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SXSW’s mystery Sunday keynote spot: who will it be?
A few weeks ago, I had a morning coffee with our biz reporter Lilly Rockwell and two representatives handling PR for the South by Southwest Interactive festival. It was soon after the day-by-day panel list appeared and one of my big questions was what was up with that big hole on the schedule for the Sunday morning keynote.
All the schedule said was, “Keynote TBA,” and when I asked them about it, I was figuring that it was a big name and that logistics were still being worked out.
Instead, I was told that as of that point, there was no Sunday keynote. It wasn’t a big surprise or something being kept under wraps. That person simply wasn’t known yet. They asked me if I had suggestions.
By now, things are probably much further along in the process and I expect we’ll find out who’s in that slot when the more fleshed-out list of panelists goes public in early February. (No, I haven’t seen it. I’ve asked.)
The Sunday keynote slot is a good one because of where it falls during the festival. Out-of-towners have arrived and settled in. People aren’t yet burned out on going to panels (as they tend to be by late Monday and Tuesday), skipping them for a road trips to The Salt Lick or sleeping out the revelry of the night before.
Last year’s Sunday keynote featured the biggest name of the festival, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and it was, well… eventful.
The year before, the keynote was a mid-afternoon “Keynote Conversation” with Limor Fried and Make magazine’s Phil Torrone about open source and the DIY movement. Prescient, right? Those were good picks.
Based on what’s already on the schedule, we can speculate on where the festival might go if they have their druthers. Here are three theories I have on who that Sunday speaker will be:
The Twitter approach: I’m sure most who don’t use Twitter are absolutely sick of hearing about it (I spotted the word “Twittering” on the front page of today’s New York Times, which is happening with increasing frequency). But it is, by far, the most significant technology to launch out of the South by Southwest Interactive festival since, probably, Blogger. Given how tied the fest was to the birth of Twitter, it wouldn’t surprise me to see company founders Jack Dorsey and/or Biz Stone on stage. One or both of them could be paired up with a power-user interviewer (loveable Leo Laporte, perhaps, or the love-him-or-hate-him Robert Scoble). Based on the other keynotes already announced, it makes sense. Saturday is about marketing and business, Monday is about art and Tuesday’s keynote is likely focused on RSS and Guy Kawasaki’s past with Apple. It makes sense that the Sunday slot would be about social networking.
The tech legend approach: Given Kawasaki’s history, it might be too much Apple, but I bet one of the names being tossed around as a keynote speaker is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The Woz is still outspoken about Apple and has a unique perspective on the company’s recent hot streak and its travails with Steve Jobs’ health. Woz is never not interesting; he’d be a great draw and there is never a lack of interest in what Apple is doing, how it is evolving and what the inside scoop might be. Short of that, another interesting tech legend would be HP’s ex-CEO Carly Fiorina to talk about the intersection of technology and politics. If nothing else, it would great to hear some of her war stories from her involvement with the McCain campaign last year from a techie’s perspective.
Bring on the game God: Another keynote subject missing is something about video games. I hate to beat the drum again about how significant the games industry has become (last year, it outsold movie and DVD sales). That being said, most game industry types are not fantastic speakers for conferences like this. “Sims” creator Will Wright spoke two years ago and was riveting. Richard Garriott is always entertaining, but his last gaming venture was not a huge success. The best speaker (with a translator) would be Nintendo’s legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. The Mario maven and Wii wizard is beloved, intelligent beyond belief and riding a wave of success unparalleled in the games world right now. He was instrumental in the shift to making games more mainstream. It would be incredible to hear where he thinks Nintendo can go from here.
So, there you go, South by Southwest. My consulting fee is waived. Go get ‘em.
Readers — what do you think? Who do you think should be the Sunday keynote speaker?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2009
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By John McElhenney
January 26, 2009 11:26 PM | Link to this
How about the two actors from I'm a MAC and I'm a PEECEE?
By Jeff Beckham
January 26, 2009 3:38 PM | Link to this
Or maybe the political approach: How about Jascha Franklin-Hodge or someone from Blue State Digital, the group behind my.barackobama.com and change.gov?