You can register starting now! Online registration for the 2013 SXSW Interactive Festival began with our website launch in August 2012. Registering early is the best way to ensure accommodations in Austin during the event as the demand for hotels increases every year. Many of the top rental properties will sell out by mid-August–so we encourage you to register and book your room early. That said, SXSW has room blocks at more than 60 hotels in Austin. So, the SXSW Housing Desk always has lots of options for rooms in March. Visit the Hotel Availability Grid to see up-to-date availability and the Hotel Info page for more SXSW Housing news.

An incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity, the SXSW Interactive Festival offers five days of captivating keynote presentations, panel sessions, book readings, meetups, workshops and core conversations that provide hands-on training as well as big-picture analysis. In addition to the business opportunities at the Trade Show & Exhibition and the hands-on gaming fun at the SXSW Gaming Expo, SXSW Interactive provides an array of exciting evening events including the SXSW Interactive Awards Ceremony. More to the point, coming to SXSW Interactive is a great way to recharge your creativity.

Visit the Sessions section of the website to see brief descriptions of the different types of sessions offered at SXSW Interactive. To see video excerpts from various 2013 sessions visit the SXSW YouTube Channel.

The 2013 SXSW Interactive Festival begins the afternoon of Friday, March 8 and continues through the end of the day on Tuesday, March 12. For 2013, the SXSW Trade Show runs from Sunday, March 10 through Wednesday, March 13. Check back with the website throughout the year for information about other important dates.

The majority of our daytime panel programming, the SXSW Trade Show and the SXSW Gaming Expo take place at the Austin Convention Center located at 500 E. Cesar Chavez. Additional panel programming and special events also take place at the Hilton Austin Downtown, and various other venues surrounding the Austin Convention Center.

The variety of programming offered at SXSW Interactive means that the event focuses as much on creativity as it does on technology. This focus is augmented by SXSW Film, which runs concurrently with SXSW Interactive and SXSW Music. Moreover, a full slate of parties and receptions during the evening hours help to accelerate the social aspect of the event, providing attendees with amazing networking opportunities with fellow digital creatives from around the globe.

Running Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 17, 2013, SXSWeek is the ten-day stretch that encompasses the SXSW Interactive Festival, SXSW Film Conference and Festival and the SXSW Music and Media Conference.

SXSWedu is an annual conference focusing on innovations in learning. SXSWedu 2013 will occur March 4-7, 2013 at the Downtown Hilton in Austin, Texas. Like other SXSW festivals, SXSWedu seeks to converge the wide variety of stakeholders who share an interest in 21st Century innovation and best practices. Our attendees represent not only education professionals including teachers, administrators and university professors, but also business, industry and policy leaders who all share a keen interest in modernizing teaching and learning.

First, If you haven't already done so, you can register starting now. During the registration process you will be prompted to book a hotel room in one of our discount blocks. Booking early is the best way to ensure accommodations in Austin during the event as the demand for hotels increases every year. Many of the top rental properties will sell out by mid-August–so we encourage you to register and book your room early. That said, SXSW has room blocks at more than 60 hotels in Austin. So, the SXSW Housing Desk always has lots of options for rooms in March. Visit the Hotel Availability Grid to see up-to-date availability and the Hotel Info page for more SXSW Housing news.

When you register to attend SXSW you are purchasing your admittance to the event. Your level of access to particular portions of the event (Interactive, Music, Film) is contingent on the type of registration you purchase: Interactive, Film, Music, Gold (Interactive and Film) or Platinum (all three events). Once you are registered to attend you will receive the appropriate Badge when you arrive at the Austin Convention Center. While you can also register on site, it is to your advantage to complete this process through our website BEFORE the event.

Unfortunately, we do not sell single session or single day passes to the event. As compared to other technology events, the low registration price of the SXSW Interactive Festival makes for an extraordinary value. Even if you are only able to attend for one or two days, the amount of information and networking opportunities afforded by the event make the registration price a bargain.

The SXSW Interactive Festival badge covers admission to all events affiliated with SXSW Interactive. If you want to attend both SXSW Interactive and SXSW Film, then you should purchase a Gold badge. If you want to attend SXSW Interactive, SXSW Film and SXSW Music, then you should purchase a Platinum Badge. If you have already purchased a SXSW Interactive Badge and you wish to upgrade to Gold or Platinum, contact the registration department for pricing details.

If you are currently a high school or college student and you are interested in attending the 2013 SXSW Interactive Festival, please contact us for information on discount rates. You must have a valid student ID to be eligible for reduced admission fee.

The entry deadline for the 2013 SXSW PanelPicker has now passed. Proposals for the 2013 event were accepted via the PanelPicker interface June 25, 2011 through July 22, 2012. But, please contact interpanels@sxsw.com for more information.

Getting your product or service in front of the cutting-edge crowd of digital creatives that attends SXSW Interactive is a great way to build buzz. We offer all sorts of opportunities for this -- from a booth at the Trade Show to advertising in the Program Book to hosting a party or reception. For information on all the available marketing opportunities, please contact Katie King.

When you register for SXSW via the website, you will be taken to a page where you can book lodging via the SXSW Housing Desk. The earlier you register, the more choices you will have in terms of Austin hotel options during SXSW.

SXSW Interactive appeals to uber-geeks and digital creatives who push the cutting edge of technological change. The event appeals to web developers, designers, bloggers, wireless innovators, content producers, programmers, inventors, tech and new media entrepreneurs, gamers and game developers, investors and educators. Even if you are not a technical person, you will benefit from the outside-the-box thinking that thrives at SXSW.

At the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival, more than 800 daytime programming sessions covered everything from web design, usability, and blogging to wireless innovation and new technology business models. Other panels focus on more general topics that are nonetheless relevant to the digital creatives who attend SXSW Interactive. Discovering new ideas that lead us to a better future is the underlying theme of all of this programming. Stay tuned to the Sessions section of the website for information on 2013 sessions as they are added to the lineup.

2012 was the biggest year yet for the SXSW Interactive festival. Numbers notwithstanding, the core of the SXSW Interactive experience remains unchanged. This is a great place to be inspired by amazing people who are doing incredible things to change the future.

Thousands of cutting-edge new media industry experts have spoken at SXSW Interactive over the last 19 years. Some of the bigger names to participate in the event include Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Jenkins, Steven Johnson, Frank Warren, Jane McGonigal, Heather Armstrong, Jaron Lanier, danah boyd, Stewart Brand, Po Bronson, Denise Caruso, Ana Marie Cox, Mark Cuban, Cory Doctorow, Thomas Dolby, Richard Florida, Al Franken, Malcolm Gladwell, Philip Glass, Molly Holzschlag, Craig Newmark, Steven Johnson, Ray Kurzweil, Jaron Lanier, Brenda Laurel, Dan Rather, Howard Rheingold, Todd Rundgren, Douglas Rushkoff, DJ Spooky, Bruce Sterling, James Suroweicki, Joe Trippi, Mena Trott, Jimmy Wales, Will Wright, and Jeffrey Zeldman, Tony Heish, Chris Anderson, Guy Kawasaki, Virginia Heffernan, James Powderly, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kathy Sierra, and Charlene Li.

Check out our extensive past speakers page.

The SXSW Music Conference and Festival debuted in Austin in March 1987. The event now known as the SXSW Interactive Festival began in 1994 (at that point, it was called the SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference). Beginning in 1995, SXSW Film and Multimedia became their own unique and separate events. Four years later, the name Multimedia had morphed into Interactive. SXSW Gaming is the new name for the video game component of the event that launched in 2006 (it was previously called SXSW ScreenBurn). SXSW Accelerator came on board in 2009. Startup Village began in 2012.

Registrants will have the opportunity to attend gaming-related panels as part of the SXSW Interactive Festival. The SXSW Gaming Expo will enable consumers and game developers to preview the future of this industry, hear about soon-to-be-released titles, learn fascinating insights from thought-provoking experts, plus meet up-and-coming new talent whose innovations are powering the next generation of play.

Admission to attend the SXSW Gaming panels comes with your SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum Badge. Admission to the Gaming Expo is **FREE** to the public.

The SXSW Gaming Expo is an open platform of exhibitors and game tournaments. Free and open to the public, this space offers a hands-on environment for consumers, independents, developers, and soon to be masters of the game world. Come here to sample the newest game developments or other gaming-related innovations.

The SXSW Gaming Expo will take place at the Palmer Events Center March 8-10, 2013 as part of the SXSW Interactive Festival.

To exhibit your video game company at the SXSW Gaming Expo, contact Justin Burnham.

Startup Village brings together the startups, entrepreneurs, investors, and cutting-edge digital tastemakers within the 2013 SXSW Interactive Festival. Located primarily on the fourth floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton, this space showcases the various startup events at SXSW Interactive (including SXSW Accelerator, as well as startup-related panels, Meet Ups, lounges, pitch events and mentoring / coaching sessions). Startup Village consolidates much of what already happens at SXSW Interactive into one location. Current and future entrepreneurs will benefit from learning and networking with investors, technology trailblazers, media representatives, as well as digital creatives from the three exciting industries that come to Austin for SXSW (Interactive, Music and Film). Startups are an important part of the world economy as well as an important element of SXSW Interactive–we are very excited about all that Startup Village will bring to the 2013 event.

We will begin accepting SXSW Accelerator entries in early August when the new 2013 SXSW website launches.

Look for an extensive schedule of evening events geared to allow attendees to share the new ideas that they learned during the daytime programming. The informal nature of these evening events also make them conducive to forming new connections or just relaxing with people whose energy will inspire you.

All official evening events are restricted to SXSW Interactive, Gold and Platinum badge holders. Check out individual party or event listings for more information.

Contact Katie King for complete details on how to have an official evening event.

No, SXSW is NOT one big party. Yes, there are a lot of evening events. These evening events facilitate the extremely important networking process that begins during the various daytime activities. This networking process leads to new ideas, new business opportunities, new ventures and new relationships. But, if you are simply looking for a place to party, SXSW Interactive is probably not the right event for you.

Email us with your questions and we can direct you to the appropriate person to provide the answer.

Email us with all your ideas and brainstorms. We're all ears!

You can find information on all of SXSW's accommodations for the disabled at http://sxsw.com/about/accessibility