined to go to SXSW next year in March, or you just want to help out your fellow content strategy peeps, check out the online Panel Picker and vote for some or all of the content strategy focused panels! (registration is free and easy):

• Understanding Content: The Stuff We Design For - We design websites for users, but if we don’t also have a deep and thorough grasp of the content that will be served up to those users, we’re not going to be able to create optimal experiences for them. Learn how to do Content Research to augment your User Research. (solo presentation)



• Content & Semantics: The Wild, Wild Web of Data - Thanks to the Linked Data movement, the Semantic Web is poised to break wide, bringing a host of new design complexities and content strategy considerations to the table. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to start missing it up in the open data world. (dual presentation with Rahel Anne Bailie, Intentional Design Inc)



• Why Your Content Sucks and How to Fix It - So. How’s your content? Accurate? Up-to-date? Anything your audience actually cares about? Yeah. We didn’t think so. Most of the content online is crap. Your users deserve better! And you can help change the game. Find out how to fix your content (and to finagle the resources to do it). (panel I’ll be on, moderated by Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic)



• Let’s Talk About CS: Understanding Content Strategy - You’ve heard the term. Seen the twitters. Curious minds want to know: What’s web content strategy all about? And how is it different from what everyone’s been saying all these years? (Hint: You’re the choir. Let’s go forth and preach to the multitudes.) Leaders in the CS community speak candidly about the emergence of a new discipline. (Panel I’ll be on, organized by Elena Melendy, Independent Content Strategy Consultant)
  


• Will We Pay for Content Online?, Domenic Venuto, Razorfish



• Context Strategy: Wrangling Content Gone Wild, Patrick Nichols, Razorfish



• Sex Sells; Stories Stick: Why Characters Count Online, Charla Grenz-Solheim, Razorfish



• Content Strategy: Where UX, Design, and Content Play Nice, Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic



• Oh, Go Service Yourself! Interactive Content for Humans, Colleen Jones, threebrick



• Keep ‘Em Coming: Courting Customers with Content, Colleen Jones, threebrick



• Greening Your Content: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rahel Anne Bailie, Intentional Design Inc.

It's always a blast to attend. It's the only big conference I attend every year where all the evening's parties are listed right in the official daily calendar along with the panel!

Once it gets a bit closer, we can see who is planning on going and set up one or two content strategy meetups.