Amidst a challenging year for many, SXSW Conference and Festivals is planning ahead with its first-ever virtual conference for 2021. The SXSW PanelPicker, the community voting segment of its program selection process, launched Tuesday, November 10, and is extended through Friday, November 20. Polls let registered users comment, vote up, or vote down potential panels to decide which make the cut for the March 2021 event, contributing to 30% of the board’s programming decision overall.

Read on for a preview of exciting potential panels sparking discussions in entertainment, technology and social justice:

 

Hitting The Right Note with Authentic Voices

The music industry–from album production to film, TV, and advertising–weathered both the coronavirus outbreak and a second long-term pandemic: an internal lack of diversity. Behind the soundboard, the music career pipeline generally begins with top-tier universities, which boast great technical education, but tend to skew towards majority white, cis, straight and male teams.

Experts across a broad scope of music production will discuss how the search for additional authentic voices starts young. From sparking interest in grade school and beyond, to embracing a broader variety of educational backgrounds in the hiring process, the industry can ensure promising talent doesn’t slip through the cracks, and that industry anti-racism practices thrive with earnest diverse representation.

 

Vote HERE

 

Change The Lens: Shift the Filmmaking Perspective

With racial diversity and inclusion top-of-mind, a shift in narratives that historically have helped support systemic racism is crucial. In the world of film production, change starts behind the camera.

In response to this social movement, over 100 Black creators have launched CHANGE THE LENS, a new pledge to increase the number of Black filmmakers at all levels of commercial and film production–at least as many as reflected in film industry headquarters within the U.S. and England, where Black people make up 15% of the general population.

CHANGE THE LENS founders and Black Filmmaker Collective members will dissect the multi-faceted representation issues in film and storytelling today, as well as the varied solutions required to move the industry forward.

 

Vote HERE

 

Making Noise Without a Crowd: A Path Forward for Indie Musicians

With the packed venues, screaming fans and frequent travel, the once exciting and desirable lifestyle of a touring musician has morphed into a high risk, prohibited way of living. Though small strides have been made during the pandemic to innovate in the virtual concert space, the ability to create new music has drastically hindered artists who are not able to make up their lost touring dollars with Instagram Live shows or streaming royalties.

From new music licensing opportunities, to brand-sponsored original music, and innovations in interactive virtual music experiences, experts from across the music industry will discuss how indie musicians can evolve with the current remote landscape and create new virtual touchpoints of discovery to grow their fan bases and bring in revenue.

 

Vote HERE

 

Advertising in Case of Emergency

Spring 2020: NYC had become the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. In a city called home by residents across a kaleidoscope of cultures, it was imperative for the health department to disperse critical safety guidelines as quickly as possible, ensuring all city dwellers could understand their meanings. With COVID-19 having a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, it was clear that key public messaging and health programs need to be accessible and inclusive.

From choosing formats, vetting for accuracy, and making sure all news is disseminated across tens of languages–on the tightest deadline imaginable–experts in medicine, advertising and production will discuss how to share life-saving information across cultures in emergency situations.

 

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Safe Sets: Virtual Production will LED the Way

The unexpected halt to film production that happened overnight at the outset of the pandemic transformed a quest for innovative solutions into an immediate imperative. While virtual production technologies are far from new, their capabilities can help avoid crowding on set, unnecessary travel and a more controlled filming environment. LED panels offer real-time virtual backgrounds that are reactive and sync perfectly with the camera for a streamlined and fully immersive filming experience.

Virtual production pioneers will discuss how LED solutions could transform the filmmaking process. Panelists will dive into how they will lead not only to safer sets in a pandemic society, but offer visual storytelling solutions for a wide range of projects from indie shorts to blockbuster features.

 

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Collaboration Solving COVID and Future Pandemics

When COVID-19 hit the world stage, scientists from around the globe immediately began (re)searching for a cure. Unfortunately, most researchers were operating in a vacuum without a great platform to share information. Similarly, government was unprepared to deal with privacy-preserving exposure notification and contact tracing, health certification and future of work innovations.Technology + Collaboration will play a leading role in solving health, science, medical and public policy challenges of the future. This panel of thought leaders, futurists and creative minds will share lessons learned from current technology failings; as well as insights about a new science and medical frontier reflecting on emerging technologies and their impact on evidence-based research and new health policy.

 

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Beyond The Binge: Developing Original Content ‘21

At a time where the demand for new original content has reached its peak, new players are stepping in to connect the dots in the creation of entertainment properties that will inspire viewers to not just watch, but “binge” and keep audiences engaged beyond the final episode. Narrative storytelling from short form to virtual reality have emerged as further extensions of the stories that audiences are hungry to engage with. This demand for binge-worthy content is opening the playing field to a much wider range of studios, publishers and content creators to dive into original content development. Industry experts across all sides of the original content development landscape will discuss rights acquisitions, packaging projects, pitching, hosting and ultimately producing original content.

 

Vote HERE