Coming to SXSW Interactive? Let Mindshare North America be your guide. We've put together a list of must-see sessions, restaurants, transit tips, and more.

2. –Mashable, March 18, 2015
“Geeks, techies and innovators rejoice: It’s that glorious time of year
again, when South by Southwest’s Interactive conference unites startups,
bright minds and tech industry leaders to examine the most
groundbreaking trends impacting our modern world. Some of the planet’s
most forward-thinking technology companies embrace SXSWi as a
showcase and testing ground each year.”

3. SXSWi
33,000+ participants
from 85 countries
1,250 sessions with
over 2,700 speakers
3,300+ press outlets
covering the festival

4. Making the most
of SXSWi
• The conference is widespread
throughout downtown Austin - be
sure to explore outside of just the
Convention Center
• Spend time walking around outside
of the Convention Center to find the
best branded experiences
• The trade show floor is open Sunday
- Wednesday; budget around 2
hours to cover the full floor
• The weather in Austin can be
unpredictable – check the forecast
before you fly in & pack accordingly
• Download the SXSW GO app &
use it to program your personal
schedule
• Be open to spontaneity & be
prepared with a plan B (lines can
be long)
• Big names on panels draw crowds,
“unknown” speakers deliver unique
experiences
• Comfortable shoes are a must –
expect to walk around a lot.

5. SXSWi Distilled
Mindshare experts will distill the top events, trends, and emerging topics
during the festival for marketers.
Follow us:
• Preview POV on what we’ll see at SXSWi
• Daily blog posts, videos, photos, and more
• Top trends from SXSW post-event
MINDSHAREINTHELOOP @MINDSHARE_NA MINDSHARENA MINDSHARENA MINDSHARE_NA

6. THE
SESSIONS
FRIDAY, MARCH 11 – TUESDAY, MARCH 15

7. What to attend
• Mindshare experts have put together a
selection of recommended sessions for each
day of SXSWi.
• These sessions focus on innovation,
invention, and key emerging marketing
areas such as VR, 360 video, and more.
• The selections were chosen to educate
attendees, inspire new thinking, and drive
big ideas that you can apply to your
consumers.
Most of our selected sessions focus on one or
more of the following themes:
SENSORYDATA ADAPTIVE
MARKETING
INTERNET
OF THINGS
MOBILE E-COMMERCE

8. Friday, March 11
11:00AM - 12:00PM
The future potential for
artificial intelligence and
data, what’s already in
development, potential
dangers, and how this
will impact consumers.
Speakers:
Cycorp, Narrative
Science, Lucid AI,
University of Chicago
Austin City Limits Live
at The Moody Theater
310 Willie Nelson Blvd
Big Data and Al: Sci-Fi
vs. Everyday
Applications
12:30PM – 1:30PM
How to effectively
engage people in mobile
messaging apps, and
what tech is available to
help companies leverage
these platforms.
Speakers:
Kik, Snaps, Comedy
Central, Unilever
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon J, 500 E 4th St
The Next Multibillion
Opp: Marketing in
Messaging
12:30PM – 1:30PM
The role that marketing
will take in the IoT era,
and actionable tips for
brands to drive real-time
engagement across
connected devices.
Speakers:
Kiip
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon K, 500 E 4th St
Transforming the
Future: Advertising
and the IoT Era
3:30PM – 4:30PM
Instead of just relying on
demographics, looking at
proximity tools to target
consumers at the right
time in the purchase
cycle—when vs. just who
and where.
Speakers:
Mindshare, InMarket,
ZDNet, Crescendo
Collective
Courtyard Marriott
Rio Grande Ballroom 300 E 4th
St
Quantum Receptivity:
Targeting Mobile
Moments
5:00PM - 6:00PM
Traditional retail spaces
are no longer just a place
to sell product—the
brick-and-mortar
experience is becoming
a cultural hot spot for
building community.
Speakers:
Elle Magazine, TOMS,
Frank & Oak, Kit and Ace
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon K, 500 E 4th St
Culture: The New
Currency of Retail

9. Saturday, March 12
9:30AM – 10:30AM
A discussion with the
creators and stars of
Comedy Central’s Broad
City on the transition of
their show from web
series to cultural
phenomenon.
Speakers:
Broad City, Marie Claire
Austin Convention Center
Ballroom EFG, 531 E 4th St
Marie Claire Talks to
the Stars of Broad City
9:30AM – 10:30AM
Strategies and pro tips
for creating AR and
delivering a new hybrid
physical-digital shopping
experience that engages
people, adds value, and
drives sales.
Speakers:
GameStop, HP Aurasma
Austin Convention Center
Room 12AB, 531 E 4th St
More than Mobile:
Augmenting Today’s
Retail Reality
12:30PM – 1:30PM
How these two
companies built a
multiplatform
toy/digital/shorts property
for kids, with new ways
of telling stories to their
shared audience.
Speakers:
Cartoon Network, LEGO
Group
Austin Convention Center
Room 12AB, 531 E 4th St
LEGO Group and
Cartoon Network,
Building Future Fans
3:30PM – 4:30PM
With mobile accounting
for over 50% of traffic in
newsrooms, news orgs
are experimenting with
new ways to engage with
users & bring stories to
life for mobile.
Speakers:
BuzzFeed, NBCUniversal,
The Guardian, NPR
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon F, 500 E 4th St
Bringing Stories to
Life for the Smaller
Screen
5:00PM - 6:00PM
Every day, we send
almost 6 billion emoji
from our smartphones,
but what kinds of
patterns can you find
when you look at all this
data together?
Speakers:
SwiftKey, All Things
Linguistic
Austin Convention Center
Room 8ABC, 531 E 4th St
The Linguistic Secrets
Found in Billions of
Emoji

10. Saturday, March 12
Startup Village: Hilton Downtown Austin, 4th Floor, 500
East 4th Street
48 interactive technology companies will present in
front of a live audience and a panel of expert judges,
spanning categories such as Health and Wearables,
Virtual Reality, Smart Data, Entertainment and Content,
and more.
These companies were selected by the SXSW
Screening Committee from hundreds of startups across
the globe. See the full list of 48 finalists here.
11:00AM - 6:00PM11:00AM - 6:00PM 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Trinity Hall, 311 Est 5th Street
Social media bombards women/girls with messages
that are hurtful to their self-esteem. So as part of their
ongoing #SpeakBeautiful program, Dove and Twitter
(in partnership with Mindshare) have built a new tool to
measure the impact of our words: The #SpeakBeautiful
Effect, launching at SXSW.
The tool analyzes your tweets to see which words you
use the most when tweeting about beauty and your
body so that together we can change the conversation.
The #SpeakBeautiful EffectSXSW Accelerator Pitch Competition:
Round One
Speakers:
Dove (Unilever), Twitter

11. Sunday, March 13
11:00AM – 12:00PM
How and why do select
products emerge from
the paralyzing pack of
choices into the
pantheon of "it" brands,
be it for just a moment or
for generations?
Speakers:
Wall Street Journal, Evoke
Neuroscience, Gensler,
Cadillac
Westin Austin Downtown
Continental 3, 301 E 5th St
Heads and Hearts:
Consumer Engagement
Where It Counts
3:30PM – 4:30PM
How retailers are
creating fun and easy
borderless omni-channel
shopping experiences to
satisfy Gen Z—including
how content is being
brought into shopping.
Speakers:
POPSUGAR Inc, Kik
Westin Austin Downtown
Continental 1-2, 301 E 5th St
Gen Z: The Most
influential Consumer
3:30PM – 4:30PM
Humans are revolting
from tech because they
crave touch experiences.
Explore the human need
for touch, and the
present and future tech
that aims to meet it.
Speakers:
Walt Disney Company,
Immersion, University of
Sussex
JW Marriott
Salon D, 110 E 2nd St
Why We Crave Touch
in Our Interactions
with Tech
5:00PM – 6:00PM
How to monetize
content, keep audiences
happy across devices,
and stay relevant—when
competing against 10MM
online publications for
space.
Speakers:
Google
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon G, 500 E 4th St
Improving Engagement
In Today’s
Mobile/Social World
5:00PM - 6:00PM
A digital environment is
emerging where more
women discuss gender
issues & empower each
other— new POVs for a
better representation of
women with brands.
Speakers:
3% Movement, Think
Olga, Think Eva, Bradesco
Austin Convention Center
Next Stage 531 E 4th St
How Cyberfeminism
Shapes the Future of
Marketing

12. Sunday, March 13
SXSW Accelerator Pitch Competition:
Round Two
Startup Village: Hilton Downtown Austin, 4th Floor, 500
East 4th Street
The field of 48 startups will be narrowed down
to the top 18, who will return to present to a
new set of judges and co-emcees for Round
Two. At the end of the day, these judges will
select the winners for each category.
The winners will go on to be honored at the
SXSW Accelerator Awards, which also occurs
at the Hilton Downtown Austin that evening,
from 7:00-9:00PM.
11:00AM - 6:00PM

13. Monday, March 14
11:00AM – 12:00PM
New tech has grown the
food space into a $1.3
trillion industry—how
companies are tailoring
products to your taste
using data, customer
feedback, and more.
Speakers:
Salt Venture Partners,
National Restaurant
Association, Yummly,
Food Genius
The Driskill
Maximilian, 604 Brazos St.
From Palate to Plate:
Defining a Taste
Platform
12:30PM – 1:30PM
How do you keep people
from abandoning their
fitness watches & activity
trackers? How brands &
marketers can provide
the best experiences for
wearables users.
Speakers:
Under Armour,
BSXathletics, Garmin
International, Mutual
Mobile
JW Marriott
Salon D, 110 E 2nd St.
Wearables: The Future
Isn’t in Measuring the
Past
2:00PM – 3:00PM
A new medium for
storytelling is emerging:
VR content pioneers
discuss the advantages,
challenges, tradeoffs and
techniques of working in
360 video.
Speakers:
Google, SubVRsive,
GoPro, Story Up Studios
VR
Austin Convention Center
Room 9ABC, 531 E 4th St.
Ultimate Empathy
Machine: 360
Storytelling in VR
3:30PM – 4:30PM
Experts in social psych,
network science &
content creation discuss
the underlying
commonalities of stories
that get shared, virality
myths, and more.
Speakers:
Google, Northeastern
University, Zoe Media
Group, Upworthy
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon F, 500 E 4th St.
Beyond the Listicle:
The Science of Virality
5:00PM - 6:00PM
How-tos for maximizing
real-time engagement
during big-ticket sporting
events when you’re not
an official sponsor - while
staying within legal
bounds.
Speakers:
HelloWorld, The Coca-
Cola Company
Hilton Austin Downtown
Salon H, 500 E 4th St.
Avoiding the Penalty:
Legal Promotions on
Game Day

14. Tuesday, March 15
11:00AM – 12:00PM
What do we need to
close the gap between
VR and true immersion -
to create a sense of
'presence' that makes
the virtual world seem as
real as the physical?
Speakers:
White Rabbit VR, Dark
Corner, Q Department /
Mach 1, MPC
Four Seasons
Ballroom AB, 98 San Jacinto
Blvd
In Pursuit of
Presence: Roadmap
to True Immersion
11:00AM – 12:00PM
Hispanics will account for
80% of millennial growth
in the next few years—
discussing the trends
(population, spending
power, etc.) and how to
reach this group.
Speakers:
America Ferrera,
UnderCover Cholo,
Univision, El Rey Network
Four Seasons
Ballroom CD, 98 San Jacinto Blvd
Silent Beast: US
Latinos Will Change
Everything
12:30PM – 1:30PM
Brands and artists that
are winning on Instagram
and Snapchat explain
how you should
approach these
platforms to get noticed,
build, and retain new
fans.
Speakers:
Combs Enterprises,
Revolt TV, Yesjulz,
Maverick
Four Seasons
Ballroom AB, 98 San Jacinto
Blvd
Instagram and
Snapchat Content:
The New Hustle
12:30PM – 1:30PM
In the age of IoT, how do
we build a market that
supports innovation but
still protects the right to
privacy? A look at what
policymakers should
know.
Speakers:
Cisco, Stanford University,
George Mason University,
Washington Post
Parkside
Parkside Upstairs, 301 E 6th St
Is Your Fridge
Judging You? Tales
from the IoT
2:00PM - 3:00PM
As Snapchat, Facebook,
and Apple ask the media
to forgo their old
websites and publish
directly to their platforms,
journalists discuss the
opportunities &
challenges.
Speakers:
CNN, ESPN the
Magazine, reported.ly,
NowThis Media
Austin Convention Center
Room 8ABC, 531 E 4th St
Making Distributed
Content Work in News

15. A SXSW First
This marks the first time in the 30-year history of SXSW that a sitting President and
the First Lady will participate in the event.
A SXSW First: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama Announced as
SXSW Keynotes
FRIDAY, MARCH 11 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16
First Lady Michelle Obama comes to SXSW
Music to discuss the Let Girls Learn initiative,
which aims to break barriers for the 62 million
girls around the world who are not in school
today, more than half of whom are adolescent.
Note: You must be a SXSW Music, Film, Gold,
or Platinum registrant to attend.
President Obama will sit down with Evan Smith,
CEO / Editor in Chief of The Texas Tribune, for
a conversation about civic engagement in the
21st Century before an audience of creators,
early adopters and entrepreneurs who are
defining the future of our connected lives.
More details regarding location, time, streaming, and access to both events will be announced via the SXSW
website in the coming days.

16. Main Conference Venues
HYATT REGENCY AUSTIN
FOUR SEASONS
JW MARRIOTT
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER
HILTON AUSTIN
COURTYARD
MARRIOTT
WESTIN AUSTIN DOWNTOWN
SHERATON AUSTIN

17. AROUND AUSTIN
SEE - EAT - GET AROUND

18. Around Austin
State Capitol Building
What:
Texas State Capitol
Where:
Congress & 11th Street
When:
Year Round 7am – 10pm
(9am – 8pm on Saturdays & Sundays)
Rainey Street
What:
Old homes converted to bars & restaurants
Where:
Rainey Street
When:
Year Round
Barton Springs Pool
What:
68 degree natural spring pool
Where:
Barton Springs Road
When:
Year Round 5am- 10pm
(closed Tuesday)
Austin’s Bat Colony
What:
Largest Bat Colony in NA
Where:
Congress Bridge
When:
At Sunset in March - April

19. Around Austin
Soco
What:
Trendy street of retail & restaurants close
to downtown
Where:
South Congress Ave
(Btwn Riverside Dr & W Johanna St)
When:
Year Round
Broken Spoke
What:
Honky Tonk Dance Hall
Where:
South Lamer
(10min drive from downtown)
When:
11:00am-11:30pm Tuesday – Saturday
(closes at 1:30am on Friday & Saturday)
Lady Bird Lake Trail
What:
Running & bike trail through downtown
Austin
Where:
Along the Colorado River
When:
Year Round
Alamo Drafthouse
What:
Movie theater w/ food & drinks served
Where:
6 locations around Austin
When:
Year Round

20. Places to Eat
WINK WINE BAR
Z’TEJAS
ARRO
FIXE
FRANKLIN BARBEQUE
EASY TIGER BEER
GARDEN
FUKUMOTO
GERALDINE'S
EMMER & RYE
COOPER'S OLD TIME
PIT BAR-B-QUE
LAMBERTS BARBEQUE
LA CONDESA
OLD DUCK
ALCOMAR
TORCHY'S TACOS
GUERO’S TACO BAR
PERLA’S SEAFOOD

21. Getting Around
Free app for
iOS and
Android
Lyft is the official ridesharing
partner of SXSW. New users
can get $20 off their first ride
with the code SXSW2016.
Sign up for the
complementary
Mazda Express ride
service
SXSW Shuttles:
departing the Convention
Center every 7-10 minutes
during conference hours.
Austin B-Cycle:
pay-as-you-go
bike rental
Metro Rail: extended rail
services to downtown Austin
(near Convention Center)
Car Sharing Service
(Car size range)
$10/hour or $74/day
Car Sharing Service
(Cars fit 2 people)
$35 One time sign up fee
$15/hour or $85/day

22. THANK YOU