Rock the Vote: My SxSW Speaking Proposal is in Your Hands

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Time to rock the vote as the SxSW panel picker moves into overdrive and the audience participation phase of the rigorous selection process begins.

For those of you who don't know what SxSW (South By Southwest) is, check out the Wikipedia Entry. Or if not, in short it's essentially the banner event in the entire interactive/new media/social media/emerging media (you get the picture) calendar. Think CES for consumer electronics. Cannes for Advertising. SxSW for Interactive. The festival is not only for the geeks. There's also a Film and Music festival and for those of you that can make all 3 (Interactive and Music run back to back, but Film bleeds into both), you'll benefit tremendously from the blurring and synergy that comes from naturally overlapping trades.

One of the great things about SxSW is that anyone (and I mean ANYONE) can share the stage via the Panel Picker process. Literally thousands of proposal are submitted and via a 3-pronged vetting system (staff picks, advisory board, public), the eventual shortlist is chosen.

Last year, your votes helped me secure a speaking slot where I spoke about "Flip the Funnel" and took questions from the audience. Within about 60 seconds after the event, every single copy of the book has been sold in the bookstore. I hope they'll bring more copies this time round.

So this year, I'd like to reach out to you again. This time, I'm hoping to secure a more visible and desirable speaking opportunity (as in solo keynote/presentation) and on a personal note, I'd love to give you - FOR FREE - the content that I'm typically paid to deliver and have done so many times in the past.

So if you're planning on being at next year's festival, check out my session and if you're so inclined, I'd be honored and humbled by your all-powerful vote. How's that for submission?  

My session is titled, "Change the Game. Or Go Home: The Rise of Innovation" and it focuses on what I believe will be the next wave of growth, development and investment in the space. Here's a blurb on the session itself:

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. That’s kind of where we are today with digital, social and even emerging media. We’re still trying to teach an old dog new tricks with tired objectives like awareness, reach and engagement. It’s time to break that mold and build a better mousetrap. True Innovation. Madison Avenue meets Mountain View. The prime directive should be Transformational Change. Metamorphosis. A complete reinvention of the customer journey, customer experience and ultimately go to market strategy. Not only can it be done for any company, it’s already being done by some. In this provocative keynote, thought leader and bestselling author Joseph Jaffe will outline the brand evolution from campaign to commitments to platforms that flip the funnel, activate advocacy and differentiate brands from their commoditized competitors. There is a new model and a better way. Come find out for yourself.

Here's the link where you can find out more and vote for my session. Feel free to comment on the session entry as well, especially if there are themes or questions you'd like me to address.

And to whet your appetite, a clip from a few weeks ago, where I keynoted at Google's "Think Infinite" event in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the same subject. Hopefully I can give you a similar presentation in Austin in March of 2012!