Featured Speakers

Artificial Intelligence Track

Face it marketers, your customers and prospects don’t always make sense. Current brain science research shows they often act irrationally, making decisions that aren’t considered. Yet, you can take advantage of certain counterintuitive tactics to get them to consider you. In this session featuring author and co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing Nancy Harhut, you will discover exactly what these tactics are, see numerous market-tested examples, and gain 15 fast, new ways to increase the response to your emails, ads, web pages, etc. These tactics may not make sense, but they do make money!

AI and Humanity's Co-evolution with OpenAI's Head of ChatGPT

AI is changing us from creators and answerers into curators and askers. In this provocative talk with Venture Partner at SignalFire Josh Constine and OpenAI's VP of Consumer Product and Head of ChatGPT Peter Deng, they'll explore the role of humans in the age of AI. What are AI's practical and philosophical implications? How will it change our perception of ourselves? And are we all destined to become prompt engineers or happily unemployed artists?

AI and the Independent Artist

Music & Tech

From AI-powered composition and artwork creation to voiceprints and curated playlists, AI is changing the way artists create and market their music and engage with their fans. With these new tools comes a new set of challenges and responsibilities for the music industry. Artists can harness the power of AI, but it is the responsibility of companies across the industry to ensure that human artistry is supported, not replaced. In this session, join CEO of TuneCore Andreea Gleeson and CEO of CreateSafe Daouda Leonard as they present principles for companies to consider as artists engage with AI opportunities, as well as results & lessons learned from early AI pilot programs.

All About Games. Data, Trends, and What's Next for 2024

Game Industry Track

In this session, author, professor, and co-founder and CEO of Aldora.io Joost van Dreunen will provide a data-driven overview of the current state of interactive entertainment. Discover where the $300 billion industry is heading — from shifting business models to emerging tech and consumer behavior. Gain strategic intel, including perspectives on why non-gaming firms are pushing into the sector, the impact of Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Meta and Apple's pushes into mixed reality platforms, and more. Whether you're an investor, developer, brand, or just a gaming enthusiast, this session will give you a deeper understanding of this fascinating industry. You’ll also have a chance to ask questions and receive your copy of Joost’s update.

Amy Webb Launches 2024 Emerging Tech Trend Report

In this mind-bending session, CEO of the Future Today Institute and professor at NYU Stern School of Business Amy Webb will provide a data-driven analysis for the emerging tech trends that need to be on your radar this year — and she'll show you scenarios that will change your perspective on the futures. In addition, attendees of this session will be in for an extra-special treat this year as they will receive a special SXSW-edition of the Tech Trend Report, which is downloaded 1 million times every year.

Author Your Life: Clarity in an Age of Uncertainty

Change continues to surge at an unprecedented pace. AI and the automation era are upon us, rippling through our lives in profound ways and eroding once-dependable paths. Clarity about who you are, what you believe, and what you want is the most effective playbook to have when making your next move in a constantly shifting and surprising world. In this session, author and Partner and Head of Brand Strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Bonnie Wan will show you how to cut through the noise and reestablish clarity in your life through curiosity, creativity, and courage to thrive amid change.

Being Non-Obvious: How Futurists See What Others Miss (And You Can Too)

Artificial Intelligence Track

What if you could see the world like a futurist? After exploring the front lines of world changing trends and writing about them for more than a decade, this session will be the exclusive premiere of the new book, Being Non-Obvious (coming from Ideapress in Spring 2024) from #1 Wall Street Journal best-selling author and founder and Chief Trend Curator at The Non-Obvious Company Rohit Bhargava. Going beyond offering the usual secretive futurist's tour of emerging trends and scenarios, this session will reveal what it takes to identify trends for yourself and isolate patterns the way futurists do. Based on his own successful work teaching tens of thousands of professionals how to be non-obvious thinkers who anticipate the future, this talk will not only share Rohit's latest trend insights, but also open the Non-Obvious playbook on how to curate and leverage trends for yourself to help you win the future.

Billion Dollar Teams: The Future of an AI Powered Workforce

The AI honeymoon is over, but its impact has barely begun. What happens when we no longer interact with AI on discrete tasks, but it's pervasive in our work? We’ll reach that reality faster than we did with the digital revolution. In this session, CEO and Chief Futurist of Signal and Cipher Ian Beacraft will explore the ability and practices of AI-enabled individuals and teams to provide exponential value and show examples of how new team structures, workflows, and cultures are built, including several experiments within our own organization using AI to enhance employee productivity 10x and more on specific tasks.

Bringing a Major Franchise Into XR: The Gundam Example

Mobile Suit Gundam is a franchise that has been around for over 40 years now. With over 50 series released, 35 films, and 250 video games, it ranks among the most profitable franchises in history. Therefore, it was obvious for Atlas V to approach Bandai Namco with the intention of adapting this franchise into an XR experience. But such an adaptation also implies a number of challenges. In this session, Publisher at Astrea Zoé Lemaire, Head Producer at Bandai Namco Naohiro Ogata, Director at Bandai Namco Kenichi Suzuki, and Emmy Award-nominated XR Producer at Meta Ryan Genji Thomas will jointly share their experiences in adapting such a franchise into an XR experience.

Building the Next Era of the Internet

Startups Track

The internet of today is a far cry from its early promise of a decentralized, democratic network of creativity and innovation; it has fallen under the control of a small group of powerful companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. But a new era is emerging. In this session, join author, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and founder and Managing Partner at a16z crypto Chris Dixon as he reflects on the history of the internet and how it's brought us to this critical moment: the start of the "read-write-own era," in which blockchain networks democratize ownership and grant power and economic benefits to communities of users, not just corporations. It's a vision for a better internet and a clarion call for anyone looking to build or navigate the future.

A Conversation with Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan

Creator Economy Track

In this session, join creator, Host, and Executive Producer of the podcast Call Her Daddy Alex Cooper and founder and CEO of ACE Entertainment Matt Kaplan for a discussion about their latest Gen Z media venture and production company – Trending – which will be committed to elevating today's voices and crafting tomorrow's stories for an independent, resourceful, and inclusive generation.

A Conversation with FTC Commissioner Lina Khan

Tech Industry

In this session, join White House and Washington Reporter for POLITICO Daniel Lippman and Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan as they discuss how Washington thinks about AI, regulating Big Tech, and more.

The Critical Path Forward for Affordable, Accessible Health

Health & MedTech Track

In this fireside chat, neurosurgeon, professor, multiple Emmy Award-winning Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN and Host of the CNN podcast Chasing Life Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Air Force pulmonologist, Medical Analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, and Chief Medical Officer of Amazon Pharmacy Dr. Vin Gupta come together for a thought-provoking discussion on the need for healthcare to adapt to meet the needs of a changing nation. Through their experience as doctors, media correspondents, and business leaders, they will shed light on technology’s role in innovating the healthcare experience to be more affordable and accessible, and building trust with patients.

CURRAN CHATS

In this session, actress, writer, director, producer, and co-founder of CURRAN Tommy Dorfman will host a curated group of queer innovators on stage in a fireside chat to talk about business, artistry, and liberation.

Def Jam Renewed: The Hip-Hop Legend’s Next 40 years

Music Careers Track

In this session celebrating Def Jam Recordings' 40th anniversary, Chairman and CEO of Def Jam Recordings Tunji Balogun, President of Songtradr and General Manager of Bandcamp Bryan Biniak, rapper, social activist, author, multimedia producer, digital music pioneer, visual artist, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck D, and rapper Lady London will explore the roots of this iconic hip-hop label and the key decisions that have propelled it to global recognition for its creativity, quality, and authenticity. Discover how Def Jam's innovative approach to nurturing and promoting diverse artist voices positions it as the epicenter of hip-hop and at the forefront of cultural vision and voice.

Design as a Medium Within Visual Art

Design Track

Join artist and professor Michael Ray Charles, art and cultural historian, professor, and founder of Vision & Justice Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, American contemporary artist Deborah Roberts, and performance and visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, human rights lawyer, and activist Laolu Senbanjo to discuss design and how it functions as a non verbal medium in art making.

Design in Tech Report 2024: Design Against AI

Design

Designers bear the awkward and important responsibility of raising ethical AI concerns in their product-making circles alongside policymakers. Questioning how to advance the art, practice, and nature of creativity in this new era provides spectacular opportunities to fail, learn, grow. In this session, author and Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft John Maeda will discuss how “Design against AI” means both critically thinking about AI's implications for humanity and critically making work to stay ahead of AI's capabilities.

Dichotomies: Visions of Technology's Role in Divergent Futures

A biometrics-enabled classroom could lead to acing standardized tests or isolated students. A generative AI program created for a VR headset could help a child adjust to life in a new country, or misinformation and political turmoil. An AI-driven healthcare app could prevent a serious allergic reaction, or miss an obvious indicator of cancer. With the advent of life-changing technology like AI and biometrics comes both allure and concern. It can be hard to see the possibilities these technologies will create from one vantage point, and easy to focus on just one potential outcome. In this session, Deloitte Consulting's Chief Futurist Mike Bechtel will take the audience on a journey with two paths, each with stories about how next-gen tech can both help and hinder our progress towards a more digitally connected society. Listeners will be able to picture how their lives may change in the coming years and better prepare for the ethical considerations as both designers and consumers of a technologically-driven life.

The DNA of a Unicorn Leader

Startups Track

Author, consultant, Silicon Valley veteran with 15 years reporting directly to CEOs Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Eric Schmidt (Google/Alphabet), and founder of Hipergiant Ann Hiatt has worked as the right hand to some of the most world changing CEOs and now partners with VCs to identify and invest in the next generation of unicorn leaders all over the world. In this session, she will share her methods for recognizing a unicorn, or "soonicorn", founder in their most humble of beginnings. Ann has the scorecard of the essential attributes, skillsets, habits, and behaviors (many of which are not what you might expect) that anyone can adopt to increase their impact and trajectory as a leader.

Explore Space & Poetry With NASA & Poet Laureate Ada Limón

Culture

As we look around this world, we can find an infinite number of things to explore. Every corner we turn can be filled with curiosity and wonder. And the more we look, the more we can find possibilities that will inspire, spark ideas, and expand our understanding of worlds beyond Earth. With a long history of sending inspirational messages out to the depths of space, it's only fitting that NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft launching in October 2024 will continue this tradition by including an engraved poem by author and 24th Poet Laureate of the United States Ada Limón. In the official Opening Session for SXSW 2024, join Limón and Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division in the agency’s Science Mission Directorate Dr. Lori Glaze as they share Limón’s poem as well as dive into the many ways science and art unite.

HARD FEELINGS Live with Jennette McCurdy

In this session, New York Times best-selling author Jennette McCurdy will record a special episode of her weekly podcast Hard Feelings, from Lemonada Media.

The HistoryMakers, Documentation, Storytelling and Black AI

Over the past 23 years, The HistoryMakers has grown into the nation's largest African American video oral history archive, as well as the digital repository for the Black experience. In this session, founder and President of The HistoryMakers Julieanna Richardson will discuss how The HistoryMakers is committed to making AI inclusive and informed and how AI is helping to fast track the preservation and accessibility of this one of a kind, unprecedented digital repository.

How Teams Can Skip the Drama and Embrace Healthy Conflict

Workplace Track

Is there a lot of unspoken tension or gossiping on your team? Do colleagues shut down opposing views or blame others when things go wrong? Do you find yourself wishing everyone would just get along? Research shows that teams in which people feel free to safely disagree outperform other teams. And the friction that accompanies disagreement can allow for creativity and growth. But there’s a difference between healthy conflict and griping or backstabbing. You can encourage productive tension without inviting drama, and you don’t have to be the team leader to lay the groundwork for valuable disagreements. In this session, author and Host of the podcast Women at Work Amy Gallo will share insights and advice from her latest work on how to create the right conditions for healthy conflict, ensure conversations remain collaborative, and repair team relationships.

How to Differentiate Yourself as an Entrepreneur

Startups

About 55% of adults have started a business at some point in their lives, and small businesses account for 99.9% of all the businesses in the US. Being an entrepreneur is difficult enough, so how can you differentiate yourself from the scores of other well-intentioned next great ideas? In this session, join designer, philanthropist, and founder, Executive Chairwoman, and Chief Creative Officer of Kendra Scott, LLC Kendra Scott as she reveals how to succeed as an entrepreneur by learning from past failures, finding what makes you unique, and never ceasing to think like an entrepreneur.

How We Build Resilience and Compassion

Resilience and empathy have become cultural buzzwords. Everyone talks about how crucial they are — yet, too often, we don't know why these qualities matter or how we can cultivate them. In this session, learn from author and Executive Director of the Religion & Society Program at the Aspen Institute Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, who has written extensively about how these two qualities can improve our lives. He’ll discuss the biases embedded in our perceptions of resilience and how we overcome them. He’ll also share personal stories and daily practices that we can incorporate to help grow our empathy.

John Oates Talks Fame, Fortune, and Managing A Hit Music Career

Music Careers Track

In this session, founder and CEO of music finance firm Sound Royalties Alex Heiche will be chatting with one half of the top-selling duo in pop and rock history, Hall & Oates, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Oates. With a 50+ year career in music, Oates has seen it all while garnering dozens of top 40 hits including “Maneater”, “Out of Touch”, “She's Gone”, and many more. Join them as they take you through Oates' career journey as one of America’s biggest acts and reveal how he has been able to navigate the music business with lasting and meaningful success.

Kaleidoscopic Worldbuilding in a Fractured World

Game Industry

Traditional entertainment models are being challenged by a rapidly fracturing culture. But by using a kaleidoscopic worldbuilding lens, entertainment companies like Meow Wolf, Ubisoft, and Riot Games are envisioning the storytelling potential in this fragmenting reality. In this session, join Vice President of IP Creative at Riot Games Laura DeYoung, Mascot and Senior Art Director at Meow Wolf Benji Geary, Chief Creative Strategy Officer at Meow Wolf Anne Mullen, and Narrative Director at Ubisoft Jeffrey Yohalem as they discuss how worldbuilders are creating new opportunities for engagement across both physical & digital platforms through increased participant agency, pervasiveness, connectivity, and community.

Keep It Weird: AI is a Tool For Creativity

Design Track

Generative AI can produce some pretty odd results as machines don't seem to understand human anatomy or the laws of gravity. In this session, join Principal Designer for Emerging Design, AI/ML at Adobe Brooke Hopper and author, Host of the Webby Award-winning podcast Design Matters and co-owner and Editorial Director of PrintMag.com Debbie Millman as they discuss how AI — even with some of the weird results it produces — can accelerate creativity and design without replacing it and how designers can evolve in their roles and use AI to help (not replace) their creativity.

Lessons Learned: The Next Frontier in Entertainment, Gaming and Tech

Game Industry

Join co-founder of Crunchyroll and co-founder of GGWP Kun Gao, co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes and co-founder and Managing Partner at PKO Investments Patrick Lee, and co-founder of Kabam Holly Liu for a conversation on lessons learned in moving from their industry (movies, streaming) and into gaming. In this session, they will share how having a different perspective has impacted their choices and what they see coming in the future, while also touching on using community to manage these shifts between industries.

Make Curiosity Contagious

Imagine you combined the four different styles of the most curious minds in the world into one person. And that person is you! You’d be lit up, your best self, more creative, more confident, and more able to change the game. In this session, founder and CEO of Now What Paul Barnett and Head of Creative Questions at Now What Hannah Singleman will get together to discuss diversity of curiosities. Grounded in their years-long research, they’ll show you in a live on-stage experiment how to channel multiple styles so your curiosity is always contagious. Are you curious?

Masterclass: Storytelling for Social Impact

Creator Economy Track

If you want to know how to turn a story into a movement, this session is for you. Five-time #1 New York Times bestselling author and Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Publisher and General Manager of The Emancipator Amber Payne have mastered the craft of storytelling to confront racial injustice in America. They have the template for how to take a single, powerful idea and reimagine it to reach entirely new audiences. Join them to learn practical insights on how you can unleash the power of storytelling to create transformative change.

Mind-Machine Merge: Seven Future Trends in a Post-AI World of Work

The rise of the gig economy and remote working has made the Internet an essential front for many. Now, a Cambrian explosion of nascent technology is changing the game once again. In this session, join COO and Head of Business Development at Unstoppable Domains and founder of Women of AI and Blockchain Sandy Carter for a glimpse into the future of work through seven transformative trends arising from the bleeding edge of technology — where human brains and tech collide in brilliantly bizarre ways. Explore the potential of the “mind-machine merge” and uncover insights into AI innovations and blockchain identities and gain actionable takeaways for boosting productivity through pioneering digital tools. Discover how breakthroughs in self-powered wearables and spatial computing are fueling the rise of digital nomads and evolving the value of blue-collar roles. Carter’s utopic, tech-infused perspective invites us to re-envision how we work and embrace new opportunities to hone our productivity and proficiencies.

Molly Sims on Cultivating a Lifestyle Media Empire

Fashion & Beauty

Join entrepreneur, actress, model, producer, philanthropist, New York Times bestselling author, Host of the podcast Lipstick on the Rim, and founder of YSE Beauty Molly Sims as she takes us on a captivating journey through building a lifestyle media empire. With a successful 20-year career that spans across the runways, screens, and business ventures, Molly is an unstoppable force, with women at the center. Sims will take us behind-the-scenes with a candid conversation highlighting her latest ventures - YSE Beauty, her podcast Lipstick on the Rim (Dear Media), and her production company, Something Happy Productions.

Pivot Live with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway

Tech Industry

In this session, join journalist, CNN contributor, and author of the forthcoming memoir, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher, and serial entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Scott Galloway, for a live recording of their podcast, Pivot. They’ll share sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics. They'll make bold predictions, pick winners and losers, and bicker and banter like no one else. After all, with great power comes great scrutiny. The Pivot Featured Session is part of the Vox Media Podcast Stage at SXSW. Running from March 8-10, the Vox Media Podcast Stage will bring Vox Media’s chart-topping shows to life with live tapings, including On with Kara Swisher; Where Should We Begin?; Today, Explained; Decoder; The Vergecast; Point Forward; Stay Tuned with Preet; and more.

Radha Agrawal: Featured Speaker Session

Startups Track

As the co-Founder, CEO and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker, Radha Agrawal leads this global morning dance and wellness movement in five continents with a community of almost half a million people around the globe. She is also the Co-Founder of THINX underwear and the best-selling author of BELONG, which peels back the curtain on how to build the community of your dreams.

Radical Respect: How To Work Together Better

Workplace Track

Do you want to create a work culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered? Do you want to learn how to foster collaboration and trust among your team members? Do you want to hear from experts who have been there and done that? If you answered yes to these questions, this session is for you! Join co-Hosts of the podcast Just Work Wesley Faulkner and Kim Scott as they share practical tips and insights from Kim's latest book, Just Work.

Team Human Live

Tech Industry

Autonomous technologies, runaway markets and weaponized media seem to have overturned civil society, paralyzing our ability to think constructively, connect meaningfully, or act purposefully. It feels as if civilization itself were on the brink, and that we lack the collective willpower and coordination necessary to address issues of vital importance to the very survival of our species. It's time to recognize that being human is a team sport. Each week, author and Professor of Tactical Media at Queens College, City of New York Douglas Rushkoff hosts the Team Human podcast, where he engages in real-time, no-holds-barred discussions with people who are hacking the machine to make it more compatible with human life, and helping redefine what it means to stay human in a digital age. In this session, join Rushkoff as he records a live episode of the Team Human podcast.

The Science & Craft of Storytelling: How to Make People Care

How can brands move people deeply, instill fierce loyalty and inspire people to take positive action? In this session, filmmaker and founder and CEO of Creative Breed Cheryl Miller Houser will offer a 3-step storytelling method grounded in the science and craft of storytelling to ignite powerful neurochemicals that make people fall in love, grab and hold their attention and mobilize them to take action. Interweaving illustrative clips and anecdotes, Cheryl will provide tactics that participants from all sectors can use in brand building, marketing, inspiring innovation, engaging employees, spurring social movements, creating community, and more.

Storyworlds, Hour Blue & Amplifying Humanity Ethically with AI

XR Track

A Storyworld is a conceptual immersive digital vessel for art and culture with a richness that passes the “Kyoto Test.” This is not a virtual world designed around game loops, but one that approaches the depth, messiness, and non-linear richness of our world. Can Computing Intelligence help create such a rich environment? It can, if architected correctly. In this session, join founder and CEO of Sun and Thunder and founder of Magic Leap Rony Abovitz, designer, author, theorist, and founder of Vrai Pictures Jessica Brillhart, futurist and founding partner and Chief Creative Technologist at argodesign Jared Ficklin, and founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Wētā Workshop and 5x Academy Award-winner Sir Richard Taylor as discuss what the Kyoto test is, the Hour Blue Storyworld, and an AI system that fulfills not just a backstory, but a mythopoeia.

Supercommunicators: Unlocking the Language of Connection

Workplace Track

We all know people capable of connecting with anyone. They are the ones we turn to for advice, who ask the best questions, and who hear what goes unsaid. Why are these people so good at connecting? And what can they tell us about how communication works? In this session, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and 2x New York Times best-selling author Charles Duhigg will present his reporting and insights into Supercommunicators and their understanding that there is a science to how human beings connect.

Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose: The Random Show!

Tech Industry Track

In this session, join investor and five-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Tim Ferriss and serial entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder and CEO of PROOF Kevin Rose for a live recording of The Random Show for Tim's podcast! The Random Show guarantees business and life insights you won't find anywhere else, loads of hilarity between two great friends, and, of course, plenty of randomness.

Top Entertainment Trends for 2024: What the Data Says

Music & Tech Track

Last year on the SXSW stage, CEO of Luminate Rob Jonas revealed that music streaming platforms saw an average of 120K new tracks uploaded per day in the first few months of 2023 -- a new record high. It was just one of the many entertainment trends Jonas highlighted using Luminate's consumption and audience research data, the most trusted in the industry. At SXSW 2024, Jonas will be back to do it all over again, using more than 20 trillion data points across music, film, TV, streaming, gaming, and more to inform the insights that will be shared. This year’s insights will include everything from super fan behaviors and changes in the global music landscapes to trends in SVOD viewership and how audience behaviors continue to shift in an interconnected world.

When Beer Goes Viral: The Role of Brands & Media in Fighting Hate