before jumping into my early favorites, i do want to note one choice that the sxsw organizers took, that i thought was really classy and cool: there is no vote count or leaderboard for the proposed panels! very very cool, and a great attempt at keeping this from becoming a bandwagon ready popularity contest. thanks sxswi!

that being said, here is an early list of my favorite panels i’ve found so far, and as always i would love to hear your thoughts on these and / or other panels:

Interaction Jones and the Template of Doom
Organizer Naz Hamid, http://www.weightshift.com

Collaboration Nation: How Side-Projects Can Keep You Relevant
Organizer Phil Coffman, http://springbox.com , http://methodandcraft.com

Crazy, Cool, and Interesting Uses of GeoData
By Elad Gil, http://twitter.com

Congratulations! Your Brand Is About to Become Obsolete.
Organizer Andrea Ring, http://www.rga.com

How to Whup ‘Em with the Leroy Stick
By Hawk Thompson, http://www.springbox.com/

Branding Reinvented: Creating Engagement in the Digital World
By david lai, http://www.hellodesign.com/

Listen To Me Dammit! I’m An Expert!
Organizer Chris Mayfield, http://springbox.com

Better Ideas Faster: Effective Brainstorming for Interactive Design
Organizer David Sherwin, http://www.frogdesign.com

Apps or Mobile Site: How to Choose
By Adrian Taylor, http://www.springbox.com

Design as Lifestyle: An Honest Day’s Work
Organizer Duane King http://www.kingduane.com

Interactive Branding and the Built Environment
Organizer Jamie Monberg, http://www.hornallanderson.com/

Let’s Go: The Evolution of JetBlue.com
Organizer Michal Pasternak, http://www.hugeinc.com

Can Design and Technology Fix America’s Education Problem?
Organizer John Kolko, http://www.frogdesign.com

Switch: from Freelancer to Entrepreneur
Organizer Matthew Smith, http://www.squaredeye.com

From Storytelling to Technology and Back Again
Organizer Barry Wacksman, http://www.rga.com

Stop Talking, Start Making
Organizer Will Turnage http://www.rga.com

How Does Scifi Influence Our Future Cities?
Organizer Igor Schwarzmann, http://www.cognitivecities.com

Storytelling in an Age of Industrialized Content
Organizer Upendra Shardanand, http://www.daylife.com

Digital Bookmaking for Designers & Developers
Organizer Brian warren, http://begoodnotbad.com/

Websites Aren’t Enough: the New Interaction Design
Organizer @danielmall

The New Loyalists: Measuring Brand Advocacy Today
Organizer Luane Kohnke, http://www.rga.com

As we passed numerous car sale lots of every denomination fro scion to gm to Hyundai to BMW, I noticed that 99% of the dealerships had an American flag ( or 20 ) prominently placed at the perimeter of their lot.

I’m extremely thankful for the freedom and lifestyle that this great land provides me, and proudly consider myself a patriot, so naturally this display initially made me smile and reinforced my gratitude for
living in the greatest land on earth.

But then something else grabbed my attention. 99% of the flags were at half mast, in mourning for the lives lost recently at the fort hood massacre. I was reminded of the loss and agony of those left behind in
this incident, and through our nations history. We did not get to our present state easily, but rather through sacrifice, difficulties, and much bloodshed. I was rattled out of my non chalant Saturday by a
reminder of the pain that allows my daily freedom and opportunities.

But not all of the flags were at half mast. Why were they not honoring the brave men and women who gave their lives? Ideological differences? Protesting a war?

No.

It seems in a race to be MORE patriotic than others, a few businesses had decided to forgo the standard 25ft flag, and instead went for the 100ft humongous option. Which is fine, except for the fact that they only had a 120 ft tall pole, as did everyone else.

So naturally, if you tried to put the flag at half mass, nearly half of it would be sitting on the ground.

This of course is against all rules and code for displaying the American flag, as it should never touch the ground. Fail.

Oh the irony. So in planning their display of patriotism, the dealership had completely forgotten about the possibility of a day when our nation suffered loss, tragedy, or even death. They forgot to plan for the rainy day, when everything breaks, and when it hits the fan.

I think the main reason i point this out is because i often do the same. Whether in business, my personal life, or a myriad of other situations, i often plan for the ideal, and choose to ignore the possibility of a not so stellar outcome.

I do not plan to, nor do i desire to stop being an optimist at every turn, but rather will strive to have a healthy dose of realism and margins for the possibility of adverse outcomes. we should fly our flags boldly, but we must also be prepared to handle the losses and difficulties that come with the fight.

if you know me, you know any talk of government bailouts makes me sick, but after having this reaction, i then began to think of this whole notion of mediocrity, laziness, and an unwillingness for a company / industry to change to meet the market’s demands.

so i naturally thought about my industry: web design. while i can easily point out the big three’s faults, it gets much touchier when i took a closer look at web design & development, the state of the industry in the U.S., and my own work aptitude.

If you look around our industry much, you will see that much like the auto industry, their are now many cheap, international web design players / shops popping up every day. if your like me, you might be thinking ‘yeah, there are alternatives, but they don’t speak english, or the western world’s cultural and visible language, so therefore nobody will ever use them’.

but i argue not so fast. I / we can’t get lazy. the big 3 never thought toyota, honda, or hyundai could ever produce a viable product for the american people. obviously, they were wrong. and they got lazy. they stopped innovating. and they assumed america would just accept whatever crap they produced. oh how they were wrong.

so true, i believe we are still along way off from the international market taking over the U.S. web design sphere, but we can’t lie to ourselves and believe it’s unthinkable. it’s almost as if we’re in the 1983 state of the auto industry. we’ve done a lot of great things in the near past (muscle cars / gorgeous flash experiences), but we can’t sit on our butts and be proud of ourselves.

the world is changing, people are consuming and creating content in new formats, in new ways, and with new expectations.

if we / i don’t lead the way, someone else will.

the choice is ours. everyday, with every project, and every client relationship.

we can do the comfortable, predictable solution. or we can stretch ourselves beyond what we thought was possible. or 20 years from now we can write a sappy country song bemoaning the fact that our industry has passed us by.

i’ll choose to fight. it’s the american way. innovation. grit. and hard work.

and besides, it’s more fun to be the leader anyway.