August 17th, 2010 | 1 comment | SXSW

Greetings social friends! With more than 2,000 SXSW interactive entries to vote for this year, it’s safe to say that the competition is FIERCE! Sarah Evans, of Sevans Strategy came up with a killer list of panels that everyone should check out. When I saw that both of the panels that I’m lucky to have a hand in were on the list, I was floored! I’ve included Sarah’s list below as well as a couple that I think you should definitely take a look at.

If you aren’t familiar with SXSW or the PanelPicker process, it’s pretty simple. SXSW is a community-driven event (and I think this has become more and more important over the past couple of years). That being said, knowing what kinds of topics the audience wants determines who gets these primo spots. The process to sign up takes maybe 30 seconds, SXSW is really great about not spamming you, and your vote accounts for about 30% of the decision-making process.

Sarah actually has two panels in the running. If you’re interested, you can vote for them here:

• Spin Doctors: PR Best Practices for Social Media, submitted by Nicole Ravlin –> (http://j.mp/voteSE)
• The Global Online Community: Improving Cross-Cultural Relations, submitted by Andrew Kneale –> (http://j.mp/voteSarah)

My colleague, Adam Keats, has also submitted a panel – “Is The Marketing Microsite Dead?” and is sure to be a fantastic discussion. This panel will discuss the pros and cons of the microsite vs. social media platforms and provide educated and experienced POVs for attendees on how to determine which platform is right. There are some big brands who are shying away from the microsite and using Facebook and/or Twitter as their landing page – is that good? Bad? The new norm? Ready, set, discuss!

Two of my favorite mentees, Colby and Patrick, have also submitted a panel called Real Time Life. This nugget of goodness is about all things social slash Digital Native slash living in Real Time.

And here’s Sarah’s list:

1. Christine Perkett (@missusP), “The Networking Conundrum”
2. Heather Mosley (@mosleyppr), “Dissecting What Really Works in Social Marketing Campaigns”
3. Gregory Ferenstein (@ferenstein) “Stand Out: Investigative Journalism for Bloggers”
4. Ted Murphy (@tedmurphy), “Check-in, Get Paid: Rise of Cash-sponsored Social Media”  (client)
5. Heather Whaling (@prtini) Geben Communication, “Big Ideas, Little Budget: Low-Cost Cause Marketing”
6. Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki), “The Art of Enchantment”
7. Dave Fleet (@Davefleet), “Personalities, Policies & Problems: Companies and Employees 2.0”
8. Sydney Owen (@SydneyOwen), “Road Rules for Mentorship: What’s Appropriate (& What’s Not)”
9. (also Sydney Owen) “Generation C: Changing the Future of Business… Forever!”
10. Deb Schultz (@Debs), “Dear Miss Manners: WTF with the Social Web?”
11. David Armano (@Armano), “Why PR’s Future May Not Look Like PR”
12. Damien Basile (@db), “Game On: Can Game Theory transform your app?“ (and be sure to check out DB’s SXSW Panel Wiki, where you can add your panel to the database)
13. Paula Berg (@paulaberg), “The Legal Ramifications of Saying ‘I’m Sorry”
14. Lucretia Pruitt (@LucretiaPruitt) Social Media Matters, “Killing Clark Kent; When You Outgrow Your AlterEgo”
15. Justin Goldsborough (@JGoldsborough), “Building Relationships – and Revenues – Through Twitter”

Voting ends at 11:59 CDT on Friday, August 27.

Tags: SXSW