frog's Panel Picks at SXSWi 2011

In a few days, herds of nerds, tech geeks, and entrepreneurs will descend upon Austin, Texas, for the conference where technology, design, and social media converge in a hyper social explosion—SXSW Interactive 2011. 

A lot of veterans are offering all types of sage advice on how to transcend noob status (download that scheduling app and stay hydrated!), and how to savor the most out of the info-packed sessions brought to you by the digerati themselves. In the spirit of sharing (SXSWi content is part of the sharing vs. privacy debate), we’ve put together the beta version of frog’s itinerary—an open attempt to tackle the 500-plus panels with some kind of finesse.

In addition to Marissa Meyer and Christopher Poole’s featured talks, we hope to bring you at least a few pixels worth of what we want to hit up at the conference—whether we’re wearing our techie, strategist, or designer hats. 



Our list is below, and full descriptions of our favored sessions can be found on Sit.By.Us (hat tip to BBHLabs for directing us to this savvy app). Let us know what we’re missing out on.

Syncronize your iCal everyone. See you in Austin.

Mobilize
Design, tech, and mobile devices. Need we say more?

•    Flipboard: Gamechanger or passing fad?
•    The Intersection Between Mobile and TV
•    Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills*
•    The Intersection Between Mobile and TV
•    NFC and RFID, How It Will Change Mobile
•    “It’s Nature’s Way”: Innovative Tech Design Through Biomimicr
•    The Behavior Change Checklist. Down with Gamification.

Data Mining—Convenient or Invasive?

We’ve been exploring personal data quite a bit lately and we’re fascinated by the implications for end users. Hopefully these panels will shed some more light on the privacy debate-while helping us shape our online identities.

•    The End of Shame: or, Getting Over Oversharing
•    Demystifying Online Privacy and Empowering the Digital Self

Are You Game?
We love gamification, especially if it will help users change their behavior for good—whether it's benefiting their health or their community.

•    Reality is Broken...Why Games Make Us Better
•    Gamechanging: Turn Your App Into A Cooperative game
•    Keynote with Seth Priebatsch - SCVNGR

Identity Crisis?
Naw, the digital agency must simply become more agile by developing the ability to bring creative ideas to market and engage their digitally savvy audience.

•    Do Agencies Need to Think Like Software Companies?
•    Old Spice Resurrected: How Aging Icon Pawned Internet
•    Unwritten Rules: Brands, Social Psychology and Social Media*

Community Manager Geek Out!
Online communities can mobilize a corporate marketing campaign and also help a grassroots vendor grow a sustainable business. How do you engage and sustain the flock?

•    Lurkers: Your Most Important Community Members
•    Block Party Capitalism: Where Analog and Digital Intersect

Social Goodness:
From catalyzing social revolution to helping us track our energy consumption, these panels discuss how to harness the web for social impact and collective action.

•    Why would we think that social media is revolutionary?
•    Making tomorrow better than today is hard work
•    Go Here, Do This: Location + Collective Action
•    Lessons Learned from the Arab Spring Revolutions

*frog design panels

Top image from The Official Monkee Boy Blog