Countdown to SXSW 2008

Two weeks from today, a group of LevelTen-ers will be headed down to the beautiful capital of Texas for the South by Southwest Interctive Festival. This yearly event is an opportunity to learn about the lattest trends in the online world as well as meet other interactive professionals from across the country. This year's panels will focus on topics such as "Creating Findable Rich Media Content" to "The Top Ten Lessons Learned in E-Commerce" and "What Teens Want Online & On Their Phones."

Since 1987, Austin has played host to the SXSW events which include festivals for music, film, and of course interactive. What started out as a major event for the music industry, has now grown into a two week event for all three. The interactive and film industries were added in 1994 to "mirror the ever increasing convergence of entertainment/media outlets."

The highlight of this festival for me will be Sunday's Keynote speaker, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and Founder of Facebook.com. Not only have I been obsessed with Facebook since before it came to my university and I was able to become a member, but I am also fascinated by social networks and the way people flock to them. The fact that Zuckerberg, who is younger than me, has taken what started as a college networking platform to one of the most visited sites on the internet is so captivating and I cannot wait to hear what he says about the future of social networks.

While we are in Austin, I hope to recap all of the events and share all of our newfound knowledge through the LevelTen Blog. So stay tunned, only 14 more days to go.